Vassar gets a “B” on sustainability

Brian Farkas News Editor

On Jan. 24, the Sustainable Endowments Institute released its annual College Sustainability Report Card, which grades 100 leading colleges based on environment-friendly policies. Vassar College received a B, tying with Brown University, Columbia University, and Duke University, among others.

The Institute measured environmental sustainability by looking at the overall use of ecological resources on college campuses. The schools were evaluated in seven areas: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement.

No institution received an A or an A-plus; the four schools that earned an A-minus are Harvard University, Stanford University, Dartmouth College, and Williams College. Twenty-two schools earned B-level grades, 54 earned C-level grades, and 20 earned D-level grades.

Vassar received praise for its College Committee on Sustainability (CCS), a group of students, faculty and staff that have introduced initiatives such as composting, recycling, and supporting local farms through purchasing decisions. One of the six-year-old committee’s major achievements has been initiating the Poughkeepsie Farm Project based on the 500-acre Vassar Farm. This project is described by the Report Card as “the county’s only community-supported agriculture program” and was lauded for “providing a steady stream of produce to local soup kitchens and food pantries, and conducting educational programs on local food systems.”

Vassar received a relatively poor score for the “greenness” of its buildings. There is currently a movement within CCS to push Vassar to require Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in all future construction and renovation. LEED measures the environmental impact of a building, much like Energy STAR does for household appliances.

“Green buildings are the most proactive thing Vassar can do to reduce its environmental footprint,” said Vassar Greens member Zachary Pitts ’07. “Getting a LEED certification requirement here has been moving along slowly. Even in light of the recent energy crisis, there seems to be limited interest among the administration.” The federal government, along with many local governments, corporations, and universities are beginning to require LEED certification on all construction.

According to Communications Intern for the College Committee on Sustainability Nathaniel Kimball ’09, environmental projects around the campus have been numerous. “The Report Card gives a fairly accurate view of what Vassar is doing in terms of sustainability,” he said. “We have made a huge push this year to stop the campus from using incandescent light bulbs and instead installed compact fluorescent light bulbs,” said Kimball.

“We have switched out almost all of the senior housing and dorms to lighting that uses one-third the energy of a normal bulb.” The result has been a seven-percent energy savings for the buildings involved.

In addition, Associate Executive Director of Buildings and Grounds Jeff Horst is looking into running mowers and possibly some vehicles on biodiesel fuel. “Horst has also drastically reduced the pesticide and herbicide use on campus,” said Kimball, who credits Vassar’s accomplishments to widespread cooperation. “We have faculty and staff from many departments around campus, such as Campus Dining, Buildings and Grounds, Admissions, Residential Life, and many other academic departments coming to our meetings and giving us ideas.”

Professor of Geology and CCS Chair Jeff Walker has been looking into the Institute’s findings, particularly in the categories where Vassar received lower marks. Although he believes the study was fair in general, Walker thought that “we did not get enough credit for energy audits, co-generation of electricity whenever the main boiler is in operation, Buildings and Grounds initiatives, our new energy policy, or our requirement that all construction and demolition waste be recycled.”

Walker noted that CCS and other campus organizations will continue to make sustainability a priority for the College. “We are working cooperatively with other environmental groups to evaluate the Talloires Declaration.” Talloires, initiated in 1990 by the president of Tufts University, is essentially a recorded mandate of a college’s interest in sustainability. Signing Talloires was a step taken by many colleges receiving an A in the Administration category.

According to the Report Card, “Some leading schools are taking proactive steps on both campus and endowment sustainability initiatives [while] other schools are shown to have a less consistent commitment.”

Executive Director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute Mark Orloski said that “This is the first time that colleges have been assessed on both campus and endowment sustainability policies.” The schools surveyed are among the wealthiest in the nation, and have combined holdings of $258 billion dollars—about 75 percent of all higher education endowment investments.