Cal Poly Humboldt
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

In the fall semester of 2016, a working group, comprised of the Office of Sustainability (OS) and faculty members, developed questions for a sustainability literacy assessment (SLA), which included some cultural questions that assessed values, behaviors, beliefs, and awareness of campus sustainability initiatives. The group reviewed SLA’s from other institutions, and developed certain questions about local issues. The OS then compiled the questions, worked with the IRB and Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE) to push out the assessment in April 2017, and then again in the spring of 2018.
In the summer of 2018, the OS met with Dr. Tony Silvaggio, Department of Sociology, who had expressed interest in refining the SLA, expanding the cultural questions, and using it as a tool to teach his students about survey development and analysis, and building it out to a longitudinal study by surveying new students (i.e., freshmen and first year transfers) in the fall semester and then surveying graduating students in the spring semester. The revised, longitudinal SLA with expanded cultural questions was first launched in the fall of 2018, was again deployed in the spring of 2019, and will continue each semester moving forward.

Below are the cultural questions included in the sustainability survey:
Please indicate which of the following statements best describes your level of interest in sustainability:
 I have a passion for sustainability
 I have considerable interest in sustainability
 I am neither interested nor disinterested in sustainability (neutral)
 I have little interest in sustainability
 I have no interest in sustainability

Please indicate how often do you engage in the following activities? Always, Most of the time, Sometimes, Rarely, Never
o Recycle
o Use a reusable water bottle, coffee container, etc.
o Use reusable bags at store
o Volunteer work in the community
o Join a student club or student government
o Participate in a gathering addressing social issues
o Buy sustainable products (fair trade certified, organic, etc.)
o Use alternative transportation (ride bus, bike, carpool)

Please indicate the degree of importance you place on the following sustainability issues:
Very Important Important Neutral Not Important Not Very Important

o Recycling
o Minimization of waste being sent to the landfill
o Choosing food based on its environmental impact
o Water conservation
o Purchasing environmentally friendly consumer products
o Energy conservation
o Livable wages
o Minimizing carbon emissions from transportation

Was HSU's commitment to sustainability a reason you chose to come here?
 Yes
 No
 I don't know

How many times have you taken classes at HSU that either explicitly focus on
sustainability or touch on sustainability-related topics
 Never
 Once
 A few times
 More than five
 Don't know

My understanding and awareness of sustainability related issues has increased since I have become a student at HSU.
 Strongly Agree
Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree

From the following list please indicate what or who has influenced your awareness and understanding of sustainability (0 = no influence) (4 = a great deal of influence).
no influence great deal of influence

High school teachers/courses 0 1 2 3 4
Parents/family 0 1 2 3 4
Peers 0 1 2 3 4
Student Activism 0 1 2 3 4
College Instructors/courses 0 1 2 3 4
Initiatives around campus (recycling, Earth Day etc.) 0 1 2 3 4
Media 0 1 2 3 4

I find it easy to find data/information about our sustainability-related practices and policies here at HSU.
STRONGY AGREE, AGREE NEUTRAL DISAGREE STRONGLY DISAGREE

I would prefer more sustainability-related content in my courses.
 Strongly Agree
Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
 Strongly Disagree

I think that universities should be sustainability role models in their daily operations (for example, water and energy conservation, exemplary recycling program, environmental and social issues awareness).
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
Strongly Disagree

I feel that HSU is doing a good job of modeling sustainability in its daily operations ( for example, water and energy conservation, exemplary recycling program, environmental and social related issues awareness).
 Strongly Agree
 Agree
 Neutral
 Disagree
Strongly Disagree

In the fall semester, the sustainability survey is emailed out to all freshmen and transfer students, across all colleges and programs, by the Office of Institutional Effectiveness (IE). In the spring semester, the same questions are emailed out to graduating students. The survey is online and is hosted by QuestionPro. Respondents first review consent information and click on a consent button before they can enter the survey. The survey remains open for three weeks. To help bolster response rates, the OS requests department administrative support coordinators to request faculty to remind their students to take the survey. All identifying information is removed before IE shares survey data with Dr. Silvaggio and the OS.

See the attached summary for more details. In all surveys between Spring 2017 and Spring 2019, over 40% of respondents answered yes to the question, “Was HSU’s commitment to sustainability a reason you chose to come here?”. Over 60% of respondents either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement, “I would prefer more sustainability-related content in my courses.”
The SLA also asks cultural/behavior/value questions. For example, in the Spring 2019 survey, 57% of respondents indicated they always use reusable water and coffee containers. In the Fall 2018 survey, 22% of respondents indicated they always use alternative transportation (ride bus, bike, carpool). Likewise, in the Spring 2019 survey, 65% of respondents indicated that minimizing carbon emissions from transportation is very important, whereas in the fall of 2018 63% indicated this issue as very important.