commentThe Princeton Review Introduces Green College Ratings
The Princeton Review—the company famous for offering tutoring, test preparation, and information about the country’s colleges and universities—has unveiled a new metric in its school reviews. The “Green Rating” measures how environmentally friendly each school is, on a scale from 60 to 99.
Based on what you have seen and read about this project, how would you grade it? Use the stars below to indicate your assessment, five stars being the highest rating.
The Princeton Review worked with the nonprofit ecoAmerica to develop the Green Rating, which covers three broad areas: to what extent the students lead healthy and sustainable lives, how well the school prepares students for employment and citizenship in a world defined by environmental challenges, and how environmentally responsible the school’s policies are.
A survey designed to measure this commitment to the environment included questions on energy use, recycling, the availability of organic and locally grown food, green building standards, transportation options, the number of degrees and courses related to environmental studies, and action plans and goals concerning greenhouse gas emission reductions.
“The green movement on college campuses is far more than an Earth Day recycling project or a dining hall menu of organic food,” says Robert Franek, The Princeton Review’s vice president and publisher. “The commitment that many colleges and their student bodies have made to environmental issues—indeed, to the environment—in their practices, use of resources, and academic and research programs is truly compelling.”
Of the 534 schools reviewed by the company, 11 earned the perfect score of 99. They are:
- Arizona State University at Tempe;
- Bates College in Lewiston, Maine;
- College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine;
- Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia;
- Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta;
- Harvard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts;
- State University of New York at Binghamton;
- University of New Hampshire in Durham;
- University of Oregon in Eugene;
- University of Washington in Seattle; and
- Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
In a survey of more than 10,000 college applicants and parents, The Princeton Review found that 63% of respondents said they would value having information about a school’s commitment to the environment. Of these, 24% of students, but only 18% of parents, said this information would “strongly” or “very much” impact their decision, or their child’s decision, to apply to or attend a school. “It is the students of today who will face and hopefully find solutions for the enormous environmental challenges confronting our planet’s future,” says Franek.
The Green Ratings appear on The Princeton Review’s free website (www.princetonreview.com) and in the 2009 versions of three books: The Best 368 Colleges, The Best Northeastern Colleges, and The Complete Book of Colleges, all published by Random House. The website also offers information on how a school’s environmental responsibility can improve students’ quality of life, how a school’s environmental responsibility can prepare students to enter green businesses, and what green indicators to look for when visiting schools.
This article was produced by BuildingGreen, LLC.- www.buildinggreen.com
