| Overall Rating | Silver - expired |
|---|---|
| Overall Score | 52.39 |
| Liaison | Margo Margo Nottoli |
| Submission Date | Aug. 24, 2016 |
| Executive Letter | Download |
Warren Wilson College
EN-3: Student Life
| Status | Score | Responsible Party |
|---|---|---|
|
2.00 / 2.00 |
Alison
Climo Director of Institutional Effectiveness Institutional Effectiveness |
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indicates that no data was submitted for this field
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Does the institution have one or more co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives that fall into the following categories?:
| Yes or No | |
| Active student groups focused on sustainability | Yes |
| Gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, or urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems | Yes |
| Student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes | Yes |
| Sustainable investment funds, green revolving funds or sustainable microfinance initiatives through which students can develop socially, environmentally and fiscally responsible investment and financial skills | Yes |
| Conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience | Yes |
| Cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience | Yes |
| Wilderness or outdoors programs that follow Leave No Trace principles | Yes |
| Sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences | No |
| Programs through which students can learn sustainable life skills | Yes |
| Sustainability-focused student employment opportunities offered by the institution | Yes |
| Graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions | No |
| Other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives | Yes |
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The name and a brief description of each student group focused on sustainability:
Local Foods Crew, which coordinates the College's local food sourcing for the dining halls. Student Divestment group, which coordinated and executed a campaign leading to a college policy to divest from fossil fuels.
Keep Our Promises, which is a student group guiding the college toward better implementation of its GHG reduction plan.
Recycling Crew which handles all residential solid waste and food wastes from the campus community.
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The website URL where information about student groups is available:
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A brief description of gardens, farms, community supported agriculture (CSA) or fishery programs, and urban agriculture projects where students are able to gain experience in organic agriculture and sustainable food systems:
Warren Wilson College operates a six acre organically managed garden that grows produce for on-campus consumption and a 250 acre farm that produces pasture-raised beef, pork and poultry for on and off-campus consumption. Both operations are staffed by professional manager and students whose labor stewards the land and grows and manages livestock and produce. The garden currently provides approximately 18% of campus vegetables and the farm provides 90% of the beef served. Additionally, the Forestry Crew manages a shitake mushroom project that produces mushrooms that are served in the dining hall. The Landscaping Crew manages the EcoDorm garden that provides food for the 36 dorm residents. The garden operates year-round CSA and operates a weekly garden market; both are avaiable for community members. The sustainable food system on-campus is completed by the work of students in the vegan cafe, dining hall, and Local Foods Crews. One of the areas of focus for community engagement is Food Secruity. Students volunteer with community gardens, food banks, and food reclamation projects.
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The website URL where information about the organic agriculture and/or sustainable food systems projects and initiatives is available:
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A brief description of student-run enterprises that include sustainability as part of their mission statements or stated purposes:
The Sage Cafe is a student run cafe on campus. With regular hours and a variety of food and beverages, the sage cafe is a central social location on campus that offers a selection of organic and locally produced foods.
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The website URL where information about the student-run enterprise(s) is available:
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A brief description of the sustainable investment or finance initiatives:
The College has committed that the Endowment will be divested from fossil fuels (defined as the Carbon Underground 200) within five years from the establishment of this policy (Oct 2015); and the Investment Committee of the Board of Trustees will not deploy any new Endowment Fund monies into companies within the Carbon Underground 200.
In October 2015, the college also adopted a morally driven investment policy, which reads:
Environmental, Social and Governance Investing
Statement on Environmental, Social and Governance Investing Principles
The Board of Warren Wilson College is the “named fiduciary” of the College’s Endowment. The Investment Committee seeks to optimize the financial return to the college to advance the long-term financial interests of the College and support its mission. It is a core value of Warren Wilson College that the College invests in a socially responsible way. A separate Policy on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Investing shall state the Investment Committee’s policies and goals.
ESG practices can have a material impact on the Endowment’s holdings. Consideration of ESG practices of the Endowment’s investments is consistent with the Investment Committee’s fiduciary duties. The Investment Committee understands that investing in a responsible way does not always offer self-evident decisions. There are likely to be products and services that can be used in ways that are both responsible and contrary to a shared notion of responsibility.
The College will seek to invest and maintain investments in entities that have prospects for sustainable growth and profitability, while conforming to socially responsible characteristics.
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The website URL where information about the sustainable investment or finance initiatives is available:
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A brief description of conferences, speaker series, symposia or similar events related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience:
The 2015-16 Spotlight Series is titled “My America, Whose America” and presents an opportunity for the community to connect with award-winning thought leaders and social justice activists. For the first time, the annual Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecture joins the Spotlight Series to present Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo Nov. 14. Rounding out the series Feb. 20, the College will host The Soul of the Activist symposium featuring Mandy Carter, the 2016 activist-in-residence, alongside religion and culture intellectuals.
