| Overall Rating | Gold - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 69.30 |
| Liaison | Srinivasan Raghavan |
| Submission Date | Feb. 16, 2018 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
University of Missouri
EN-3: Student Life
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Srinivasan
Raghavan Sustainability Manager Sustainability Office |
Does the institution have one or more active student groups focused on sustainability?:
A brief description of active student groups focused on sustainability:
Sustain Mizzou is a non-partisan 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization run by student volunteers at the University of Missouri-Columbia. The mission is to promote a sustainable way of life at the University of Missouri-Columbia through education, cooperation, and local action regarding the environment.
Over the last few years Sustain Mizzou has run a successful football tailgate recycling program, a Local Food Drive, a state-wide student conference, a recycled notebook program, a lecture program where students can learn more about specific topics, a stream team, and much more.
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:
Tigers for Community Agriculture partners with Bradford Research Farm to engage students in growing produce sustainably. The group is part of a full-circle system that uses compost from the campus dining facilities to grow food that is then sold back to the dining halls and donated to Tiger Pantry.
The Children's Learning Garden, part of the The MU Child Development Laboratory (CDL), is an educational setting for community children and a teaching and research laboratory for University students, faculty and staff. The CDL operates a full-day, full-year teacher-training lab school affiliated with the Department of Human Development and Family Studies (HDFS) within the College of Human Environmental Sciences (HES).
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:
Each year students are able to submit proposals for a campus wide entreprensuership program hosted in the MU Student Center. This year two of the enterprises have a sustainability focus. First, Land to Luna has various items for sale, such as bracelets, hats, and t-shirts, with every item having a certain percentage of proceeds donated to a charity or nonprofit. Black Honey Bee Cosmetics is a black-owned business that sells affordable bath and body products for Women of Color (WOC).
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 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 Social Justice Symposium is a one day conference designed to create conversation about three core aspects of social justice: awareness, advocacy, and activism. The day’s schedule includes a keynote speaker, lunch, and multiple breakout sessions with varying topics that include ethnicity, culture, women’s empowerment, LGBTQ, ability, serving our veteran population, and 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:
Recycle Mountain is an art installation demonstrating how much waste the University disposes of in the form of recyclables in speakers circle (a common space on campus).
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:
Venture Out offers an onsite climbing course that focuses on the fundamentals of climbing, belaying, rappelling, guidebook interpretation, and climbing ratings. Team building courses build trust, strengthen relationships, improve communication and develop problem solving skills for MU Students.
During outdoor activities, Venture Out makes it a point to follow Leave No Trace Principles.
Leave no trace principles are:
*Plan Ahead and Prepare
*Travel and Camp on Durable Surfaces
*Dispose of Waste Properly
*Leave What You Find
*Minimize Campfire Impacts
*Respect Wildlife
*Be Considerate of Other Visitors
"When rock climbing or training we make sure to bring everything back, including trash. When we climb we minimize our impact on the wall and anchor points by never altering the natural landscape. If we hold a training in a park we make sure we are not disturbing the other people around or the wildlife. We always try to make it seem like we were never there when we leave."
-Bryan Goers
Venture Out Coordinator
Sustain Mizzou organizes a stream clean camping trip every year. Students enjoy a camping trip and the next morning volunteer to clean up sites along Missouri’s finest rivers.
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 Environmental Leadership Office has monthly themes for each semester that events, campaigns, and other campus initiatives are related around.
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:
Sustain Mizzou is a non-partisan 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization run by student volunteers at the University of Missouri-Columbia. Their mission is to promote a sustainable way of life at the University through education, cooperation, and local action regarding the environment.
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:
The University of Missouri Sustainability Office hires multiple undergraduate and graduate students each year, giving students the tools to implement positively impactful initiatives on campus. They support graduate research in composting, recycling, green roofs, and much more.
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:
Sustainability Week is an annual event that is dedicated to broadening the University of Missouri’s definition of sustainability, highlighting inherent environmental issues in society, and detailing those, which the University has committed to solving.
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:
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.