Temple University
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Students enrolled in an environmental policy class studied the LEED rating system and made recommendations for how the university could incorporate features of LEED and other green building best practices into a campus wide green building policy. The university incorporated a green building policy in its new master plan, which was adopted in Fall 2014. The green building policy states that the university will achieve LEED Gold on all new construction projects, with 30% of the LEED points coming from the Energy and Atmosphere credits.

In spring 2014, The Department of Geography and Urban Studies offered an independent study course that drew students from across the university to explore the feasibility of developing a café that was cooperatively run by students on campus. Through this independent study, students established the conceptual foundation for the café on campus, developed a business plan and garnered the support of university administration for this project. In fall 2014, the students partnered with the Fox School of Business to continue their program planning for the food co-op via an independent study course. The students worked with administration and were able to launch the Rad Dish co-op cafe that is an entirely student run cooperative enterprise that serves only local, organic and fair trade, vegetarian and vegan options. The menu is seasonal, and the cafe is used as a tool for interdisciplinary education on food systems, sustainability, entrepreneurship, marketing, and hospitality management.

As part of the Sustainability LLC and first year seminar course, students learned about change management and developed leadership skills by identifying sustainable alternatives in the 1940 residence halls, advocating for solutions and working with Housing to implement those changes. One of the projects that the students worked to implement was the installation of daylighting sensors and LED lamps in the Residence Hall stairwells. The upgrade in the stairwells was completed by the end of Fall 2013. In Fall 2012, the Energy Manager and the Office of Sustainability partnered with Students for Environmental Action to train students on how to conduct building energy audits and promote energy conservation. The students formed energy teams, and audited every building on campus, identifying lighting models, temperature concerns from occupants and plug load use. The information was used to foster conversation with building occupants on potential energy conservation strategies. In fall 2012, Graphic and Interactive Design department held a poster competition on energy conservation messages to support Temple’s Energy Conservation Campaign. The display rotated through different buildings on campus, and one of the designs was used on a t-shirt that was given out at Temple's energy conservation basketball game.

Temple university is located in the Atlantic Coast flyway for bird migrations. As birds migrate, they collide with a number of buildings with glass facades on campus. The Office of Sustainability has funded student research to investigate ways students can mitigate bird collisions on campus. Two student research projects focused on bird film, while another project focused on the use of crop netting as a barrier. In 2011, the Graphic and Interactive Design department held a bird film design competition, which garnered over 90 submissions of designs for decorative bird film that could be installed on windows. In 2014, the university installed the winning design at the Tuttleman-Paley connector skywalk to mitigate bird-window collisions.

The Sustainable Marketing course in Fox School of Business developed plans for greening athletics, including actionable items that can be addressed to minimize waste at the student tailgates and utilize the social capital of student athletes to promote a sustainable culture on campus. The class also developed and implemented marketing plans for Temple’s involvement in RecycleMania, including devising a campaign to organize Temple’s first participation in the electronic waste category of RecycleMania and a water bottle exchange event at IBC gymnasium. As a result of their work, the Office of Sustainability coordinated efforts to recycle at the home football game tailgates and worked with the CRC to participate in RecycleMania's electronic waste recycling competition category.

In spring 2014, the Landscape Architecture graduate studio studied Main Campus to develop alternative landscaping designs that integrated sustainability features, including best practices in stormwater management. The students then made recommendations to Planning and Design. While the exact designs were not completed, the Planning and Design team did work with their consultant to integrate stormwater management best practices in the university's new Landscape Master Plan.

The Office of Sustainability hosted an intern from the Corporate Social Responsibility program in the Fox School of Business. This intern assisted the Office of Sustainability in hosting the Tri-State Sustainability Symposium on campus, which draws over 800 attendees from a variety of sectors and has a goal of sharing information on sustainable practices. The intern worked with students from nearby Carver high school students to make the event zero waste. In preparation, the intern trained the high school students on recycling and composting, and also helped organize education sessions geared at the student volunteers. Moreover, she conducted a survey that gave us information on whether the sustainability symposium proved to be a valuable tool in increasing the sustainability literacy of the high school students.

This is based on FY 14.