Central Sustainability Student Opportunities

The Sustainability Leadership Committee is a student-led group available to any student interested in promoting sustainability efforts on campus. The committee deals with a holistic definition of sustainability, including human, economic, social, and environmental aspects. During monthly meetings, the committee plans events, programs, and initiatives in a roundtable format. Leaders from Registered Student Organizations are encouraged to attend meetings, share ideas, and coordinate their efforts related to sustainability. The goal of the committee is to help institutionalize sustainability on campus by providing a platform for groups with similar goals to communicate and maximize their potential. Many of the other organizations included on this page have representatives who attend committee meetings.  

Interested in attending a meeting? Email sustainability@cmich.edu.edu and request to be added to the Sustainability Leadership Committee email list! 

Registered Student Organizations 

Central Students Sierra Club 

The Central Student Sierra Club is dedicated to the preservation and responsible enjoyment of Mount Pleasant’s, Michigan’s, and all the earth’s natural places. The Central Student Sierra Club’s mission is to expand our understanding of conservation and the natural world by exploring the untamed wild, inform community and government representatives on environmental issues, and carry out actions necessary to create a more sustainable world, through peaceful active citizenry and service to our community.  

Core activities of this organization include:  

Learn more here

Community of Future Environmental Scientists 

A pre-professional organization aiming to connect students to the environmental science field through education of internships and other opportunities for professional development.

Take Back the Tap  

The purpose of Take Back the Tap is to end the sale of bottled water on the campus of Central Michigan University and encourage students, faculty, and staff to drink tap water and use reusable bottles instead of buying disposable bottled water. Take Back the Tap highlights the social, economic, and environmental problems with bottled water and aims to raise awareness of the consequences of the use of single-use bottled water. Take Back the Tap is part of a campaign run by Food and Water Watch, a non-profit organization working with grassroots organizations to create an economically and environmentally viable future. Take Back the Tap is partnered with Student Environmental Alliance.  

Student Environmental Alliance  

Student Environmental Alliance exists to promote environmental awareness, protection, and sustainability through education and activism. Student Environmental Alliance is partnered with Take Back the Tap.  

Geography and Environmental Studies Club 

Geography and Environmental Studies Club is a group that welcomes Geography, Environmental Studies, and anything in between. We focus on discussing geography as a group, doing community service, forming study groups, and fundraising for future trips. We welcome students from any major or minor to create a community of like-minded peers that share a common interest in the Earth, how we use it, and how to gain knowledge of our world today. 

Parks and Outdoor Recreation Coalition 

The Parks and Outdoor Recreation Coalition exists to promote stewardship and conservation of public lands, facilitate professional development and networking opportunities, provide outdoor recreational experiences, and organize volunteering and service projects to benefit park and recreation organizations and students. 

Interested? Email porcrso@gmail.com for more information 

High Adventure Club 

We are an organization of nature lovers, rock climbers, skiers, slack-liners, backpackers, campers and outdoor enthusiasts alike. We meet to rock climb at adventure seminars and slackline outdoors when the weather is permitting. We host a very laid back atmosphere and coordinate at least two large trips and many other smaller trips per school year. There are no dues to our club, however, all trips are self-funded. Being a club and a larger group, we usually can get cheaper group rates and with car pooling we can cut costs easily. No experience necessary! Join our Facebook page to stay up-to-date. 

Interested? Email cmuhighadventure@gmail.com for more information 

The CMU Student Chapter of the Wildlife Society 

The Central Michigan University Student Chapter of The Wildlife Society focuses on preparing our members for their future careers in biology, specifically with wildlife. We do a variety of activities and volunteer work throughout the year. Among other events, we assist with projects for The Wildlife Recovery Association, The Association to Rescue Kritters, and the Chippewa Watershed Conservancy, we host a panel of graduate students and professors in the fields of wildlife research and conservation, we coordinate hiking and camping trips, and we organize a lively community feast in the form of a Wild Game Dinner, all the while educating our members about current issues related to wildlife during our weekly meetings. 

Interested? Email cmu_tws@cmich.edu for more information 

Refugee Outreach Collective 

ROC is a volunteer-run 501(c)3 nonprofit that expands access to education opportunities to those experiencing forced-displacement, advocates for just opportunities to migrate, and organizes outreach efforts to people as they are subjected to object poverty in encampments. Ultimately, ROC amplifies diverse narratives of migrant and displaced communities through alliance and relationship building. We work to make the US a more welcoming place to resettling communities and to eradicate refugee camps as a normative concept. ROC’s work can be understood as having to do with three pillars, those being education, advocacy and outreach. Each of which can be found outlined below: 

Education - ROC expands access to education opportunities as people experience displacement or resettlement. ROC works with universities to open access to college courses for those experiencing forced displacement along the US-Mexico border and in Malawi and provides tutoring assistance for students who are resettling to Southwest Michigan. 

Advocacy - ROC organizes regular advocacy efforts across university campuses in Southwest Michigan, and online through our Moving Lines Podcast. Currently, there are seven going on eight ROC chapters, each of which organize regular educational meetings, events open to the public, fundraising efforts and outreach initiatives. 

Outreach - ROC provides assistance to individuals as they are subjected to object poverty, experience restrictions on their movement and many other socio-political constraints as they live in encampments. All of our outreach efforts are organized and led by members of the community that the initiative is organized to assist. 

Here at the Central Michigan University chapter, it is our mission to exemplify these three principles. We welcome students from any major or minor who share an interest in educating the community about forced migration, advocating for refugee-friendly policy, and serving displaced people through fundraising and volunteering. We meet Tuesdays at 5:30pm in Anspach 169. 

Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics 

Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics is a LGBTQ-affirming organization that aims to provide services and support for students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics to create a dynamic network between students and professionals. 

Central Votes 

Central Votes is a non-partisan campus-wide organization whose purpose is to educate college students on voter rights and voter suppression so they will register and exercise their democratic right to vote. 

Interested? Email centralvotes@gmail.com for more information