Last week, the Sustainable Endowments Institute announced the results of its 2009 Sustainability Report Card. Boston College received an overall grade of B minus, an improvement on the C earned on last year's assessment. In 2007, BC was given a C minus.
The institute graded 300 schools, with the largest endowments ranging from approximately $150 million to $35 billion. "The College Sustainability Report Card is the only independent evaluation of sustainability in campus operations and endowment investments, and it has the highest response rate of any college sustainability ranking or rating," said Mark Orlowski, executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute. "We had 290 of 300 schools responding to at least one of the three report card surveys. Many are taking pride in greener campuses and sustainability-savvy investments."
The survey took into account nine different facets of sustainability: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. While BC received A's on food and recycling, student involvement, and investment priorities, the University was given an F on endowment transparency, and C's on shareholder engagement, transportation, and green building. Administration and climate change and energy received B's.
Among all the schools surveyed, A minus was the highest overall grade earned. Only 15 schools attained the highest score, and qualified as college sustainability leaders. BC exceeded the C-plus average for all schools surveyed. Harvard, Columbia, Middlebury, the University of Colorado, and the University of Vermont were among those to earn the distinction granted to top scorers.
"Making a commitment to sustainability, ranging from local food sourcing to renewable energy investments, is no longer a priority of only environmentalists," Orlowski said. "Such innovations are capturing the attention of everyone, from college trustees to admissions applicants."
BC's exclusion from the top-tier "sustainability leaders" can be attributed in part to the F earned for endowment transparency. According to the Sustainable Endowments Institute's assessment, "The college makes neither a list of endowment holdings nor its shareholder voting record public. This information is available only to trustees and senior administrators."
BC's endowment, among the 45 largest in the United States, has grown to a lofty $1.75 billion according to the 2007-2008 BC Fact Book. Despite the fact that the responsibility of endowment investment falls to the Investment Committee of the board of trustees, which uses a series of social screens to ensure that investments are consistent with BC's values as a Jesuit, Catholic university, the Sustainable Endowments Institute equates full transparency with sustainability. "Because of the tremendous success we have enjoyed through our investments - and given the hyper-competitive nature of the investment business - we do not disclose the specifics of our investment strategy so as not to put us at a competitive disadvantage with other universities," University Spokesman Jack Dunn told The Heights last year. "The vast majority of private universities chose to follow the same policy as BC regarding investment disclosure."
Judging by the results of the survey, Dunn was correct in this assumption. "Most of the universities also get an F for transparency," said Deirdre Manning, director of sustainability. According to greenreportcard.org, the College Sustainability Report Card's Web site, 44 percent of schools included in the survey scored an F on investment transparency; only 11 percent earned an A. According to the same Web site, one in three schools make lists of their endowment holdings available to the campus community and, in some cases, to the public.
And despite the F that BC earned on endowment transparency, the A it scored on investment priorities is a testament to the fact that "the college aims to optimize investment return and is currently invested in renewable energy funds," according to the report card's Web site. "The college is exploring, but not currently invested in, community development loan funds."
"They take the social justice issue seriously, and put their money where their mouth is," Manning said.
When it comes to other aspects of the report card though, it is clear that recent efforts on behalf of both the school's students and administration are taking effect. Both BC Dining (BCD) and student groups have made concerted efforts to make the University more sustainable.
"Dining is definitely a leader in sustainability," Manning said. "It seems like in all their operations they're looking to be as sustainable as possible, and they're including an education component. Recycling continues to be a big plus for us."
In addition to the recycling line that was installed in Carney's dining hall last year, the opening of Addie's Loft and the farmer's market show an effort on the part of BCD to stock its cabinets with food grown by local distributors. Along with its traditionally antibiotic-free milk and free-trade coffees and teas, the removal of bottled water and Styrofoam from the dining halls, the refillable beverage program, the composting program, and the distribution of reusable shopping bags at the farmer's market have helped make BC's dining halls some of the greenest in the nation. According to its mission statement, BCD is "committed to being a socially responsible dining program that is an industry leader in [its] purchasing and food preparation practices."
Student initiatives also scored an A, and for a good reason.
"With regard to student involvement, Ecopledge has been such a wonderful group to work with. The young women who graduated last year were fantastic," Manning said. Ecopledge, a student-led organization that works toward making BC a more sustainable campus, organized initiatives like Harvest Fest and Earth Day, and worked closely with BCD to reduce waste in the dining halls. The group spearheads BC's participation in RecycleMania and the Better Off Contest, and runs a campus-wide campaign to promote water and energy conservation and increase recycling.
"A lot of our programming is focused on raising awareness about the need to conserve energy and water, about being conscious about how we live on campus," said Joseph DeCarle, a member of Ecopledge's senior leadership team and CSOM '09. "If we can get small things to be viral - things like turning the water off when you're shaving or brushing your teeth - that's a lot of energy being saved."
DeCarle said that the report card is a step forward in Ecopledge's campaign to increase awareness of BC's collective footprint on the environment. "Relative to some of the other universities in the country and in Canada, we're a little bit behind. We're not in that top tier yet," DeCarle said.
The low score BC earned in the green building category, though, is less comprehensible than others included in the report.
"We're doing all we can in that aspect, and I think we were judged unfairly," Manning said. "We have made a commitment to have our buildings LEED certified, and we've registered our first building with the U.S. Green Building Council."
Overall though, both Manning and DeCarle agreed that the report card is a good indicator of BC's improvement in the realm of sustainability, as well as the need for further awareness and action. "It's good to engage with other universities and compare between them," DeCarle said. "On the other hand, it's hard to quantify what's going on … Overall, it's not a bad thing."
Be the first to comment on this article!