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In any case, the inclusion of this question in the university reporting system is indicativeof a new trend in higher ed to assess campus progress in the march towardsustainatopia.

This professor saw confirmed what NAS has been describing: that “sustainability” has alot going on under the surface. Let’s hop over to California, where we’ll be able to seewhat universities really mean when they push this fashionable doctrine forward.

There’s a Lot More to Sustainability than the Environment

Faculty members at San Diego State University recently received an email from ProvostNancy Marlin asking them to “take a few minutes to respond to San Diego State's firstsurvey on faculty teaching and research related to sustainability.” 

The survey asks nine questions. The first is, “Do you teach sustainability focusedcourses?” Fine print under the question explains that these are “Courses in which

the primary content focuses on the Environment, Social Justice, Economic Equality,Human Health; Resource Management; Environmental Ethics, Economics or Law;Sustainable Tourism Management, Conservation and/or Preservation, Land UsePlanning and Development, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management.” 

While such subjects as the environment, ecosystem management, conservation, andresource management make immediate sense as names for stewardship of the earth, afew aren’t so obvious. Social justice, economic equality, economics, and law don’t seemto be specifically “sustainability focused” or fit with the environmental theme.

That’s because there’s a lot more to sustainability than just the environment. For agreat many of its proponents, the environment serves as a cover to smuggle in a hostof other ideologies. As the University of Delaware framed it in its 2007 residence lifematerials, “sustainability is a viable conduit for citizenship education and thedevelopment of a particular values system.” 

Part of that “particular values system,” we’ve found, is a proclivity to big government,economic redistribution, and politically correctpreferences for certain identity groups. That’s howsustainability is able to include ideas such as social

 justice, economic equality, economics, and law. Indeed,

the top of the survey says:

Sustainability curriculum and research activities are notlimited to considerations of environmental impact of human development or climate change but includecontent on interrelated social, economic, ethical, andenvironment dimensions.

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The tension between sustainability’s shared aims is commonly depicted in a Venndiagram, with three interlocking circles labeled “Environment,” “Economy,” and

 “Society.” 

This intrusion into partisan politics and economics is what makes “sustainability” unfit tobe “the foundation of all learning and practice in higher education,” as powerfuladvocacy groups such as Second Nature are trying to make it.

Green and Greedy

But let’s move on to the second, more important question: “Do you incorporatesustainability as a distinct course component or deal with a singlesustainability issue in any of your courses that are not specificallysustainability focused? Please indicate how many courses you teach thathave a sustainability related course component.” 

Selecting a number, 0-9, is the sole possible response here. Answering “no” isn’t an

option—in fact, only four out of the nine questions have a “no” option.

This question is a net to catch all courses that aren’t explicitly sustainability focused(which are themselves quite widely defined). The implication is that there is no coursethat sustainability can’t touch, no subject too self-contained for sustainability to besqueezed in.

There’s where that phrase “the foundation of all learning and practice in highereducation” comes in. Sustainability, say its advocates, should be the primary goal of academic learning. Not only if you’re studying to be an environmental engineer—oreven an economist or lawyer—but also if you want to be a nurse, a mathematician, or aphilosopher. Like diversity, sustainability doesn’t stop with administrators but turns agreedy eye toward the curriculum. And it won’t be content with just some of it.

The third question presses for specifics: “How do you incorporate sustainabilityinto your courses that are not sustainability focused? Check all that apply:” 

Readings on sustainability topics/nature

Guest speakers or experts

Research activitiesService learning or study abroadcomponents

Case studies Internship/ Internship Courses

Projects or assignmentsProvide information on co-curricularor community activities

Personal example (goingpaperless, saving paper etc) Other, please explain

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Perhaps the most interesting option here is “personal example.” Even if a professor haslegitimate reasons for not bringing in guest speakers or doing sustainability relatedactivities in class, there is no reason he can’t adapt his own lifestyle to set the

 “example” for impressionable students. Leaving that box unchecked makes theprofessor look like a bad role model. The real mistake is that the university put it therein the first place, as it sets up a sort of trap.

