Measuring Campus Sustainability: Reaching for the STARS (Jan. 2010)

Questions and Answers

Participants submitted questions to the panelists throughout the webinar. There wasn’t enough time to answer the following questions on the air (many questions have been consolidated to avoid redundancy).

Participation Logistics

What is the expected timeline for completing a STARS assessment?
Each STARS Participant has 12 months from its registration date to complete its data submission. However, institutions may submit a request for an extension if they are unable to complete their data submission within the 12-month timeframe.

How many people typically are involved in the process?
The way institutions gather STARS data is entirely up to the individual institution. This task can be completed by a professor and his/her class, a master's student, through the institution's administration, as a Facilities Management project, or by the Sustainability officer--to name a few scenarios. The process can involve one person to hundreds depending on the model the institution chooses.

What are the costs and how are they used?
The registration fee for STARS depends on whether your institution is an AASHE member. The registration fee for AASHE members is $900 and the registration fee for non-members is $1,400. Fees are put towards the further development of the STARS program including resources for STARS Participants such as ongoing enhancements to the STARS website and Reporting Tool, as well as workshops and webinars.

Some of my colleagues here are wondering if we submit all our data and don't like the rating we get if we can essentially suppress access to our data and the rating altogether until we improve what we do to get the rating we desire.
One of the benefits of STARS is transparency; all data submitted will be made public. However, there are a couple of things that address this concern:

• You’ll know your score before completing the submission; a “provisional score” is displayed throughout the reporting process.
• Participation in STARS is entirely voluntary. You may choose to omit any credits that you choose (though you would not earn points for those credits).
• Your institution can choose to submit its data as a STARS Reporter, instead of for a rating, and your score will not be shown with your data. All institutions may choose Reporter status when finalizing their submissions.

My institution is not yet a member of AASHE. I would like to try out STARS for 1-2 weeks and see if it’s a good fit for us. If it is, we would consider joining AASHE. Will you be offering a free trial?
Although AASHE is not offering a free-trial of the program at this time, you may download the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual for free. The Technical Manual outlines all of the STARS credits and the documentation required for each credit. You will not have access to the STARS Reporting Tool unless you register to participate, but you can tune in to February’s webinar “STARS Reporting Tool 101” for a detailed preview of how online reporting for STARS works.

What kinds of recognition can STARS participants receive?
Participants will earn STARS Ratings, which they can use to publicize their sustainability leadership. AASHE will recognize participants on its website, the STARS annual report, and other publicity. In addition, AASHE expects that the media and prospective students will use STARS participation as an indicator of sustainability leadership.

Institutions that register before August 15, 2010, will be recognized as STARS Charter Participants. Charter Participants will be acknowledged as pioneers of STARS and will receive a special logo to use on their websites and print materials. AASHE will provide additional resources to Charter Participants, including a sample press release.

How does a university system or community college district participate in STARS? Do you recommend our colleges join separately or can the system join as one institution?
University systems or community college districts may register for STARS and report as one entity or each institution may register independently. One registration covers one submission and each system can decide which scale is appropriate.

To determine whether to register as a district or individually, it may be worth looking at the STARS credits and the associated reporting fields. If most data are gathered centrally, such that it would be difficult to disaggregate information for separate campuses, it may make sense to register as one system. If most information is tracked at the individual institution level, it may be more appropriate for each college to register independently. Another consideration is how valuable it would be to benchmark the performance of individual institutions against each other. If you’d like to be able to do this type of comparison, it may be worth registering institutions independently.

Currently, the Dallas County Community College District, Eastern Iowa Community College District, and Los Angeles Community College District are participating in STARS as districts instead of individual colleges.

Is it too late to become a Charter Participant?
The deadline to become a STARS Charter Participant is August 15, 2010.

I know you and I are concerned with colleges—but is there a system (or can STARS be edited to be that system) that works for elementary and secondary schools or a single K-12 school site?
STARS participation is limited to colleges and universities (i.e., institutions that are accredited as such and/or confer degrees). Since STARS was developed specifically for colleges and universities, opening up the system to broader participation would create confusion and strain on the nascent program.

That said, the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual is available on our website and you're welcome to use relevant credits or sections of the system to conduct an assessment. We'd be happy to answer any questions that arise as you look through the document and apologize that we can't make the program available to secondary schools at this time.

