Student Sustainability Council

To promote communication and collaboration among organizations interested in advancing environmentalism on campus, 14 student organizations formed a new group, the Student Sustainability Council (SSC). The Student Sustainability Council, brings together existing campus groups for collaboration on issues of sustainability on campus.

The SSC is composed of representatives from both undergraduate and graduate student organizations as well as student government bodies. Some member organizations focus principally on sustainability related issues, while others have broader missions. All of the groups recognize the importance of sustainability and have created internal offices to concentrate on these areas.

Read the SSC’s Constitution.

Students learn about sustainability-related student groups at the Student Organization Fair. Photo courtesy of IUOS.Students from SDA, an SSC member organization, sift compost collected as a part of their Green Orientation initiative. Photo courtesy of SDA.

SSC's Mission | Back to Top

The SSC aims to:

  • Offer a student perspective to the IU Office of Sustainability;
  • Helping to reduce the negative effects of the university on the natural environment; promoting social and economic justice; and
  • Engaging the IU student body in issues of sustainability.
Member Organizations | Back to Top

APO: Alpha Phi Omega National | Back to Top

Mission: Alpha Phi Omega is a National Service Fraternity -- college students gathered together in an organization based on fraternalism and founded on the principles of Leadership, Friendship and Service. Its aim is to further the freedom that is our national, educational and intellectual heritage.  APO, specifically the Mu Chapter at Indiana University Bloomington, is open to any IUB student who would like to join. Given that they do not have a house, members of social fraternities and sororities are welcome as well as anyone who lives in a residence hall or off-campus. APO has partnered with IU’s Volunteers in Sustainability (ViS) on various sustainability-oriented community service projects, including helping out with a trash audit that documented all of the trash put in dumpsters around campus that could actually be recycled (about 50%).
General Email: apo@indiana.edu
Contact Person: Alex Luboff (aluboff@indiana.edu)
Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~apo/   

Coal Free IU/the Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) | Back to Top

The Sierra Student Coalition (SSC) is a broad network of high school and college-aged youth from across the country working to protect the environment. The SSC is the youth-led chapter of the Sierra Club, the nation's oldest and largest grassroots environmental organization.  Our mission is simple: "to train, empower, and organize youth to run effective campaigns that result in tangible environmental victories and that develop leaders for the environmental movement."  With more than 250 groups nationwide, the SSC develops environmental leaders through our award-winning grassroots trainings programs and works to maximize our campus-based effectiveness through the creation and maintenance of state and regional networks of high school and college students.
Contact Person: Cody Young (cody@ssc.org)
Website: http://ssc.sierraclub.org/

EMA: The Environmental Management Association | Back to Top

Mission: EMA's goal is to encourage environmental stewardship, promote careers in environmental management, and assist in career development by sponsoring workshops, presentations, and activities which provide students with relevant information, skills and networking opportunities.
Contact Person: Brad Wollmann
Email: iuema@indiana.edu
Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~iuema/
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=138589567768&ref=search&sid=1363320088.2451271732..1

ELS: The Environmental Law Society | Back to Top

Mission: The specific goals of ELS are to promote the organization, local community awareness and education concerning the environment; to provide an interface between the student body and the legal community, to represent the student body’s interest in environmental law within the law school community, throughout the State of Indiana, and in cooperation with other schools and environmental groups. The ELS seeks to provide a forum for critique and/or support of the legal system, current laws and regulations, and actions undertaken by other groups that concern the environment.
Contact Person: Will Gardner
Email: els@indiana.edu
Website:  www.law.indiana.edu/students/activities/environmental
Facebook page: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2251860640&v=info

GGG: Greeks Go Green | Back to Top

Mission: The purpose of the organization, Greeks Go Green, is to provide awareness and facilitate the move to a more environmentally friendly Greek community.  Greeks Go Green will distribute information to the Greek community on ways to become more sustainable, as well as assist in getting all Greek houses recycling programs.  Above all, Greeks Go Green wants to set an example for the campus as a whole.
Contact Person: Skyler Roeshot (sroeshot@indiana.edu)

GPSO: Graduate Professional Student Organization | Back to Top

Mission: The fundamental mission of the Indiana University Graduate and Professional Student Organization (GPSO) is to serve and advocate for the interests of graduate and professional students on the Bloomington campus. Having gained formal recognition as the government of the graduate and professional students at IUB, the GPSO functions as a united voice to express the concerns of this population to the administration, student body, and Bloomington community.
Contact Person: Scott Nissen (snissen@indiana.edu)
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2263893900&ref=search&sid=1363320088.173747722..1
Website: http://www.indiana.edu/~gpso/

