Campus recycling, the Bike Share Program and green roofs are just a few reasons why Southern Illinois University Edwardsville has achieved a bronze rating in a national sustainability assessment.
SIUE Sustainability Officer Kevin Adkins submitted University information to the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) Report on March 22. The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) developed STARS as a way for colleges and universities to self-report and be transparent about measuring their sustainability efforts.
The STARS reporting system for the bronze category is 25 points. SIUE filed its first STARS Report with 32.25 points. The silver category requires 45 points, gold has 65 and the highest ranking is platinum with 85 points.
SIUE’s report, which earned a bronze rating, can be found at stars.aashe.org.
“We’ve been working extremely hard, and now we have a benchmark for improvement, because you can’t manage what you can’t measure,” Adkins said. “We are about two years away from having a total of seven buildings on campus as United States Green Building Council (USGBC) LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified. Once we’ve certified these seven buildings, then there will be only two universities in Illinois and Missouri who will have more LEED-certified buildings – University of Illinois and Washington University.”
The University’s devotion to sustainability is extensive and longstanding, according to a letter written by SIUE Chancellor Julie Furst-Bowe and submitted to AASHE. “SIUE has been engaged in activities and behaviors that enhance sustainability for many years – long before the term came into widespread use. In many cases, the activities or initiatives were undertaken for reliability or cost savings, but had ‘sustainable’ consequences. More recently, the campus has taken great strides toward integrating sustainability into all areas of operations and academics and is committed to continued progress on this journey.”
Colleges and universities that submitted reports provide information regarding their school’s activities in the categories of education/research, operations and planning, and administration/engagement. Detailed criteria determine how many points are earned in each category. Schools also can receive up to four “innovation” points.
SIUE’s report includes two innovation points. One is regarding SIUE’s 380-acre Nature Preserve that runs along the western edge of the campus and is available for faculty and student research, lab projects and educational opportunities. The other lists SIUE as being a founding member of Saint Louis Higher Education Sustainability Consortium (STLHESC), a formal network of regional two- and four-year colleges and universities collaborating to further sustainability.
“This is not a competition,” Adkins said. “It is a rating system, and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that within three years SIUE will gain a silver rating.”