PRESS RELEASE
Graduation Pledge Alliance
Graduates commit to building a healthy, sustainable, and just world.
Bentley University, Waltham, MA – May 9, 2013 – Once again this year, tens of thousands of
students around the globe will be signing the Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental
Responsibility. Even in the face of our current economic challenges, these students are committing
to consider how their work will impact our world.
Currently headquartered at Bentley University, the Graduation Pledge, which originated in 1987 at
Humboldt State University in California, states: “I pledge to explore and take into account the social
and environmental consequences of any job I consider and will try to improve these aspects of any
organizations for which I work.”
Over the years, hundreds of high school, college, and university campuses throughout the world
have participated in the Graduation Pledge Alliance’s annual signing ceremonies. Now a project of
the Bentley Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility, the Graduation Pledge Alliance builds and
supports a global community of graduates committed to improving the social and environmental
aspects of the world they live in.
As Benjamin Crim, a 2013 accounting major graduate from Manchester University states:
“I am taking the GPA pledge because I believe that making good business decisions is, and should
be, more than just looking at the monetary cost of my actions. As an accounting major, taking into
consideration the societal and environmental impact of choices that I make will be difficult. Pressure
to ignore environmental and societal costs in favor of profits will be strong, but I recognize that it is
important to value any benefits and consequences to society and the environment whenever I am
making decisions.”
One example of a graduate living out the pledge is Michael Waas Smith, who is the Global Vice
President for TerraCycle, Inc., a company that provides free waste collection programs for hard to
recycle materials and then turns the waste into affordable green products. A former pledge signer at
Central Michigan University, Michael also serves as a member of the Graduation Pledge Alliance
Executive Committee.
Another graduate, Chris Sequeira (who brought the Pledge to MIT and is a former President of the
Graduation Pledge Alliance) states that “the text of the Graduation Pledge calls us all to be leaders
in our work environments and within ourselves. It calls us to look holistically at how we impact the
world through our work. I have a card with the Graduation Pledge text in my wallet, which reminds
me daily that I can make positive changes in the world if I work in socially and environmentally
responsible ways.”
"Instituting the pledge gets at the heart of a good education and can benefit society as whole," says
Neil Wollman, a Senior Fellow at the Bentley Alliance for Ethics and Social Responsibility and the
former Graduation Pledge Alliance coordinator when it was housed at Manchester University. Dr.
Wollman adds “Not only does it remind students of the ethical implications of the knowledge and
training they received, but it can help lead to a socially-conscious citizenry and a better world.”
Matt Nicodemus, a co-founder of the Pledge at Humboldt State University, states that his original
vision was that “colleges across America will be handing out the pledge and graduates will be
adhering to it.” Today, that vision is more than a reality with campuses as far away as Taiwan
adopting the Pledge. Matt is still a vital part of the Graduation Pledge Alliance, serving on the
Executive Committee and reaching out to campuses around the world to help them implement the
Graduation Pledge.
Reflecting on the role of the Pledge at Bentley, Tony Buono, coordinator of the Bentley Alliance for
Ethics and Social Responsibility, noted that reading student reflections on their activities in
preparation to taking the pledge prior to Baccalaureate was “inspiring.” “We ask students to look
back on what they have taken away from their efforts both on campus and in the wider community,
in essence, thinking about how they have evolved as civic leaders. Being part of the pledge program
has been a transformative experience for many of our students – they are entering the workforce as
talented professionals with a true commitment to making the world a better place.”
###
For additional information:
Dr. Anthony F. Buono, Coordinator,
Bentley Alliance for Ethics & Social Responsibility
Professor of Management & Sociology
ABUONO@bentley.edu
781-891-2529
Bill Benet, Executive Director,
Graduation Pledge Alliance:
bbenet@bentley.edu
585-271-8178
Graduation Pledge Alliance Executive Committee:
Neil Wollman:
NWOLLMAN@bentley.edu
Matt Nicodemus:
mattnico8@yahoo.com
Michael Waas Smith michaelwaas@gmail.com
Scott Carlin
Scott.Carlin@liu.edu
Graduation Pledge Alliance Links:
Graduation Pledge Alliance: www.graduationpledge.org
260-568-0116
303-444-6267
989-621-8068
631-728-6842
Graduation Pledge Alliance Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gradpledge
History of The Graduation Pledge of Social and Environmental
Responsibility:http://www.graduationpledge.org/about/history/
Several Colleges and Universities implementing the Graduation Pledge in 2013:
Pace University: http://www.pace.edu/sustainability/campus-culture-academics/graduationpledge%20
Portland State University: A Greener Graduationhttp://www.pdx.edu/sustainability/institute-blog/agreener-graduation
Dickenson College:http://dickinson.edu/centers/sustainability/content/Graduation_Pledge/
Brandeis University: http://www.brandeis.edu/campussustainability/getinvolved/pledge.html
Manchester University: http://www.manchester.edu/graduation/gpa.htm
College of Southern Idaho: http://sustainability.csi.edu/
Florida International University, Alexandra Dutton: http://gogreen.fiu.edu/ (note that they have
completed graduation and can provide photos from the 2013