Following the introduction of more rigorous rating standards, the College's sustainability rating from the Sustainable Endowments Institute fell to a B+ this year, down from an A- in 2009. The 2010 ratings were released Oct. 7.
"I'm disappointed," Adam Keller, executive vice president for finance and administration, said in an interview with The Dartmouth. "I do think we have retained a strong commitment to sustainability and have in many ways continued to expand our efforts."
The B+ is the calculated average of sub-ratings in various categories. The College earned an A in the institute's ranking on climate change and energy, food and recycling, shareholder engagement and student involvement, but was given a B in terms of administration, green building, transportation, endowment transparency and investment priorities.
Although Dartmouth's environmental plan is unchanged from last year, a more in-depth examination by the Sustainable Endowments Institute resulted in the decline in the College's grade, according to Sustainable Endowments Institute spokesperson Lea Lupkin. The institute collected more detailed quantitative data by expanding its survey instruments, Lupkin said, allowing her organization to "enhance" its evaluation process.
"Some grades did shift because we looked more closely at dozens of programs and awarded more credit to certain areas," Lupkin said. "In certain cases, category grades might have changed, while the actual activity level may have remained constant."
The College dropped a grade level in the institute's analysis of green building, endowment transparency and investment priorities, but maintained or improved on last year's grades in each of the other subcategories.
These declines may have resulted from perceived transparency issues, Keller said.
"Part of our commitment is to make available all the public equities of the endowment," he said. "That's open to the College community, but it's not something we make open to the public. I suspect that the B as opposed to an A is what's available in terms of being open to the college community and the public."
Keller said he considers the institute's grade a misunderstanding, rather than true a reflection of the College's commitment to sustainability.
"It's always hard to tell what's a function of what the reviewers understand and what's a function of the truth," Keller said. "We have for many years now had an advisory committee on investor responsibility, and that continues to be very active, with involvement from all over campus." Dartmouth was not the only Ivy League institution to experience a fall in its sustainability rating: Cornell University's rating fell from a B+ to a B, Columbia University dropped from an A- to a B and Princeton University fell from a B to a B-.
Yale University's rating, meanwhile, increased from B+ to A-.
Sam Welch '10, co-founder of the College's Sustainable Living Center, said he believes Dartmouth's lowered grade could provide the campus with an incentive to continue to intensify its green efforts.
"An A- is good," Welch said. "But it's almost a bad thing for campus motivation. It's a pat on the back, but not a motivating factor. A lot of students could become complacent."
Kathy Lambert, the College's sustainability manager, said she hopes the Sustainable Endowments Institute's higher grading standards this year help to increase environmental consciousness.
"I actually think that it's a good thing to see standards become more rigorous," she said. "As a society as a whole, they should set higher standards. It's a matter of working over the years ahead to build a program that will meet those standards."
Lambert said she has already begun to outline a general course of action to improve Dartmouth's grade.
"What we'll probably do is take a look at what other schools have done that have improved their ratings to an A," she said. "We'll see if they have any programs we may want to emulate."
Keller identified more specific initiatives that are being designed to boost Dartmouth's commitment to sustainability.
"We're putting in place an energy monitoring system to effectively measure energy use in buildings around campus and to assess progress we make," he said, emphasizing that changes to the College's sustainability efforts are a reflection of the College's overall dedication to preserving the environment, rather than simply a response to the ratings.
"I don't really think that these grades or external reviews should drive the way that we behave," he said. "The commitment to sustainability is as strong as ever. I know that we'll continue to increase our efforts and I know that at some point in time that will be recognized and our grade will go up. But we won't do it for the sake of the grade we'll do it because it's the right thing to do for the College."
