Villanova University

College Sustainability Report Card 2009

President Donohue signed the Presidents Climate Commitment, and a team of faculty, staff, and students is tasked with fulfilling the commitment. Villanova has a green purchasing policy and a campus sustainability policy that emphasize conservation and education.

The university is committed to carbon reduction and is in the process of completing a carbon emissions inventory, to be followed by an emissions offset plan. The university recently began purchasing wind energy and it meters electricity and water consumption in four residence halls, displaying this information on screens, to create awareness about resource consumption.

Dining services initiated a reduce-and-reuse program that resulted in a 98 percent reduction in the trash stream in two retail outlets. The university purchases several organic and fair trade items, and all dairy products are locally sourced. Villanova has a comprehensive recycling program and composts all food waste.

The university intends to pursue LEED Silver certification, at a minimum, for all new construction and major renovations on campus. Villanova has designed two new buildings for LEED Silver certification and renovations of one residence hall are pursuing LEED-EB Gold certification.

Students are active members of the Presidents Climate Commitment team and the Center for Socially Responsible Investing. The 2008–2009 academic year is the “Year of Sustainability” at Villanova, consisting of many sustainability activities on campus throughout the year.

Villanova uses electric golf carts for campus operations and arranged for biodiesel-run buses to debut on campus in the 2008–2009 academic year. The university operates a free campus shuttle service and is investigating, as part of the campus master plan, ways to reduce traffic and create a more pedestrian-friendly campus.

The university makes its proxy voting records available to the school community through the annual report provided to the university senate and to the Committee on Shareholder Responsibility on a password-protected website. Information on endowment holdings is available to the investment committee and they may respond to requests by the university community.

The university aims to optimize investment return and is currently invested in renewable energy funds or similar investment vehicles. The university endorses the investment guidelines and policy recommendations issued by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, which includes protection of the environment.

One student and several faculty or staff members serve on Villanova's Committee on Social Responsibility Proxy Votes, which deliberates and makes recommendations or decisions on proxy voting.