Campus green group celebrates Earth Day

A new group calling itself the Green Campus Partnership held a symposium Monday to celebrate Earth Day and raise awareness of the University's impact on the environment.

"For a first event, I think we did a really good job," said Andrew Zitcer, cultural asset manager for Facilities and Real Estate Services.

Facilities spokesman Tony Sorrentino noted that about 40 people attended the symposium, which consisted of three 45-minute panels on campus land use, recycling and environmental activism.

"We wanted to do something that would introduce the group to the school," said Julia Taylor, who helped coordinate the event.

Taylor, a graduate student at the School of Design, said that panel discussions were very successful.

"I wish we had scheduled more time for the panels because for each panel I found myself completely engaged," Taylor said.

After the three panels, a farmer's market and live band were offered in University Square, but cold and wet weather caused some complications.

The Green Campus Partnership was created last fall with the purpose of raising campus awareness of environmental issues ranging from University recycling to construction materials to storm-water runoff.

"It's a team of faculty, administrators and students who are coming together to raise the level of dialogue on environmental and campus planning," Sorrentino said.

The Partnership consists of University staff, faculty members, undergraduate students and graduate students who meet once a week to discuss environmental issues. It is an umbrella group for all of Penn's student groups that are concerned about the environment.

"The idea is to create a group that can be useful for the entire University," Zitcer said. "[A group that] can be like a think tank and a go-to for a lot of groups concerned with the environment."

"We are integrating knowledge from faculty, students and staff to coordinate resources and build a platform for developing policies to advance the campus environment," said Omar Blaik, senior vice president of Facilities and Real Estate Services.

The group is already brainstorming events for the fall.

"We're thinking of doing a speaker series," Zitcer said. "We've invited people from our sister universities to come and participate."

Zitcer said that the Partnership hopes to become involved with academic courses in an attempt to reach out to the student body at large.

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