Letters: Take action on climate crisis with BOT votes; Bellefonte board could learn much at powwow

Take action on climate crisis with BOT votes

This week, the UN Secretary-General announced that “to avert climate catastrophe, the main emitters must drastically cut emissions starting this year.”

That timeline — 36 weeks — is overwhelming. So much so that it is tempting to just give up. But Penn Staters don’t have to feel helpless. Every Penn Stater has a special opportunity — right now — to take real action on the climate crisis: vote for Penn State Forward for the board of trustees.

Why? Penn State has a $4.6 billion endowment. It is one of the state’s largest employers, and it directs nearly a billion dollars of research each year. Just last week, a Penn State task force made ambitious recommendations to make the university carbon neutral by electrifying its vehicle fleet, expanding solar infrastructure, and developing new technologies.

Penn State can — and its faculty, students and community demand — that it play a bigger role in decarbonization across Pennsylvania, a state that is responsible for nearly 1% of global greenhouse gas emissions. With sufficient support, the technologies Penn State researchers develop can significantly impact global efforts toward clean energy. But in order to be successful, these efforts must have support at Penn State’s highest levels of governance. This is why climate action is a core priority of the Penn State Forward slate for the board of trustees election, made up of Edward Smith, Farnaz Farhi and myself.

All Penn State alumni can vote. Learn how at psuforward.org/vote. Polls close on May 5 at 9 a.m. EST.

Bellefonte board could learn much at powwow

Usually when some corporation goes through the process of rebranding, it’s to replace a negative image or reputation with a positive one. A recent move by the Bellefonte Area School Board suggests the board might actually want to dig in its heels and stand behind an image considered offensive by Native Americans.

One school board member, Jon Guizar, vice president of the board and chair of the branding committee, was quoted in this newspaper as saying: “We are who we are.” The job of the branding consultant “is to really uncover the truth.”

Guizar is one of four people who ran for school board in the last election on a campaign that included some racist dog whistles. He and his compatriots — Andrea Royer, Jeffrey Steiner and Jack Bechdel — may believe they don’t have a racist bone in their bodies but the rebranding survey really seems aimed at restoring an offensive nickname and image that even the Washington professional football team has discontinued using. If the Gang of Four — or any other Bellefonte High graduate — really wants to understand the problem with the nickname and the image, I suggest that they attend the Penn State Powwow on June 25-26. Talk to the participants, who will represent tribes from all across the nation. Learn about Indian values and cultures.

And don’t worry. They won’t try to scalp you.

Mixed messages on PSU finances

Recently Penn State announced it had exceeded its most recent $2 billion fundraising goal. Just a few days later it then also notified academic divisions to be ready for impending budget cuts. That’s an unfortunate mixed message.

How about cutting out unnecessary expenses such as paying over $4 million for the University Club (who was the other competing bidder)? How about giving a 10-year extension to a $7 million a year football coach whose winning record hovers just over 50% and despite scholarships and the transfer portal can’t get enough offensive linemen to have a full practice session? (Should we ask opposing coaches to just go easy on us?) How about the expense of tearing down the Oswald Liberal Arts tower (built in the 1970s) and erecting another building in its place?

Maybe PSU simply needs an open GoFundMe page to balance its budget. Oh wait, unless that generates over $2 billion, it may not be enough.