Campus Revolution/ Briefing

[Ned Phillips-Jones]

Hello Allies,
I wanted to update you on a recent development in our initiative to promote
Ecological Design as a method for transforming the campus and culture of
our school.
This morning I met with Sig Roos, the former Chair of the Board of Trustees
of Hampshire. The purpose of the meeting was to use Sig as a sounding board
for the proposal we've been working on which advocates for a total rethink
of campus land use, replacing mowing with productive systems, etc...

During a meeting with Sig I began to feel that the most intelligent way for
us to proceed with our advocacy efforts is for us to make a personal appeal
to Jon Lash. Sig suggested he's actually a somewhat shy person who will
support our non-controvercial proposal, but that forging a relationship
with him BEFORE documenting broad student/alumni support for the idea is
the smartest path forward.

So the idea for the process ahead has now become more of  a "soft sell"
that gives Jon Lash a chance to hear our ideas, consider them  and buy into
them personally, before being overwhelmed by the support of hundreds of
current/former students. Once he's on board, we can document support for
the ideas that he's already bought into (we're assured he will become
excited about these transformative ideas), which will be a more effective
way to work with this important stakeholder. Since the proposal advocates
for a  a multi-year process, it's a good idea to make sure set a friendly,
collaborative tone with perhaps our biggest collaborator, the
administration, especially considering the specific personality of our
president.

So I'm still working to incorporate edits for our proposal, which will go
to Jonathan Lash before meeting with him in January. As per Sig's
recommendation, I'm planning to have a personal meeting with J Lash,
hopefully with carbon farming advocate Eric Toensmeier (fresh from Paris
Climate talks) or one other advocate. The goal for the meeting is to share
our beautiful vision for a transformation at Hampshire that reflects global
realities and will showcase to the school's innovative approach to
democratic land use. So, unlike what I was saying during the Eco Mixer a
couple nights ago, right now we're going to hold off on the gathering of
student signatures of support for the proposal. Instead we're making real
progress in bringing the administration into this conversation in ways they
will feel good about.

*I'm worried that I may now be seen as rebel scum who is in cahoots with
the administration.... I can assure you I remain loyal to the student
population!* It just now seems pretty clear to me that the most effective
way forward is to work with the personalities involved, and J Lash is going
to be much more receptive to the ideas in the way I'm now planning to
present them...based on what his friend Sig Roos says.

Don't hesitate to get in touch if you have input / ideas! Attached is a
ROUGH draft of proposal.

Forward!

Happy Solstice,
Ned
978 505 5152


Greater than the power of mighty armies is the force of an idea whose time
has come.
-Victor Hugo
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.hampshire.edu/pipermail/newleaf/attachments/20151213/cb2a057e/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: ProposalforSpace2.5.docx
Type: application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document
Size: 134584 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <https://lists.hampshire.edu/pipermail/newleaf/attachments/20151213/cb2a057e/attachment-0001.docx>