Seattle University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

(1) The Bullitt Center, the world’s greenest commercial building built to meet the criteria of the Living Building Challenge (http://living-future.org/lbc), is the location of Seattle University’s Center for Environmental Justice and Sustainability (CEJS). Students in a variety of courses visit the center to take a tour and explore the various features of the building, such as the composting toilets and grey-water system. The tours are provided by SU student interns and staff at CEJS (on average 6 tours a month). (2) All new SU buildings are designed to achieve LEED Gold standards. Currently, this includes the Admissions & Alumni Building, School of Law Annex, Lemieux Library & McGoldrick Learning Commons, Eisiminger Fitness Center, Student Center, and Kolvenbach house. This demonstrates to students that buildings serving a variety of functions can be designed with sustainable building practices. CEJS (staff and student interns) provides tours of the LEED gold buildings to SU students. The tour of the Seattle University Lemieux Library & McGoldrick Learning Commons features a raingarden, a chilled beam that cools the computer lab, a raised floor supplying warm air near occupants’ feet, sustainable materials and water efficient fixtures. For more information: https://www.seattleu.edu/cejs/about/building-and-campus-tours/

All of the schools pre-packaged meals and to-go containers are compostable, as well as all utensils, cups, and straws. The school has an onsite composting facility that processes these as well as the food waste placed in composting bins. Tours of the composting facility are provided to students. A positive outcome associated with this is the engagement of students in being able to see exactly how their waste can be treated when compostable items are compared to those that are non-compostable. For more information: https://www.seattleu.edu/cejs/sustainability/what-su-is-doing/compost/ Throughout campus, there are a variety of ‘edible gardens’ that provide fresh produce and herbs that students are welcome and encouraged to take for themselves. Maps of the various campus edible gardens are available online. Tours of the gardens are provided to students. A positive impact of this is that students are able to not only work in the gardens to develop their own agricultural skills, but also to realize that being in an urban environment does not mean that vegetable gardens are not possible. For more information: http://www.seattleu.edu/grounds/ As the first Fair Trade University in the Pacific Northwest, Seattle University has had numerous opportunities for students to be involved with ensuring that the sourcing of the school’s food is ethical and sustainable. One positive outcome of this was the collaboration of students and colleagues in partnering with UCA Managua and coffee farmers in Nicaragua in developing a new brand of Fair Trade coffee, Café Ambiental. For more information: https://www.seattleu.edu/cejs/focus-areas/Environmental-Justice/Fair-Trade-Coffee/?LangType=1033

The Student Center has solar panels installed on it that were designed by senior Mechanical Engineering Students. For more information: http://www.seattleu.edu/commons/article.aspx?id=86165

Tours of the on-site composting facility are available to demonstrate to students the impacts that their waste directly has, and how their compost waste is processed and can be used. For more information: https://www.seattleu.edu/cejs/sustainability/what-su-is-doing/compost/ Natural History class (EVST 2100) regularly uses the campus for investigations of flora, fauna, and their interactions. The class takes “field trips” in which we study bird and animal uses of places around campus, and students typically choose a site on campus for ongoing research into natural processes for their term projects, including the creation of maps of these sites and the interactions that take place there. Edible gardens provide students the ability to grow and harvest their own food, even in an urban setting. The landscape of the university is a designated Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary that allows students to see a diverse collection of birds, insects, and plants despite being in a city. For more information: http://www.seattleu.edu/grounds/

The Socially Responsible Investments Task Force allows students to be involved in the decision making regarding investing funds in socially responsible entities and purposes. This was developed in large part as a result of the Sustainable Student Actions student group in their engagement with administration. For more information: https://www.seattleu.edu/president/update/investments-task-force/

Incentives are provided to students who bike, bus, car/vanpool and walk to campus such as subsidized transit passes, car sharing, discounted carpool parking, free vanpool parking, locker room and showers for bikers, and evening shuttles for walkers. One third of all campus vehicles are electric, Public Safety officers utilize Segways, and evening shuttle vehicles are all hybrid electric.

Tours of the on-site composting facility are available to demonstrate to students the impacts that their waste directly has, and how their compost waste is processed and can be used. On campus drop-off locations and services are available for students to recycle batteries, electronics, packaging material, styrene foam, and ink cartridges. Students are not only educated on how to properly dispose of such items, but provided with a convenient way to do so.

Our campus is plastic bottled water free, encouraging students to bring reusable water bottles by not providing plastic bottles for sale on campus. Student projects on water involved: monitoring the gray water treatment wetland performance of the Bullitt Center and developing a Bellarmine Central Hot Water System Comprehensive Plan. The latter allowed students to gain understanding of the Bellarmine residence hall boiler system and to develop a proposed system in comparison with the current.

The Socially Responsible Investments Task Force allows students to be involved in the decision making regarding investing funds in socially responsible entities and purposes. The Student Government of Seattle University (SGSU) allows students to work with administration or start petitions on various topics, such as providing fair trade products on campus. SGSU’s Sustainability Fund provides funds for student propositions related to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. For more information: https://www.seattleu.edu/sgsu/appropriations/surf/

The Task Force on Diversity and Inclusive Excellence was created to emphasize the integral component of diversity in preparing students to become active participants in society once they leave the university. The university’s statement on diversity states “the university shall continue to recruit, admit, retain, and graduate students who meet the University’s requirements for academic success and who bring to the University a variety of talents, backgrounds, experiences, and personal characteristics.” In order to increase accessibility to the university, generous scholarships are available, as well as a variety of on-campus and work study positions that allow students to become more connected with their campus while aiding in their funding of their education.

Every Winter, the campus-wide Wellness Challenge invites students to set personal goals and make changes in personal habits to work towards better health. Every spring, the annual EcoChallenge provides students with the opportunity to partake in the challenge and to make changes in daily habits for the course of a month in various categories such as water, energy usage, and personal care products. This allows students to reflect on how actions they do every day can impact their own well-being and that of the planet.

The Socially Responsible Investments Task Force allows students to be involved in the decision making regarding investing funds in socially responsible entities and purposes.

Seattle University focuses on community investment and engagement. Many classes encompass “service-learning” into them where students serve the community by working at locations such as local elementary and high schools, recovery homes, food banks, soup kitchens, and more. More than 75% of students partake in at least one service-learning class before they graduate.

Numerous majors, including but not limited to Environmental Studies, Environmental Science, and Civil and Environmental Engineering, provide students with the opportunities to learn how to gain hands on experience with a variety of organizations working towards conservation, restoration, and alternative development. Numerous clubs on campus, including Albers Investment Club, Engineers for a Sustainable World, Green Team, and Sustainable Student Action allow students to become involved with the campus and community to make changes and provide services they are passionate about. The Earth and Society Learning Community consists yearly of around 65 students all living on the same dormitory floor. These students partake in events throughout the year, every year, regarding ways to deepen their understanding and experience for sharing our planet. Events include meetings for discussions while sharing sustainably-sourced meals, touring local facilities that practice sustainable business methods, and taking walks to local green spaces.