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National Higher Education Leaders Attend Stakeholder Meeting

Colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to invent the greener communities needed for a sustainable future. In order to realize this potential, higher education opinion-leaders and decision-makers at a national level need to be engaged in the discussion.

Toward this end, the National Wildlife Federation's Campus Ecology program co-convened a higher-education Stakeholder Meeting with University Leaders for a Sustainable Future (ULSF) entitled "Assessing Progress Toward Sustainability in Higher Education," to discuss the barriers to and opportunities for continued progress in elevating environmental sustainability as a central concern in higher education.

The meeting, moderated by Tom Gonzales, president of Front Range Community College in Colorado and an NWF board member, took place in March 2001, and brought together 57 representatives from 22 organizations and 14 colleges and universities. Co-sponsored by the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers (APPA), Second Nature, and the Higher Education Network for Sustainability and the Environment (HENSE), and funded in part with support from the Educational Foundation of America and Nathan Cummings Foundation, the meeting was a landmark opportunity for collaborative exploration in the area of campus greening.

The day's events centered around a series of working groups, in which the attendees assessed how their organizations or universities are currently advancing "greening" issues, and identified opportunities for further work. Participants identified such needs as: conducting campus sustainability training sessions with higher education associations; strengthening institutional support of junior faculty; rewarding innovative initiatives; integrating sustainability into strategic plans; engaging alumni; celebrating even small successes; and generating positive publicity.

These common threads enable us to recognize the variety (and often complexity) of issues facing faculty, staff, administrators and students, while determining priorities for moving forward together.

The following organizations were represented:

American Association for Higher Education
American Association of Community Colleges
Association of Governing Boards
Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers
Center for Sustainable Systems, University of Michigan
Funders' Forum on Environment and Education
National Association of College and University Business Officers
National Association of Education Buyers
National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges
Campus Compact - National Center for Community Colleges
North American Alliance for Green Education
Office of the Governor, State of Maryland, Governor's Office on Smart Growth
Partnership for Environmental Technology Education
Professional Grounds Management Society
Second Nature
Society for College and University Planning
THE INSTITUTE for Higher Education Policy
Town Creek Foundation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
World Resources Institute

Campus Ecology would like to thank all the attendees for making the meeting a success, and to congratulate them for the successful initiatives many have already undertaken.

You can learn more about the stakeholders' meeting by reading the following PDF documents. (Click here for PDF help)

Letter to Stakeholder Participants
Meeting Notes by Topic:
Opportunities to Advance Environmental Sustainability in Higher Education
Barriers to Advancing Sustainability in Higher Education
Presentation Summaries and Papers
Panel on Assessment of Sustainability
Pre-Planning Paper by Aldo Morri
Resources and Contacts
Attendee List, Agenda, and Small Group Notes
Participant Survey: Sustainability Goals Inventory

We really enjoyed the process of making this as waste free and environmentally sensible an event as possible, from the nametags through the food served. Nametags were printed on tree-free paper and welcome packets were made from 100% recycled material, with 30% post-consumer content. Packet contents were printed on processed chlorine-free paper, using 30% post-consumer waste. We also avoided disposable items as much as possible in the meal service and, Tim, the chef, purchased an impressive variety of organic items for the luncheon menu. We worked closely with the hotel staff to ensure that the waste was minimized and recycling was maximized.

Learn more about National Wildlife Federation's State of the Campus Environment survey.