Support Carbon Pricing as a Solution to Climate Change, Say College and University Presidents

May 17, 2017

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A number of ACE member presidents are among the leaders from higher education institutions across the country supporting a student-driven effort to endorse carbon pricing to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change.

The leadership circle of the higher education carbon pricing initiative released a letter May 8 calling on state and federal lawmakers to work proactively to enact a carbon price at the state and federal level.

“As leaders of higher education institutions, we call upon our elected representatives to act collectively on behalf of current and future generations by putting a price on carbon,” the letter reads. “We work to prepare our students for thriving futures, over which climate change casts a dark shadow of uncertainty. Putting a price on carbon pollution is an indispensable step we can take to effectively combat climate change.”

The Higher Education Carbon Pricing Endorsement Initiative is led by Our Climate, a youth-led organization dedicated to empowering the next generation of climate leaders. Our Climate co-leads the #PutAPriceOnIt campaign with the National Geographic documentary series Years of Living Dangerously, and partners with Citizens’ Climate Education to recruit, train and support student leaders across the country to advocate for carbon pricing.

For more information about the Higher Education Carbon Pricing Endorsement Initiative, visit ourclimate.us/higher_ed_initiative.

To join the list of college and university presidents endorsing carbon pricing, please contact Page Atcheson, executive director of Our Climate, at page@ourclimate.us.

At a Glance

Higher Education Carbon Pricing Endorsement Initiative Leadership Circle

  • Leon Botstein, Bard College (NY)
  • Robert Goldberg, Barnard College (NY)
  • Mariko Silver, Bennington College (VT)
  • Dianne Harrison, California State University Northridge
  • Gayle E. Hutchinson, California State University Chico
  • Robert S. Nelsen, California State University Sacramento
  • Greg P. Smith, Central Community College Nebraska
  • David Finegold, Chatham University (PA)
  • Brian W. Casey, Colgate University (NY)
  • Katherine Bergeron, Connecticut College
  • Neil Weissman, Dickinson College (PA)
  • Lee Pelton, Emerson College (MA)
  • Marco Valera, Fordham University (NY)
  • Daniel R. Porterfield, Franklin and Marshall College (PA)
  • Robert Allen, Green Mountain College (VA)
  • Kim Benston, Haverford College (PA)
  • Lewis E. Thayne, Lebanon Valley College (PA)
  • Jo Ann Rooney, Loyola University Chicago
  • Brian Rosenberg, Macalester College (MN)
  • Sonya Stephens, Mount Holyoke College (MA)
  • John I. Williams, Jr., Muhlenberg College (PA)
  • Melvin Oliver, Pitzer College (CA)
  • David Oxtoby, Pomona College (CA)
  • Wim Wiewel, Portland State University
  • Thomas J. Schwarz, Purchase College, SUNY
  • Kathleen McCartney, Smith College (MA)
  • Valerie Smith, Swarthmore College (PA)
  • Melik Peter Khoury, Unity College (ME)
  • Nicholas B. Dirks, University of California Berkeley
  • Andrew J. Leavitt, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
  • Jon Chenette, Vassar College (NY)
  • Paula A. Johnson, Wellesley College (MA)
  • Michael S. Roth, Wesleyan University (CT)

Become a member: As a member of ACE, you join nearly 1,800 organizations that collectively promote, protect and advocate for students, faculty and administrators in higher education. ACE is the most visible and influential higher education association in the nation, and we are at the center of federal policy debates concerning legislation that affects campuses across the country. See more on the ACE website.


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