Case Western Reserve University

College Sustainability Report Card 2009

President Snyder signed the Presidents Climate Commitment and the university has a green purchasing policy. The university employs one full-time recycling coordinator and two part-time recycling staff members. The Energy Advisory Committee advises the administration on matters pertaining to sustainability.

The university has completed more than 230 energy efficiency projects. Volunteers act as energy conservation advocates in campus buildings through the university's Adopt-a-Building program and the facilities services department offers a link on their website to real-time graphs of energy consumption. The university is currently conducting a feasibility study for the installation of a 50-kilowatt wind turbine.

The university's food service provider works with more than 35 area farmers and artisans. Local products make up 24 percent of total purchases. Many fair trade and organic products are also available, including coffee, produce, meat, seafood, and baked goods. Dining services recycles cooking oil for biodiesel production and composts food waste.

The university's sustainability program has developed a set of green building standards, which have been incorporated into Case’s requirements for new construction and renovations in existing buildings. There is one LEED-certified and one LEED Gold-certified project on campus. Porous concrete has been installed to decrease storm-water runoff, and a vegetative roof has been added to a new building.

The university has three paid sustainability positions for students. New student orientation includes recycling and sustainability programs, and the university runs a monthly carbon-footprint reduction campaign. The undergraduate student government has designed a new residential council with recycling and sustainability positions. There are two sustainability-related student clubs.

The university offers significant discounts to undergraduate students for local bus and rail services. Free shuttles also run regularly to provide public transportation throughout campus and the surrounding area. The university has ordered five electric trucks and three electric cars for the campus fleet and has installed charging stations for employee-owned electric vehicles.

The university makes neither its proxy voting record nor its list of endowment holdings public.

The university aims to optimize investment return and is currently invested in renewable energy funds. The university is exploring, but not currently invested in, community development loan funds.

The university provides its investment managers with guidelines that determine its proxy votes.