After a great showing of student support, I had a meeting with Chancellor Coombe to discuss our ban bottled water initiative. My first goal and objective is to stop giving mass amounts of plastic bottles with our logo on it for free; We give the water to prospective tours, which totaled a little under 5,300 people last year! I think it is ridiculous that we give out that much for free, especially considering that most of the bottles end up in landfills.
I propose that we spend the extra money and give out a reusable bottle, such as a Nalgene or Klean Kanteen. If we slap a DU logo on them, the great advertising and PR will easily pay for the extra cost. Just think of all the prospective students using their DU bottle at their high schools. By showcasing our commitment to sustainability in this way, we are spreading our message and a good cause to thousands of students a year. We will further transform our school and our brand whilst saving the world. We are Pioneers, and we are pioneering a greener future.
On a different note I thought I would share some quick thoughts on the Chancellor. While I think overall the Chancellor does a great job, I think his interactions with students, the constituents, could be a lot stronger. A lot of students view the Chancellor as a top down authority figure, which he is. Disregarding the complicated relationship with the Board of Trustees the Chancellor’s word is law. Despite the Chancellor’s views on the role of his office, students perceive the Chancellor as someone who can and should make decisions.
When I framed the 500 students who supported our movement (in five short days!) as seeing the Chancellor in an authoritative leadership position, Chancellor Coombe responded saying he was not a top down leader, which is true. Chancellor Coombe in my short tenure at DU has delegated decisions and other affairs to panels, subordinates, committees, and councils. While this is great for those that know how to navigate the system, I can guarantee most students don’t know that Tom Willoughby is in charge of the purchasing of bottle water for admissions. To Chancellor Coombe’s credit, he seems to think this is a better representation of students; he doesn’t want to be a dictatorial leader. The problem is this stifles students far more than it helps them. The complicated system of our school suppresses students and makes those that have figured out how to navigate the long and winding path to implementation frustrated.
Students are seeking a voice. Students don’t know how to express their concerns, or who to express them to. With a complicated and arduous bureaucracy students have a hard time making change. If you ask any involved student on campus that has done something really cool for the student body, whether it be Bike Sharing or Explore Denver, they did it with a lot more pain and work than should be necessary. I think students are seeking one person who will serve as a decision maker. Someone who they know can have the answers to their questions, someone with the authority to make change. For most students this person is Chancellor Coombe.
This is where I feel the great disconnect comes into play. For if students think Chancellor Coombe is the decision maker at our school, and Chancellor Coombe doesn’t view himself in that role, how are students able to express themselves and navigate our schools bureaucracy.
This seeming sea of red tape can easily be vanquished with an authoritative figure who will listen to students concerns and ideas, and honestly and openly respond to them with an answer.
It is my hope that we can forge a new relationship with our administration and Chancellor Coombe. We can create an easy to understand environment where students have an outlet to express their concerns to someone who has the autonomy and clout to make important decisions. I see Chancellor Coombe in this role, and I am sure many of you do too.
I propose that we as students further organize in order to seek a strong voice. Together in action we can accomplish what we seek.
How do you best feel we can accomplish this? Do you think a quarterly student meeting organized by the student government where Chancellor Coombe listened to our requests and responded with a yes or no is the answer? Do you think rather than a coordinated quarterly event the solution lies in Chancellor Coombe’s willingness to make executive decisions? How do you think we can reduce the red tape of our University and better make student opinions and concerns heard? Let me know at the Bull Sheet.
By organizing and expressing our concerns, we can forge a new path where student engagement and activism is easy and effective. Lead the movement and make yourself heard.
Make Sure To Check Out JMac Halloween Tonight!
This weekend I was asked by a very smart and dedicated union organizer “what drives you”. I was taken aback. This seemingly simple question had so many answers, yet so few came to mind. Trying not to sound like a beauty queen (sorry Mrs. Colorado), I responded that I am driven to have influence for the good. What I was trying to get at is this seemingly tense relationship between politics, power, and social justice organizing that sums up my life at the moment.