It was mentioned that a rating will last up to three years. Can you submit every year for a new rating?
An institution may register for STARS every year, even though the STARS rating is valid for three years. Each time an institution registers for STARS, a registration fee applies.

I’ve been told that once rated that if a school wants to update their data/information that the institution would then have to re-register and pay an additional fee. Will users who are not using the rating but just listing of the data be able to update information without re-registering?
Each time a campus wants to update its submission, it will need to register and pay a fee. This includes schools that are interested in being a STARS Reporter and those pursuing a rating. Access to the Reporting Tool, one of the primary benefits of STARS, is tied to the registration fee. Therefore, a campus should be certain that their STARS documentation is accurate when submitting for a rating because changes will not be allowed until a school re-registers and begins the process of submitting for a STARS rating again.

My university has decided that we will not become a STARS participant this year. Since I do not represent the entire university, only the Associated Students, I’m wondering if it is possible for me to submit a partial report for my campus that only speaks to certain sections of the campus which I represent.
As the Technical Manual says, participation in STARS is intended for entire colleges and universities. This may change over time, but at this point, there are a couple key reasons to limit it in that way. The primary challenge rises from the fact that one of the main advantages of STARS is to allow benchmarking between institutions. Benchmarking segments of institutions is much trickier. For instance, AS serves all students but operates only some of the buildings on campus. As a result, the building energy consumption per student covered by this STARS assessment would be misleadingly low. Further, another goal of the program is to help foster connections across the university. By opening STARS up to separate departments, that type of cross-department collaboration is limited.

STARS Reporting Tool

Will there be an online reporting tool for STARS like the ACUPCC site? If so, when will it be available?
The STARS Reporting Tool is completely online and is similar to the ACUPCC Reporting System. The Reporting Tool was released on January 19th as part of the STARS 1.0 launch. STARS Participants can access the Reporting Tool by visiting the STARS website.

Can we preview the tool right now?
At this time only STARS Participants may access the Reporting Tool. However, AASHE will be hosting a webinar called “STARS Reporting Tool 101” on February 16 that will cover the specifics of how to use the Reporting Tool. More information will be added to the webinar website as it becomes available.

Can you go back to different sections as you fill it in and more information becomes available or is it a one-time submission?
Institutions have one year following registration to complete their submissions. An institution can go back and edit its submission throughout that period. However, once a submission is finalized, it may not be edited.

How does the tool actually help us track? Does it actually track waste, water, energy and greenhouse gases?
The STARS Reporting Tool tracks all of the required documentation for each credit listed in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual. This includes information related to waste, water, energy, and greenhouse gas emissions. We encourage you to take a look at the Operations section of the Technical Manual and look through the Reporting Fields that are listed for each credit. This will be the exact information that will be tracked with the online Reporting Tool. In February, there will be an online demonstration of the STARS Reporting Tool to give campuses a better sense of how it works. Stay tuned to our website for more information.

Is the tool downloadable (say into Excel or Access) so we don’t have 50 people entering information online? We want to have 1 or 2 people complete the final submission.
The STARS Reporting Tool is not downloadable into Excel or Word. All information will be entered directly online. There are a couple options to address your concern within our current structure.

Option A -- There are three user levels within the Reporting Tool -- Administrator, Data Entry, and Observers. Only users with "Administrator" privileges are able to complete the final submission. As an "Administrator" you can assign other users "Data Entry" status so that they can go in and input data, but you would still be able to verify everything before finishing the submission. (You can also remove a user's Data Entry privileges at any time if you wanted to set aside a period of time in which only one or two users had access to the account.)

Option B -- The STARS Technical Manual (available online) lists all of the Reporting Fields associated with each credit -- the list in the Manual is the same as what is in the Reporting Tool. You can use these lists of reporting fields to inform your data collection process. I'm not sure how you're planning to approach data collection, but there are a couple of options within this approach. For instance, you could direct the relevant data gatherers to the Technical Manual, you could copy and paste the lists of reporting fields and distribute them to the relevant parties, or you could follow any number of approaches here. After you get the responses back from the various data gatherers, you could then input the data into the Reporting Tool yourself (or have one or two others do it).

While completing entries for the credits, are those made public immediately after we save the entry?
When you save your entry for a particular credit, it is not made publicly available immediately. The submission will be made public only after the entire submission is finalized (and you'll be warned and notified in case you accidentally jump the gun on this step).

