A new environment for change

After years of working to promote social change in the
institutions around it, the group formerly known as the
Environmental Coalition is going through some changes itself,
including today’s reopening of its Kerckhoff Hall office as
the Sustainable Resource Center.

The center, which already acts as a lending library for written
materials related to environmental and social justice issues, plans
to add select films for lending and a computer for public use.

“I want the SRC to be a place where people can come and
use the library … and meet other students interested in the same
issues,” said Nurit Katz, director of the center.

The group’s Web site has also received a face-lift. The
new site is a comprehensive resource, relaying information about
environmental and sustainability campaigns and resources, as well
as a calendar that includes events for all related groups on
campus.

“I wanted to foster some communication and collaboration
between all these student groups,” Katz said.

Social Justice Alliance Coordinator Christina Kaoh said she used
the site to publicize her group’s events and check for the
events of other groups on campus, adding that it was an effective
tool.

Under its original name, the center was made up of a mix of
graduate and undergraduate students. It was a grassroots
environmentalist organization operating with funds from the
Graduate Students Association.

However, graduate students in the group lacked the time and
resources necessary for weekly meetings and major campaigns. They
slowly dropped out of the group, leaving undergraduate members with
a sizeable majority.

Eventually, these undergraduates broke away from the group to
create the Social Justice Alliance, which better reflected the
focus of their efforts.

Actions by the alliance include the ultimately successful
campaign to remove Taco Bell from campus last year in response to
alleged unfair labor practices and the ongoing “Food, Not
Bombs” program, which takes leftover food from the Westwood
Farmers’ Market and serves it to the homeless of Santa
Monica.

Despite this internal split from graduate students, the Social
Justice Alliance continued to receive funds from GSA until this
year, when the alliance was told that, because it was a group of
undergraduates, it needed to seek funding elsewhere, Katz said.

“They needed to have their group acknowledged as a
separate group,” Katz said.

However, the two groups will not be completely isolated from one
another. Two members of the alliance, including Kaoh, have been
hired as office administrators at the center, helping visitors
acquire information.

For programs relevant to graduate students, the alliance has
been given the option of applying for GSA funding indirectly
through the center or by asking to co-sponsorship of the event.

“The SJA is going to have more difficulty doing the things
they want to do,” said Nathan Lam, former Environmental
Coalition office administrator, referring to the additional steps
that must be taken to receive funding.

Though the funding process for the alliance may now become more
complicated, members said they do not feel it will be difficult to
find sources of funding meant for undergraduate organizations.

“I think it’s a positive (change), in that we can
officially be called the SJA, and that is what we’re working
on,” Kaoh said.

In the past, Environmental Coalition funding went toward
conferences, Earth Day events and the well-attended Sustainable
Lecture Series, which brought experts to campus to speak about
“sustainable practices on campus and in the community,”
according to the Graduate Student Resource Center Web site.