{"id":1645,"date":"2013-04-25T19:27:55","date_gmt":"2013-04-25T19:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/?p=1645"},"modified":"2013-04-25T19:27:55","modified_gmt":"2013-04-25T19:27:55","slug":"environmental-action-group-of-bgsu-stages-sit-in-at-president-mazeys-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/environmental-action-group-of-bgsu-stages-sit-in-at-president-mazeys-office\/","title":{"rendered":"Environmental Action Group of BGSU Stages Sit-In at President Mazey's Office"},"content":{"rendered":"

Originally Posted on April 22, 2013
\nby\u00a0Thomas Hoffman<\/a><\/p>\n

Cross-posted from wearepowershift.org in\u00a0Environmental Action Group at BGSU<\/a><\/div>\n

\"BGSU<\/a>As yet another semester at Bowling Green State University inches towards its conclusion, I realize how difficult it is to adequately summarize the accomplishments of Environmental Action Group in the form of the written word. Our campaign for 100% clean energy at BGSU by 2020 has reached heights that attest to the dedication of all students and community members who have been directly involved or have expressed valuable support and that highlight the urgent situation escalated by continued fossil fuel usage. 3,313 students, faculty, and community members have signed our petition, 16 student organizations have signed onto our coalition letter, and from Monday to Thursday of last week, BGSU students made their voices heard in a new way as they flooded President Mary Ellen Mazey\u2019s office with at least 432 phone calls.<\/p>\n

On Monday, April 15, students of Environmental Action Group converged outside of our student union to ask students to call President Mazey\u2019s office. Why? To tell her they want her to lead the university in a transition to 100% clean energy. The week of calling was conducted in preparation for Environmental Action Group\u2019s biggest action yet: a sit-in at President Mazey\u2019s office on Friday, April 19.<\/p>\n

An eventful week culminated on that eventful day at 9:30 am as five students arrived at the McFall Center, home of President Mazey’s office, to sit-in for 100% clean energy. They were met in front of guarded and locked doors by at least fifteen BGSU police officers. After they got inside, only two students were allowed upstairs\u2014behind a police escort through doors that had to be unlocked\u2014to deliver flowers to President Mazey\u2019s secretary. It was a gesture of gratitude for her hard work during a week in which she was faced with an overwhelming amount of calls.<\/p>\n

23 students in total joined the sit-in throughout the day until 5:00 pm, cordial and peaceful, which proved the preemptive police presence to be an unnecessary use of precious university funds that could and\u00a0should<\/em>\u00a0be used towards 100% clean energy.<\/p>\n

\"903292_10101185012866720_415790904_o\"<\/a>Although students weren\u2019t able to speak to President Mazey\u2014she was not in her office\u2014or any member of the administration on Friday, our efforts were again recognized and commended throughout the community. We delivered 686 additional petition signatures from students, faculty, and community members and phone call tracks from the week. We also attempted to set up a third meeting with President Mazey on August 26th (the first day of classes for the Fall 2013 semester) at 9:00 am to discuss the administration\u2019s progress on transitioning the university to 100% clean energy. The administration has claimed that the transition will cost $200 million; we\u2019re eager to see the research and work with a planning team to identify next steps. We\u2019ve shown a clear willingness to work together with the administration, and we\u2019re looking for the same in return.<\/p>\n

Our campaign has sought to echo the thoughts of our student body, and we\u2019ve clearly succeeded in that. The students have done their part, and now, in order to show that our words\u00a0do\u00a0<\/em>matter, President Mazey\u2019s administration must exercise bold leadership in clean energy solutions. \u201cIt’s clear that the students have spoken, and will continue to until we actually get a commitment to clean energy,\u201d said Madison Thomas. \u00a0A transition to 100% clean energy would result in international headlines for BGSU. President Mazey\u2019s administration has the opportunity work with the students and take historic action\u2014the type of action that our world needs and that our students, after all their hard work and all they\u2019ve given to the university, deserve more than ever.<\/p>\n

For continued updates on our campaign, check out our social network presence:<\/p>\n

Twitter<\/a>\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0Tumblr
\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Originally Posted on April 22, 2013 by\u00a0Thomas Hoffman Cross-posted from wearepowershift.org in\u00a0Environmental Action Group at BGSU As yet another semester…<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1647,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1645"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1645\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gofossilfree.org\/nl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}