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With the publication of the College Sustainability Report Card 2011, more than 1,100 school survey responses from over 300 institutions are now available online. In total, these surveys offer more than 10,000 pages of data collected from colleges and universities during the summer of 2010. To access surveys from other schools, go to the surveys section of the website. To see grades, or to access additional surveys submitted by this school, please click the "Back to Report Card" link at the beginning or end of the survey.
School name: Hofstra University
Date submitted: May 24, 2010
For each question, please choose the response that best represents the activities of your student organization. Some questions have additional instructions below the question. If you cannot find information for a particular question, please leave that question blank.
The response to this survey should be only in reference to one student organization. If there are multiple student organizations at a given school, each organization should complete its own survey. Only one survey should be submitted for each student organization at a particular school.
1) Contact Information
The following fields designate the main contact person for your group.
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Name: Alex Moore
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School Name: Hofstra University
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Name of student organization: Students for a Greener Hofstra
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Your position or title: Vice President
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2) Student Organization
Please describe the student-run campus environmental/sustainability organization in which you have a leadership role. If you are a member of multiple organizations, you will be able to enter information about their activities on a later page.
Active members attend meetings and help implement the organization’s initiatives. Please describe event or email-listserv attendance under “Additional Comments.”
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Number of active members:
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Date of last meeting (mm/dd/yyyy):
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Frequency of meetings:
Note: if you meet more than once a week, please select weekly.
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Key issues addressed and programs implemented since August 2009:
Use the categories below to help describe your group's initiatives in each area. In the "Describe" field, outline actions taken and elaborate on the impact and degree of success. You may want to compose your descriptions in Microsoft Word or a similar program and then paste them into the boxes provided. Please be detailed in your descriptions, and use the "Other" option to describe additional areas of involvement. You can also elaborate or add clarifying comments under "Additional Comments."
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Addressed
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Progress
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Describe
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Academics
Examples: Minor, major and concentration programs, curricular additions, research projects
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None
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Sustainability is a very small part of our curriculum. Hofstra STILL has not hired a director of sustainability, although the funding has been there for two years.
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Administration
Examples: Procurement policies, institution-wide sustainability policy, advocating for sustainability-related staff positions
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Moderate
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Several offices are doing "green" campaigns and converting to online registrations, less paper, etc. but I have seen few larger steps.
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Climate
Examples: Climate action plan, greenhouse gas emissions inventory
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None
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None.
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Endowment
Examples: Proxy voting guidelines, investment advisory committees
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None
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Energy
Examples: Conservation/behavioral
change programs, retrofits and
efficiency improvements
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[X]
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Moderate
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In our plant department there is a "Energy, Environmental Health and Safety Manager." She has been applying to many grants to do small retrofitting in various buildings around campus. We have declined local businesses who would like to put their solar paneling on some of our buildings.
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Food
Examples: Advocating for local, organic, or more sustainable food, campus gardening, food purchasing and ingredient guidelines
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[X]
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Moderate
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Our food services was virtually backward two years ago, but in 2008 we were able to get them to commit to several changes (no more polystyrene, more local produce, plate first policy--theoretically--in one dining location, etc.) In the past year, they have continued to try to bring more local produce and have increased the number of farmers markets that they began two years ago, but their progress and enthusiams to work with us has slowed considerably.
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Green Building
Examples: Design or construction policy
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None
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Hofstra is building a new medical school. They say that they are trying to keep green building ideals in mind, but will not commit to any LEED certifications yet for either the med school or the med school housing. There IS one freshman residence house that is going to become a sustainability house: there are no building changes, but we are adding a small community garden.
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Grounds and Maintenance
Examples: Green landscaping, non-toxic cleaners
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None
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Hofstra fills long island with leaf blower gas rather than using brooms on sidewalks. Hofstra also uses mostly non-native plants in its arboretum.
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Student Involvement
Examples: Facilitating engagement with students, speaker series, establishing EcoReps program, student guide to sustainable living on campus
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Moderate
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Students are, overall, very apathetic toward the environment. We have one club that works very hard, primarily behind the scenes to make change within the administration, but even with the full Earth Week we had around Earth Day, there was very little student attendance and participation.
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Transportation
Examples: Promoting sustainable transportation, campus fleet improvements, connecting students with public transit
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None
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Hofstra's plant is purchasing one electric vehicle. There is still no parking fee for anyone who has a car on campus (and thus nearly everyone has a car on campus,) ample parking, no incentive for public transportation use or prefered parking for high efficiency vehicles, and the Hofstra bus is extremely inconvenient. Also, after Students for a Greener Hofstra worked VERY hard to get Hofstra to open a contract with Zimride, a rideshare program, Hofstra declined and instead wants to now push (even though they had never worked to push it before) a public, metropolitan area rideshare site that could be beneficial to local commuters but useless for one time, longer distance rides. We do have three Zipcars.
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Waste Reduction
Examples: Recycling, composting,
reducing consumption
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Moderate
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Finally, in ONE eating location on campus, they implemented source sorting of recycling on campus (everywhere else there is only one trash bin with post-sorting done at a local plant.) They implemented it in the spring and said that they would analyze its success and expand the pilot program accordingly, but since have not analyzed anything.
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Water
Examples: Water conservation, reducing campus pollution, bottled water campaigns
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None
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Still will not commit to composting in dining halls, but for some time have composted clippings from the grounds and tree branches. In some of the residence halls there are automatic sinks and automatic toilets (which flush three times when one pees, so certainly are not saving water. They did finally put in two hydration stations with filtered water in two dining locations that students love, but they have not set aside funding for any more.
