Institute Gives Mad Props to Harvard's "Green" Practices

Despite Harvard’s tumble in the U.S. News standings, there is at least one category where our school still reigns supreme. Along with Dartmouth, Williams and Stanford, Harvard was placed in the top bracket when the Sustainable Endowments Institute ranked the environmental practices of the 100 American universities with the largest endowments.

The universities were evaluated on the energy efficiency of their campus operations and on the environmental ethics of their investment practices.

The report gave Quadlings something to be proud of: shuttles that run on biodiesel were cited as a strength of Harvard’s campus operations. On the investment side, Harvard’s rank got a boost from the Committee on Shareholder Responsibility, a review board that evaluates the ethics of companies in which Harvard invests.

Sustainable Endowments Institute President Mark A. Orlowski is quick to commend the committee, but insists it has a ways to go before being a model. “The Committee is great about releasing information on the voting record of shareholders, but doesn’t make information about where the endowment is invested publicly available,” says Orlowski (Harvard discloses the stocks in which it invests to the Securities and Exchange Commission.)

This cautiously optimistic reaction to Harvard’s success is widespread. Spring Greeney ’09, chair of the Environmental Action Committee, is impressed that Harvard did so well in the rankings. But Greeney calls attention to the challenges the University must face in the near future.

“The Allston expansion presents a major opportunity for Harvard,” says Greeney. “Science buildings use tremendous amounts of energy and are not known for being particularly energy efficient, so it will be interesting to see what steps Harvard takes to remedy this.”

Orlowski echoed these sentiments as he cautioned Harvard against complacency. “Harvard should be proud of its high marks,” says Orlowski, “but should still be actively striving to be a leader and to improve.”