The newly formed Linfield Sustainability Council held its first meeting Sept. 29.
The council was formed last year to help allocate funds given in the Student Sustainability & Renewable Energy Fund.
In addition to the Sept. 29 meeting, it will hold two more during the next two months to discuss the ways in which the funds will be used to help sustainability and an eco-friendly environment at Linfield.
In 2009, a petition was created by various students to raise the campus activity fee by $10 in order to support sustainability at Linfield.
Students created the petition to give them more control over the funds, which were originally controlled by faculty,
Associated Students of Linfield College President senior Colin Jones said in an e-mail.
Jones said in an e-mail he felt that it did not make sense to have staff members controlling funds that were granted by students and put toward student activities.
“The Sustainability
Council now considers grants from students and other members of the Linfield Community to fund projects related to broadly defined sustainability,” he said in the e-mail.
Jones is the head of the council and senior Sarah Valentine, ASLC community outreach and environmental education coordinator, takes the lead on council activities and meetings.
Valentine has been organizing a series of workshops aimed at educating students about the sustainability funds, and training them on how to use the money to best serve Linfield.
The workshop that was held on Sept. 29 was the first of three that will take place this semester.
“[It was a] brainstorming session to get people’s ideas flowing about possible projects,” Jones said in an e-mail.
Proposed ideas included expanding compost and recycling options on campus, encouraging the use of reusable water bottles and developing the Garden Club’s community garden.
The next two workshops will be at 4 p.m. Oct. 10. and Nov. 17. Locations for these meetings have not been decided yet.
When asked about rumors that the Sustainability Council has replaced Linfield’s Environmental activist group, Greenfield, Jones was quick to point out the falsehood of such rumors.
No direct connection lies between the council and Greenfield, and in fact, Jones said, there is really no formal connection between any of the campus’s environmental groups and Greenfield.
“Some of the students who participate in Greenfield also worked on some of these initiatives, but a number of students who have never been to a Greenfield meeting were also integral in making these things happen,” Jones said in an e-mail.
If interested in becoming involved with the council and the sustainability funds they, Jones encourages students to come to a workshop during the next two months or to contact Valentine at [email protected] for more information.

Matthew Sunderland/Senior reporter
Matthew Sunderland can be reached at [email protected].