USC received a "C+" on its commitment to environmental sustainability, according to the 2008 Sustainable Endowment Institute's College Sustainability Report Card on Oct. 24 - more than a full letter grade improvement from the "D" the university received in the 2007 report, released in February.
This is the second time this year the Sustainable Endowments Institute has published its report, which is aimed at sparking activity to improve sustainability on college campuses across the United States and in Canada.
Last year's report graded institutions in seven categories under the umbrella of sustainability: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, endowment transparency, investment priorities and shareholder engagement. This year's report card added transportation as an eighth criterion. Each campus is also given an overall rating on sustainability based on the incorporation of the individual categories.
USC, along with Carleton College, Notre Dame, University of Virginia and Northeastern University, showed the greatest improvement in sustainability efforts over the past year.
USC improved by a full letter grade in every category except for climate change and energy and endowment transparency. Earning a grade of A in the new transportation category influenced the university's overall performance.
Ruchika Gupta, the vice chair of USC's CalPIRG, which lobbies for sustainability efforts on campus, and a junior majoring in international relations global business, said she is happy the university's largest improvement was in the green building category and the school received an "A" grade for transportation.
For the past three semesters, Campus Climate Change, a division of CalPIRG, has been working with TrojanTransportation and has successfully fought for the use of biodiesel fuel in campus trams and the phasing in of hybrid Campus Cruiser cars.
While Gupta is pleased with the improvement, she said the school has yet to prove its commitment to sustainability.
"We want to see a statement from the administration that it's a priority for USC to become sustainable," she said.
Undergraduate Student Government Vice President Max Slavkin called the report card a "benchmark" for the school but said that other universities have entire offices of sustainability to coordinate sustainability efforts, whereas USC does not.
He said the "C+" is an accurate grade for USC's current level of sustainability.
"People aren't just jumping into [sustainability efforts]; they're planning cautiously, but we have yet to see USC [administrators] say, 'We're going green,'" Slavkin said.
Slavkin cited this year's creation of the Operations Sustainability Committee, which combines faculty representatives from 15 different facility operation groups on campus with students interested in sustainability, as a launching pad for positive future efforts.
"This committee rose on its own, because people are interested in it and are figuring out why we should go green and exactly how to do it," he said.
Ed Becker, executive director of environmental health and safety and the leader of the Operations Sustainability Committee, said the Sustainable Endowments Institute report has a specific focus based on the nature of its categories, but in the larger scheme of USC's sustainability program, there is a lot going on right now. Becker pointed to ridesharing among faculty and the use of alternative fuel in campus transportation systems.
"Changes have been made and it's continuous," he said. "I visited each department [within the 15 groups], and there isn't a single department that isn't doing something sustainable."
USC's grade was brought down after receiving an "F" in endowment transparency.
Ruth Wernig, USC treasurer, said part of the reason the university received an overall low score on the report card is because the school won't divulge financial information related to sustainability spending.
"There's a lack of transparency because, as a private university, we report to a board of trustees and they see all of our holdings and approve the investments," she said. "This is true of any private university."
Owen Caine, USG assistant director of community affairs and a sophomore majoring in political science, said with help from the student body, he is hopeful for the future of USC's sustainability efforts.
"We're past the point where students need to complain about the deficiencies of our system, and we're at the point where they need to help us come up with ideas," he said. "All problems have a solution in my mind, especially when it comes to the environment. It's about compromising and being able to see the solution for what it is."
