Overall Rating Gold
Overall Score 68.42
Liaison Andrew D'Amico
Submission Date Aug. 25, 2021

STARS v2.2

Princeton University
EN-2: Student Orientation

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 2.00 / 2.00 Shana Weber
Director
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Are the following students provided an opportunity to participate in orientation activities and programming that prominently include sustainability?:
Yes or No
First-year students Yes
Transfer students Yes
Entering graduate students Yes

Percentage of all entering students that are provided an opportunity to participate in orientation activities and programming that prominently include sustainability:
100

A brief description of how sustainability is included prominently in new student orientation :

The principles of sustainability have been integrated into the University’s Outdoor Action (OA) undergraduate orientation program. OA, one of the largest outdoor orientation programs in the United States by participant days, helps to build environmental consciousness among all participants.

Since 2016, the Community Action (CA) program includes a partnership with the Poconos Environmental Education Center (PEEC) and the Office of Sustainability which incorporates Leave No Practices principles and hands-on sustainability projects into a week-long sustainability themed orientation for 144 students.

Also, since 2009, the Office of Sustainability has provided all incoming first-year and graduate students “Sustainability Survival Kits” during Move In. In 2019, the program evolved to a opt-in program for reusable utensil kits where students pledge to use their kits at the many events they attend. Behavioral science research suggests that such an opt-in program discourages accumulation of swag that is never used, and encourages the desired reuse behavior. The kits were distributed at a special zero-waste event that included activities to promote additional zero-waste behaviors.

Lastly, the Office of Sustainability also runs a table at the Graduate School Information Session for incoming students. Featured are materials focused on ways for graduate students to get involved in sustainability on campus and resources to live more sustainably in graduate housing.


Website URL where information about sustainability in student orientation is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
---

Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
---

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.