As an MSU Greenpeace member, I want to thank the State News’ Editorial Board for its praise of the activism at MSU. However, there is more to the story than the board’s comments convey. For two years, MSU Greenpeace and MSU Beyond Coal have campaigned to shut down our campus coal plant because of health and environmental impacts. MSU Greenpeace met with MSU President Lou Anna K. Simon and Vice President Fred Poston last year. MSU Greenpeace students sat in Simon’s office on Oct. 20 to deliver a message about concerns that have not been effectively addressed. It’s unfortunate she refused to hear these concerns in person. We appreciate Interim Vice President Denise Maybank’s offer to meet with us. However, given that Simon would not meet with us, it did not seem productive for us to meet with Maybank instead.

We have tried to work with the university productively. One member who participated in the sit-in is our representative on MSU’s Energy Transition Steering Committee. However, the committee’s process is flawed. The committee currently has a paltry goal of 100 percent clean energy in 100 years, and does not consider all possible clean energy solutions. Climate change will get much worse, as will student health, if the university waits 100 years to quit coal. It’s time for MSU to take students’ concerns seriously and create an ambitious transition timeline toward 100 percent clean energy.