Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility

Posted by on November 19, 2012

GRADUATION PLEDGE ALLIANCE

http://www.graduationpledge.org

2012 marks the 25th anniversary of the Pledge!

The Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility:

“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.”

2012 marks a Graduation Pledge Alliance milestone. To celebrate, we are:

• Challenging campus organizers to submit their best “Pledgucation” events held as part of their Pledge programming during the Spring of 2013,

• Asking for your best creative ideas on how you are planning to “Spread the Pledge” to involve more schools in your region.

Campus organizers will have their events and ideas featured in Graduation Pledge Alliance press releases, magazine articles, social media postings, and more!

Please help us spread the word in order to make 2013 the best year ever for the Graduation Pledge Alliance.

Background and Development of the Pledge:

The Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility was established in 1987 at Humboldt State University in California by socially and environmentally committed students who were graduating and moving into the workplace.  These students had been active in social and environmental responsibility activities and were determined to ensure that this commitment continued as they moved through their lives.

The Pledge has always been a student led program. Individual students define for themselves what it means to be socially and environmentally responsible, and pledge to continue beyond their academic careers.

Students at a hundred colleges and universities (and some high schools) are using the Pledge at some level. The schools involved include liberal arts colleges (e.g. Bates and Grinnell); state universities (such as Colorado and Florida); private research universities (including Stanford and George Washington University); and schools outside the U.S. (e.g., Taiwan and Canada). The Pledge also has been used at professional schools.

The Pledge has taken different forms at different institutions. For example, at Manchester College (Indiana), students sign and keep a wallet-size card stating the Pledge, the Pledge is printed in the formal commencement program, and students and supportive faculty wear green ribbons at commencement (At a few schools, a different color ribbon is used.). At Bentley University (Massachusetts) the Pledge is a “capstone” of its four-year Civic Leadership Program. At Humboldt State (California), the student government funds a Student Pledge Coordinator internship.

The Results:

Graduates who voluntarily signed the Pledge have sought out employment reflecting their values and visions, turned down jobs with which they did not feel comfortable, and worked to make social and environmental changes once on the job. There are many examples including:

• Promoting recycling at their organization,

• Removing racist language from a training manual,

• Working for gender parity in high school athletics,

• Convincing an employer to refuse a chemical weapons-related contract.

The Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental Responsibility operates at three levels:

• students and graduates make choices about their employment and schools

• schools educate about values and citizenship, not just knowledge and skills

• workplaces and society become concerned about more than just the bottom line

The Graduation Pledge Alliance is currently hosted by The Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility (http://www.bentley.edu/centers/alliance) at Bentley University, and is guided by the Graduation Pledge Alliance Executive Committee.

If only a small minority of the millions of college graduates each year sign and live out the Pledge, the impact can be immense.  Please send us your “Pledgucation” and activities planned for your school, and any efforts to reach out to other schools.

Graduation Pledge Alliance has a web site for campus organizers and Pledge signers:

http:// www.graduationpledge.org

PLEASE KEEP US INFORMED OF ANY PLEDGE EFFORTS YOU ARE EVEN CONSIDERING TO UNDERTAKE, AS WE TRY TO MONITOR WHAT IS HAPPENING, AND PROVIDE LOCAL CAMPUS CHAPTERS WITH PERIODIC UPDATES ON THE NATIONAL EFFORT (SUCH AS HINTS ON HAVING A SUCCESSFUL CAMPUS CAMPAIGN).

Contact GPA@Bentley.edu for further information, questions, or comments.