Does the STARS Reporting Tool provide a platform for data entry and report generation?
The Reporting Tool provides a platform for entering data. It does not yet generate reports, but that is a feature we're working on adding. Let us know if you have any suggestions for what types of reports would be most useful -- we're working on implementing some things already, but welcome suggestions for additional reports and features that would make the tool most useful to participants.

What is the difference between STARS and Clean Air-Cool Planet's Campus Carbon Calculator or the BC Provincial Government’s SMARTTool for mandatory Green House Gas Emission Reduction Reporting?
Greenhouse gas emissions inventorying tools, like the Campus Carbon Calculator, complement STARS.  STARS is not a GHG emissions inventory tool -- for the credit based on GHG emissions, users enter their total emissions in terms of CO2 equivalent, not the raw energy or fuel inputs.

STARS includes a couple credits that will be easier to report on and earn as a result of using an inventorying tool (OP Credit 4: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Inventory, OP Credit 5: Greenhouse Gas Emissions Reduction, and PAE Credit 5: Climate Plan). The specific reporting fields associated with each of those credits are outlined in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual. STARS does not require that a specific GHG emissions calculator or inventory tool be used; the only stipulation is that the inventory adheres to the GHG Protocol's Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standards. The Campus Carbon Calculator does meet this standard. I suspect that the SMARTTOOL also meets this standard (it's the authoritative standard for this type of tool), but I wasn't able to verify that. 

STARS Credits

Will the online score sheet be available to all AASHE members soon? (We’d like to work through the process before enrolling in STARS.)
While the STARS Reporting Tool is available only to Charter Participants, all institutions can view the STARS 1.0 Credits now. The STARS 1.0 Technical Manual details the credit criteria and the documentation required for each credit. Since the Reporting Tool includes the same reporting fields that are outlined in the Technical Manual, you can use the Technical Manual to work through the STARS process before enrolling in STARS.

If you’d like to preview the STARS Reporting Tool, tune into our February Webinar: “STARS Reporting Tool 101.”

Will STARS be structured to allow for the introduction of completely new strategies in sustainability?
The Innovation category of STARS 1.0 provides an avenue for institutions to highlight their sustainability efforts that go above and beyond the STARS credits. More information about Innovation credits is available in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual.

What is the relationship between STARS and a Campus Sustainability plan?
STARS includes a credit – PAE Credit 4: Sustainability Plan -- that recognizes institutions that have completed a sustainability plan. (You may view the criteria for this credit in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual.) STARS also provides a valuable framework for institutions looking to develop sustainability plans.

How do students, staff, faculty, and administrators fit into the categories that you have outlined (e.g., operations, education & research, etc.)?
STARS credits are organized into categories that are meant to cover the functional areas of colleges and universities, not campus stakeholder groups. As a result, these campus groups don’t separate perfectly into the STARS categories. Indeed, one of the goals of STARS is to facilitate sustainability work that transcends these groupings.

While no perfect groupings exist, faculty and students may find the Education & Research category especially relevant. Administrators may find credits in the Planning, Administration & Engagement category particularly relevant. Staff members may be drawn to any of the three categories, depending on their areas of focus (e.g., a facilities staff member would find the Operations credit most relevant while a community service coordinator would find the PAE category most relevant).

The STARS 1.0 Credit Checklist, which provides a quick snapshot of the STARS credits, may provide a useful guide for understanding how various groups can contribute to each of the STARS categories.

How different are the early release technical manual and the current STARS January release?
No major changes were made between the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual and the Early Release edition. The Record of Changes (pdf) details the differences between the documents.

I am working on a disposal policy fort campus materials—everything from desks and landscape materials to construction waste—where does a policy like this fit into STARS?
The Operations category of STARS includes a Waste sub-category. You can view the credits and their required documentation in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual.

The development of a disposal policy could contribute to the achievement of several of the STARS credits concerning waste. A disposal policy could contribute to the reduction of waste on campus, the waste diversion, recycling of campus materials, as well as the management of hazardous waste--all of which are addressed in the STARS credits on waste.

I encourage you to read the Waste sub-category in the Operations category of STARS and use STARS as a guide while developing your disposal policy.

