Campus briefs

Santa Clara ranked in top 25 campus sustainability leaders

Santa Clara was named one of the 25 campus sustainability leaders out of 200 schools in the 2008 College Sustainability Report Card released by the Sustainable Endowments Institute last week.

Earning three A's, three B's, one D and one F, Santa Clara came out with an overall grade of B-.

The university earned an A in Administration for its sustainability policy, task force, sustainability coordinator, and education and research projects, with another A in Climate Change and Energy for its goals to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and increase wind and solar power.

The final A was earned in Food and Recycling. The report card cited that 80 percent of university produce comes from local farms, the dining hall serves fair-trade coffee, cage-free eggs and hormone-free milk, and there is current progress toward an in-house waste composting program.

The poorest-rated categories were Endowment Transparency, in which Santa Clara earned a D, and Shareholder Engagement, in which Santa Clara earned an F.

The report card stated that university "proxy voting records and list of endowment holdings are available only to trustees, senior administrators and other select members of the school community."

Schools across the nation did poorly in the same categories, with 58 percent F's in Endowment Transparency and 66 percent F's in Shareholder Engagement.

The report card, the only independent sustainability evaluation of campus operations and endowment investments, determines grades for each university by reviewing public information, conducting surveys of school officials and assessing performances in eight main categories.

Santa Clara achieved campus sustainability leader status by scoring at least an A- average in five campus categories.

From staff reports. E-mail news@thesantaclara.com.