President Rick Bailey offers an update on SOU’s solar ambitions, and also addresses protests on campuses near and far over the tragedies in Israel and Gaza. SOU is a little less than a third of the way to the seven megawatts of solar generating capacity it will need to become the first public university to produce all of its own daytime electricity. New solar arrays are in the works atop Lithia Motors Pavilion and The Hawk dining commons, and SOU’s first solar-covered parking lot will likely be in the works within the year. President Bailey recognizes that both the Oct. 7 massacre in Israel and the ongoing loss of innocent lives in Gaza are “horrific,” and that students, faculty and staff have strong feelings about it. SOU supports the right to speak out about the situation, but urges nonviolence. President Bailey quotes Martin Luther King, Jr.: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