Indeed, the questionnaire as a whole serves to back faculty members into a corner, to

make them feel obliged to check something in order to appear to be doing what theuniversity says they ought. The very creation of this survey shows the pressure put onfaculty to conform.

 A follow-up question to this one is intended to gauge faculty members’ commitmentlevels: “Would you be willing to integrate (or integrate more thoroughly)sustainability concepts in the courses you teach that are not sustainabilityfocus [sic]? This may be phrased as a question, but its message is loud and clear.Essentially it means, “Get on board with our agenda.” 

 “No, it does not relate to my subject,” and “No, I am not interested in sustainability” arein the drop-down menu as options. It would be interesting to know how respondentswho select these answers will be marked in the university’s records. Will they be askedor given incentives to reconsider?

Conforming Students to the New Ethics

The answer set for the fourth question is where things really get strange. Most coursesare now required to announce in advance a list of student learning outcomes—thingsstudents should have mastered by the end of the semester. Student learning outcomesas a concept tends to encourage professors to come up with low aims and high-sounding words. Here are the ones SDSU wants to see, some of which sound as if theycame from the educational jargon generator:

Do the courses you teach include any of the following student learningoutcomes? Check all that apply:

Understand and be able to effectively communicate the concept of sustainability

Develop and use an ethical perspective in which students view themselves asembedded in the fabric of an interconnected world

Become aware of and explore the connections between their chosen course of studyand sustainability

Develop technical skills or expertise necessary to implement sustainable solutions

Understand the way in which sustainable thinking and decision-making contributesto the process of creating solutions for current and emerging social, environmental, andeconomic crises

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Contribute practical solutions to real-world sustainability challenges

Synthesize understanding of social, economic, and environmental systems andreason holistically

Other

 “An ethical perspective”? We’ve seen sustainability’s strange, non-humanistic definitions

of “ethics,” its stricter-than-Puritan moral codes, and its overtly religious nature. We’vealso seen that a nation’s manner of educating shapes thecharacter of its people. So what character quality doessustainability ethics seek to instill in students? The ability to “view

themselves as embedded in the fabric of an interconnectedworld.” 

What does that even mean? It sounds more like burying yourface in a planet-sized pillow than using “an ethical perspective.” The word perspective is also troublesome. Higher education’s roleis not to tell students which perspectives they should adopt, but

to give them the tools to develop their own.

 Another checkbox item in this list is meant as a reminder of that Venn diagram. Canyou spot it?

The survey’s last page asks respondents to indicate their department and whether itoffered “sustainability-focused immersive experience programs.” It prompts them to listall “sustainability focused” courses they or others in the department teach, and toindicate whether they do any sustainability focused or related research.

There Is a Right Answer

In her email, Provost Marlin said that taking this survey is “critical” in order to “ensurethat San Diego State is more competitive in many of the external ‘green’ ratings andrankings, which are increasingly important to students.” She does not point to anyevidence that incorporating sustainability into more of the curriculum will give studentsa better education or give faculty members a deeper knowledge of their disciplines. Therationale, instead, is to do something that students think is important. This seems onplane with parents who appease their children by giving them whatever they want. Isthat wise? Is it good for students in the long run?

SDSU’s choice to conduct this kind of assessment has some serious implications. Such asurvey has the weight of institutional authority behind it. If you’re a faculty memberand receive Provost Marlin’s email, you’re going to feel obliged to answer a certain way,and to indicate some eagerness to get on the bandwagon. Again, while there aren’tknown incentives or consequences for answering one way or the other, this one-track survey says clearly, “Follow the pattern we laid out for you.” 

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This pressure means that many professors will exaggerate their interest insustainability, which likely means the university will brag about its high facultyinvolvement rate. Green ratings will soar and outsiders (including prospective students)will get the “right” picture.

 As of today, hundreds of college and university presidents have vowed to makesustainability “part of the curriculum for all students.” The president of Unity Collegedeclared, “It has to be ubiquitous, it has to be done by everyone, it has to be part of the whole infrastructure.” Colleges and universities are on the verge of a majoroverhaul of higher education to refit it around sustainability. Questions such as, “Howdo you incorporate sustainability courses?” are only the beginning.