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The website URL where information about the event(s) is available:
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A brief description of cultural arts events, installations or performances related to sustainability that have students as the intended audience:
Examples include but are not limited to: WIDE HERITAGE SERIES
The WIDE Heritage Series presents awareness, celebration, and dialogue programming throughout the year, including Hispanic and Latin@ heritage, Indigenous and Native American heritage, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration, Black World History Month, Chinese New Year, International Women’s Month, and Asian/Pacific Islander heritage.
MLK Jr. WEEK
The College holds a full week of activities honoring the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. beginning with the College’s winter Service Day, as new students engage in service projects in the community.
SPOTLIGHT SERIES
The 2015-16 Spotlight Series is titled “My America, Whose America” and presents an opportunity for the community to connect with award-winning thought leaders and social justice activists. For the first time, the annual Harwood-Cole Memorial Lecture joins the Spotlight Series to present Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo Nov. 14. Rounding out the series Feb. 20, the College will host The Soul of the Activist symposium featuring Mandy Carter, the 2016 activist-in-residence, alongside religion and culture intellectuals.
FIDDLES & FOLKLIFE
Each year Fiddles and Folklife is a regional weekend celebration of southern Appalachian culture that showcases the community resiliency that defines this mountain region. It is for the students and the community.
PLOW DAY
Plow Day is a family event highlighting traditional farming methods practiced for generations by Swannanoa Valley residents in the rich bottomlands along the river. The forerunner of Warren Wilson College, the Asheville Farm School, used these traditional agricultural practices in the same fields.
Elizabeth Holden Art Gallery hosts Via Materia, an exhibition featuring the work of the Fine Art/Craft Fellows supported through the College by a grant from the Windgate Charitable Foundation.
The Windgate Charitable Foundation awards grants to art and craft education programs in the southeast and allows the College to offer five annual interim fellowships to recent college graduates in the areas of art, blacksmithing, fiber arts and woodworking. This year marks the second that Warren Wilson College has welcomed these fellows to campus.
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The website URL where information about the cultural arts event(s) is available:
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A brief description of wilderness or outdoors programs for students that follow Leave No Trace principles:
A wide range of outdoor programs are offered year-round that follow LNT principles, principles that are also taught in all Outdoor Leadership (ODL) and Physical Education (PED) field courses.
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The website URL where information about the wilderness or outdoors program(s) is available:
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A brief description of sustainability-related themes chosen for themed semesters, years, or first-year experiences:
None currently. In the past, Warren Wilson College published a common reader for all first year students titled Heartstone, which was a compilation of writings about a particular sustainability theme.
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The website URL where information about the theme is available:
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A brief description of program(s) through which students can learn sustainable life skills:
We do not have an occupied, formally designated model residence hall: EcoDorm is a LEED Platinum residence hall in which students are working to live substantially and teach us all what that model is. Students are welcome to tour EcoDorm anytime and the EcoDorm residents host events open to students across campus. EcoDorm residents must commit to living a sustainable lifestyle as part of their room contract. Sustainable Living Best Practices are spelled out for them in the EcoDorm Manuel.
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The website URL where information about the sustainable life skills program(s) is available:
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A brief description of sustainability-focused student employment opportunities:
Environmental Leadership Center Campus Sustainability Crew
Raise awareness of local, national and global environmental realities and to inspire caring citizens - especially our youth - to reflect, to communicate, and to act as responsible caretakers of the earth.
Recycling Crew
Provides the campus with effective and innovative recycling, composting and waste disposal services and to reduce the volume and environmental impact of waste generated on campus. We strive to run an efficient and environmentally sound operation, to educate the community about effective resource use, and to inspire the community to find creative alternatives to unsustainable consumption patterns (linked below).
Wellness Crew:
Promotes wellness for the body and soul by providing on-campus programs.
Spiritual Life Crew:
Promotes a broad and inclusive spirituality dialog on campus.
Local Food Crew:
The Local Food Crew works with the campus Dining Service on a variety of local food issues. The crew helps build and cultivate relationships between local growers (including our own farm and garden) and Dining Services. We also help educate the campus community about the many benefits of purchasing local and help identify local ingredients at meals.
Environmental Justice Crew
This crew runs programming related to environmental degradation and raises awareness about the connections between environmental destruction and social oppression.
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The website URL where information about the student employment opportuntities is available:
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A brief description of graduation pledges through which students pledge to consider social and environmental responsibility in future job and other decisions:
We do not have a graduation pledge
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The website URL where information about the graduation pledge program is available:
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A brief description of other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives:
All sustainability programs have been described above.
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The website URL where information about other co-curricular sustainability programs and initiatives is available:
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Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
additional examples of cultural events with sustainability content:
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/community-news/mlk-jr-week
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/news/warren-wilson-college-spotlight-series-begins-with-alumnus-activist-who-took-down-confederate-flag
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/uncategorized/fiddles-folklife
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/event/fall-plow-day
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/community-news/fine-artcraft-fellows-exhibition-at-elizabeth-holden-art-gallery
Student Groups
http://www.warren-wilson.edu/sustainability/green-living/wwc-green-initiatives https://inside.warren-wilson.edu/~recycle/
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.