Vanderbilt the Possible
Imagining a Sustainable Campus
Community Engagement
We have a vision for Community Engagement at Vanderbilt that will create a way for students to be involved with the local community while also giving back to the environment.
Where
Mayfield Living/Learning Lodges
Where We Are
The Vanderbilt student environmental club (SPEAR) currently engages with the Nashville community through a number of activities and partnerships. These include running climate change activist trainings with high school students at The University School of Nashville, partnering with local non-profits to organize activities for the 350.org days of action, and service trash pick-ups in the Chestnut Hill neighborhood. In the fall of 2011, 24 Vanderbilt students and 26 Nashville community members shared a bus to attend the protest against the Keystone XL pipeline in Washington D.C. A proposal for A Center for Community Engagement has been tabled for the foreseeable future due to budget issues after sequestration.
Where We Are Going
We believe students should be engaging more with the Nashville community. There should be a requirement to take at least one class that has a community engagement component to graduate. Possible engagement projects include classes teaching courses at local Nashville schools on sustainability issues, helping out on the campus farm or local farms, and interning at the Nashville Mayor's Office of environmental sustainability.
Success Stories
Cal Berkeley
Berkley goes further than most schools in trying to create a difference in its local community. Berkley students help local Sacramento schools source sustainable fruit and Berkley provides alternative spring breaks on local farming and food production issues. Berkley also has a definite plan with yearly goals that allow the school to manage sustainability expectations.
Vanderbilt University
Here at Vanderbilt, Jim Fraser, a professor at Peabody, teaches a class called Sustainability and Justice in the City, which takes students out into the Nashville community to work on weatherizing low-income housing.
How To Get Involved
At Vanderbilt we have the Vanderbilt Garden Initiative (VGI). Members of the VGI tend the organic and sustainable Vanderbilt Community Garden. They invite Nashville students and community members to help with the garden and to benefit from its produce. Through education, they encourage community members to start their own community gardens.
Vanderbilt Student Volunteers for Science (VSVS) is a service organization at Vanderbilt University dedicated to science outreach and committed to bringing inquiry-based hands-on science lessons to middle school students.