What professional roles and benchmark standards are recommended for residence education within college/university's department of Housing and Residence Life?
Housing and residence life departments play an important role in advancing campus sustainability and can contribute to achieving several STARS credits. The Co-Curricular Education sub-category, which focuses on student learning outside of the classroom, may be of particular interest. The Co-Curricular Education subcategory includes the following credits (you can find full details about these credits in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual): ER Credit 1: Student Sustainability Educators Program, ER Credit 2: Student Sustainability Outreach Campaign, ER Credit 3: Sustainability in New Student Orientation, ER Credit 4: Sustainability Outreach and Publications, Tier Two 1: Student Group, Tier Two 2: Organic Garden, Tier Two 3: Model Dorm Room, Tier Two 4: Themed Housing, Tier Two 5: Sustainable Enterprise, Tier Two 6: Sustainability Events, Tier Two 7: Outdoors Program, Tier Two 8: Themed Semester or Year.

In addition to the Co-Curricular Education subcategory, residence life departments contribute to many other STARS credits as well. For instance, credits in the Diversity and Affordability subcategory about student training in diversity issues may be achieved through residence life's program offerings. Likewise, residence life's energy conservation, waste reduction, water conservation, and other operational initiatives can help institutions earn points in the Operations category.

Given that one of the goals of the STARS assessment is to provide criteria which work for most institutions, will there be a mechanism for individual colleges to make arguments for re-weighting their credits if the "local perspective" does not necessarily match with the current weighting?
At this time, the weighting of STARS credits is consistent for all institutions; there isn't an option for institutions to re-assign different point values to the credits.

You're certainly right that there isn't a perfect or one-size-fits-all approach to allocating points or determining which credits have the largest impacts. As with all aspects of STARS, we do hope to improve the point allocation methodology for future versions of the system. One potential approach that we've discussed is to follow LEED's model and accommodate regional variation by assigning certain credits regional priority points. We've discussed following the same strategy based on institution types as well (such that credits that are more important for community colleges are assigned additional points for those institutions, for example). We hadn't previously considered opening it up to the individual institutions and letting them assign additional points or re-weight any of the credits, but that's an interesting idea. One potential challenge with this approach would be making sure these additional points don't just become freebies. It's easy to imagine an institution allocating these points to practices they have already implemented in order to increase its overall score, instead of adding points to the practices or outcomes that are the most impactful or meaningful given its context. We'd welcome additional suggestions or comments on how this may work or other ways to improve the point allocation methodology -- please send any suggestions to stars@aashe.org.

Speak about the credits weight as impact on the environment.
The STARS 1.0 Technical Manual describes how points were allocated. The relevant section (it's found on page 4 of the document) is copied below.

While each Tier Two credit is worth 0.25 points, Tier One credits vary in the number of points they are worth. Points were allocated using the following considerations:

• To what extent does the credit contribute to improved environmental impacts?
• To what extent does the credit contribute to improved financial impacts?
• To what extent does the credit contribute to improved social impacts?
• To what extent are there educational benefits associated with the achievement of this credit?
  • How many people are impacted (breadth)?
  • How deeply are people impacted (depth)?

As these questions indicate, the focus in allocating points was on the impact, not the difficulty, of earning the credit. Some sustainability initiatives may be very difficult to implement but yield negligible impacts. Conversely, some generally easier projects have significant impacts. Assigning points based on the difficulty of earning a credit would create a perverse incentive for institutions to focus on the difficult projects or initiatives, which may not be the most meaningful or impactful.

While AASHE has strived for a fair and consistent approach to allocating points, this is an inherently subjective exercise. Developing a more robust point allocation methodology – including finding stronger ways to accommodate how regional variations and difference in institution type influence each institution’s sustainability impacts – will be considered for future versions of STARS.

What is the difference between Tier One credits and Tier Two credits? 
The description of Tier One vs. Tier Two credits from the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual (found on pages 3-4 of the document) is copied below:

Each STARS credit that meets these four criteria is assigned a type: Tier One or Tier Two.

• Tier One credits – Tier One credits are worth one or more points each and are grouped in a subcategory (e.g., Curriculum) within a category (e.g., Education & Research)

• Tier Two credits – Many of the subcategories in STARS include Tier Two credits, each of which is worth 0.25 points. There are two reasons a credit is classified as Tier Two instead of Tier One.

