Mixed Sustainability Rankings for Carleton, St. Olaf Colleges

There's more to school than grades.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute recently released a College Sustainability Report Card of 322 schools across the country, which is "designed to identify colleges and universities that are leading by example on sustainability” and “seeks to encourage sustainability as a priority in college operations and endowment investment practices.”

The most recent report card, which is based primarily on the administering of four extensive surveys to each school evaluated, gave Carleton an “A-” grade and St. Olaf a “C” grade.

The surprisingly low grade given to St. Olaf, however, may not be a result of the school’s environmental merits alone, says Peter Sandberg, St. Olaf's facilities director and an active member in the campus' sustainability efforts.

“We disagree with the [Sustainable Endowments Institute’s] information gathering strategy and have asked them several times to send all of their requests for information to a central person who would be responsible for gathering everything in an organized way,“ Sandberg said. “They have refused to work with us this way and so we asked them to quit ranking us. They told us that if we did not do it their way they would rank us anyway.”

The issue of environmental sustainability has risen to an unprecedented prominence in the past decade, and a major player in this movement has been the nation’s colleges and universities.

In Northfield, this has fueled a healthy competition between St. Olaf and Carleton colleges, with both schools seeking to make progressive changes that update administrative practices and educate students about how to create a more sustainable future.

While the two schools race to put up more wind turbines, an assortment of governmental and independent organizations are attempting to comprehensively evaluate their efforts.

The Sierra Club, another well-respected environmental institution, recently sent out 900 surveys to schools across the country for their “Cool Schools” rankings. St. Olaf ranked 79 out of the 162 schools that replied to the surveys. Carleton was not one of these 162 schools.

The methods of the institutions evaluating environmental sustainability on campuses and the subsequent participation of schools may lead to somewhat misleading final rankings.

Indeed schools are faced with difficult decisions when it comes to environmental issues, and the priorities of an environmental institution may not necessarily line up with that of a college's.

“At Carleton, I think [environmental sustainability] is an appropriately prioritized value, but it doesn’t trump education, or other core missions, like financial aid,” said Martha Larson, Carleton’s manager of Campus Energy and Sustainability. 

Even within the issue of environmental sustainability, Larson said, the issue of prioritizing is difficult, since a vast quantity of opportunities to reduce environmental harms exist. 

“The school needs to have a good sense of focus, and focus on four or five big things in order to get the most bang for their buck,” Larson said.

The schools have also been asked to sign the American College and University President’s Climate Commitment, another example of a highly publicized set of environmental guidelines. Carleton’s President Steve Poskanzer has signed, but St. Olaf’s President David Anderson has not.

"It may be impossible to deliver on the promise," St. Olaf's Sandberg said. “In an era when the cost of higher education is going to be challenged more frequently and more vociferously, I have a hard time rationalizing redirecting a lot of funding away from our primary mission.

"We will continue working to do the best job regarding climate impact that we can under the conditions we are presented with.” 

Both schools remain active in woodland, wetland and prairie restoration.

St. Olaf has implemented a student-run organic vegetable production plan in coordination with their food service. is expected to supply approximately one-third of the school’s energy.

And both campuses continue to find new ways to add environmental-related aspects to their curriculums, college officials say.