Brown University Students Propose Sustainability Certificate

One afternoon in April, in yet another meeting of the Brown Renewable Energy and Sustainability Society (BRESS), Naemi Ditiatkovsky sat in a stuffy classroom with a handful of other students engaged in a discussion about how to make Brown University more active in its sustainability practices. This was the same discussion they’d been having for weeks and that other students at Brown had been carrying on for years. An hour passed and the conversation felt fruitless, as it had many times before. 

Ditiatkovsky, a sophomore at Brown, remembers that someone suggested that more clubs be created that support and investigate sustainability at Brown. Someone else argued that only students already interested in the environment would join those clubs. BRESS’ goal was to engage the widest section of the student body possible.

That’s when the idea came to them. “We thought that sustainability shouldn’t only be seen as a discipline but instead as a lens that we can apply to other disciplines,” Ditiatkovsky says. 

The club’s proposed Sustainability Certificate, they say, would mean that Brown students in any concentration would be able to gain recognition for taking a certain amount of courses related to sustainability. The goal would be for students from various disciplines to recognize the application of sustainability in their fields of study and go out into the broader world with a greater awareness of their relation to environmental issues.

“The question is, how do we get people from many different fields working together?” 

Ditiatkovsky wants to involve not just students in the environmental sciences but policy makers, [other] scientists, and engineers.

“It’s hard because you’re in two totally different realms with totally different sets of expectations,” Brown says “You’re trying to be the best you can with people totally focusing on one or the other thing.”

Brown believes that with the addition of a certificate in sustainability, students will feel less pressure to reach the “lofty goals” of a double concentration and will instead be able to shoot for a more reasonable course load. This is especially true when it comes to the environmental science concentration as It has more requirements than most other concentrations at the school.

Cameron Leo, an sophomore English concentrator who has taken a couple environmental science courses and was considering a double concentration, agrees that the lack of minors at Brown is difficult for a student body that is largely interdisciplinary.

“I feel like the certificate is the closest thing we have to minors, and if I could minor in something, I 100% would,” Leo says.

However, Ditiatkovsky says the process of getting the university to add a certificate to those already existing is neither simple nor quick.

Ditiatkovsky and her partner on the project, Ariana Turner, say they’ve spent many hours sitting in the office of Stephen Porder, Assistant Provost for Sustainability, talking with him about the intricacies of what the sustainability certificate might look like. Porder’s support for the effort is critical; Turner and Ditiatkovsky need him to advocate for them higher up in the Brown administration. 

However, after speaking with Porder myself, it seems that his focus is placed somewhat elsewhere when it comes to sustainability on campus. As someone who majored in history but now is a professor of biology, Porder thinks that students place too much emphasis on official academic recognition from the school. 

“My own personal philosophy as a professor and as a person is that I don’t really think it matters that much what you get a certificate in,” Porder says. “Nor do I think it matters that much what you major in. It matters what courses you’ve taken and what skills you bring to the next thing you do.”

According to Porder, more students than ever are showing interest in sustainability and environmental science. The Institute at Brown for Environment and Society (IBES) has shown immense growth in its involvement and resources since its founding a decade ago. However, Porder doesn’t believe that a certificate will definitely be the right way to address this growth in interest.

“A certificate is most work intensive for students, most research intensive for the university, and will touch the fewest people,” Porder says. “Only people who are really into it will do it.”

Instead, Porder thinks that the university should begin by creating resources for professors who want to incorporate sustainability into their courses. This might be the most wide-reaching approach to make the study of sustainability academically accessible.

“What you’re learning in college is a depth of thinking and a way of analyzing the world,” Porder says. “What you go on to do with that can be pretty much anything.”

Still, while Porder thinks that there are more practical options than a certificate, he is more than happy to advocate for its creation.

Even with Porder’s support, Brown’s administration has proven difficult to work with efficiently, club members say. Ditiatkovsky believes this is largely because Brown’s open curriculum grants departments so much independence.

“The faculty all run pretty separate from each other and are kind of doing their own thing,” Ditiatkovsky says. “A lot of faculty want similar things having to do with sustainability, but they’re all disconnected from each other. So one of our biggest challenges is trying to connect all those people.”

Ditiatkovsky also blames the time-consuming process on the sheer number of administrative steps involved, most of which include the approval of different councils made up of different groups of faculty and students. For final approval, the certificate has to get approved by the College Curriculum Council, which is made up of faculty, administration, and students. The council’s website provides a six page document that outlines the proposal process for certificates and the guidelines that any proposal must follow. According to the document, Brown’s certificates aim to provide “structure with flexibility,” “integrity to the open curriculum,” “long-term sustainability,” and “equity and access.” This list of criteria ensures that all proposed certificates are carefully crafted multi-faceted.

The sustainability certificate will mean the creation of new courses, which cost money. While courses on sustainability already exist within the Brown curriculum, Ditiatkovsky expects that new courses would need to address the topic through an interdisciplinary approach. In order for any certificate to be approved, it must be accompanied by a new course tailored to its focus.

The university needs to decide whether or not to allocate the funds to support this lengthy process and all of the research it would entail. This is the ultimate question that must be decided on through a lengthy discussion process at the multiple levels of administration.

“As I just said to the undergrads who are on the committee, ‘Now you know how slow things are.’” Porder says with a chuckle.

It’s not the first time that this certificate has been proposed. A few years ago a separate group of students worked on a similar concept. According to Ditiatkovsky, the sustainability provost didn’t give it much consideration. Now, with a new administration in charge, students say they’re feeling more hopeful about the success of the certificate. 

In fact, the administration has told BRESS that it might be possible for the class of 2025 to be the first that could receive the certificate. In an effort to speed the process, BRESS sent out a survey to all undergraduates to gauge interest in the potential certificate. So far, about 130 students have responded positively. According to Ditiatkovsky, these numbers are important in getting the administration’s continued attention because at the end of the day the school serves the students.

“The faculty we’ve been in contact with have been very receptive to our feedback,” Dititikovsky says. “A lot of the time we forget the university is running for the students and that any changes that students legitimately want in the curriculum with enough feedback or support are valid. At the end of the day, we’re the students engaging with the content.”

While Porder is skeptical about how soon the Sustainability Certificate will be created, he agrees that it currently seems like more of a when than an if. What he’s sure of though, is that each year will see an increase in sustainability resources available to students. At least under his watch.

“I personally am on a mission to make sure no student leaves Brown without an understanding of the challenges we face in this arena over the coming decades,” Porder says.