The Fairfield University Student Association hosted its first ever Sustainability Week beginning on Monday, March 22 and ended on Friday, March 26.
When FUSA President Vincent Gadioma ‘22 and Vice President Tobenna Ugwu ‘22 ran for office in Spring of 2020, they identified sustainability as a major part of their campaign platform. Coming into office, they identified three key ways they can tackle the issue of how to make Fairfield more sustainable.
The first of the three points is advocacy. To fulfill this, Gadioma and Ugwu have worked closely with the Campus and the Faculty Sustainability Committees to “ensure that the University has sustainability at the forefront of every major decision,” according to Ugwu in a statement to the Mirror.
Their second point was to “amplify the work and voice of students and groups on campus who are passionate about sustainability.” The last point aims to change campus climate around sustainability.
Sustainability Week combines all three of these points, but focuses mainly on changing the campus climate regarding sustainability.
“This week, we hosted both in-person and virtual events, and raffled off reusable water bottles to all of the attendees,” Ugwu said. “We worked in partnership with the Fairfield University Art Museum to host a bird drawing and painting competition, where students had the chance to draw birds that were local to the town of Fairfield, either from a catalog provided by FUAM [Fairfield University Art Museum] or by going outside to draw a bird in nature.”
Other events included a do-it-yourself bamboo plant event, a lecture on bird related conservation and a DIY reusable bag event.
Ugwu said they aimed to “engage students in a series of events that were not only sustainable, but also fun.”
Chair of FUSA’s Sustainability Committee and Associate Justice of the FUSA Court, Matt Little ‘22 echoed Ugwu about the importance of changing the campus climate when it comes to sustainability.
“Through the events, we hoped to increase engagement and awareness of the environment,” Little said. “The week may be over, but students can still engage with environmentally related ideas on campus.
Students looking to get involved with FUSA’s Sustainability Committee can email fusa.sustainability@gmail.com.
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