INPIRG: Indiana Public Interest Research Group | Back to Top

Throughout the 1970s, and now since 1997, students who have been involved with their INPIRG campus chapter have not only learned how to investigate a problem and come up with a practical solution. We've also learned how to convince the media and decision-makers to pay attention and take action.  In other words, through INPIRG we gain an educational experience in democratic citizenship. In addition, we get a chance to face up to society's big problems, take action, and win concrete changes that improve the quality of our lives.
General Email: info@inpirg.org
Website: https://www.inpirg.org/iu

IUSA: IU Student Association | Back to Top

Mission: The IU Student Association is a congregation of Indiana University students that work to protect student rights, enrich student life, and improve Indiana University. Students join together to voice common concerns, hopes, grievances, and most importantly, to take action to realize an even stronger University.
IUSA Sustainability Representatives: Skylar Edwards, Ian Kaelble, Drew Morales, Alex Luboff, Matt Edwards

Net Impact Undergraduate: The Sustainable Business Club | Back to Top

Mission: Net Impact Undergrad is an exciting new program started in 2007 through a pilot program with 24 undergraduate programs. A recent Net Impact survey demonstrated a large demand in undergraduate business schools for sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. With more than 10,000 members in six continents, Net Impact is a rapidly growly organization that mirrors the growth of these issues in the corporate world.
Net Impact's membership has traditionally focused on MBAs, graduate students, and young professionals who wish to leverage their influence for the benefit of society, the economy, and the environment. Due to the huge success of the undergraduate pilot program, the organization created Net Impact Undergrad.
The Kelley School of Business's Environmental Business Club (EBC) became a chapter in October 2008 due to common goals shared with Net Impact around issues of sustainability and CSR in the corporate world. The EBC saw the organization as a way to leverage their initiatives on a international level with the strong network and exhaustive resources that Net Impact provides.
General Email: envbus@indiana.edu
Website: http://www.kelley.iu.edu/ebc/index.asp

RHA: Residence Halls Association | Back to Top

Mission: Indiana's Residence Halls Association is committed to developing and maintaining a safe, respectful and productive student environment, and to empowering this community of students and protect its interests while contributing to the greater community of IU and beyond. To do this, RHA provides leadership opportunities, programs and social interaction in an academic environment, is an active channel of communication that creates proactive solutions while effectively representing our residents to the university, and exposes the student community to diverse, new ideas and experiences in order to improve and preserve residents’ quality of life. This includes environmentalist and sustainability-themed goals and initiatives.
General Email: rha@indiana.edu, rhaenvi@indiana.edu
Contact Person: Aarthi Devanathan (adevanat@indiana.edu)
Website: http://rha.indiana.edu

SPROUTS: Students Producing Organics Under the Sun | Back to Top

Mission: SPROUTS' mission is to bring IU students and other Bloomington residents together to learn about the process of organic food production. Whether your dream is to grow modest amounts of non-toxic food for your own table, or larger amounts for local, regional, or national distribution, our sustainable student organization will help you achieve it. In this way, we are the change we wish to see and, we cultivate the land to cultivate ourselves and each other.
Contact Person: Benji Fraser
Email: SPROUTS@indiana.edu
Website: https://www.indiana.edu/~sustain/Clearinghouse/Students_Producing_Organics_under_the_Sun_(SPROUTS).html

SDA: The Sustainable Development Association | Back to Top

Mission: The Sustainable Development Association aims to serve as a resource for prospective students navigating the sustainable development concentration at IU's School of Public and Environmental Affairs (SPEA), inform concentration members about career opportunities and field expansion, connect the SPEA community with other sustainability efforts on campus and in Bloomington, and create a forum for discussing policy in the field of sustainable development.
Contact Person: Lauren Gerscbach
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=105068978918

ViS: Volunteers in Sustainability | Back to Top

IU Volunteers in Sustainability is an umbrella organization, coordinating environmentally oriented volunteer activities on the IU campus and facilitating communication between student and community environmental groups. The groups below are involved in sustainability efforts on campus and in the community. This information is provided to help foster communication and collaboration between organizations. We encourage interested individuals to contact these organizations directly.
General Email: vsustain@indiana.edu
Contact Person: Nathan Bower-Bir (nbowerbi@indiana.edu)

 

Get Involved | Back to Top

To join the SSC, please contact our Logistics Chair, Nathan Bower-Bir, at nbowerbi@indiana.edu.