Green Colleges and Universities
Sierra magazine's fourth annual "Coolest Schools" list has been released, spotlighting 100 colleges and universities. This year's ranking system places more importance on the source of each school's energy supply, but factors such as food, academics, transportation, waste management, and financial investments were all still factored in. As a result, the list has changed quite a bit since last year, with nine newcomers in the top 20.
Which schools made the list? You'll find big ones, small ones, famous ones, and some you may not have heard of before. Such diversity is encouraging because it means that being eco-friendly is a management system that's not exclusive to only big and famous schools. The point is, any school can practice energy conservation and waste management systems that reduce, reuse, recycle.
Please bear in mind that the 11-page questionnaire was sent out to 900 colleges and universities across the United States, so the survey tried its best to reach as many tertiary educational institutions as possible, but as with all things in life, the data gathering process cannot possibly send out a questionnaire to every single college or university in the nation. So, some deserving schools have been left out.
Then, there's the problem of participation. Even though questionnaires were sent to 900 colleges and universities, not every single one of them chose to complete the questionnaire in order to take part in the survey. Only 162 chose to respond to the survey.
So, it doesn't do any good to criticize Sierra Club for not being thorough, for leaving out your alma mater, or for not giving recognition where it is deserved. Many, many schools are practicing varying degrees of sustainability; the survey simply cannot include every single institution, especially those who choose not to participate.
And it goes without saying that the evaluation process is subjective. The list is not meant to be taken as the whole truth and nothing but the truth; it is also not meant to be used for bragging rights or to provoke one-upmanship. The list only shows a small picture of schools that are environmentally conscious. The main goal of the list is to increase awareness of eco-friendly measures that colleges and universities are performing and have plans to perform.
Colleges and universities can be evaluated in hundreds of different criteria. Academic performance, graduation rates, faculty publication, and so on. Conventional college ranking lists don't consider sustainable practices as a factor in parents' and teenagers' consideration on which university to attend. So the list provided by Sierra Club is a starting point for those who would like to combine the Princeton Review of colleges or the college rankings provided by U.S. News with another list that takes sustainability into account. This way, those who are interested in attending a college/university that's eco-friendly will be able to begin making a more informed decision.
Continued on the next page
Follow Technorati