Sustainability Institute at Molloy College Launches "Public Square"

COVER PHOTO CREDIT Miranda Gatewood

 

 

As Earth Day 2009 approached, The Sustainability Institute at Molloy College was launched with a press conference on the college’s Rockville Centre campus. The Sutainability Institute’s vision is to catalyze Long Island to become a national leader in developing, promoting and implementing sustainable solutions to environmental and quality of life challenges.

The announcement immediately captured the attention and support of a broad spectrum of regional leaders, including municipal, county and federal government elected officials, builders and developers, environmental groups, civic and advocacy organizations, fundraisers, and Long Island residents who are concerned about Planet Earth and their local surroundings.

“The Sustainability Institute is Long Island’s first venture of this kind,” said Ed Thompson, Molloy’s Vice President for Advancement and an initiator of the Institute’s creation. “We’re taking a sustainability and environmental advocacy group and embedding it in an educational institution.” This endeavor represents “a sea change in the way we discuss sustainability here on Long Island.”

Neal Lewis, longtime executive director at Neighorhood Network, will serve as The Sustainability Institute’s Executive Director. In his remarks at the “launch” ceremony, Lewis reflected on “ice caps cracking,” “coral bleaching,” and the Earth “losing species to extinction.” He said that these developments are a “call to action” and that at this time, a new approach is needed.

Molloy College President Drew Bogner, Ph.D. said that the college is delighted “to have found someone of Neal’s caliber to direct The Sustainability Institute. His team has tremendous expertise.” Thompson, who has known Lewis for 20 years, added, “Neal is one of Long Island’s forward-thinking leaders. He is uniquely able to bring disparate groups together to arrive at solutions.” He added that “it is not the purpose of The Sustainability Institute to supplant other environmental and civic groups, but to partner with them.”

The Sustainability Institute at Molloy College encompasses three distinct objectives: to provide college students with a grounding in significant environmental and sustainability challenges, particularly on Long Island; to present policy analysis for public discussion; and to encourage students and the larger Long Island community to come together for a common cause. Lewis points out that working with a well established institution like Molloy College enables researchers to bring a more academic approach to the analysis of important issues—from off-shore wind and “green” living to affordable housing and the elimination of contaminants.

“No longer can people sit on the sidelines and watch others,” remarked Dr. Bogner, noting that all citizens have a responsibility to be informed and engage in the democratic process. “The Sustainability Institute will educate people, and bring them into dialogue to foster solutions.”

Serving as a “public square”
The launching of The Sustainability Institute continues to emphasize Molloy College’s role as a “public square” for the presentation and discussion of the major issues of the day. It follows Molloy’s successful Maher Forum, which has attracted keynote speakers, such as Secretary of State James Baker, Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, Newsday’s Robert Keeler and former Prime Minister of Ireland Bernie Ahern among others. Three years ago, Molloy established Energeia, the Academy of Long Island Stewardship, training Long Island leaders to recognize and address regional challenges.

As part of its capital campaign, the college anticipates the start of construction in the coming months of a 60,000-square-foot building to be called the “Public Square,” profiled in Networking® magazine in September, 2008. Thompson noted, “With the Public Square, we plan to demonstrate our commitment to become the meeting ground to discuss the difficult issues affecting Long Island.”

Recognizing Molloy’s ability to “step up,” Nancy Douzinas, president of the Rauch Foundation and an early donor to The Sustainability Institute, remarked that the college “shares a vision” with the Foundation, and added, “This Institute can be something very special.”

Getting started
Through somewhat of a baptism by fire, Lewis and his staff jumped in to participate in Molloy’s week-long Earth Week campaign to tackle the issue of global climate change. Events included a session in which The Sustainability Institute’s Beth Fiteni partnered with Jeremy Rosen of the U.S. Green Building Council. The energy-wise experts raised awareness about “LEED” (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), or “green building” criteria. The session previewed the “green” aspects of the College’s “Public Square” building, which will seek LEED certification.

The building plans are designed to achieve a 25% increase in energy performance through optimized HVAC, lighting and energy related systems. Reflecting the idea of a public square, the plans seek to capture natural daylight to not only bring about energy savings, but also to increase student achievement.

While Lewis and his staff have conducted hundreds of presentations and community forums for civic and environmental groups through Neighborhood Network, Lewis said he welcomes the opportunity to expand “to a new audience” — the students of Molloy College. The Institute’s student component begins with the Fall 2009 Freshman Experience program, when Institute staff will begin to present concepts of sustainability to freshmen.

“There is a value in talking about environmental and sustainability issues in history and economics classes, and across the education experience,” said Lewis. Molloy’s faculty is taking the lead role in developing and expanding curriculum for an interdisciplinary approach with input from Lewis and his staff.

“You can talk theoretically about environment in the suburbs,” added Vice President Thompson, “but to bring in someone who has actually done it for 20 years and made things happen, that’s a whole different thing.”

“Green” papers and interactive technology
Beyond educational responsibilities on campus, Lewis said that The Sustainability Institute will further “the concept of Molloy College as a public square to debate and deliberate the big policy issues of the day” by developing a series of “green” papers. The purpose of the papers is to summarize complex issues in a relatively precise way, in four pages, and to address specific recommendations with an emphasis on positive solutions.

“Our style will be less about saying no and more about saying let’s come together and work on a positive solution,” Lewis said. He added that the Institute will focus on solutions that have environmental, economic and social impact.

Lewis said there will be plenty of “interactive technology.” After the Institute publishes a “green” paper setting up the debate on a specific issue, the paper will be posted on the Sustainability Institute’s Molloy webpage, www.si.molloy.edu, and comment from the public will be invited. The Sustainability Institute will be housed at Molloy’s Suffolk campus facility at Republic Airport, an island mid-point where people with differing points of view can come together to discuss the nonpartisan policy analysis provided by the Institute.

“We’ll have some ground rules,” Lewis quipped, invoking what he calls
the “Shoreham” rule: no reliving of past issues.

At The Sustainability Institute’s “launch” ceremony, Lewis announced
the formation of a Sustainability Institute solutions working group, and encouraged individuals with knowledge of the sustainability issues facing Long Island to join. The group’s first meeting is scheduled for June 10, and members will work on three “green” papers already in the development stage: off-shore wind energy, expansion of the Energy Star Home Law, and an incentive program to bring about energy efficiency on Long Island.