The Sustainable Endowments Institute announced the results of their 2010 survey on the sustainability of United States colleges and universities last week. Boston College received a B grade this year, an improvement over last year's B-. BC has consistently progressed over the last three years, said Deirdre Manning, director of sustainability. "I think it has been a bit of a change of mindset," she said. "We've had a lot of support from the administration."
The report card is divided into nine sections, including Administration, Climate Change and Energy, and Student Involvement. Manning said that BC Dining Services and Facilities Management have had a significant impact on the University's sustainability practices. Food and Recycling was one area in which BC received an A. Manning said that Facilities Management eliminated 42 percent of operational waste and is inching closer to a goal of 50 percent.
The University only received a C for "Green Building," an area that Manning said she thought would have improved had the survey taken place after BC broke ground on several new projects. Manning said that some new University building projects were planned with environmentally-sound practices in mind. "I think the reason we didn't do well on green building was because we hadn't broken ground when the survey was conducted," Manning said.
Student involvement greatly improved the University's consciousness of sustainability, Manning said. She said that EcoPledge, RealFood BC, and the Undergraduate Government of BC (UGBC) have all been influential. "All three organizations have really been pushing for green initiatives on campus," Manning said.
BC fared worst in "Endowment Transparency," an area in which few universities made a good showing, Manning said.
The school received an "F" in this category. "A handful of all the schools who participated got a good grade in the category," she said.
Information pertaining to BC's endowment is shared only with the Board of Trustees and is not subject to oversight from other members of the community.
Lisa Chase, Sustainable Endowments Institute representative, said endowment transparency is an issue for many universities.
"Many universities have their endowments managed externally or by a semi-autonomous group within the University," Chase said. "Just as with a 401k fund or a mutual fund, greater transparency tends to lead to more responsible investing. That is really the purpose behind bringing the school's attention to that."
Change in the area of endowment transparency tends to be incremental, Chase said. "It seems like schools need to make that very gradual shift," she said.
With many schools suffering from decreases in their endowments, Chase said that one might expect to find their sustainability initiatives facing difficulties as well.
"Most schools' endowments fell, but their sustainability initiatives increased," she said. "I think that shows that operating a university is sustainable."
University Spokesman Jack Dunn said that BC manages its endowment fastidiously, and that this has allowed the schools to focus on expansion while other universities struggle to stay afloat. "Boston College benefits from excellent fiscal governance," he said, "and its endowment consistently outperforms many of our peers, and that formula has enabled us to weather this economic storm, and fulfill our Strategic Plan committments in hiring faculty and proceeding with our Master Plan proposals for campus construction."
Overall, BC was marked a B this year. The nine subcategories were marked: Administration, B; Climate Change and Energy, B; Food and Recycling, A; Green Building, C; Student Involvement, A; Transportation, A; Endowment Transparency, F; Investment Priorities, A; Shareholder Engagement, C.
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