“Ok, I’ll bite. Just a few comments. First of all, CU-Boulder has an
established policy to become climate neutral, the policy was signed by
the Chancellor and is part of the “President’s Climate Commitment”
movement of over 70 universities nationwide that are engaging their
campuses in doing something about climate change.
http://www.colorado.edu/chancellor/speeches/climatecommitment.html

So, the “Focus the Nation” event is pretty well aligned with established
university policy, as it supposed to engage the campus in discussing
options etc. on climate. A quote from the FTN website: “A teach-in is a
day when an entire school turns its attention to a single issue—when
faculty, students and staff put aside business as usual, and focus the
full weight of campus engagement on one topic.”

Second, faculty are not required to take part to my knowledge, it is a
choice.

Third, teaching critical thinking does not mean avoiding discussing
controversial topics. In fact, discussing climate change is a good
opportunity for students to exercise their critical thinking skills–
I’ve seen it discussed already in many classes at CU-Boulder.

Fourth, in my interpretation of the “no campaigning” policy, I believe
what was meant was no campaigning for a candidate or a ballot issue. Is
the organizing of Focus the Nation a political act? Yes, I suppose it
is, in the sense of politics being “the process by which groups of
people make decisions” — it is aiming to make a statement. The original
memo by the campus seems to imply that we are prohibited from using
university time to work on a campaign issue, which they define as
“campaigns for public office, state-wide campaign issues or referred
measures, and local campaign issues or levies”. To my knowledge, there
is no climate change issue on the ballot for Feb. 5th. We are caucusing
for party candidates. These candidates have taken positions on climate
change in some cases, but it would be a stretch to say that speaking
about an issue involved in the campaign at all constitutes campaigning
for a candidate. One would imagine that would shut down a whole lot of
discussions, from defense, to economic issues, to health care, to
science policy.

Finally, it is important to give the students a little more credit for
being able to think for themselves– spending a day focused on a topic
provides, I believe, a welcome chance to discuss. Students can make up
their own minds and contribute their own ideas as they wish. Some
professors may even want to take on the assumptions of the options laid
out by FTN, or have their students do so. That is, after all, the
purpose of a university.

[disclaimer: I am participating in a panel organized by CU-Environment
Center for the Focus the Nation day on campus]

–
————–
Lisa Dilling, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies
Center for Science and Technology Policy Research/CIRES
University of Colorado
1333 Grandview Ave, Campus Box 488
Boulder, Colorado 80309-0488″