The Eastern University Sustainable Peace Initiative: A Case Study in Environmental Education Oxford Round Table, Harris Manchester & Brasenose Colleges of Oxford University July 22-25, 2015 Oxford, England SHERRIE STEINER ASSISTANT PROFESSOR SOCIOLOGY DEPARTMENT INDIANA UNIVERSITY, PURDUE UNIVERSITY FORT WAYNE COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES

Evangelical Diversity “To the degree that these charges validly describe the evangelical tradition, then it would seem that ‘evangelical environmentalism’ is an idea that is akin to a white supremacist group hosting a luncheon to promote racial diversity.” J.A. Simmons “Evangelical Environmentalism: Oxymoron or Opportunity?” Worldviews 13 (2009), 41.

Between Evangelical Issue Attention Cycles Source: Sabrina Danielsen, “Fracturing Over Creation Care? Shifting Environmental Beliefs Among Evangelicals, ,” Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 52, 1, to 2003 Percentage of evangelical elite articles with environment as key word evangelical student activism

Theoretical Framework  Social Movement Models in Higher Education  Social movement as pedagogical space  University as terrain of contestation  Social Movement Learning  Social Experience  Material Conditions  Sociomaterial Learning and non-human agency

The Research Questions 1. What are the origins and characteristics of the Sustainable Peace Initiative? 2. In what ways, if any, does the SPI case demonstrate sociomaterial learning that involved critical engagement with power inequalities and exclusion?

“Awkward Social Movement” Timeframe: Fall Fall 2003  Eastern University St Davids Campus  Philadelphia, PA  Primarily undergraduate & residential  About 1,500 students  Primarily middle-class white people

Methods and Data  Single case design  Autoethnographic methodology  Secondary Analysis of newspaper accounts and primary analysis of accounts by movement members

 In 2001, the visible signs of environmental stewardship at Eastern University were a set of broken solar panels, some recycling bins on campus that were no longer being processed, application for funds to clean up a campus pond covered in floating algae, and a few academic offerings related to environmental stewardship.  By 2003, 37% of the main campus’ electricity came from wind farms, they won second place in a statewide competition for recycling 3.59 tons of materials, and they were awarded two 2003 Governor’s Awards for Environmental Excellence in Environmental Education and Watershed Management.  By 2009, the university had committed to multi-year contracts for 100% wind energy supply for the main campus and they had installed a 56 kilowatt solar system to the roof of their Eagle Learning Center Governor’s Award for Environmental Excellence

Sustainable Peacemaking Source: Ishihara Nobuteru, “Financial Support Program for the International Deployment of Low-Carbon Technologies.”

Five Initial Strategies  Rush to Recycle Campaign  SPEAK Fair Trade/Organic/Shade Grown Coffee Campaign  Keep the Lights on for the Children Project  The Rural Malawi Project  The Wind Energy Campaign Outcomes Yes No Somewhat Yes

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Movement Origins and Characteristics  Evangelical cultural support and collaboration  Administrative liaison  Student Government Association  Several clubs  Political opportunity structure  External organizations  Community Energy Inc.  Green Fund Network and Thoroughbred Technologies  PCIEP – national leader attention  News coverage

Sociomaterial Movement Learning  Storytelling involving critical engagement with power inequalities and exclusion  Not every story generated student activism  Only the story with sociomaterial movement learning generated activism  Non-human actants  Sense & embodied experience  Constitutive, not supplemental

Conclusion and Future Research  Progress on climate change policy remains an intransigent environmental issue  This case study was as unlikely as it was awkward  Social transformation cannot be fully explained without attention to how sociomaterial learning shapes activism  Future studies would benefit from adapting a more holistic approach that incorporates how nonhuman agency shapes social movement learning