From: hggross@manchester.edu
Date: Sat Apr 20 2002 - 22:13:57 EDT
Below is a description of a college-based campaign that can make an impact
upon the wider world: a pledge by graduating seniors to consider the social
and environmental aspects of their jobs. We hope that you, personally,
students/faculty/administrators, can promote the campaign at your
institution, or can publicize it to others at schools at which you have
contacts. Thank you.
Note: The Pledge can start small this year, and grow in coming years! If
you feel like you don't have time to pursue the Pledge for this year,
please consider it again next year.
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GRADUATION PLEDGE ALLIANCE
Humboldt State University (California) initiated the Graduation Pledge of
Social and Environmental Responsibility. It states,
"I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental
consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of
any organizations for which I work." Students define what being
"responsible" means to themselves. Students at over a hundred colleges and
universities are using the pledge at some level, at schools which range in
size from Whitman, to Harvard, to University of Kansas. Graduates who
voluntarily signed the pledge have turned down jobs they did not feel
morally comfortable with and have worked to make changes once on the job.
For example, they have promoted recycling at their organization, removed
racist language from a training manual, worked for gender parity in high
school athletics, and helped to convince an employer to refuse a chemical
weapons-related contract.
Manchester College now coordinates the campaign effort, which has taken
different forms at different institutions. At Manchester, it is a
community-wide event coordinated by a diverse committee. Typically, fifty
percent of students sign and keep a wallet-size card stating the pledge,
while students and supportive faculty wear green ribbons at commencement
and the pledge is printed in the formal commencement program. Depending
upon the school, it might take several years to reach this level of
institutionalization. If one can just get a few groups/departments
involved, and get some media attention on (and off) campus, it will get
others interested and build for the future. The project has been covered in
newspapers around the country(e.g., Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and
Boston Globe), as well as being covered on national radio networks and
local T.V. stations.
The pledge helps educate and motivate one to contribute to a better world.
Think of the impact if even a significant minority of the one million
college graduates each year signed and carried out the Pledge.
PLEASE KEEP US INFORMED OF ANY PLEDGE EFFORTS YOU UNDERTAKE, AS WE TRY TO
MONITOR WHAT IS HAPPENING, AND PROVIDE PERIODIC UPDATES ON THE NATIONAL
EFFORT. Contact NJWollman@Manchester.edu for
information/questions/comments; or write GPA, MC Box 135, Manchester
College, 604 E. College Ave., North Manchester, IN 46962. The Campaign
also has a web site, at
http://ARES.manchester.edu/department/peaceStudies/gpa.html.
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