In my last column, I articulated the kinds of decisions that I believe Kenyon administrators should be making or avoiding in order to navigate the looming enrollment cliff. One of these recommendations was that a logical and cost-effective way for the College to improve its appeal and justify its tuition would be to increase academic engagement with its surrounding rural and green spaces, which are currently vastly underused in terms of both the College’s image and student experience. Sharpening Kenyon’s foggy image as a beautiful and rurally located college into an institution with tangible, sustainable initiatives making effective use of said rural location is not only the right thing to do in the face of a global system hurtling toward climate disaster, but also makes financial sense in both the short and long term.

To begin, I believe that global climate change is the primary existential threat facing young people. Whether you have breathed the ash of increasingly frequent California wildfires, seen the destruction wrought by a Category 5 hurricane or even witnessed a snowless November, you have already felt the effects of climate change. Our anxieties surrounding these events are cynically amplified by social media and news networks that profit from our attention and despair. Despite this media attention, climate change has become so much a part of the status quo that its far-reaching implications, however obvious they may seem, are not often discussed in everyday life. The costs in time and mental energy to remain informed and involved in combating the crisis are too great, and the meaningful returns from our institutions too small, to be justifiable to any but a highly passionate few.

But even as climate change is transformed into an unfortunate lump under the rug by our own learned helplessness, the dire predictions of the scientific community darken our lives like the shadow of a gray cloud. However, this does not have to be the case. As a liberal arts college with a professed interest in giving its students the tools necessary to navigate this complicated world, Kenyon has a responsibility to help us unlearn our helplessness, to not only give students a seat at the table, but also understand the kinds of moral and personal challenges they will face in the future. 

There already exist a number of classes at Kenyon devoted to the study of sustainable agriculture and environmental stewardship in the area, and a few organizations dedicated to deepening connections between students and the local environment. However, the College must go further to integrate environmental awareness across disciplines and engage students who may not yet realize their passion and involvement with these critical issues. It’s all well and good to have more students graduating with credentials in environmental studies, but what about students who don’t even know this is a topic they are passionate about? Of what use is an economist who doesn’t understand the economy’s basis in the environment, or a chemist who doesn’t consider the ecological implications of a new pesticide?

By expanding the Kenyon Farm program and promoting sustainable education through an enhanced Office of Green Initiatives, Kenyon can more than recoup its investment, but only if it also prioritizes the direct and democratic involvement of students, faculty and locals in determining the steps it takes towards sustainability. If Kenyon can demonstrate to prospective students that it is a place where they can be community members with a meaningful and purposeful connection to the land and each other while receiving the same high-quality education as always, the College will have more of a competitive edge as the number of high school graduates declines.

David Bonnen ’27 is a columnist for the Collegian. He has not yet declared a major and is from Houston. He can be reached at bonnen1@kenyon.edu.