Even as the university scored well in a recent ranking of environmentally friendly campuses, student activists are still pushing for the university to engage in more sustainability initiatives and research.
This university ranked 95 out of 286 in a study released by The Princeton Review admissions advising company last month, based on such factors as its use of renewable energy, green building techniques and environmental education programs.
“It’s great that The Princeton Review is focusing on sustainability initiatives, especially when sustainability has become one of the top considerations of prospective students,” campus sustainability coordinator Mark Stewart said. “Many students are seeking colleges or universities that reflect environmental values and offer academic programs where students can learn how to make this world more livable.”
But some students remain unsatisfied with the university’s performance. The University of California, Berkeley, one of this university’s peer institutions, was one of 15 universities nationwide to earn a perfect score in the Princeton Review ratings.
The Student Government Association signed a proposal last week to support the initiative known as RE-ENERGYSE — Regaining Our Energy Science and Engineering Edge — to help increase funding at public and private universities as well as community colleges for clean energy education and research, an area some students say is causing the university to fall behind in the environmental arena.
“With the help of additional federal funding that would be provided by the RE-ENERGYSE legislation, the University of Maryland could join the ranks of our peers such as UC Berkeley and lead the nation toward a clean energy economy,” SGA Director of Environmental Affairs Joanna Calabrese wrote in a letter from the SGA to Mote and other administrators. “We could earn incredible prestige and boost our national rankings by demonstrating a bold focused commitment to this global challenge.”
SGA President Steve Glickman is now one of more than 100 student body presidents from colleges and universities across the nation to sign a petition sent to Congress last week calling for RE-ENERGYSE legislation to allocate more funding for green research and education.
The proposed legislation, developed by the group Americans for Energy Leadership, would offer tens of millions of dollars annually for university sustainability education programs and also fund internships and Solar Decathlon teams.
Calabrese met AEL founder Teryn Norris during the summer at a fellowship in California and said she saw a need for the university to join in on the efforts.
“The only way to change the current infrastructure is through technology, and historically much innovation takes place on college campuses because they are teeming with intellectual capital,” Calabrese said. “It’s a problem of not investing enough in that; scholars have even called it out.”
Calabrese said the university’s prime mission is to be the economic driver of new and innovative changes and that signing on to get the legislation passed would help the university gain recognition and “an opportunity to put ourselves on that map.”
“Faculty will say the barrier to energy research, which now mostly focuses on batteries and nuclear energy rather than wind and solar energy, is there is no federal dollars available,” Calabrese said.
Stewart said he believed the university already conducting sustainability research as envisioned in the legislation and that federal money would help further develop those programs.
“I feel that the university is already on a great track and is recognized as a leader in the area of biofuel and battery research, but the funding that would be provided if this bill passed would only help those initiatives,” Stewart said. “Perhaps more importantly, it would allow universities that don’t already offer clean energy classes, internships and research opportunities to develop those programs.”
The Princeton Review had graded universities based on surveys created in collaboration with the U.S. Green Building Council, which created LEED certifications that show a building’s sustainability and energy efficiency.
Its study highlighted university President Dan Mote’s signing of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, and also recognized “commitment to LEED Silver standards for new buildings; energy-conserving renovations; a green roof; an impressive storm water management system; low-flow faucets, toilets, and showerheads in dorms,” among other improvements.
The review also said “as a large research university, Maryland is home to many research centers that give students an opportunity to get real-world experience in sustainability-oriented issues.”
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