STEVEN ADAMS
News Editor
Increased recycling receptacles and eco-friendly “green” buildings such as the Harper Center and the Ryan Center are signs of Creighton’s recent move towards sustainability. The university prides itself on its work towards better sustainability and also has a council that meets to discuss the environmental issues and the impacts Creighton has on the environment.
However, the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a project under the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors in Cambridge, Mass., is set to release a letter grade about Creighton’s sustainability that reflects how the university’s work really pans out to professional studies.
Cameron Bruns, communications fellow at the Sustainable Endowments Institute, explained the importance of such reports and grading systems for universities.
“It’s very important because if you don’t measure things, you don’t really know what to work for,” Bruns said. “This report card is great because it compares the best schools’ sustainability and it creates a rivalry between them.”
The Institute has released letter grades for Creighton the last two years. In 2008, the university received a D and last year, Creighton received a C-. The newest grade will be released on Wednesday and a comprehensive survey of the requirements and explanations of the grade will also be included in the newest report.
The final grade is based on ratings from different categories, such as administration, food, recycling, green buildings, transportation, student involvement and investment priorities.
Last year, the lowest category grades were in the areas of endowment transparency, climate change and energy and shareholder engagement.
Despite some of the lower grades in last year’s report, the marks were higher than the 2008 report in almost every category. The most notable changes came with food services, recycling and green buildings, with the addition of the Harper Center and the Ryan-Sokol Arena.
The university has a Sustainability Council that is composed of students, faculty and staff and is headed by Lennis Pedersen, associate vice president and director of Creighton’s facilities management.
Some of the steps the council has taken to further increase the sustainability of the university is increasing the number of recycling receptacles and creating a curriculum for some classes, such as “green” chemistry classes.
Creighton students have mixed feelings about the impact of the changes made by the Sustainability Council.
Alicia Skaggs, Arts & Sciences senior, said more work needs to be done in the effort for the campus to go green.
“I haven’t noticed that they were building buildings that were green,” Skaggs said. “It seems like they’re all talk and not enough action.”
Kati Homes, Arts & Sciences senior, sees the importance of recycling and the changes that were made on campus, but she feels that more still has to be done.
“I see students using the recycle bins for garbage. Not enough people care,” Homes said. “They make it a big deal, but I don’t see anything out of it.”
Bruns said that a big part of the success for an eco-friendly campus is pro-active student involvement.
“One thing that [students] could do is join a student organization that focuses on environmental issues and tackles projects in each of the areas that we grade,” Bruns said.
Students can review Creighton’s Sustainability Council’s work and find out the steps the university has taken in going “green” by visiting www.creighton.edu/about/sustainability.
For more information on the Sustainability Endowments Institute’s report card, students can visit its Web site at www.greenreportcard.org. The site offers extensive explanations for campus report cards and allows students to compare their college with others around the United States and Canada.
The newest report card will be released on Oct. 7. Check the Creightonian.com for an update.