Environmental Management Committee

Constitution

 

Article I: Mission Statement

A.                 Wesleyan University's Environmental Management Committee (EMC) is collaboration between students, faculty, and the administration that is designed to manage environmental issues at Wesleyan. The goal of the EMC is to centralize environmental policy and practices, while allowing students and faculty to better address Wesleyan's environmental concerns.

 

Article II: Committee Structure

A.            Membership

1.      Each subcommittee must send one administrative representative and one non-administrative representative (student or faculty) to each meeting.

i.         Subcommittees should endeavor to ensure that the same two representatives attend each EMC meeting and attend all subcommittee meetings.

ii.       Representatives act as liaisons between EMC and their subcommittee.

iii.      In the case that no administrator or student is available to fill the role of administrative or non-administrative representative, the subcommittee should act to fill the position as quickly as possible.

2.      Additional subcommittee members and other interested people may attend EMC meetings.

B.                 Facilitation

1.      Facilitators should be selected on a rotating basis from all EMC committee members.

2.      The Facilitator is responsible for planning the meeting that s/he is to lead.

i.         The facilitator should book B2/B3 in South College for the agreed-upon meeting-time and attempt to secure another adequate meeting room if B2/B3 is unavailable.

ii.       The facilitator should compile a prototypal agenda for the meeting.

iii.      The facilitator should send a reminder e-mail to all EMC members including the prototypal agenda to get responses about the agenda and the meeting time and location.

3.      The facilitator is responsible for facilitating the meeting.

i.         The facilitator should ensure that the conversation during the meeting keeps on task, following the prepared agenda.

ii.       After the meeting, the facilitator should prepare a summary of the meeting and e-mail that summary to the members of the EMC.

4.      At the conclusion of the meeting, a new EMC member must volunteer to facilitate the subsequent meeting. Ideally, the position should rotate between administrators and non-administrators.

C.                 Meeting

1.      The EMC should meet every 3^rd Thursday from 4:15-5:15 PM.

2.      Meetings should occur in B2/B3 in South College.

 

Article III: Subcommittee Structure

A.                 Membership

1.      Subcommittee membership is open to all interested people including administrators, students, faculty, staff, administrative assistants, and Middletown residents.

2.      Subcommittees must contain at least one student and one administrator.

B.                 Subcommittees should convene to discuss pertinent issues once a month or more frequently if necessary.

C.                 EMC Subcommittees include Recycling and Purchasing, Facilities Planning and Energy, Grounds, Campus Dining, and Education.

D.                 Goals/Mission Statement

1.      All subcommittees should operate under the framework of a mission statement decided upon by the subcommittee members and EMC.

2.      Subcommittees should prepare an evolving document outlining their goals.

i.         This document should contain Long Term Goals intended to provide a framework of broad objectives into which shorter-term goals might fit.

ii.       Additionally, Intermediate Goals should be included, representing multiple-semester projects and feasible but distant initiatives.

iii.      Short Term Goals should be compiled to reflect the projects currently being addressed by the subcommittee.

a.                    Short Term Goals should have tentative completion dates, and should be prioritized.

b.                   Once a Short Term Goal is completed, the date of completion should be noted, the accomplishment recorded, and the priorities adjusted accordingly.

c.                    Meeting agendas should be based on the prioritized list of Short Term Goals and should revolve around the projects included in the document describing the subcommittee's goals.

 

Article IV: Web Page

A.                 The EMC web page should be maintained by EMC members when possible.

1.      Ideally, a non-administrator will work with an administrator on regular updates.

2.      When necessary, an outside webmaster may be contracted to update the page.

B.                 Web Page Content

1.      The web page should list the EMC Mission Statement and Constitution.

2.      The page should also contain links to Subcommittee pages, containing the lists of Subcommittee goals, mission statements, and contact information.

3.      The page should contain contact information for the Environmental and Recycling work-study positions and for E3 leaders.

 

Article V: Decision-Making

A.                 Subcommittee decision-making

1.      Subcommittees should attempt to resolve all issues through consensus.

2.      If consensus cannot be reached on an issue by a subcommittee, the subcommittee's representatives to EMC should bring the issue to the next meeting.

B.                 Committee decision-making

1.      The EMC should attempt to reach consensus in making final recommendations on all issues.

2.      If consensus cannot be reached by the EMC on an issue after two months, one member of the committee supporting each conflicting position will be sent to make a separate recommendation on the issue to the higher administrators.