No wonder the Modern Language Association blocked so many news agencies from covering their conference.

Accuracy in Academia reports.

Environmental Activism in English Literature

A panel at the Modern Language Association’s annual meeting in Chicago on environmental sustainability and its role in English literature featured Foothill College’s Scott Lankford, Geoffrey Martin of the Harry S. Truman College, Moravian College professor Theresa Dougal and University of New Hampshire graduate student Molly Hall.

Lankford called the Chicago River “a nexus for a thousand years” for environmentalists. He brought up a slideshow presentation where he outlined a timeline of the river’s discovery and settlement by Europeans. Just like the Chicago River, Lankford believed that two-year colleges “have been an environmental nexus as well.” He felt that he was “the Rip Van Winkle of the sustainability group” at the MLA and mentioned that twenty years ago, this was an issue at the MLA’s annual convention. He also saw professors as “a lighthouse of social change.” The MLA has to rally around the environmental sustainability issue to push it forward, he argued. Foothill College in California, he pointed out, has its own “Center for a Sustainable Future,” which aims to:

• “Foster ecoliteracy across the curriculum;”
• “Revitalize and re-envision general education through sustainability education;”
• “Cultivate sustainable values and practices on campus;” and
• “Collaborate with the greater community toward a sustainable future.”

He said, “We’ve worked hard to partner with other institutions” and explained that Foothill worked “on reducing the energy usage in our district” as a part of their million kilowatt challenge. Lankford concluded, “We use this leverage that we have… as the lighthouse of American education…to move the game forward.” He wanted the audience “to wake up with more leadership from MLA to address this crisis.”

Martin claimed that the “metacognitive” work at community colleges remains important as the community college is now in a position to change education. He admitted that employability needs to be a bigger part of a college education and the possibility of enabling “students to move across disciplinary boundaries” should be considered more than ever. He felt there was too much “segregation between the sciences and the humanities” within the learning community and wanted to emphasize “relationship between mind, body and spirit.”