Reed College

College Sustainability Report Card 2010

Reed's sustainability policy emphasizes incorporating environmental stewardship into college operations and campus life on a daily basis. The Sustainability Committee oversees the college's sustainability initiatives, and the Green Computing Task Force focuses on the environmental effects of technology on campus. The college considers lifetime cost when making purchasing decisions and gives preference to recycled paper products and biorenewable cleaning products.

Reed has worked with an outside research and consulting firm to conduct a greenhouse gas emissions inventory. The college uses a computerized energy management system and performs preventive maintenance checks to optimize building performance. The college also uses temperature setbacks, lighting retrofits, and other building upgrades to reduce energy use in buildings.

Reed spends 20 percent of its annual food budget on local items. The college serves some food grown in the student-run organic garden, which began in spring 2009. Reed purchases exclusively cage-free eggs, sustainably harvested seafood, and fair trade coffee, as well as hormone- and antibiotic-free meat and dairy products. All dining facilities compost food waste. Dining services diverts 95 percent of its waste from the landfill.

Reed uses LEED guidelines when designing new construction projects and evaluates building materials based on their lifetime cost. Four new residence halls are awaiting LEED certification. The college recycles nonhazardous construction waste.

Three themed houses—the Outhouse, Homestead House, and the Garden House—allow Reed students the opportunity to live in environmentally focused communities. The student organization Greenboard advocated for the administration to sign a sustainability commitment. In 2008, the student senate agreed to purchase renewable energy using 2 percent of its budget, funds matched by Reed's president beginning in fall 2009.

Reed offers preferred parking spots to carpoolers. Public transportation is subsidized by 50 percent for members of the Reed community. The college has a free bicycle-sharing program and partners with a car-sharing program on campus. The campus fleet includes electric vehicles, and biodiesel fuel is used in campus maintenance equipment.

The college makes a list of endowment holdings and its shareholder voting record available to all members of the campus community through the investment office.

The college aims to optimize investment return and does not buy securities to achieve objectives that are non-financial.

The college does not typically vote proxies unless an investment will be impacted directly, acting on non-economic questions only when there is no significant divergence of opinion perceptible among college constituencies or members.