Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 69.24
Liaison Kelsey Beal
Submission Date July 12, 2024

STARS v2.2

Indiana University Indianapolis
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.50 / 1.00 Kelsey Beal
Sustainbility Analyst
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Does the institution conduct an assessment of sustainability culture?:
Yes

Which of the following best describes the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered to::
A subset of the campus community or a sample that may not be representative of the entire community

Which of the following best describes the structure of the cultural assessment? The assessment is administered::
Longitudinally to measure change over time

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:

A representative sample of IU students across all disciplines was surveyed in February 2020. The assessment utilized the Theory of Planned behavior to determine student attitudes, social norms, and perceived behavioral control of sustainable behaviors related to waste reduction, food, transportation, and printing.

Participants were surveyed via email.


A copy or sample of the questions related to sustainability culture:
A sample of the questions related to sustainability culture or the website URL where the assessment tool is available:

Below is a list of behaviors you may or may not engage in. By sliding the button to the right, please indicate the percentage of time you engage in these behaviors during the current academic year (Fall 2019 through Spring 2020). Remember there is no right or wrong answer, so your first answer is probably the most accurate. Please answer even if you don’t engage in any of the listed behaviors by sliding the button to zero. [sliding scale of 0-100%, starting at 0%]
• Print double-sided when required to print
• Turn off the lights when leaving the room
• Eat organic foods
• Reuse or recycle items
• Choose to walk, bike, or ride the bus instead of driving a car to and from campus

Most people who are important to me would approve of (5 point scale, 1= strongly disagree; 2=somewhat disagree; 3=neither agree nor disagree; 4=somewhat agree; • Printing double-sided when required to print
• Turning off the lights when leaving a room
• Eating organic foods
• Reusing or recycling items
• Choosing to walk, bike, or ride the bus instead of driving a car to and from campus


A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:

A representative sample of students only was reached using Spring 2020 FTE figures provided by the Registrar's Office. Participants were surveyed via email.


A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:

  1. High-level results:

    1. Strongest predictors of an individual engaging in a sustainable behavior include: attitude, social norms, convenience, academic standing, gender (female-identifying more likely), literacy, and agreeing with the statement that "climate change is real and caused by humans."

    2. Students surveyed print double sided 77% of the time on average 

    3. Students surveyed turn off lights before leaving the room 83% of the time on average 

    4. Students surveyed eat veg/vegan meals 41% of the time on average

    5. Students surveyed recycle 65% of the time on average

    6. Students surveyed use a reusable water bottle 80% of the time on average




Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
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The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.