The University of Wisconsin-Madison lauds its self-proclaimed progressive tradition. UW's "Wisconsin Idea," set forth in 1904, holds that the boundaries of the university should be the boundaries of the state, and that the research conducted at UW should be applied to solve problems and improve health, quality of life, the environment, and agriculture for all citizens of the state. Our failure to sign the American College and University Presidents' Climate Commitment proposal proves hypocritical to a university with such lofty goals of progress. The Presidents' Climate Commitment, as mentioned in Tuesday's article by Cassie Kornblau, provides an excellent opportunity for UW-Madison to suit up in the ranks as a national forerunner in environmental university policy. The agreement pledges a real dedication to the unique responsibility that colleges and universities have to serve as role models for their communities and in training the people who will develop the social, economic and technological solutions to reverse global warming. The Commitment aims to obtain at least 200 presidents' signatures by June of 2007 and 1,000 by September of 2009, all of whom will commit to moving towards a climate neutral campus. Madison's opportunity to become a charter member is the chance to boldly voice our national leadership on global warming and hold true to our Wisconsin Idea. A list of signatures will be released on March 1st to over 4,000 higher education institutions. I urge Madison students, faculty, legislators, and citizens to demand UW-Madison and Chancellor Wiley to be among this elite group. Modeled after the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, the Presidents' Climate Commitment would require their signers to make consistent and substantial reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, ultimately leading to climate neutral campuses. While each approach is unique, UW-Madison has several ways in which to improve. While I applaud the university's efforts to conserve energy with its "We Conserve" program, key problems still exist. These include building inefficiencies such as overheating dorms to the point where students must open windows during winter, using non-biodegradable products such as Styrofoam in campus eateries, failure to switch from incandescent to compact fluorescent light bulbs campus-wide, no plan to phase out our coal power plants, and the fact that students are not fully aware of the environmental implications of their everyday actions. In addition, I ask as part of signing the Presidents' Climate Commitment the university commits to have all future campus buildings to be green (LEED certified). There are student efforts to make this campus sustainable. Currently WISPIRG's Big Red Go Green campaign is gathering support for the Presidents' Climate Commitment and the upcoming Midwest Student Clean Energy Conference March 2-4 in Madison promises to spur this movement. I urge students to join these efforts to convince UW-Madison to sign the Presidents' Climate Commitment. Joe Silberschmidt ([email protected])