I feel I have a great internal motivating factor which I think is characterized by the following (which BTW are some of the wisest words ever uttered): it is both the duty and responsibility of the world’s fortunate few to help fulfill the legitimate aspirations of the unfortunate many.
It is in this, acknowledging and working within my privilege, that I work everyday to better my community. It is also in this that I often struggle with my identity. Am I a social justice organizer? Am I a politician? Do I serve to gain power and influence for purely personal fulfillment and if so is that social justice when used for the betterment of others? These questions, the ones that will decide my future career, are ones I am currently struggling with.
In this search for influence I have made a personal (yet seemingly impossible) goal of seeking to work with not for. That is, I do not work to bridge the education gap for children of less socio-economic privilege. I do not fight everyday to bring equality for those who have been oppressed. All too often philanthropy centers around helping “them” which serves to further engrain our dichotic social structure of haves and have nots. To me, social justice is working with. Working together we are strong. Not only do I hold this worldview, but I feel like it is absolutely necessary to attain what we so profess. For together in action we can alter the path of history, and united we shall stand to fight for what is right.
It is here where I struggle. In my mind, a lot of what I do and how I live my life is justified through principles of a sort of modified social justice utilitarianism. Within this worldview I can maintain and work to increase my privilege because with more influence comes more power to affect change, which is my ultimate goal. Whether it be through politics, which seems to be my current path, or through other forms of business and organizing I tread a precarious and unknown path. If I am striving to work with not for, how can I truly do that when I hold a position of power or privilege. Is it possible to work with while not having directly experienced the conditions in which I work to improve?
I say absolutely yes with one simple word: empathy.
Empathy is the most admirable trait I see in others, and it is something I am constantly striving to achieve. While often times hard, if not impossible to fully put myself in ones shoes, it is through empathetic thought that my perplexing contradiction is resolved. It is with compassion and empathy that my actions are driven and it is through seeking to act as compassionately with as much empathy as possibly that I work to create change for the better.
Oh, and by the way. I just bought a $7 “organic” snack pack on my plane ride. Not only was everything individually wrapped, the inside of the box had what I would describe as a tirade preaching values of sustainability as social justice. Funny how my business class seat, with its ample legroom, $7 snack is at least according to United contributing to the greater good. Now is that the greater good of the shareholders? Or did my flight help contribute to social justice for the children laborers who helped sew my seats fabric? Was it helping contribute to the social justice of the massive and hazardous oil conglomerates who have systematically helped kill millions in wars of genocide and conflict over resources? Or better yet did my flight help the hundreds of millions who are going to be displaced by rising sea-levels due to my emissions, the billions who already have lack of freshwater who will be forced into conflict over ever decreasing water resources stemming from my injection of CO2 directly into the atmosphere, and every one else whose existence stands on the brink of immutable disaster because of my overconsumption of precious resources?
It is in this guilt that I live; with a wonderful and productive weekend I have helped lay the groundwork for better working conditions, wages, and benefits for over 100,000 service industry workers, an often times ignored and outcasted working group. I have in my mind made the right choice for the greater good (I also bought arguably ineffective carbon offsets). When presented with a choice I strive to do what is best under the circumstances of the day. By acknowledging my privilege and working to analyze my actions I am able to continue to fight for what I believe in, in the most effective and powerful way I can. I truly am seeking to have influence for the good. If that means having to work within the constraints of a broken society fine. I just hope that I have and will continue to do all I can to fix it.
[video]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
http://dillondoyle.com/files/dillondoyle.bikepressrelease.pdf
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On this day, Thursday September 24th, DU students have once again developed a new frontier where the convergence of student engagement and sustainable solutions help solve the problems of our day.
DU students truly are pioneering a greener future.
The DU Bike Library allows DU students to borrow a bike for free, giving students a simple and easy to use alternative to transportation by car. There are twenty bikes on campus: ten are stationed at Centennial Halls and ten are stationed at the Nelson/ Nagel bike rack. This unique system will be integrated with the greater Denver Bike Sharing initiative scheduled to launch on Earth Day 2010. Eventually the bikes will be part of a kiosk system where students and Denverites can take advantage of over 150 stations and 258 miles of bike paths throughout the city of Denver.
