Over the past thirty years Middlebury College has taken many steps to promote environmental awareness and responsibility on campus. In addition to a concern to reduce environmental impacts and to contribute to a safe and healthy environment, the College has also recognized that many programs that promote environmental responsibility, such as efforts to reduce energy consumption, also reduce costs and are consistent with sound financial management. A former president of Middlebury was an early signer of the Talloires Declaration on the environment issued by University Presidents for a Sustainable Future. (See Appendix C.) This past fall President McCardell reaffirmed the College's commitment to both Environmental Studies as a particularly important component of the curriculum and to the goal of making Middlebury as an institution an example of environmental responsibility in its day to day operations.
What can be done in the area of administration and business management to build on the College's past accomplishments and to meet President McCardell's new challenge to the College community? This chapter identifies a number of new steps that can be taken, but a more thorough analysis of Middlebury's administrative practices is needed than the authors of this report have been able to undertake.
A. POLICY DEVELOPMENT
Middlebury's Administration and Facilities Management has been operating for many years with various environmental policies and guidelines, but few have ever been written down and clearly formulated. Responsibility and accountability in the environmental area have not been as clearly defined as they could and should be. If Middlebury is to move forward on the environmental front, it must enter upon a new stage in its administrative policy making, practices, and procedures. Leadership and support for this undertaking must come from the President. Towards this end, it is recommended:
- That Middlebury College adopt and the President sign an Environmental Mission Statement. This statement should be distributed throughout the College as a statement of the fundamental principles and objectives governing College policy pertaining to the environment.
- That the President and senior administration of the College lead the institution in an effort to formulate in writing the environmental policies and procedures that should govern the various departments, programs, and activities of the College, using the Environmental Mission Statement as a general guide. Many of the other recommendations in this report can be used to advance this process.
It is imperative that the institution as a whole at all levels and in all departments assume full responsibility for achieving the College's environmental goals. This task should not be perceived as the special responsibility of one office or of the Environmental Council, but of the whole institution working cooperatively under the leadership of the President. Charging supervisors and each department and program with clarifying and getting into written form the policies and procedures that govern their operations is the first essential step. This, of course, requires a knowledge of federal and state law and up-to-date information on new and changing regulations.
B. ENVIRONMENTAL AUDIT
An environmental audit can help Middlebury College develop effective environmental policies and procedures by identifying the most significant environmental impacts and their causes. It can also identify areas of waste and inefficiency and leads to financial savings. It is, therefore, recommended that on a regular basis (every two, three, or four years) the College conduct an audit of its environmental impacts, including but not limited to: solid waste, hazardous substances, radioactive waste, medical waste, wastewater and storm runoff, pest control, air quality, the work place environment, water, energy, food, purchasing policies, transportation, campus growth, and investment policies. An audit report should be prepared and forwarded to the President and all relevant departments and offices.
A successful audit requires leadership and support from senior administrators, including financial resources and allocation of staff time. It also requires the cooperation of the entire institution. The Vice President for Administration should initiate and ensure satisfactory completion of the environmental audit. The Environmental Council could assist with coordination. Students and faculty as well as staff can help with the process.
For further information on conducting a campus environmental audit, see Blueprint for A Green Campus: The Campus Earth Summit Initiatives for Higher Education, chapter IV.
C. RECYCLED PAPER, PRINTING, AND PUBLICATIONS
- Reprographics and other departments in the College have as a matter of policy moved to the use of recycled paper for many purposes. Ninety percent of the paper used in Reprographics is recycled with from 10% to 50% post-consumer waste. It is recommended that the College adopt and circulate a formal policy of using recycled paper with a high percentage of post-consumer waste for all College offices, publications, and posters.
- Soy-based inks are far more benign from an environmental perspective than petroleum-based inks. Soy ink is a renewable resource and is easily recycled. It is low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs). It is produced in America and provides vivid color reproduction. Corporations like the Ford Motor Company and the Los Angeles Times have switched completely to the use of soy ink. Middlebury is not currently using soy-based inks in Reprographics. It is recommended that the College use soy-based ink, or an ink that is equally benign from an environmental point of view, in all its printing processes and publications.
- The College should also make every effort to use printing technologies that reduce the percentage of VOCs emitted from press washes (which clean inks off the press) and fountain solutions (which are used to keep ink on the image areas of printing plates). Waterless printing is a new technology that eliminates fountain solutions from the printing process, and it also reduces waste. The College is encouraged to explore new technologies like waterless printing.