  • Some Tier Two credits recognize strategies that merit recognition, but tend to have a smaller impact than Tier One credits. For example, there is a Tier Two credit for institutions that have a bike-sharing program. Having a bike-sharing program warrants recognition, but has a smaller impact on a campus’ impact than having significant numbers of students and employees use environmentally preferable modes for commuting, which are captured in Tier One credits.

  • Other Tier Two credits promote strategies whose benefits are already largely captured by a Tier One credit. For example, one Tier Two credit recognizes institutions that have a composting program. While composting is an important sustainability strategy, the primary benefits of composting are captured by a Tier One credit on waste diversion.

STARS Reporter Status

If you are a STARS Reporter is the information made public as well?
All institution data that are submitted through the STARS Reporting Tool will be made publicly available. This applies to those institutions that submit their data as STARS Reporters or for a STARS rating. Since STARS is a self-assessment framework, making the submissions public is a key strategy to ensure accuracy.

Unlike institutions that earn a STARS rating, STARS Reporters will not have a score displayed with their submissions.

I'm wondering about the option to report as a STARS Reporter, without applying for a rating. Would we still require sign off from the president/chancellor?
Each institution that completes its STARS submission is required to submit a letter of affirmation from its highest executive (president or chancellor). The letter from the institution’s president or chancellor is an important strategy to help ensure that all information submitted is accurate. Thus, the letter is required both for STARS Reporters and institutions that are pursuing a rating.

Can a university sign up for Reporter status and switch to assessment when we gain confidence?
When your institution registers as a STARS Charter Participant you do not have to indicate if you would like to be a STARS Reporter or pursue a rating. As you document your data in the STARS Reporting Tool you will be able to see your provisional rating, which is based on points received from the completed credits, throughout the entire data documentation process. Once you are ready to submit your institution's completed dataset, you can then indicate whether you would like to be identified as a STARS Reporter or by the STARS rating you have earned.

Relationships with Other Assessments

What is the status of collaboration with other surveying groups such as SEI, Princeton Review, and Sierra Magazine? Are there any specific partnerships in the works?
AASHE is open to collaborating with any organization that can help us further our mission, including those that offer ratings or rankings for higher education. One of the main goals of STARS is to address survey fatigue and eliminate redundancy to more effectively meet the needs of the campus sustainability community. We have the support of our Founding Partners and will be welcoming additional Partner Organizations this year. Information on AASHE partnerships related to STARS will be noted on our website.

Is AASHE actively communicating with other organizations that have surveys to make them aware of what will be included in STARS?
AASHE hopes that the public data submitted through STARS will serve as the go-to place for information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance. One of the goals of STARS is to reduce survey fatigue that many campus sustainability staff experience. We will be encouraging other organizations with ratings, rankings, or surveys, to use the information submitted to the STARS Reporting Tool. Though we have not actively pursued this type of collaboration yet, it will be a part of our outreach efforts moving forward.

How does STARS interact/collaborate with the College Sustainability Report Card, if at all?
STARS is a program of AASHE and is separate from the Green Report Card (as well as other ratings and rankings) but we have collaborated with the Sustainable Endowments Institute (who puts out the Report Card) in the past and hope to again in the future. We will be encouraging anyone, including other organizations with ratings, rankings, or surveys, to use information that is submitted through the STARS Reporting Tool in the hopes of reducing the survey fatigue that many campus sustainability staff experience.

If I understand, STARS is a comprehensive environmental management system (EMS) that was designed to assist institutions with sustainability transformation initiatives. Understandably different than ranking systems, where institutions compete for a specific ranking, how else is STARS aligned to better suit 21st Century sustainability initiatives in the United States and Canada, when compared to EMS systems, such as, the International Standardization Organization's system (ISO) 14000/ISO19011?
Both ISO 14000 or 19011 and STARS can serve as valuable tools for campuses. There are a couple key differences between these EMS' and STARS. In addition to the differences between rating systems and management systems, which you mentioned, there are two major differences worth highlighting:

• STARS was developed by and for higher education. As such, it includes credits unique to higher education, like curriculum and research. Likewise, the credits in other areas, such as investment or operations, are informed by a higher education perspective.
• STARS is a sustainability system (rather than strictly environmental), and consistent with the long-standing definition of sustainability, includes indicators related to institutions' social, environmental, and economic performance. An EMS focuses on environmental pieces.

