PSU "Green" Initiative Off to Promising Start

By Winnie Fooslager

University Park, PA-- Until recently, maintaining a green lifestyle in the world of academia has been considered all but impossible by many students. However, Trey Mogus (junior - Marketing) has found an approach that might be feasible, and with the necessary funding his plan could be implemented campus-wide by 2011.

     Proponents of green living advocate minimizing the use of the Earth's natural resources by society and individuals by reducing their carbon footprint, typically by altering methods of transportation, energy consumption, and thinking.

Trey Mogus says he is committed to his new, greener lifestyle, "even if it isn't always easy."

     Mogus explained his approach in an exclusive interview with the State Stump. "As a freshman or sophomore business major, I was attending class maybe 5 hours on a good week and still passing, this was a soy cake walk, no pun intended. However, I secretly asked myself how much I was really learning. I didn't want to sacrifice not attending class when I could be out having an eco-friendly good time."

     So why not make it green? Under the green initative, all PSU business majors will have to attend class only 5 hours per week during their freshman and sophomore years, with a max of 15 hours per week during their senior year. All additional coursework can be completed on-line or using the "just show up and pass the exam" method.

     Initial comments by University President Graham Spanier seemed favorable. "PSU is all about the students and achieving a quality education. We are on the frontier of carbon-friendly research and this will provide a perfect synergy to our philosophy that will be introduced next year: less education is more education."

     The new program will be rolled out to a pilot group of Smeal students starting in the 2009-2010 academic year, though many students have already adopted the principles of the initiative despite not being formally involved. After the conclusion of the pilot, the program will be evaluated for a full-scale rollout in 2010-2011.