Elizabeth J. Whitt, Editor-in-Chief

Environmental action on campus has a strong local impact reflected in efforts to make specific environmental improvements on campus, but also a global focus in terms of research and policy formation. As climate and energy issues have received more mainstream attention, colleges and universities have taken on the responsibility to broadly educate eco-aware citizens, green engineers, architects, and policymakers (Barlett and Chase, 2004; Cortese, 2003). Campus leadership has been particularly strong in the adoption of university policies specifying that new construction and major renovations of campus buildings be carried out according to internationally recognized Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards. Students have also taken ownership of environmental issues, pressuring campus officials to adopt more environment-friendly policies, such as leasing Zipcars, establishing bike-share programs, and partnering with certified Fair Trade organizations that provide employment and support community development for struggling artisans and producers in the developing world (Barlett and Chase, 2004). Higher education is a leader in environmentalism, educating students, creating sustainable solutions, and leading-by-example for the rest of society.

Environmentalism is a strong value on most college campuses. However, many campuses have advanced their efforts beyond the promotion of recycling and waste reduction, to encompass broader efforts to promote human and ecological health and social justice to create a better world for future generations. This broader perspective on examining how current practice affects the future is defined as sustainability. According to Cortese (2003), the term sustainability reflects a more complex examination and approach to the world’s ecological systems. The sustainability imperative is reflected in, for example, current concern about the relationship between global climate change, renewable energy, green jobs, and the economy, and is concerned about the impact we each have on our society and natural environment. Although sustainability concerns us all, universities are seen as playing a major role in contributing to sustainable development and working towards a sustainable future.

The establishment of organizations like the Higher Education Associations’ Sustainability Consortium (HEASC), and the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), has helped leverage efforts in higher education to advance sustainability and to coordinate and strengthen campus sustainability efforts. They serve as professional associations for those interested in advancing campus sustainability. In addition, efforts by these organizations to evaluate and promote campus practices and others like GreenReportCard.org, a Web site that provides in-depth sustainability profiles for more than three hundred colleges, have made campus sustainability efforts increasingly more visible.

Sustainability and environmentalism have clearly taken root on college campuses. Yet, many questions remain about how higher education can best approach the topic and how to best leverage efforts on campus. How should campuses organize sustainability efforts? What role should various campus units adopt to advance sustainable practices? Although sustainability is a campuswide effort, it is important to consider how various campus programs and units have taken on the challenge of sustainability. This volume seeks to highlight and examine the sustainability efforts that have advanced within the context of student affairs. Student affairs professionals work with students in a variety of settings outside the classroom and across the institution. This issue provides information on the principles of environmental sustainability on campus, introduces relevant research, and provides practical examples of initiatives that can help students learn about sustainability through student life and other experiences in and outside the classroom. The volume also contributes to the dialogue among campus colleagues on issues related to sustainability, which can lead to new knowledge and innovative approaches to working with students and other campus populations on programs and services for teaching and learning about issues related to sustainability.

Introducing Sustainability

Before presenting the particular topics addressed in this volume, it is important to first provide a basic introduction to the broad topic of sustainability and its origin in higher education. The first formal statement about environmental sustainability made by university administrators was in 1990 at a conference in Talloires, France (Corcoran and Wals, 2004). The President of Tufts University (Medford, Mass.) led university presidents in the creation of a document that spelled out key actions institutions of higher education must take to create a sustainable future. The Talloires Declaration, a ten-point action plan for incorporating sustainability and environmental literacy in teaching, research, operations and outreach at colleges and universities, has been signed by more than 360 university presidents and chancellors in over forty countries.

More recently, the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) was established to address global climate disruption, the elimination of greenhouse gas emissions from campus operations, and to promote the research and educational efforts of higher education to equip society to restabilize the Earth’s climate (www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org). The more than 675 higher education institutions that have signed onto the ACUPCC have made a public commitment to neutralize their greenhouse gas emissions and transform their curricula to educate all students to contribute to solving the climate crisis and commit to accelerating progress towards climate neutrality and sustainability and hit specific targets and public reporting requirements.

Commitments like Talloires and ACUPCC called for higher education institutions to model environmentally responsible and sustainable behavior. The expansion to include sustainable practice, which is based on the simple principle that everything we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment, has expanded beyond environmental concerns to include sustainable practices that promotes a reconciliation of environmental, social, and economic demands. Although the definition of sustainability is open to interpretation, it is widely believed to be about creating and maintaining the conditions under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony that permits fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations (Barlett and Chase, 2004).

