Washington University has earned a B on the Sustainable Endowment Institute’s college sustainability report card for the 2011 school year and the report has garnered mixed responses from students and faculty.

It is good to see that the field of energy and the environment, and the research done by faculty, is creating a debate/discussion on campus amongst the students.  It helps all of us get better educated on the challenging issues we face.

An old-time cowboy and a suave Washington lobbyist faced off in Graham Chapel Tuesday to discuss the future of coal. The Great Coal Debate, hosted by Student Union and organized by the Washington University Climate Justice Alliance, brought two opposing men into the same debate.

Debate regarding the future of coal will touch Washington University’s campus once again this week. Fred Palmer of Peabody Energy and Bruce Nilles from the Sierra Club will face each other in Tuesday’s Great Coal Debate.

Prestigious colleges and universities like Washington University have the potential, capacity and responsibility to lead the nation when it comes to making the right choices.

Student activists lined the walkways leading up to Olin Library to voice their opposition to electricity obtained from the burning of coal.

I’m relieved to see finally the Wash. U. sustainability plan, but it isn’t good enough. I appreciate the administration’s efforts to adopt broad policies that will help reduce the University’s impact on nature. The fact that our university acknowledges the serious threat climate change poses to the nation’s natural resources (which is probably more than coal and energy executives on its board are willing to admit) is refreshing.

This Monday, members of our student body engaged in a flash mob protest to demonstrate opposition to the framing of Washington University’s “Energy Future” conference. The conference promoted a vision of future energy sources that left out renewable energy such as wind and solar and directed its emphasis to nuclear power, clean coal and genetically engineered biofuels.

Students hold their fists in the air in protest of the America’s Energy Future conference hosted by Washington University Monday.

In light of our University’s increasing involvement with coal, I write to invite the Chancellor to travel with me to Coal River, W.Va., during fall break to attend the Mountain Justice Fall Summit. There we can learn from coal town residents and coal miners’ mothers about how to address the high human cost of coal.