For immediate release 2/20/03

Contact: Mike Pesa 330-284-3821 mpesa@kent.edu

On Tuesday, February 18th, Kent State University’s Undergraduate Student Senate unanimously passed a resolution to stop purchasing any products from the forest-destroying paper company Boise Cascade. The resolution, introduced by Senator for Governmental Affairs Sean Buchanan, also committed USS to “purchase the most environmentally responsible products that are reasonable in cost”. Additionally, the resolution urged the rest of the University to do the same.

This resolution is a major victory for Students Eliminating Environmental Destruction (SEED), a campus organization that has been campaigning for Kent State to divest from Boise until they stop contributing to the destruction of old growth and endangered forests. Boise is currently KSU's "preferred vendor" for office supplies. Boise is currently under pressure to change its environmentally destructive policies, which include excessively logging on U.S. public lands and distributing wood products from endangered, old growth forests from Indonesia, Canada, Central and South America, and Russia.

Boise is also drawing criticism for suing to prevent the implementation of the landmark U.S. Roadless Area Conservation Rule, an extremely popular measure that would protect 58.5 million acres of America’s public wilderness areas from logging and road building.

Due to its unacceptable environmental practices, Boise is losing many of its top corporate customers including Washington Mutual, L.L. Bean, Levi Strauss, Patagonia, and several universities, including Notre Dame and University of Texas at Austin. With this resolution, KSU’s Undergraduate Student Senate adds their voice to the boycott.

“It’s a start”, Senator Buchanan told SEED on Tuesday. “Hopefully student support of this issue will sway the faculty, because they use a lot more of this resource then we do”. The resolution is an indication of the broad support that exists among the student body for ousting Boise. “I think it’s wonderful that this passed”, stated SEED President Julie Gumerman. “USS is the voice of the student body. By passing this resolution, USS has shown that the student body doesn’t want Boise Cascade paper. Hopefully the departments will follow suit.” SEED applauds Student Senate for their leadership role in making Kent State an environmentally sustainable university. We sincerely hope that the University will follow this precedent by switching to an environmentally responsible paper policy.

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Below is a copy of the resolution.

Kent State University
Undergraduate Student Senate
Resolution S-02-04
Environmentally Responsible Policies

WHEREAS, Kent State University Undergraduate Student Senate appreciates the importance of making environmentally responsible purchases.

WHEREAS, Kent State University Undergraduate Student Senate understands that high post-consumer content in paper is important.

WHEREAS, Kent State University Undergraduate Student Senate is opposed to logging in the remaining old growth forests of the world.

WHEREAS, Boise Cascade continues to engage in environmentally destructive activities including but not limited to logging in old growth forests.

WHEREAS, Kent State University Undergraduate Student Senate realizes that many large retailers such as Staples and Home Depot have changed their policies to become more environmentally responsible.

THEREFORE, be it resolved that when purchasing office supplies Kent State University Undergraduate Student Senate will not use Boise Cascade Office Products and shall purchase the most environmentally responsible products that are reasonable in cost.

THEREFORE, be it resolved that Kent State University Undergraduate Student Senate urges all other departments and the administration of the University to do the same.