In 2019, the legitimate representatives of faculty and students at Appalachian State University unanimously urged the Chancellor to publicly declare that our university will be a national climate leader and that we will commit to climate neutrality by 2035 at the latest. Although the university administration has initiated some promising steps in this direction, we have waited in vain for the Chancellor to make these critical public commitments. Failing to embrace this public leadership role is not only a betrayal of our distinction as a beacon of sustainability, it also continues App State’s pattern of signing commitments while evading meaningful action to actually achieve them.

We therefore write one final time with the following requests: 

1. That Chancellor Everts publicly and explicitly respond to the SGA Climate Neutrality Bill and Faculty Senate Climate Neutrality Bill.
2. That Chancellor Everts publicly and explicitly commit to adhering to the most ambitious options outlined in the Office of Sustainability’s new Climate Action Plan. This must be accompanied with measures for accountability and enforcement of each initiative.

If the Chancellor continues to refuse to make a bold and inspiring commitment to establishing App State as a leader in climate action, we will have no choice but to interpret her inaction as disregard for the principles of shared governance, the future well-being of our students, and the stated mission of the university which includes equipping students to create healthy, just, and sustainable societies. Our school seal reads, “Esse quam videri,” translating to “to be rather than to seem.” The university must be a climate leader, and project that leadership broadly, rather than hiding behind toothless commitments and ineffectual, incremental solutions.    

Signed,

The Appalachian Climate Action Collaborative and friends; as follows: