University of Texas

College Sustainability Report Card 2007

The University has a Center for Sustainable Development in Architecture that works towards national and global sustainability, and an ad hoc Campus Sustainability Committee was formed in 2004 to address sustainability efforts on the Austin campus. A Campus Sustainability Coordinator works with the Office of Sustainability Initiatives, a group within the Office of the Provost, to enact system-wide policies.

The Facilities department has increased energy efficiency on campus by 33 percent over the past 10 years, and three of the University's campuses have solar installations. A Combined Heat and Power plant has cut energy use significantly, and since 1997 the amount of natural gas needed to power the campus has fallen by 13.7 percent, even with a 10.5 percent growth in campus facilities. For their efforts, the University received the EPA's Energy Star Combined Heat and Power award in 2005. Student groups are also looking into vending misers and the feasibility of biodiesel.

The University’s housing and food services departments have worked proactively to increase the amount of local foods in the dining halls. The University recycles paper, cardboard, cans, bottles, and many other industrial substances, as well.

Several staff members have pursued LEED accredation, and all design teams are required to have a LEED-accredited member. The new Child Development Center is expected to be LEED Silver-certified, which will be UT's first LEED-certified facility. An additional $540 million worth of projects is being processed with an aim towards Silver certification at a minimum.

Open records law requires that proxy voting records and a list of endowment holdings be available to the public. This information is emailed to individuals upon request.

The University prioritizes investing to maximize profit and has not made any public statements about investigating or investing in renewable energy funds or community development loan funds.

The University asks that its investment managers handle the details of proxy voting.