The Association for the Avancement of Higher Education is an organization which I became very familiar with last spring. While working at the Office of Sustainability at the College of St. Benedict, I became very familiar with the STARS application which took me just under 100 hours to complete. This wasn't always the most enjoyable experience, but to my surprise I also learned a lot about the College of St. Benedict.
STARS, or the Sustainability Tracking, Assesment & Rating System, is completed by universities to receive a rating. Similar to become LEED certified, there is Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum ratings. I filled this out with the help of a few co-workers and we were rated at a Silver. From what I observed, the ranking system is not easy. At first I was a little bummed to be working at a computer at a desk in the basement. As I began filling out this application I began to see some interesting places CSB was thinking about sustainability in, and places where they could be. One place I was most impressed with the was Grounds crew. A combination of how seriously they take sustainability and progress they had made showed me that the community at CSB/SJU isn't all talk, they also got the walk.
Rating systems like these not only encourage schools to continue becoming more sustainable, but its most handy use is that it serves as a guide for schools who fill out it to manage how they will become more sustainable. It serves as a checklist, and can also be informative on making change where the school hadn't thought of. It also serves as a tool for comparison from year to year to help a school gauge their progress in becoming more sustainable.
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