are hbcus also cgcus?

According to The Princeton Review's (TPR) 2010 green ratings, it's unclear whether most historically black colleges and universities are also currently green colleges and universities. Based on a ratings scale of 60-99, only 8 out of 104 hbcus received grades higher than 60:

Alabama A&M University (62)
Claflin University (69)
Clark Atlanta University (83)
Kentucky State University (64)
Lincoln University (69)
Lincoln University of Missouri (67)
Southern University and A&M College (64)
Spelman College (79)

The vast majority of the hbcus--82--received a rating of 60*. TPR assigned this rating to the schools that did not supply enough information to comparatively rate them.

For a list of the green ratings for all hbcus, see my 11 August post.

What's TPR's criteria for the green ratings?

The ratings are based on 3 main areas:

1. whether the school’s students have a campus quality of life that is healthy and sustainable;
2. how well the school is preparing its students for employment and citizenship in a world
defined by environmental challenges; and
3. the school's overall commitment to environmental issues.

Schools completed the following 10 survey questions:

1) The percentage of food expenditures that goes toward local, organic or otherwise environmentally preferable food;
2) Whether the school offers programs including free bus passes, universal access transit passes, bike sharing/renting, car sharing, carpool parking, vanpooling or guaranteed rides home to encourage alternatives to single-passenger automobile use for students;
3) Whether the school has a formal committee with participation from students that is devoted to advancing sustainability on campus:
4) Whether new buildings are required to be LEED (environmental certification of equipment/appliances) Silver certified or comparable:
5) The school's overall waste diversion rate:
6) Whether the school has an environmental studies major, minor or concentration:
7) Whether the school has an "environmental literacy" requirement:
8) Whether the school has produced a publicly available greenhouse gas emissions inventory and adopted a climate action plan consistent with 80 percent greenhouse gas reductions by 2050 targets;
9) What percentage of the school’s energy consumption, including heading/cooling and electrical, is derived from renewable sources (this definition included “green tags” but not nuclear or large-scale hydropower); and
10) Whether the school employs a dedicated full-time (or full-time equivalent) sustainability officer.

The colleges and universities that received the highest score of 99 were placed on the Green Rating Honor Roll. The 15 hwcus/cgcus are:

Arizona State University at the Tempe campus
Bates College
Binghamton University
College of the Atlantic
Colorado College
Dickinson College
Evergreen State College
Georgia Institute of Technology
Harvard College
Middlebury College
Northeastern University
University of California at Berkeley
University of New Hampshire
University of Washington
Yale University

Here's my take:

TPR partnered with ecoamerica, an environmental non-profit focusing on research and marketing, to create the survey. In the TPR press release, there are no details about the number of points given for each question. In fact, there are not many details about the real meaning of the ratings in the press release or in the individual school profiles. For example, there's no way of knowing the difference between Clark Atlanta's rating of 83 and Spelman College's rating of 79. Does one focus on vegan options more than providing Zipcars on campus? We know that Spelman was the first hbcu with a LEED-certified building. [correction: Spelman College is still seeking LEED-certification of its green dorm, The Suites. updated 16 September 2009.] But what has Clark-Atlanta done to receive a higher rating?

And, finally, what to really make of the fact that the majority of hbcus received a rating of 60*? That is a question that I hope to answer in future posts.