VCU is failing to sufficiently sustain its endowments
and environmental practices, according to
the College Sustainability Report Card released last
month by the Sustainable Endowments Institute.
VCU and the College of William and Mary both
received an overall grade of “D-” and tied for the
lowest grade in the state.
“(VCU) has not made public any steps taken to
address energy efficiency or conservation possibilities
and has not made progress toward the use of
renewable energy,” the report states.
VCU’s grade was among the lowest of the 200
public and private universities in the country studied.
Out of eight graded categories, VCU received an “F”
in climate change and energy, Investment Priorities
and Shareholder Engagement.
Grace Howard, a junior and president of the
VCU Environmental Defense, said this report card
is an accurate view of the university’s environmental
policies. VCU should be more earth-friendly, she
said.
“They haven’t been doing much in the way of
retrofitting,” Howard said. “They haven’t been doing
much in the way of installing solar panels or just
buying energy credits.”
Associate Vice President for Facilities Management
Brian Ohlinger stated in an e-mail he disagreed
with the accuracy of the report card.
“For whatever reason, the Institute did not
update our information that we submitted, which
would dramatically improve our overall score,”
Ohlinger stated.
According to Ohlinger, VCU has spent $7 million
during the past five years to update buildings and
make them more energy efficient. He also said the
school recycles more than the report stated.
The school received a “D” in the category of green
building, which measures the
efficiency of sustainable practices.
This includes Leadership
in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) certification,
which is a third-party process
that reviews environmentally
sound building practices.
“A new environmental outreach
building will be LEEDcertified,”
the report states.
“The University has no known
green building policy.”
The report card understates
the amount of sustainable
building that occurs at VCU,
Ohlinger said.
“A recently completed building
at the Rice Center for
Environmental Studies is in
the final LEED certification
process,” Ohlinger said. “One
building is under construction
and five buildings are in design,
all of which will be LEED
certified.”
Even if revisions were ignored
by the report, Howard
said, VCU can do more to
reduce its impact on the environment.
“It’s better than nothing,
but it could be much better,”
Howard said.
According to Howard, VCU
is not keeping up with the
growing demand for environmental
responsibility among
students.
“People are learning more
and more about green living
and about environmentalism,”
Howard said. “They’re paying
for an institution that received
a “D-” on a sustainability report
card, and if they’re not cool with
that, they need to let people
know.”
—
—
According
to the
Sustainable
Endowment
Insitute’s Web
site, the non-profit
organization aims
to encourage
sustainability
among U.S.
universities and
was founded in
2005. Harvard
and Dartmouth
were among those
schools that were given an “A” by
the organization, and Julliard School,
Howard University and Regent
University were among those schools
given an “F.