Overall Rating Silver - expired
Overall Score 51.07
Liaison Adam Maurer
Submission Date March 31, 2021

STARS v2.2

South Seattle College
EN-6: Assessing Sustainability Culture

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete 0.25 / 1.00 Adam Maurer
District Sustainability Coordinator
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::
Without a follow-up assessment of the same cohort or representative samples of the same population

A brief description of how and when the cultural assessment(s) were developed and/or adopted:
We reached out to colleagues at Seattle University and Hobart and William Smith Colleges who have recently conducted similar surveys. We obtained permission to use some of their questions and methodology in developing our survey. This survey was created to serve AC 6 and EN 6 (literacy and culture). We wanted to be comprehensive, but not create a survey that was too long. The goal is to get good data from a lot of students, so we wanted to make it accessible. It was developed throughout 2020 and first administered in fall quarter 2020.

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:
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A brief description of how representative samples were reached (if applicable) and how the cultural assessment is administered:
The survey was open to all enrolled students. We tried to promote the survey through as many channels on campus as possible to get a representative sample. We posted the survey on the main Canvas page, we sent an email to the entire student body, we posted it the campus newsletter that goes to all students, posted it to the College's social media pages, and we sent an email to all faculty asking them to encourage students to complete the survey.

A brief summary of results from the cultural assessment:
Students who responded to the survey; 1) every student except for one supports some amount of a student green fee, and 3) nearly 53% of students support a permanent student leadership/government position to help enhance equity, diversity, and sustainability 42% needed more information in order to decide. Only 3% of respondents did not support this student position). Sustainability lifestyle choices that ranked the highest amongst respondents included: 1) turning off lights when not in use, 2) practice of reduce, reuse, recycle, 3) using reusable shopping bags, 4) using reusable water bottles, and 5) voting.

Optional Fields 

Website URL where information about the assessment of sustainability culture is available:
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Additional documentation to support the submission:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This survey included questions to assess both sustainability literacy (AC 6) and sustainability culture (EN 6). Questions 8, 9, and 18-23 address sustainability culture.

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.