Student senators are looking to take an energy saving initiative that saved the university $70,000 over two days and extend it throughout the school year, they said.
On July 26 and 27th, the Con Edison Demand Response Event challenged The New School to reduce the amount of electricity being used in an attempt to save money. For four hours on those two days, the lights were turned off in unoccupied classrooms, the AC was reduced, and only two out of the several University Center elevators were in-service.
Considering the serious amount of money the university saved in just two days, University Student Senate trustee Nico Galván saw no reason why the school shouldn’t – and couldn’t – be implementing similar energy saving tactics similar to the ones that the challenge required round the clock.
“We need to use those energy saving practices regularly. So [the USS] called for daily use of that. In my mind there’s no reason why we can’t shut the lights off from like, 1 to 6:30 a.m. everyday,” Galván said.
Not long after the Con Ed challenge, Galván sat down and wrote a resolution on behalf of the USS, calling for a new initiative that would align with the school’s beliefs of environmental sustainability and also likely lead to further energy cost savings. The plan was presented to university president David Van Zandt on September 19 by USS co-chair and Lang senator Serengeti Timungwa. Student senators claim the initiative was well received and implementation is now in the works. The New School Free Press has contacted The New School for comment on this matter, but the institution was not immediately available.
The USS claims the initiative will take inspiration from Con Ed’s challenge, but it will not employ the exact same measures. One of the senate’s aims is to remain respectful of students’ needs.
“One of the stipulations is that we don’t do this during midterms and finals because obviously people are up all night during those periods…and we don’t want to impede on their work, on their academic work,” Timungwa said.
The senator also explained that the timeframes for cutting lights and reducing the AC ”would be late at night, maybe even Sunday nights, anything that doesn’t interfere too much but that’s bearable.” The elevator service cut will likely not be part of the university’s initiative as it could potentially delay students trying to get to their classes.
“At the end of the day this is a school and academics are number one.” Galván added.
The USS is now looking to band together a student task force that would be responsible for working closely with administration. Assistant Director of Sustainability Initiatives Erik Eibert would work closely with this group in regulating when the lights are turned off and more importantly where the money that is saved goes.
For Timungwa and Galván, they see the initiative as an ideal way to give underfunded departments the funds that the USS cannot provide.
“We’ve had issues with student workers coming to us and you know, wanting to go to conferences when it’s really the department for which they work for that should be funding them,”Timungwa said.
The senators see departments like Lang Dance and MFA Fine Arts being candidates for receiving money, both departments having come to the USS in the past for help, senators said.
As of now, the USS still plans to meet with Director Eibert to work out any potential obstacles, but Timungwa and Galván don’t foresee many challenges.
“It’s [the initiative] is completely in line with The New School’s values of sustainability, completely in line with the students’ beliefs,” Galván said.
Timungwa added that adopting the plan would be a no-brainer.
“It’s low hanging fruit,” Timungwa said.
Illo by Alex Gilbeaux