OU earned an overall score of “C” — a drop from the “C+” it earned last year — in a recently released national survey evaluating sustainability of colleges and universities.
The College Sustainability Report Card, an evaluation of campus sustainability activities conducted by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, rated 300 schools across several categories. More than half the schools surveyed scored an overall grade of “B” or higher.
An overall “C” is not necessarily a bad grade, said Burr Millsap, associate vice president for administration and finance.
Of the eight categories in which it was ranked, OU scored highest — a “B” — in transportation, climate change and energy, and food and recycling.
The report states more than one-third of OU’s vehicles run on alternative fuel. It also notes OU’s contract for an entirely wind-powered campus by 2013.
Lauren Royston, spokeswoman for Housing and Food Services, said the division’s green initiatives helped contribute to the above-average score in food and recycling.
“Within Housing and Food Services, any of the current initiatives we have in place absolutely compliment the sustainable actions of the university as a whole,” Royston said. “We’re very proud.”
Royston said some of Housing and Food’s recent sustainable initiatives include the trayless dining program, eliminating Styrofoam cups, using recycled napkins and serving fresh produce and cage-free eggs.
However, OU earned “Cs” and “Ds” in the remaining categories, including green building, student involvement, investment priorities, administration and endowment transparency.
Schools that invest in renewable energy funds receive higher ratings in this category. However, OU has little control over where it invests, Millsap said.
“Because the OU Foundation is a completely separate entity that is governed by an independent board of directors, we don’t have any control over that,” Millsap said. “That’s not to say that their investment polices aren’t sustainable, but we don’t really govern that.”
Student involvement dropped more than an entire letter — from “C+” to “D” — compared to last year. But that could have been because environmental student leaders on campus did not receive a survey they were supposed to, said Brandon Mikael, National Teach-In chairman for OUr Earth and coordinator of the UOSA Office of Green Initiatives.
“Overall as a university, we’re working a lot on addressing these things,” said Mikael, entrepreneurship and venture management and environmental studies junior. “Unfortunately we didn’t do so good on this one, but I think in the long run, we’re putting ourselves in a good position.”
Mikael said student involvement is increasing overall, and he is confident OU’s score will improve in the future.
“I think you’ll see more and more groups come out of the woodworks as this issue becomes more prevalent,” Mikael said. “We’re looking forward to improving the score and [making] OU a leader.”
Millsap, who is also part of OU’s Sustainability Committee, said the committee is working to continue the OU’s green initiatives, including recycling, minimizing paper usage and renovating light fixtures.
“I think we’ve got a great start,” Millsap said. “There’s still things that we want to do, and we’ll be accomplishing those in the future.”
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wtf_man 2 years, 7 months ago
It would probably help that if the person that filled out the survey didn't half ass it because he doesn't care.
Gene 2 years, 7 months ago
OU has been doing some good things for sustainability, but it's not credible that the university has no influence over the OU Foundation. If President Boren made a call for more investment transparency, it would happen. If he doesn't think that is a good idea, he should tell us why, but the administration can't pretend to have no responsibility.