Samford scores D+ on College Sustainablity Report Card
Maribeth Browning
Issue date: 2/3/10 Section: News
Samford earned an overall "D+" on the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card, an annual evaluation of campus and endowment sustainability activities.
The Report Card profiles 300 universities nationwide using information from independent research along with three voluntary surveys from school administrators.
Nine categories, including climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement and transportation are combined with 43 performance indicators to determine the school's sustainability grade.
The report card is designed to "identify colleges and universities that are leading by example on sustainability," according to the institute.
Samford's overall score improved from an "F" received in 2008 but has not improved from last year's score.
Sarah Latham, Vice President of Operations and Planning said, "Previous efforts have all been very decentralized. As of two years ago, we had never had a operational policy regarding sustainability."
Latham's division of operations and planning was created two years ago, before Samford even had a recycling program. Since then, the "Go Green Campaign" was created to find Samford's largest weaknesses in sustainability.
In light of Samford's lack of a university recycling process only two years ago. Latham said, "we were behind the curve of a lot of schools. Internally we've made very big strides."
Despite progress, obstacles still exist. Last year, recycling bins were removed from Beeson Woods and West Campus when waste management consistently found inappropriate waste materials in the receptacles.
"This has got to be a university-wide effort," Latham said. "We can put the resources in place, but it's vital that students use them."
In assessing Samford in the student involvement category, the institute wrote: "The student group Restoring Eden promotes sustainability on campus in accordance with Samford's Christian mission. The group Students for Sustainability also works to educate community members about environmental issues."
The Report Card profiles 300 universities nationwide using information from independent research along with three voluntary surveys from school administrators.
Nine categories, including climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement and transportation are combined with 43 performance indicators to determine the school's sustainability grade.
The report card is designed to "identify colleges and universities that are leading by example on sustainability," according to the institute.
Samford's overall score improved from an "F" received in 2008 but has not improved from last year's score.
Sarah Latham, Vice President of Operations and Planning said, "Previous efforts have all been very decentralized. As of two years ago, we had never had a operational policy regarding sustainability."
Latham's division of operations and planning was created two years ago, before Samford even had a recycling program. Since then, the "Go Green Campaign" was created to find Samford's largest weaknesses in sustainability.
In light of Samford's lack of a university recycling process only two years ago. Latham said, "we were behind the curve of a lot of schools. Internally we've made very big strides."
Despite progress, obstacles still exist. Last year, recycling bins were removed from Beeson Woods and West Campus when waste management consistently found inappropriate waste materials in the receptacles.
"This has got to be a university-wide effort," Latham said. "We can put the resources in place, but it's vital that students use them."
In assessing Samford in the student involvement category, the institute wrote: "The student group Restoring Eden promotes sustainability on campus in accordance with Samford's Christian mission. The group Students for Sustainability also works to educate community members about environmental issues."
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