Greening Saint Anselm has its roots in Learning Liberty. Started in 2004, Learning Liberty is a presidential initiative aimed to generate a campus-wide discussion regarding the ways in which lessons of citizenship and liberty can be taught throughout the disciplines and integrated throughout campus life.

Saint Anselm College takes seriously its duty in preparing students for a lifetime of involved, thoughtful, and committed citizenship.Central to citizenship is the responsibility for all of us to voice our own communal concerns, and to listen to our community when the concerns of others are being voiced.

In as much as there is a significant and growing concern amongst the campus community about teaching and exercising sound environmental practices, it follows that “Greening Saint Anselm” stands as a model for citizenship. 

If Saint Anselm wishes to teach our students how to become good citizens, it is imperative that we begin to teach them proper stewardship of their environment. Such stewardship of the environment is not only integral to the common good, it is also integral to the idea of Benedictine “stewardship” (taken here as a respect for the beauty and goodness of creation as a sacrament of God).