Willamette University

College Sustainability Report Card 2010

The Sustainability Council and the Center for Sustainable Communities are working to advance sustainability initiatives on campus and are currently writing a climate action plan. Students, faculty, and administrators came together at a retreat this year to discuss sustainability on campus. The university purchases exclusively environmentally preferable paper, and most cleaning products used on campus are Green Seal-certified.

The university has committed to carbon neutrality. Solar hot water systems have been installed on campus, and a 10-kilowatt photovoltaic array provides about 5 percent of campus electricity. Renewable energy credits offset 11 percent of campus energy use. Willamette has also completed a number of retrofits for energy efficiency, including window replacements and HVAC system upgrades.

Through the Farm to Fork program, the university's food service provider spends 37 percent of its annual budget on local foods. Dining services uses exclusively cage-free eggs, hormone- and antibiotic-free dairy, grass-fed meats, and sustainably harvested fish. Fair trade coffee, chocolate, and bananas are also purchased. Fallen leaves on campus are recycled in local community gardens.

The university's green building guidelines mandate that all new construction be built to LEED Silver standards at a minimum. One campus building is LEED Gold-certified and another meets LEED Silver standards. Water conservation efforts include the installation of low-flow showerheads, toilets, and faucets, as well as rainwater reclamation systems.

Students are involved in a number of sustainability organizations on campus, including the Environmental Community Outreach Society and Terra House, a green living community. Information materials about sustainability are distributed at new-student orientation, and the Center for Sustainable Communities employs three student interns.

The Borrow-a-Bike program provides free repair services and bicycle rental to the community, and the university sponsors a car-sharing program. Employees and students have free access to the city's public transit system, and the university fleet includes a number of electric vehicles.

The university makes a list of endowment holdings available to trustees, senior administrators, and other select members of the school community on a password-protected website. Access to shareholder voting records is decided on a case-by-case basis by the endowment committee, though no such requests have been made.

The university aims to optimize investment return and is currently invested in renewable energy funds.

The university asks that its investment managers handle the details of proxy voting, but the endowment committee may instruct otherwise on a case-by-case basis.