Introducing This Volume

This brief overview of the origin of the sustainability movement in higher education illustrates the extent to which universities worldwide have embraced their responsibility for sustainable development. It is with this imperative in mind that the chapter authors launch their specific explorations of sustainability on campus. The volume opens with Kathleen Kerr and Jeanne Hart-Steffes’s review of the philosophy and initiatives of the major professional associations in higher education and student affairs and broadly introduces how sustainability issues have evolved in student affairs. They frame the discussion of sustainability from the perspective that higher education and student affairs provide key opportunities for teaching and learning that can have a global impact. Chapter Two, authored by Keith Edwards, explores the impact that decisions have on the three related issues of environmental health, social justice, and economic strength—referred to as the triple bottom line. Citing specific examples, the author explores ways that tangible results can be achieved in hierarchical thinking across the triple bottom line.

Chapters Three through Five delve into particular functional areas in student affairs. Jeff Pittman explores the growing interaction and campus conversation between traditional student affairs programs and campus services operations in Chapter Three. The chapter highlights sustainable practices in campus auxiliaries and outlines the relationship between critical student outcomes, such as critical thinking, character formation and citizenship, and campus sustainability initiatives. Often called the living room or hearthstone of the campus, college unions serve to unify the campus and to link people and ideas. Clive Pursehouse demonstrates in Chapter Four how the residence halls and dining can literally be a living and learning workshop for students. In Chapter Five, Patrick Brown and John Taylor use a historical framework to discuss the leadership role that college unions can play in current and future practices that link sustainability and stewardship. All aspects of a student’s life and issues of sustainability intertwine in a residential setting thus providing a laboratory for students and staff to explore their impact on the triple bottom line of sustainability that is discussed in Chapter Two.

To change a culture you must start with changing parts of the culture. For example, conversations about practices and the approaches to how programs and services are presented provide an important opportunity to change the campus culture. New student programs, including orientation and first-year seminars, provide a unique opportunity to create a dialogue with new students and enhance how campuses think about student involvement with sustainable practices. In Chapter Six, Melinda Messineo presents a case study for how a campus can develop and implement a program to influence students in their first year of college. In Chapter Seven, Bill Brown and Michael Hamburger present a blueprint for creating a campuswide program that links all aspects of sustainability under one central operation. Exploring how academic and co-curricular programs can interact to provide a campuswide approach to teaching, learning, and living a sustainable life provides a comprehensive illustration of how the ideas discussed throughout the monograph can be implemented.

This volume provides a broad introduction to the growing importance of sustainability issues in student affairs. Together, the chapters provide a comprehensive examination of the topic of sustainability on interrelated topics; however, each chapter can also stand on its own. Thus, the volume provides both a total perspective on the subject as well as an examination of a specific aspect of student affairs and sustainability. Therefore, the volume may be used as a text in a higher education and student affairs program or as a reference for practitioners. One obvious application is to use relevant readings to support specific training sessions for students and staff working in student affairs units. For example, we envision staff in the student union reviewing Chapter Four as they consider the adoption of sustainable products in union facilities. Chapters could also be used as components of new staff training or ongoing professional development efforts. This volume may also serve as the starting point for further research on a specific topic. Many of the chapters include useful practical examples that would assist professionals in designing specific programs for their campus.

More colleges and universities are working to strengthen the campus’s role in advancing sustainability education, are investing in ways to make offices and campus housing units more sustainable, and are incorporating sustainability into curriculum and campus programming. Many student affairs divisions are leading the way in sustainability efforts and are dedicated to providing students with the knowledge they need to make a positive impact in their personal, civic, and professional lives. This sourcebook provides pertinent information on the current context for sustainability in student affairs, highlights major sustainability efforts, and considers initiatives that blend the curriculum and co-curriculum. More importantly, the examples and perspectives about sustainability advanced in this volume demonstrate the contribution that student affairs units in colleges and universities can make in the creation of a sustainable future.

References

Bardaglio, P., and Putman, A. Boldly Sustainable: Hope and Opportunity for Higher Education in the Age of Climate Change. Washington, D.C.: National Association of College and University Business Officers, 2009.

Barlett, P. F., and Chase, G. W. Sustainability on Campus: Stories and Strategies for Change. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2004.

Carlson, S. “In Search of the Sustainable Campus.” Chronicle of Higher Education, 2006, 50(9), A10.

Corcoran, P. B., and Wals, A. E. J. Higher Education and the Challenge of Sustainability: Problematics, Promise, and Practice. Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Springer, 2004.

Cortese, A. D. “The Critical Role of Higher Education in Creating a Sustainable Future.” Planning for Higher Education, 2003, 31(3), 15–22.

Egan, T. “The Greening of America’s Campuses.” New York Times, Education Life Supplement, Jan. 8, 2006, Sec. 4A, p. 20.

Eilperin, J. “Colleges Compete to Shrink Their Mark on the Environment.” Washington Post, June 26, 2005, p. A01.

BRUCE A. JACOBS is the executive director of the Indiana Memorial Union, IU Auditorium and Student Development, and an adjunct faculty member in Higher Education and Student Affairs and Recreation, Parks and Tourism Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington.

JILLIAN KINZIE is associate director of the Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research and adjunct faculty member in Higher Education and Student Affairs, Indiana University, Bloomington.