OU named ‘green campus’ by The Princeton Review
Neil McGlohon, The Oklahoma Daily
Students dressed in green body suits run around Thursday in the South Oval in celebration of Earth Day. Neil McGlohon/The Daily
OU is the only public university in the state noted as one of the country’s most environmentally responsible colleges, according to The Princeton Review.
The nationally known education services company selected OU for inclusion in a unique resource it has created for college applicants — “The Princeton Review’s Guide to 286 Green Colleges.”
OU President David Boren said it is an honor to be chosen as a green campus by the review.
“Much of the credit for this recognition goes to our students who have demonstrated a continued and deep commitment to environmental stewardship,” Boren said by e-mail.
OUr Earth President Chris Applegate said his group is proud OU received the award.
“This university has made great progress in going green, but we still have a long way to go,” said Applegate, geography senior. “I think this shows that we are heading in the right direction.”
Applegate said responsibility for the award should be shared with Boren.
“He has made great progress in not only suggestions students have given him with ways to go green, but he has implemented those suggestions and is moving us in the right direction,” Applegate said.
Applegate said he and his group will continue to make suggestions for ways of improvement to campus buildings.
“We’re a little worried that old buildings have become greener while our new buildings take us in a step in the wrong direction,” Applegate said.
Applegate said OU also should be concerned with its sustainability rating.
“We made a C last year, and we need to find a way to be more sustainable in the future,” Applegate said. “I don’t believe we have ever made an A, and we should really strive for that grade.”
He said he is looking forward to OU becoming 100 percent sustainable, dependant on wind energy by 2014 and also the installment of smart-grid technology that would allow OU to measure how much electricity each campus building uses.
OU joins the ranks of outstanding universities and colleges nationwide that are leading the “green” movement through their own special programs and initiatives, said Robert Franek, senior vice president and publisher at The Princeton Review.
OU has established a Sustainability Committee to manage campus green initiatives, and has an active student environmental group, OUr Earth, that already has established a Game Day Recycling program, Franek said
OU recieved the award on Earth Day.
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