Seniors Pledge a Responsible Future

Seniors Pledge a Responsible Future

More than 170 graduating seniors will don green ribbons during Fordham's 158th Commencement on May 17 to symbolize their commitment to social and environmental issues.

The ribbons symbolize the Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility, which many students signed during the spring semester and which reads, in part, “I pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any organizations for which I work.”

According to graduating senior Liam Strain, an environmental studies student and Fordham’s pledge organizer, “The pledge is a reminder to students of the ethical implications that come with the knowledge and training they received at Fordham. It is an outward expression of the Jesuit philosophy of men and women for others.”

Graduating seniors determine how they will hold true to their individual promises. For some, the pledge might mean searching for jobs only among companies with impeccable environmental records; for others, it might involve carefully considering a specific employer's many business practices. Still others may choose to try and improve, from within, the ethical and moral practices of their employer.

Students in Fordham's Environmental Studies Program, now in its second year, are leading the effort with the assistance of Fordham’s community service program and other members of the faculty and administration, according to John van Buren, Ph.D., associate professor of philosophy and director of the Environmental Studies program. As a result of such efforts, many students signed the pledge during the Graduation Salute in April.

The pledge originated in 1988 at Humboldt State University in California. It has picked up considerable momentum since 1996, when Indiana’s Manchester College created the Graduation Pledge Alliance to coordinate and promote the effort. As a result of Manchester’s leadership, the pledge has become an international effort; last year, more than 100 campuses—including seven of the eight Ivy League institutions—have supported it.

More information on the Graduation Pledge Alliance may be found at www.manchester.edu/academic/programs/departments/peace_studies/files/gpa.html. The Fordham Environmental Studies Program Web-site is located at www.fordham.edu/es/.

—Ryan Thompson