Loyola earned a C- on its attention to the environment as judged by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, a non-profit group that researches and promotes environmentally friendly practices on college campuses.
In its 2010 College Sustainability Report Card, the group gave sustainability grades to Loyola and the 331 other public and private universities with the country’s largest endowments.
Loyola received a grade of F in three out of the eight categories, including green building endowment transparency and shareholder engagement.
Robert Thomas, professor of mass communication and director of the Center of Environmental Communications said, “You will and can expect and change in these grades. We’re eager to do better, especially since the president and provost are on board.”
Thomas also addressed the last three categories, which are endowment transparency, investments priorities and shareholder engagement.
“We filled out the forms in June and July, what happened in November? The bottom fail in, we lost 100 million dollars in investments, this was not the best time to invest, because we replaced staff, and checked policies. They just could not afford to react. But they are working on improving,” he said.
Loyola received B’s in food and recycling, student involvement and investment priorities, a D in climate change & energy, a C in Administration and an A in Transportation.
Many initiatives contributed to the improvement of Loyola’s report card grade. Dining Services transitioned away from plastic plates and started the use of the Uptown Dining cups and the recycling dumpsters throughout campus.
“We can only do a little bit at a time,” said Kathy Anzelmo, a biology instructor. Anzelmo said she has students to participate in service learning to lend a hand in recycling and considers herself a major advocate in recycling on campus.
With all the current and upcoming renovations and construction-taking place, the community can also expect a change in green building and climate change and energy grades. The renovations are working toward the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in energy and environmental standards. LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions. Also, through LEED and its policies, Loyola will save money in the process.
Edward Kvet, provost and vice president of academic affairs, said of Loyola’s improvements, “I was very pleased that our grade improved this year but obviously we can do better. I believe through the leadership of Dr. Robert Thomas, our Study Group on Campus Sustainability will promote initiatives to ensure that the campus community will continue to see not only improvement in our rating but significant change in our sustainability policies. One such example will be our adherence to ‘green’ building practices as we begin to implement our campus master plan.”
Ultimately, Thomas said he hopes the message of sustainability can be communicated effectively and our Loyola community realizes the importance of it.
Jared Brooks can be reached at [email protected]
