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Santa Clara University Earns Perfect Score in Green College Honor Roll
[September 02, 2014]

Santa Clara University Earns Perfect Score in Green College Honor Roll


SANTA CLARA, Calif. --(Business Wire)--

Santa Clara University is heading into the 2014-15 school year with new bragging rights: a top spot in Princeton Review's Green College Honor Roll. The Jesuit university in Silicon Valley earned its first perfect score in the rankings of 861 colleges across the country. The rankings note Santa Clara's vested interest in environmental justice and sustainable living practices for the benefit of society at large.

"Our focus on sustainability can be seen across departments in the Santa Clara community and we're honored to have our extensive efforts recognized, says Lindsey Kalkbrenner, director of the Center for Sustainability. "Sustainability isn't just a buzzword or small project. It's engrained in our culture and everything we do."



Santa Clara University is among 24 schools to earn a perfect score including Harvard, Stanford, and Cornell universities. SCU is now featured in the Princeton Review Guide's Best 379 Colleges and the Complete Book of Colleges. The publisher found 61 percent of the 10,116 college applicants surveyed for its 2014 "College Hopes and Worries Survey" reported a college's commitment to the environment would impact their decision to apply to or attend a school. Many students in SCU's incoming Class of 2018 included reflections on the meaning of sustainability in their applications.

"It's clear more students are placing importance on a school's commitment to the environment in their college searches and we're proud to show them we walk the walk when it comes to sustainability," says Mike Sexton, SCU's vice president for enrollment management.


SCU offers majors in environmental studies and environmental science. Last year, 778 courses related to sustainability were available to students. The University's Experiential Learning for Social Justice component requires all undergraduates to participate in community-based learning, which often involves environmental justice projects.

The Sustainable Living Undergraduate Research Project (SLURP) supports yearlong research projects on ways to make residence life more sustainable. With help from SLURP, teams of students have coordinated the installation of water fountains to cut usage of plastic bottles, studied the effectiveness of fair trade and energy conservation campaigns on campus, and produced documentaries about campus sustainability. Students have also partnered with SCU's dining services to establish a food recovery program where leftovers are donated to a local food kitchen.


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