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Other
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Additional Comments
3) Sustainability Competitions and Challenges
This information should describe a campus challenge or competition organized by your group to promote sustainability. To add general information about your group, return to the previous questions.
First competition
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Name of competition
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Frequency of competition
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Year initiated
Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.
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Groups involved in coordinating
If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.
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Participants:
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Students
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Faculty
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Staff
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Other. Please describe.
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Incentives/Rewards:
Describe how students, faculty, and/or staff were encouraged to participate in the competition. How were they notified and enticed to join the competition? What was the “prize” or reward for which they were competing?
Goals of competition:
Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).
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Energy conservation
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Waste reduction
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Water conservation
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Other. Please describe
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Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):
Describe both the raw savings, and the savings as compared to use before the competition. For example, an electricity-saving competition may have encouraged a dorm to conserve 6,000 kW/h of electricity for the month of April, a savings of 5% from the same month last year.
Lasting effects of competition:
Describe other impacts and effects. What are observable changes in campus behavior even after the competition’s completion? Have other efforts towards sustainability been given added momentum? Has the competition inspired other campaigns or initiatives?
Website:
Second competition
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Name of competition
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Frequency of competition
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Year initiated
Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.
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Groups involved in coordinating
If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.
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Participants:
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Students
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Faculty
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Staff
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Other. Please describe.
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Incentives/Rewards:
Describe how students, faculty, and/or staff were encouraged to participate in the competition. How were they notified and enticed to join the competition? What was the “prize” or reward for which they were competing?
Goals of competition:
Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).
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Energy conservation
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Waste reduction
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Water conservation
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Other. Please describe
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Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):
Describe both the raw savings, and the savings as compared to use before the competition. For example, an electricity-saving competition may have encouraged a dorm to conserve 6,000 kW/h of electricity for the month of April, a savings of 5% from the same month last year.
Lasting effects of competition:
Describe other impacts and effects. What are observable changes in campus behavior even after the competition’s completion? Have other efforts towards sustainability been given added momentum? Has the competition inspired other campaigns or initiatives?
Website:
Third competition
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Name of competition
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Frequency of competition
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Year initiated
Even if the competition has not been held continually each year, enter the year it began.
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Groups involved in coordinating
If your group conducted the competition alone enter your group's name. Otherwise, enter other student groups, administrative offices, or faculty departments that assisted in implementation.
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Participants:
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Students
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[ ]
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Faculty
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[ ]
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Staff
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Other. Please describe.
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Incentives/Rewards:
Describe how students, faculty, and/or staff were encouraged to participate in the competition. How were they notified and enticed to join the competition? What was the “prize” or reward for which they were competing?
Goals of competition:
Describe the sustainability-related goal of the competition (e.g. conserve electricity, water, reduce waste, increase recycling rates).
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Energy conservation
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Waste reduction
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Water conservation
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Other. Please describe
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Percent of energy/water/waste reduced (describe):
Describe both the raw savings, and the savings as compared to use before the competition. For example, an electricity-saving competition may have encouraged a dorm to conserve 6,000 kW/h of electricity for the month of April, a savings of 5% from the same month last year.
Lasting effects of competition:
Describe other impacts and effects. What are observable changes in campus behavior even after the competition’s completion? Have other efforts towards sustainability been given added momentum? Has the competition inspired other campaigns or initiatives?
Website:
4) Sustainability in Student Government and Other Activities
Please describe the role of Student Government and other groups.
Does your student government include a specific position or committee dedicated to campus sustainability issues?
If yes. Please describe below:
Include the following: How many students are active in the committee? How often does it meet? What kinds of power and decision-making ability does it have? What impacts and initiatives has it undertaken? What kind of working relationship does it have with other student groups and the administration?
Please describe any additional campus sustainability activities or projects that you or your group has initiated at your school:
Describe any activities that your group or yourself, as a leader on campus, have undertaken that are not already included in your survey responses. If applicable, also describe off-campus and community efforts that relate to institutional sustainability at your school.
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- WE spearheaded the visible recycling- Helped to get boxes for clothing donations at move out- We have regular meetings with reps from our food services and our plant - We had a small 350 event- We spearheaded the hydration station installment- We did a take back the tap campaign (and are still in progress)- We Table at student events- 2 years ago we wrote the initial proposal to hire a director of sustainability, which was ultimately accepted- We spearheaded the community garden to be added in the fall- We are working with the library to send old books to better world books rather than to a shredder- We created a system whereby students can donate leftover meal points in the form of catered food to a local food share rather than loosing all of the extra money. - We have a representative on the Environmental Priorities Committee
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Please Note: The following is for informational purposes only; your response will NOT be included in the Report Card evaluation process.
Please list any regional or national networks with which your group is affiliated (e.g., Energy Action Coalition/Campus Climate Challenge, Sierra Student Coalition, a state PIRG, a state student sustainability coalition):
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We participated in Power Shift 2009. Our last president had a ton of connections with Energy Action and Greenpeace, up until last year we had a club member maintaining regular calls with a Greenpeace campus organizer, but currently we really do not have any. We did spend this past semester working on a Ban the Bottle Campaign, but only had minimal contact with Food and Water Watch and Corporate Accountability.We also have spearheaded and sent a student twice to the Colonial Academic Alliance Conference to begin a new aspect of the conference, an environmental initiative during which campus leaders share ideas, what has worked, and what hasn't.
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