St. Olaf College

College Sustainability Report Card 2008

St. Olaf has a sustainability task force and a website devoted to sustainability, but does not adhere to a sustainability policy.

A 1.65-megawatt wind turbine installed in one of the college’s farm fields in 2005 generates about one-third of the college’s energy. St. Olaf has completed a carbon emissions inventory for the main campus.

St. Olaf purchases 100 percent of the produce grown on the campus farm, as well as a wide variety of local foods, such as beef, produce, dairy, and fish, from local producers through the Farm to Fork program. In addition, the college composts hundreds of pounds of food per day and returns it to the crops used for the Farm to Fork program.

Sustainable design guidelines are incorporated into construction contracts. The new science complex is being constructed to LEED Gold standards.

All of the college’s diesel vehicles run on a 20 percent biodiesel fuel blend. The Green Machine Free Bike Program encourages the use of bicycles on campus. Starting in the fall of 2008, St. Olaf will be implementing some preferred parking for carpoolers and alternative-fuel vehicles. Parking restrictions limit the number of students permitted to have vehicles on campus. The college contracts with the city of Northfield to provide free local bus service for students, and subsidizes the cost of bus services for students to the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area.

St. Olaf makes neither its proxy voting records nor its list of endowment holdings public.

The college aims to optimize investment return and does not invest in renewable energy funds or community development loan funds through its endowment. In cooperation with Carleton College and two local banks, St. Olaf formed the Northfield (MN) Community Investment Fund, LLC; however, St. Olaf will not be funding its share with endowment assets.

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