The Consortium: Sustaining a Different Environment

By Barbara Britton Jones 

This article first appeared in the Summer 2008 issue of IN magazine.

If you have been involved with The Consortium for any length of time you have, undoubtedly, heard its story several times. We would be very surprised, however, to hear that you have always heard the story in the same context. The fact is, The Consortium story has been told from many perspectives for many different purposes. The story of The Consortium, for example, is one of social consciousness; it’s also the story of one man’s dream and his determination to bring it to fruition; on the other hand, you may have heard the one about valuing diversity or providing access and inclusion. Whatever the context, the story was always relevant, and, as you may have guessed by now, you’re about to hear it again.

Not surprisingly, for most of us, the environment is probably what springs to mind when we hear the word “sustainability.” That is, the natural environment which includes all things that occur naturally on earth. We are in a time when practically everyone is concerned about cleaner air and water and living “green” lifestyles. As we began to ponder the notion of sustain- ability and all that it entails, we soon realized that there is a lot more to this concept than meets the eye. We found that it could, and perhaps should, be applied to environments other than the natural one.

Natural environmental sustainability in the United States first achieved a modicum of prominence as a national initiative in 1969 with the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). By July 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – which drew from fifteen compo- nents of five executive departments and independent agencies – was established. Over the next thirteen years, several conferences, programs and commissions were held as sustainability/sustainable development became a global issue and world leaders sought to address the concerns of all nations and clearly define this very complex issue. It was not until 1983 that the most widely accepted definition: “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs” was proffered by Prime Minister Gro Harlem Brundtland of Norway.

Shortly before governments around the world began responding to the growing public unrest regarding the environment, clean water and air and economic development, Professor Sterling Schoen was responding to unrest of a different nature in a different environment. It was the sixties. Times were turbulent, and amid the general air of civil unrest, there was no shortage of concerns that needed to be addressed. For Dr. Schoen, it was the underrepre- sentation of minorities – specifically African American men – in business schools and American business.