UofG Green New Deal placed the banners around campus ahead of the University Court’s climate strategy meeting today.
Seven banners addressing University policy were placed across campus by University of Glasgow Green New Deal (GND) ahead of the University Court’s climate strategy meeting, which is to take place today.
The seven banners were put up at the Reading Room, the Library, the Main Gate, Murano student halls, Queen Margaret Union and the Rankin Building. The Library and the Reading Room were also covered with stickers.
The social justice group hopes to gain the support of students for their 52 demands, which call upon the University to be “more ambitious and transparent” in their response to the climate crisis, stated in a press release to The Glasgow Guardian.
Dara Snead, 22, a member of the group, said: “The court meeting on Wednesday will decide the University’s climate strategy for the foreseeable future, but no one knows about it. The University management need to be more transparent about their strategy for addressing the Climate Emergency. These decisions affect the whole of the University community, both now and in the future, so these decisions should not be made behind such closed doors.”
GND has made a 70-page document of 52 demands which various aspects of University practice, under the sections of Accountability and Transparency, Investment Practice, Transport and Travel, Building and Infrastructure, Energy Provision and Carbon Offsetting, Food, and Curriculum and Academic change.
The first of these demands highlighted by GND asks the University to “Implement democratic practices and forums to maintain a consistent dialogue with staff and students around environmental performance”. GNS justifies this by stating “Universities exist for students. We believe the University has an obligation to sufficiently inform and involve students in decision making and legislative processes around plans for sustainability, as well as providing precise and publicised targets and commitments.”
The Green New Deal campaign was formed one year ago as a “collaborative venture between a range of student societies and interested staff”, who believed there was a “lack of urgency” in the University’s current climate strategy. They hope the new document they have built over the past year can garner the support of the University community to change University policy for the greater good of the planet.
The petition for the Green New Deal, with the full list of demands, can be found here. You can keep up to date with Green New Deal campaign by following their Facebook page.
