| Overall Rating | Bronze - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 36.28 |
| Liaison | Claire Rodgers |
| Submission Date | June 28, 2018 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering
EN-3: Student Life
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Does the institution have one or more active student groups focused on sustainability?:
A brief description of active student groups focused on sustainability:
GROW is a student-run club that is focused on sustainability. Current projects include putting educational signs up, hosting environmental challenges, helping reduce waste, writing articles in the newspaper, recovering food, replacing grass with native plants, and working to divest Olin's resources from fossil fuel companies.
We also have OPEN, whose mission is to support a safe environment for LGBTQ people and allies as well as to raise awareness of LGBTQ related issues in the larger Olin culture.
The website URL where information about the student groups is available (optional):
Does the institution have gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems?:
A brief description of the gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and/or urban agriculture projects:
Olin runs a honey CSA, where students and staff work together to harvest honey from bees without the use of chemicals or pesticides through the co-curricular "Sustainable Beekeeping". Students have worked with dining hall staff to process the honey as well.
There is also a garden that is currently in the process of expanding in order to eventually produce enough vegetables to have a weekly garden bar, in collaboration with the dining hall.
The website URL where information about the gardens, farms or agriculture projects is available (optional):
Does the institution have student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes (e.g. cafés through which students gain sustainable business skills)?:
A brief description of the student-run enterprises:
SERV is a student-run organization representing student community service. This semester there were students working through SERV at the following organizations: The Daily Table, Cique, Charles River Center, Newton Food Pantry, The Food Project, Big Brother Big Sister College Campus Program, and an American Red Cross Blood Drive.
Oliners also volunteer at the Daily Table, a grocery store that provides healthy food and pre-made meals at affordable prices to help combat food insecurity.
The website URL where information about the student-run enterprises is available (optional):
Does the institution have sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills?:
A brief description of the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives:
The mission of the Revolving Green Fund is to reduce Olin’s impact on the environment while engaging and educating the community.The Fund will help promote Olin’s commitment to sustainability and encourage community members to pursue creative ideas and explore emerging technologies in the sustainability realm. As the fund grows in size, it will provide a financial mechanism for Olin College to explore sustainability projects with higher capital costs and a longer payback time frame than is currently possible within existing budgets.
In order to keep the Fund financially viable, three levels of projects will be considered: projects with a capital cost of $2,500 or less and no payback period, projects with a payback period of less than five years and projects with a payback period of greater than or equal to five years. All projects must also:
-Reduce environmental impact, such as lowered energy or water usage, reduced waste, or reduced greenhouse gas emissions
-Have educational aspects, such as signage or programming to educate the larger community on environmental concerns
In addition to the green fund, the members of the Class of 2007 established a fund to endow green (sustainability) initiatives at Olin College. To be sustainable, nature’s resources must only be used at a rate at which they can be replenished naturally. To that end, the Class of 2007 requested that a committee be formed to select projects that will receive funding in an effort to make Olin College’s activities more sustainable. Now, in line with the college endowment spending policies and procedures, funds will be used each year to support sustainability projects at Olin.
The website URL where information about the sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives is available (optional):
Does the institution have conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability:
The website URL where information about the conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability is available (optional):
Does the institution have cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience?:
A brief description of the cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability:
Members of Art with Heart put on shows and other events wherein all the proceeds go to some form of community betterment project. The shows typically consist of a set of performances and a visual arts gallery. One show is done during Family Weekend, and a second is done sometime during the Spring semester. Other events include the annual Yule Ball, generally held on Friday night after classes for the Fall semester end, and a variety of volunteer activities that members may undertake. All artwork is produced by students and the club will decide together on where to send the money at the end of a given school year.
The website URL where information about the cultural arts events, installations or performances is available (optional):
Does the institution have wilderness or outdoors programs (e.g. that organize hiking, backpacking, kayaking, or other outings for students) that follow Leave No Trace principles?:
A brief description of the wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles:
Olin's Outing club facilitates Olin student enjoyment of the great outdoors through organizing camping and hiking trips, as well as providing a stock of gear for Olin students to borrow and use.
The website URL where information about the wilderness or outdoors programs is available (optional):
Does the institution have sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences (e.g. choosing a sustainability-related book for common reading)?:
A brief description of the sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
The website URL where information about the sustainability-related themes is available (optional):
Does the institution have programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills?:
A brief description of the programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
The website URL where information about the sustainable life skills programs is available (optional):
Does the institution offer sustainability-focused student employment opportunities?:
A brief description of the sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution:
Facilities offers a sustainability internship with the energy manager at Olin, Claire Rodgers, over the summer. This is focused on investigating ways to improve sustainability at Olin through outreach, purchasing, or energy projects. This work will focus on both technical and economic analysis to identify the best tradeoffs between cost and improved sustainability. Both the baseline data and recommended projects will be summarized in a public report for the Olin community. The position also entails initial design of a sustainability platform for Olin’s website to share all of the data, ideas and progress.
The website URL where information about the student employment opportunities is available:
Does the institution have graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions?:
A brief description of the graduation pledges:
The website URL where information about the graduation pledges is available (optional):
Does the institution have other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives?:
A brief description of the other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives:
Environmental Engineering and “Sustainability” is a co-curricular led by sustainability professor, Alison Wood. It is about increasingly popular topics such as alternative sanitation, recycling wastewater, communicating climate uncertainty and how “sustainability” fits in. Sometimes guest speakers come visit and there are engaging discussions. How these topics relate to equity is also highlighted.
The website URL where information about other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives is available (optional):
Estimated percentage of students (full-time and part-time) that participate annually in sustainability-focused co-curricular education and outreach programs (0-100):
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
A link to a source about the green initiatives fund: http://www.olin.edu/sites/default/files/07_green_initiatives_signed_aggrement_12.3.13.pdf
A link to a source about the green initiatives fund: http://www.olin.edu/sites/default/files/07_green_initiatives_signed_aggrement_12.3.13.pdf
The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.