University YMCA Archives · Student Organizations
Students for Environmental Concerns
Founded at the Y in 1969. The Y's lists say "since 1968."
The University of Illinois's oldest and largest environmental organization, begun at the Y by graduate students around the fall 1969 Faculty Forum series on the environment. For the first Earth Day, in April 1970, it ran a week of lectures, seminars and field trips, and it has campaigned on energy, recycling, coal and divestment since.
Friday Forums
- Conservation in Illinois, Nov. 21, 1969. Students for Environmental Controls held a Boneyard Creek cleanup after the talk, in the fall 1969 series from which SECS grew.
- The Equilibrium State: Educational Alternatives to a New Kind of Living, March 16, 1973. Co-sponsor, with the Institute for Environmental Studies.
- Should Environmental Protection Be Relaxed During the Energy Shortage?, Oct. 4, 1974. Co-sponsor of the debate, with Speech Communication, Campus Programs and Services and IUSA.
- Building a Better Environmental Movement, April 13, 2018. Keynote of SECS's 50th-anniversary Earth Week.
- To Thy Happy Children of the Future: Divestment as Progress, April 4, 2025. Presenters: SECS called for fossil-fuel divestment.
Sources
- Scott J. Peters, The Promise of Association (1997), p. 117.
- Scott J. Peters, The Promise of Association (1997), p. 118.
- University YMCA. 25th Annual Dinner & Auction Booklet: Celebrating the Work of Belonging. April 18, 2026. "Y Student Programs," pp. 11–12.
- Daily Illini, Nov. 18, 1969, p. 1, "Boneyard Creek cleanup planned." Link.
- Students for Environmental Concerns, "About Us," secsatuiuc.web.illinois.edu (retrieved Oct. 8, 2026). Link.
- University YMCA. Annual Report 2024–2025.
- University YMCA. Annual Report 2025–2026.
- University YMCA records: student program files and staff lists, 2001–2026.
Last reviewed
October 15, 2026
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