D. PURCHASING POLICY
- The College has become a member of the Buy Recycled Business Alliance, a step which the Environmental Council strongly supports, and as a member the College is pledged to increase each year its purchases of recycled content products. The Buy Recycled Business Alliance may be used as a useful resource regarding recycled products and related purchasing policies. For further information on Buy Recycled, see Chapter XI on Waste Minimization. It is recommended that the Director of Operations coordinate the effort to fulfill the College's pledge as a member of the Buy Recycled Business Alliance to increase each year its purchases of recycled content products. (See Chapter XI, Waste Minimization)
E. INFORMATION, CONSULTANTS AND CONSORTIUMS
The new technology that reduces environmental impact and that often reduces costs is constantly changing and developing. The College can benefit from expert advice in this area, and should secure for itself the best advice available for environmental, educational, and economic reasons. In some situations that can best be accomplished by seeking the services of an expert outside consultant and in other instances it may mean sending staff to a workshop. In some cases faculty may be able to serve as a resource.
Some environmental problems like indoor air pollution can only be detected and analyzed with the aid of an expert. In this area of safety and health, which is regulated by federal and state law, the College also needs expert assistance. The hiring of a new Safety Officer is a major step in addressing this need.
It is recommended that the College establish and fund a program designed to ensure that administrators and managers keep abreast of new developments in construction, energy, and transportation technologies that can reduce environmental impacts at Middlebury College. In addition, the College should provide budgetary support that enables the staff to secure expert assistance in analyzing and addressing environmental problems on campus when the staff do not have the professional training required. Under the supervision of the Director of Operations and Safety Officer a system should be set up in the College for ensuring the dissemination and sharing of information on new technologies and related matters.
It is also advisable for the College to join and participate in consortia of environmentally concerned institutions like Buy-Recycled and the EPA Green Lights program.
F. INVESTMENT POLICY
The Environmental Mission Statement calls on the College investment managers to take into consideration the short and long-term environmental consequences of the activities and products of corporations in which the College is invested or might invest. As a general policy guideline, it is recommended that:
When making financial investments the College should consider long-term as well as short-term environmental impacts, seeking to avoid investments in businesses and products that are inherently unhealthy for human beings or that threaten serious environmental harm.
More specifically the College should adopt the following investment policy guidelines:
- Avoid investment in any product when there is strong reason to believe that it is inherently unhealthy for human beings or seriously damaging to the environment.
- Avoid investment in businesses which involve manufacturing processes or other operations that are particularly dangerous to or unhealthy for human beings or that threaten serious harm to the environment.
- Avoid investment in businesses whose choice of location outside the U.S. is based primarily on local tolerance of degradation of the environment and/or unsafe or unhealthy working conditions.
As Middlebury College's environmental concerns develop, it may want to screen the environmental practices of each company under consideration by its investment managers using certain available databases and try to invest in those financially promising options that are leaders in environmental responsibility. The College could also focus its attention on certain environmental issues of special significance in Vermont or at Middlebury like acid rain or recycling. It could then contact companies held in its portfolio and ask them to explain how their manufacturing processes, business practices, and products affect these issues and how these businesses have or could change in ways consistent with environmental responsibility. If students became involved in such a dialogue, it could be instructive and constructive.
G. LONG-RANGE PLANNING
Environmental responsibility calls for long-range planning of the kind called for by Professor Glenn Andres and Frank Winkler in their memorandum of March 9, 1995 to President McCardell, which was supported by the Environmental Council in a memorandum of March 22, 1995 to President McCardell. (See Appendix B.)
It is recommended that the Environmental Council or another appropriate group in the College undertake a report on the environmental state of the College, using this Report as a point of reference, during the year 1998-1999 so that the College can prepare to enter the twenty-first century with its environmental policies and programs in first-rate order. Such a report could be tied to a Collegewide environmental audit. (See Section B. Environmental Audit)
For additional recommendations and discussion of issues related to administration and business management, see Chapter VII, Energy and Water Conservation; Chapter VIII, Dining Services and Food; Chapter IX, Land Stewardship; Chapter X, Toxics and Pollution; Chapter XI, Waste Minimization. In addition, the Report of the Committee on the Environment, which was recently completed and submitted to President McCardell, contains an instructive discussion and set of recommendations in Part 2 under the heading "New Buildings on Campus."
Administration and Business Management Subcommittee
Steven C. Rockefeller
George W. Whitney, Jr