Have you geared STARS to any other global Sustainability system such as Global Reporting Initiative?
AASHE consulted several other sustainability reporting and assessment frameworks, including GRI, when developing the STARS credits. STARS and GRI are similar in several ways. Both systems are consistent with the long-standing definition of sustainability and include social, economic, and environmental considerations. Likewise, both systems emphasize transparency in reporting (all data that institutions submit for a STARS rating will be made publicly available). Since GRI and STARS have these similarities, GRI was an excellent source when brainstorming STARS credits and we try to stay up-to-speed with their activities and learn from their good work.

That said, there are some key differences between the systems too. First, STARS was developed by and for colleges and universities, so it covers topics specific to higher education like curriculum and research, which GRI does not include. Similarly, GRI is not a rating system; it's a reporting framework. While STARS works as a reporting framework, it is also a rating system. In this way, STARS is organized into a series of credits, whereas GRI is organized as a series of reporting fields.

How does STARS compare/fit in with LEED? How is it different?
There are several similarities between STARS and LEED:

• Structure -- Both systems are based on a checklist of credits organized into different categories. Likewise, both systems have Innovation credits to recognize new and innovative practices that aren't captured by the checklist.
• Levels of Recognition -- Both systems include multiple levels of recognition (Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) to signify progressively higher achievement. (STARS includes an additional recognition level (STARS Reporter) for institutions that aren't pursuing a Rating but are still demonstrating leadership by participating in the system.)
• Positive Recognition -- Both systems offer only positive recognition. Just as all levels of LEED certification signify green building leadership, all of the STARS levels are positive indications of campus sustainability leadership.

There are a couple key differences between STARS and LEED:

• Audience -- A LEED certification pertains to one building. A STARS rating covers an entire college or university.
• Scope -- Since LEED certification is specific to buildings, LEED credits are generally focused on the specific features and aspects of the building. Since STARS covers an entire institution, the credits cover a broader range of activities. For example, STARS covers an institution's curriculum, research, purchasing, human resources, transportation, and other activities.
• Certification vs. Assessment -- LEED is a certification that is verified by a third-party. STARS is a self-assessment framework that incorporates a couple different strategies to ensure that the reported information is accurate. First, all data reported to earn a STARS Rating are made publicly available. Second, each credit must be accompanied by an affirmation from a responsible party attesting to the accuracy of the information submitted (the responsible party's name will accompany the public submission). Third, each submission must be accompanied by a letter from the institution's highest executive (President or Chancellor) affirming the accuracy of the entire submission.

Because LEED focuses specifically on buildings and STARS looks at entire campuses, we see the rating systems as very complementary. Indeed, STARS recognizes green buildings as a key component of campus sustainability and that LEED is the leading green building standard in the US and Canada. As such, STARS includes two credits (OP Credit 1: Building Operations and Maintenance and OP Credit 2: Building Design and Construction) that award points for having LEED certified campus buildings. (Additional details about these credits are available in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual.) We are excited that the U.S. Green Building Council (the organization that developed and administers LEED) was involved in the STARS development process and is a STARS Founding Partner.

AASHE Membership

Do you have to be a member of AASHE to use the STARS program?
No, you do not have to be an AASHE member to participate in the STARS program. All colleges and universities in the United States and Canada are welcome to participate.

• The registration fee for non-member institutions is $1,400.
• The registration fee for AASHE member institutions is $900.

Your institution may consider becoming a member of AASHE to take advantage of the member rate when registering for STARS.

Does the AASHE membership fee cover STARS registration?
The STARS registration fee is separate from the AASHE membership fee. AASHE members received a discount on STARS registration.

Why can't individuals join AASHE?
AASHE membership focuses on colleges and universities. The description of institutional membership in AASHE explains the advantages of a full campus membership, rather than individual memberships:
An institutional membership connects your campus with leading edge colleges, universities and organizations working toward a sustainable world. Membership covers every individual at your institution - so the entire campus can take advantage of AASHE member benefits. This type of membership is virtually unique among higher education associations, but necessary since all sectors of campus must work collaboratively and learn from each other in advancing sustainability. Join the AASHE community today!

If individual faculty members, students, staff or administrators were to join, it would be harder to get the commitment of the entire institution and to work across sectors, which is necessary for campus sustainability work.

In addition to college and university memberships, AASHE offers an array of business memberships, which we refer to as the Business Alliance program. Dues for participation in the Business Alliance vary based on the size of the company and level of benefits. More information about the Business Alliance program is available online.

