UW-Madison dropped half a letter grade in a sustainability ranking, according to the 2009 College Sustainability Report Card released last week, but university members said the school is not on the path to failure.
UW-Madison dropped from a B+"" to a ""B"" in this year's report card. According to GreenReportCard.org, only 15 schools received an ""A"" while 75 percent of colleges and universities earned grades in the ""B"" and ""C"" range.
Each school's report card is divided into nine categories including administration, green buildings and investment priorities.
UW-Madison received an ""A"" in food and recycling both last year and this year, but received a ""C"" in the report card's new student involvement category. However, the report cited students' role in the We Conserve program, among other sustainability initiatives, as a positive.
The administration, climate change, and energy and transportation categories went down a grade as well.
In a statement Mark Orlowski, the report card's publisher and executive director of the Sustainable Endowments Institute, said the grading program is the only independent evaluation of sustainability.
""[The report card] has the highest response rate of any college sustainability ranking or rating,"" he said.
GreenReportCard.org offers interactive sustainability profiles for 300 schools - public and private - with the largest endowments. Endowments can be anywhere between $150 million and $35 billion. UW-Madison's endowment was nearly $2 billion as of June 30, 2007, according to the report card.
According to Thomas Eggert, UW-Madison senior business lecturer, the university did not receive a lower grade because its efforts dwindled but because other universities are doing more.
""We stayed consistent with where we were '¦ it's simply that other universities have embraced the sustainability process,"" Eggert said.
By embracing sustainability, Eggert said many universities have either hired or are in the process of hiring sustainability coordinators.
Nick Devonshire, communications fellow at the Sustainable Endowments Institute said universities who receive ""A's"" have a profound eco-friendly sense on campus.
""They are publicizing sustainability efforts to the university and to the rest of the world,"" he said. ""They have students involved and to have a panel that looks at every single proxy and votes on it with sustainability in mind.""
Sustainability coordinators are not only responsible for greening buildings on campus, but for student attitudes as well as improving the recycling effort.
""Making a commitment to sustainability, ranging from local food sourcing to renewable energy investments is no longer a priority of only environmentalists,"" Orlowski said in the statement. ""Such innovations are capturing the attention of everyone, from college trustees to admissions applicants.""
