About

MISSION STATEMENT:

The Student Activities Committee (SAC) is an elected body of active students at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies (F&ES). SAC is dedicated to facilitating communication and understanding between the F&ES student body, administration, and staff; advocating for the student body on pressing issues; and executing a limited number of official duties. SAC is designed to be a cooperative, non-hierarchical, transparent, and nimble body. SAC shall act always in the best interests of the F&ES community, broadly defined, including current students, administration, staff, alumni, and the broader Yale and New Haven communities. While it is the explicit mission of SAC to advocate for the issues and interests of the F&ES student body, SAC shall at all times strive to maintain good relations with F&ES administration, staff, and alumni, and shall serve when needed as a communications channel between any and all constituencies of the F&ES community.

Official duties
SAC has two official duties which should take priority above all other activities:
• To secure and disburse funds each semester to the F&ES Student Interest Groups (SIGs) in a fair and equitable manner
• To facilitate at least one open, school-wide meeting per semester between F&ES administration (including the Dean), students, staff, and as appropriate, alumni. This meeting should be an open forum where any member of the F&ES community is free to raise issues, express their opinion, and seek redress on pressing issues. In recent years, this meeting has taken the form of a “Town Hall,” though SAC members may change the format of this meeting at their discretion.

Elective Initiatives
• SAC may, and should, also pursue other elective initiatives to better the F&ES community. In recent years, these have included initiatives to improve the infrastructure of the F&ES campus, and to encourage more environmentally responsible conduct by the F&ES student body. SAC representatives are encouraged to choose and pursue at least one major elective initiative each semester, upon vote of a simple majority of SAC representatives.
• SAC may also choose to adopt ad hoc initiatives as they arise to better the F&ES community (for instance, forming student/faculty committees to address pressing issues, or encouraging administration to upgrade F&ES facilities).
• Only after fulfilling its duties to adequately fund SIG requests, SAC may elect upon majority vote to fund other F&ES initiatives to the extent SAC’s budget allows.
• SAC shall also make every effort to assist F&ES administration, including the Dean, in communicating to the student body, and in supporting F&ES administration objectives, as appropriate.
• SAC may assist other student, administration, and faculty initiatives in whatever way SAC deems appropriate, as long as these initiatives do not compromise SAC’s ability to fulfill its official duties.