Other

Can a vendor/supplier of sustainability products apply for STARS Certification for Universities to apply towards their STARS Rating?
STARS is a self-assessment for colleges and universities. Participating schools receive a rating. It is not a certification system and STARS does not endorse products. However, products with certain attributes or products that deliver a specific outcome may contribute to campuses earning credits in STARS. I encourage you to check out the STARS 1.0 Credit Checklist for an overview of the credits and review the details included in the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual for more specific information including credit criteria.

Our university will register for STARS this year and plans to hire a third party consultant to help with the effort. Do you have any advice for working with these types of consultants? How does one go about identifying local qualified consultants who can assist universities in conducting a STARs assessment?
Since STARS 1.0 has just launched, we don’t yet have a sense of the experiences of those campuses that have worked with consultants on their data collection process. We welcome participating schools to post ideas and feedback to AASHE's Campus Sustainability Discussion Forums, a great resource for STARS Charter Participants. In time, AASHE will offer suggestions and perhaps even guidelines for how campuses can best accomplish their STARS assessment internally or through a third party consultant. At this point, we would encourage campuses to be sure that the consultant is familiar with the STARS 1.0 Technical Manual and the credit requirements. It would also be good to make sure a consultant is familiar with the process of using the STARS Reporting Tool. There will be a webinar in February that will provide an online demonstration of how the Reporting Tool works.

Will there be more training available for faculty to infuse sustainability into the curriculum (in addition to AASHE's workshops)?
In addition to the Sustainability Across the Curriculum Leadership Workshops, AASHE’s annual conference includes sessions and workshops on sustainability curriculum. AASHE 2010, our next conference, will take place in Denver, Colorado, from October 10 to 12. Archives from the 2008 conference are available online.

Additional training opportunities will be announced in the AASHE Bulletin, our free, weekly newsletter.

Knowing the urgency to address climate change immediately; knowing the extent of change required in reducing the energy intensity of our energy use, food production and diet, building operations, transportation and waste generation patterns and habits; is it not necessary for Higher Ed to shift to draconian measures such as banning cars on campus, reducing meat offerings for dining services, going to a paperless communications system, etc. immediately? Is it reasonable to think we can take 20 years of collegial dialogue and discussion to move this agenda?
AASHE certainly recognizes the importance and immediacy of the challenges we are facing today. We think STARS will be a powerful tool in addressing sustainability challenges, especially since STARS recognizes outcomes and focuses on performance. STARS provides guidelines for embracing sustainability but also allows flexibility for campuses to decide the best approach. To learn more about these approaches or get other perspectives, we encourage you to start a conversation using AASHE’s Campus Sustainability Discussion Forums.

Are there templates available for a letter to send to departments and administrators about STARS?
We don't have template letters yet, but this is a great suggestion and we'll work on developing them. 

Does STARS have a Life Cycle Analysis tool for materials used on Campuses?
STARS does not have a lifecycle analysis tool for materials used on campus. I suspect many institutions would benefit from such an instrument, but it's beyond the scope of the program at this time. You may wish to post this question to AASHE's Campus Sustainability Discussion Forums to see if others have resources to recommend.

Chris O’Brien mentioned incorporating sustainability initiatives into the American University campus grounds department. Could you give us a brief overview of what is being done?
From Chris O’Brien: We are about to become a pilot campus for Sustainable Sites. This is sustainable grounds-keeping program builds on LEED but goes much deeper in the area of grounds. They are still seeking pilot campuses, so I encourage you to considering applying.

As the recently appointed Director of Sustainability at American University, how have you (the position) been received by the campus community?
From Chris O’Brien: My role at AU has been received with open arms by everyone I encounter on campus. I have approached people all across the campus community to introduce them to STARS and request their participation in the credits relevant to their function. In most cases, I have found that people are doing sustainability activities already which weren’t centrally planned or organized. In a number of cases, when I have asked people to do specific sustainability activities, they have responded with: “Oh! That’s great. I have suggested this in the past, so I’m glad you’re asking me to do it!”

In short, there has been latent sustainability energy lying just under the surface all over our campus. Tasking an office and an individual with planning, implementing and tracking sustainability has made all the difference in turning that latent energy into real activities. People feel that their sustainability efforts are now part of a bigger picture. Because they see how their efforts are contributing to a shared goal, they can also share in the success once we achieve our STARS rating.