Greener Campuses
Outreach
An article the New York Times recently published says that greenness is now an important factor in the college search. Apparently the Princeton Review polled 10,300 students with a question that my college has never bothered to ask me: whether they care if their college campus is green. 63% answered with a resounding yes, and as a result the Princeton Review has included environmental sustainability in its yearly college ranking, adding pressure for colleges and universities keep the issue in mind in order to attract prospective students.
Some, however, worry that the new green initiatives colleges are implementing are just for show. Recycling programs and “Do It in the Dark” contests between dorms, which challenge students to use as little water and energy as possible, are mostly symbolic. A real environmental benefit depends on big changes like using greener power sources, increasing buildings’ energy efficiency, composting garbage from dining halls, and educating students about sustainability.
This may be a tough pill to swallow for a number of campus environmental groups who pour their hearts and souls into these symbolic initiatives. But it’s also a chance for them to refocus their energy. I, for one, was once told by a professor that ours is the “generation that didn’t do anything.” This could be our version of the civil rights movement.
Some issues to consider though – first, how will it affect traditional remote college campuses where students do a great deal of driving? Will environmentally conscious students want to go to a school where their carbon footprint is huge due to the fact that daily travel requires a car? And second, with the current spike in the price of an education, will going green be another excuse to raise tuition?
It’s exciting that people are taking sustainability seriously and that publications like the Princeton Review are making researching environmentally friendly institutions so much easier. I only hope that these reviews find a concrete way to measure which universities are the most sustainable.
- Kathryn Robertson
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