On April 10th, CSUB hosted an eco-listening session specifically for students to voice their concerns about the actions taken by facilities at the university. 

Fumigation was started by the university in order to control the over-population of squirrels, but doing so put the kit foxes. These endangered species live on campus in harm’s way, according to Sarah Alame, the Director of Sustainability on ASI. 

Initially,  facilities claimed that kit foxes would not be in danger because the burrows that were being targeted were less than 4 inches in diameter, but this quickly proved false when biology students on campus provided photo evidence that kit foxes can actually fit through a 2-inch hole. Not only this, students for Sustainability, a club on campus that advocates for environmental safety and caution explained that facilities have not been responding to their concerns and do not attend committees meant to raise awareness about issues surrounding the topic at the university. 

Facilities are run by Joe Hedges, and currently, the Sierra Club is filing a formal complaint to the both the Federal and State Departments of Fish and Wildlife for what they describe as “threatful” behavior and actions against the San Joaquin Valley Kit Fox.  Not only kit foxes but there have been eyewitness reports of staff of facilities not utilizing the proper personal protective equipment when handling carbon monoxide, which is a lethal substance. 

Sarah Alame, Uriel Prado, and Alexandria Brown were some of the students that made their voices heard at this listening session, and all explained their surprise at being put under a 3 min time limit, but still were glad they got to have their voices heard.

When talking to students for sustainability, they made their list of demands clear for the university. These being the number of people that have been injured due to burrows, how many have contracted diseases because of squirrels, how much money has gone to handle this overpopulation, and if there are contractions if they have the tests to prove this claim. 

Reporting for Runner News Network,

I’m Ernesto Leon