Despite comprising only 25 members, the USC student group Environmental Core has been very vocal in its efforts to convince USC to install solar panels on campus rooftops. The group staged a 30-minute rally on Wednesday.
In September 2015, thousands of homes in the Los Angeles area switched to geothermal power. But with more than 300 sunny days a year, solar energy could be a more cost-effective energy source for Southern California.
"There's a review that found that 69 percent of first-time students and incoming college students consider sustainability a big factor in the school that they go to," Kakigi added. "And USC has no public display of any type of renewable energy, so in those terms we feel that it's going to be tremendous for USC to install solar panels."
Dale Solomon, a senior, helped lead the rally. Speaking on behalf of the group, he vowed to continue fighting for the clean energy cause.
"We're going to continue to apply pressure in the places where it really hurts," Solomon said. "We're going to continue contacting media. We've been told by the LA Times, once we get above somewhere from 50 to 100 protesters, they're going to start coming out. And we're quickly approaching that number."
For the first time, the group has managed to deliver a letter to the office of USC President C. L. Max Nikias. Ahlia Bethea, the director of USC's Environmental Student Assembly, hailed this move as a good start.
"To see that the letter was accepted, I think we're starting to get our place at the table. We're starting to open up our channels of communication with the administration to really take these issues a lot more seriously," Bethea said.
Bethea, who oversees all environmental student groups on campus, encouraged students to continue discussing the issues that are important to them. She added that USC administrators are more likely to consider requests that have a higher number of supporters.
"I feel that there's still a long way to go, especially when you compare us to our peer institutions, who are doing a lot better in terms of these issues," she said. "But for USC, I think we're doing as much as we can."
Reach Staff Reporter Walid El-Atrache here.
Annenberg Media