Students for Environmental Concerns is the oldest and largest environmental organization at the University of Illinois, founded in 1969, dedicated to environmental activism and justice.
SECS holds weekly meetings in the Channing Murray building (1209 W Oregon St) at 6:30pm every Wednesday, unless otherwise noted.
SECS Bylaws & Constitution
The SECS bylaws and constitution is in accordance with the University of Illinois Registered Student Organization office. The bylaws and constitution for the 2025-26 academic year can be accessed here.
Our Mission
Students for Environmental Concerns seeks to educate students and the community on environmental issues and work toward positive environmental change on local to global scales including advocating for people of color and acknowledgment of their disproportionate environmental burden. Our goals are to:
-Create an inclusive sustainable community on campus, and
-Work to engage with the stability, integrity, and beauty of the natural world, and
-Promote and participate in the sustainable food revolution, and
-Pursue clean energy on and off campus, including holding the university accountable in their participation in the climate crisis, and
-Advocate for environmental justice and communities of color
Our Past
With a proud history of environmental activism, we would like to highlight the recent success of our Beyond Coal campaign.
The Beyond Coal campaign served as a student-led coalition aimed at lobbying the University of Illinois to “Divest all university endowment funds out of … the dirtiest utilities, coal operators and mining companies in the U.S.” Today, this initiative is viewed as an historic success, “with coal exposure now comprising less than one half of one percent of total [endowment] holdings” – as per the Chancellor. You can read more about the Beyond Coal campaign on their website https://uiucbeyondcoal.blogspot.com .
Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion
SECS is a community of students. As such, we have a responsibility to lead in creating inclusive practices toward people of different ethnicity, religions, genders, ages, social classes, physical abilities, and sexual orientations.
We would also like to highlight the University of Illinois’ land acknowledgment
As a student organization of the University of Illinois, we would like to acknowledge the history of this land
We recognize and acknowledge that we are on the lands of the Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Miami, Mascoutin, Odawa, Sauk, Mesquaki, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, Ojibwe, and Chickasaw Nations. These lands were the traditional territory of these Native Nations prior to their forced removal; these lands continue to carry the stories of these Nations and their struggles for survival and identity.
As a land-grant institution, the University of Illinois has a particular responsibility to acknowledge the peoples of these lands, as well as the histories of dispossession that have allowed for the growth of this institution for the past 150 years. We are also obligated to reflect on and actively address these histories and the role that this university has played in shaping them. This acknowledgement and the centering of Native peoples is a start as we move forward for the next 150 years.
Our Officers!
President – Averhy Sanborn (she/her)
Vice President – Gabi DalSanto (she/they)
Secretary – Lincoln Dean (he/him)
Treasurer – Lukas Phillips (he/him)
Action Coordinator – Grayson Hodson (he/him)
Policy Coordinator – Raphael Ranola (he/him)
Education Coordinator – Julia Spainhour (she/her)
Media Coordinator – Natalie Reed (she/her)
Editor-in-chief of the Green Observer – Sophia Beem (she/her)
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Coordinator – Yesenia Adrianzen (she/her)
Community Chair – Joya Weissman (she/her)
Land Stewardship Coordinator- Bruce Beem (he/him)
Outreach Coordinator – Izzy Wilder (she/her)