When Transition University of St Andrews started there was already an established structure of an Environment and Ethics Officer being elected in the Students Union each year. This person would have a network of communication channels to the university governing body, but also to the Environment Team within the Estates department. The Transition group made sure to hang
on the back of this structure through having a very supportive Environment and Ethics Officer, and therefore quickly managed to get approval and influence in many of the university’s
internal structure.
Hearing marginalised voices
If you want to go further and deeper in the process of defining your community, you may also want to consider marginalised voices/communities and how, unless we are conscious of these,
we tend to reinforce the status quo. In light of just how deeply important a sense of belonging is to all of us - and the co-creation of healthy human culture, an important role for Transition is to pay attention to cultivating a sense of inclusiveness and an awareness around mainstream society's tendency to marginalise particular voices and communities.
This is of course complex, and it is not to say that Transition groups are, or should be, completely inclusive, but that a group may decide to explicitly exclude certain behaviours or values. You may find it a valuable exercise to openly discuss these issues so that there is transparency and honesty in who you are including and excluding in your community and its projects.
Transition University of St Andrews brings all the Town and University Green Groups together at the annual Freshers Week Green Fair to enable new students to get flavour of the breadth of activity across the community. Photo: Transition University of St Andrews.
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