A national sustainability scoring center gave Northwestern the second-lowest rank in the Big Ten for green initiatives on its campus.
But University officials say NU may not have deserved the low score from the Sustainable Endowments Institute’s annual College Sustainability Report Card.
NU received a C+, with only the University of Iowa ranking lower. NU scored lowest in endowment transparency and climate change and energy, with D’s in both categories. The only A NU received was for its investment priorities.
Despite efforts on campus to increase energy efficiency and green awareness, NU’s score dropped from a B- last year.
There is nationwide dispute about the accuracy of the report card, Dean of Students Burgwell Howard said. The organization uses student surveys, public information and responses elicited from school officials to score universities. NU declined to respond to the report card’s survey, so the organization graded it based on publicly available information and one student group’s response to a survey.
“We’re moving away from providing data to the survey because it’s not a great measure of sustainable efforts on campus,” Howard said.
He said it is unreasonable that the Sustainable Endowments Institute marked NU down for lack of transparency. Endowment records for a public school are required to be made public, and private schools such as NU should not be held to the same standards, he said.
Julie Cahillane, the manager of refuse and recycling for Facilities Management, said NU’s climate change and energy score was lower than the University deserves. The University’s sustainability efforts kicked into high gear in 2007 with the creation of the Sustainability Working Action Group, a committee of student groups and administrators working together to make NU a more sustainable campus.
Student-run Engineers for a Sustainable World is leading an initiative to implement a clean energy plan that sets goals for the University to achieve in coming years. Under the plan, NU would run on 50 percent clean energy by 2030. They are also working to build a solar-powered shuttle stop near Ryan Field.
ESW has advocated the need for the administration to appoint a sustainability coordinator, which the University is looking to hire.
“Students are doing some amazing things and engaging in environmental activities and pushing the administration in new directions,” Cahillane said.
In February, the Environmental Protection Agency ranked NU fifth in the nation among colleges for green power purchasing.
The University has three Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified buildings on its Evanston and Chicago campuses.
LEED certified buildings must meet certain standards for water and energy efficiency, materials and resources used in its construction, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design. There are four levels of certification; the highest is “platinum,” followed by “gold,” “silver” and “certified.”
The Ford Motor Company Engineering Design Center, which will have solar panels installed on its roof in April, is silver certified. Silverman Hall and Wieboldt Hall are both gold certified. Rogers House, Searle Hall and Harris Hall are pending certification.
In non-LEED certified buildings, Facilities Management is installing low-energy lighting and ventilation. The office is working to install a demand ventilation system, which will link heating and airflow to room schedules. This system will prevent rooms from being heated when they are not in use.
The administration is currently working to spread awareness of green initiatives and how students can get involved. It encourages student participation in programs such as Green Cup, a campus-wide competition to reduce energy usage and waste.
“We want to educate the student community and try to get home new habits and new ways to use energy more efficiently,” Cahillane said.
Students seem to be engaged, said Dylan Lewis, co-president of Students for Ecological and Environmental Development.
“The existence of these groups shows the administration and school that students care about the issue,” he said.
In addition to off-campus projects, SEED sponsors green-awareness events on campus, such as speakers and festivals. They began a campaign in Norris University Center and dorms to spread awareness about consumption of resources.
Despite these measures, Lewis said there is still more the administration could do. It could focus more on reducing waste, using renewable resources and buying local products, he said. However, NU’s location sometimes challenges sustainable efforts, he said. For example, Lewis said, the school cannot establish a composting program because it is too urban for those facilities.
Sasha Letuchy, the co-president of ESW, said while she is proud of the school’s efforts, NU’s low score on the sustainability report card should not be taken lightly.
“The most important thing the administration has to realize is that incoming students are looking at sites like this, and that will affect their college decision,” Letuchy said.
Instead of using the report card score, NU is considering switching to the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education’s Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System, which Howard said uses more fair information to rank schools.
“We never like to see our name associated with a negative grade,” Howard said. “But in actuality, (the report card) is not a great instrument and great measure of our grade.”
