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This is the WFHB Local News for Monday, February 28th, 2022.
Later in the program, WFHB Correspondent Zyro Roze speaks with Emily Hamilton – a senior research fellow and Director of the Urbainity Project at George Mason University – about affordable housing. More in today’s feature report.
Also coming up in the next half hour, WFHB Correspondent Nathaniel Weinzapfel reports on environmental groups’ meeting with IU President Pamela Whitten to discuss environmental goals for the university. But first, your daily headlines:
Monroe County Personnel Administration Committee
The Monroe County Personnel Administration Committee met briefly on February 21st to discuss how the committee will proceed when meetings return in-person.
Council Administrator Kim Shell explained what the guidelines are for when the meetings resume in the building.
Council member Marty Hawke stated her preference for the committee meetings to be held at noon while staff members are already at work.
The committee approved the electronic attendance policy for public meetings. The next Personnel Administration Committee will be held next month.
Bloomington Redevelopment Commission
The Bloomington Redevelopment Commission discussed the development of IU Health Bloomington Legacy Hospital Site at the February 21st meeting.
Project Manager Deb Kunce gave an update on the site’s redevelopment.
The redevelopment process is ongoing. The commission agreed to discuss more updates in the future. The next meeting will be held on March 7th.
Environmental Groups Meet with IU President Pamela Whitten
Nathaniel Weinzapfel
A new development has risen in the story WFHB has been following concerning the Sunrise Movement of Bloomington, which has been insisting that the IU Foundation divest from fossil fuels and reinvest into sustainable energy. Along with the IU Student Government and the Students for a Green New World, Sunrise met with IU President Pamela Whitten and IU Foundation President JT Forbes on February 9th to discuss their goals.
The meeting began with students, members and supporters of the numerous organizations involved taking turns discussing the importance of sustainability on campus, the need to become carbon neutral, and the overall desire for a climate action plan. IU President Pamela Whitten announced during the meeting that she was assigning Tom Morrison, the Vice President of Capital Planning and Facilities, to lead a, “planning group for our action plan.” However, there were no strong details provided, and the only commitments made were to smaller changes such as driving electric cars. President Whitten did not mention who would be members of the planning group and there was no set timeline provided for the group to work towards. This left many students feeling frustrated as they saw no formal commitment to the development of an aggressive and long-term climate action plan.
The Students for a Green New World organization was disappointed by the university’s response, as they see a long-term climate action plan as the only step forward with a chance of success. The organization also stated that the administrators during the meeting spent, “much of their time questioning student commitment, praising IU’s previous climate action, and avoiding or redirecting students’ questions. Members of the Sunrise Movement of Bloomington were also disappointed. Another moment of the meeting involved Sunrise Bloomington,” asking IU Foundation President JT Forbes directly if there is an actual, tangible plan to divest from fossil fuels. His response was to falsely state that Sunrise Bloomington needed more collaboration between students, members of the public, and faculty before the IU Foundation considers divestment. This ignores the multiple resolutions passed since 2014 that have called for divestment, including a resolution in the IU Student Government that passed unanimously calling for IU to become carbon neutral by 2040.
The final blow to the hopes of the environmental organizations was when President Whitten allegedly emphasized that the individual responsibilities of students and faculty to be more environmentally friendly was more important than the university reducing their carbon emissions. President Whitten did not commit to any of the proposals by the environmental organizations. Students for a Green New World followed up the meeting by continuing their protests around campus, and insisting that a new meeting be conducted to perhaps reach a different conclusion with the commitment of the university to create and implement a climate action plan. For now, it seems the protests and the movement will have more work to do.
Feature Reports:
Up next, we have some recent prison-related news and announcements from the producers of Kite Line – our public affairs program devoted to prison issues in the Midwest and beyond. Kite Line airs each Friday at 5:30 p.m. on WFHB. The full program is available online.
In today’s feature report, WFHB Correspondent Zyro Roze of the Eco Media Center of Monroe County speaks with Emily Hamilton, senior research fellow and Director of the Urbanity Project at George Mason University. Roze asks our guest about a range of issues – mainly focusing on affordable housing. We turn to our host for Part I of an ongoing series on the WFHB Local News.
Credits:
You’ve been listening to the WFHB Local News,
Today’s headlines were written by Noelle Herhusky-Schneider, in partnership with Cats – Community Access Television Services.
Our feature was produced by Zyro Roze.
Kite Line is produced by Mia Beach.
Our theme music is provided by Mark Bingham and the Social Climbers.
Engineer and Executive producer is Kade Young.