With over 300 days of sunshine, Colorado and the University of Denver are great locations for such an innovative program.
As with all tough issues, global climate change doesn’t have an easy and obvious solution. That is why students at DU work everyday to reduce their impact and to make a difference by enabling easy-to-use and sustainable alternatives to become more accessible to the greater community.
By pioneering solutions for the problems we face, students at the University of Denver have once again altered the [bike] path of history.
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Dillon Doyle - University of Denver USG Senator, Community Activist, Pioneer. The University of Denver Bike Library Sharing program has launched in Denver!
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Links (updated as they come in)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08SELScHNoM http://www.du.edu/today/stories/2009/09/2009-09-22bikes.html http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_13415672
I believe in the bright light of hope and possibility emitted by this University. The light that shines even in the darkest of times. More importantly, I know what we can achieve if we work together. I’ve seen it, I’ve lived it, and I know we can DU it.
With new beginnings come new opportunities. I have always loved the atmosphere that comes with the first weeks of a new school year. I can feel the electricity, the ambition, and the dreams. Dreams are powerful and we all dream for a better tomorrow; dreams and hopes for something better is what drives me to live my life working towards that tomorrow.
While at times seemingly naive, I know that ideals of infinite possibility serve as a beacon of hope for a brighter future.
Some of the best changes are the easiest to make. As a University, we must challenge prejudice whenever it rears its ugly head. We must go out of our way to include those who may not feel included. We must work to use the great privilege and opportunity of education to better our surroundings. We must live compassionately and embrace empathy.
Together in action, we as students of this auspicious University can alter the path of history.
We must come together today - together in spirit we are unstoppable. Without the autonomy of our voices and the unity of our aspirations we will not succeed in attaining what we seek. We must join the time of tomorrow and the past.
Where’s our voice? Where’s our integrity? Where’s our new frontier?
Now is our time, our place. We must act swiftly. Together, in solidarity, we can aspire to that new frontier. One in which student opinion is not only valued, but sought after. A frontier where we as a student body shall make a fundamental shift towards acceptance, maturity, and empathy. An environment which endows us with the tools needed to establish the foundations of our future. A milieu in which it is not acceptable to frame our body as one which relies on stories of intoxication as frameworks for understanding and unity.
I believe the best way to preserve our democracy is to take part in it. Pick that low hanging fruit and do the little things that make a big difference.
So I ask you, what are you du’ing about it?
The following are some of the more awesome upcoming events that I am planning!
Sustainability Thursday Sep 24th, 1-4p, Nagel Hall - First Annual DU Bike Day! Try out the new bike library, get free t-shirts, Campus Cycles will be there showing you how to fix your bike!
Thursday Sep 24th, 8p, Nagel Hall - DU Bike Day night ride! Wear your glow in the dark clothing as it is time for a night ride!
DU Dems Sunday Sep 20th, 7:30p Driscoll 1864 - DU Dems! First meeting of the year, Rep. Kagan will be in attendance.
Saturday Sep 26th, 4p Nelson patio - Denver Democrats and DU Dems BBQ. Free food for DU Students, local politicos will be there. Get to know Dems in the city!
Explore Denver Thursday October 8th - Explore Denver Launch Party at the Denver Art Museum! Free food, good times, and of course a special surprise! Keep your ears open for more info!
Random Friday October 9th - SLTC. This year the student Leadership Training Conference is in the fall top better prepare you for the year. Get excited!
Of course there will be a lot more to come, but if you put the above in your cal now that would be fantastic!
Public Goals for the Student Government 2009/2010 School Year -
I have a few goals to accomplish on campus this year. A lot of them are already started, or shall be complete soon enough. But this serves as a good start for collaboration and effort! I have a bunch more “not public” goals, and many of you know about them. Hopefully I can get a lot accomplished this year.
As of now, I have accomplished a lot of my major goals for the year (there where a lot of things I didn’t put on that list because they where complete!).
What I am trying to imply with that is what would you like to see? Is there something you are really passionate about, or something that is in dire need of change or implementation? Let me know!?