Foundation practices hurt grade

By KYLE ODEGARD

Gazette-Times reporter

Oregon State University received a B-minus on sustainability in a report card recently issued by the Sustainable Endowments Institute, which ranked the 200 American public and private colleges with the largest endowments.

OSU was ranked in the top 25 schools for sustainability.

The university received an A in four of eight categories and was designated a campus sustainability leader by the organization, which runs the only independent sustainability evaluation of campus operations and endowment investments.

"This is an exciting recognition for OSU," said Brandon Trelstad, the university's sustainability coordinator. "We've made a lot of progress coordinating our efforts, and then documenting and making public our commitment to becoming more sustainable."

OSU's overall grade would have been much higher if not for two Fs in three endowments categories, regarding the practices of the Oregon State University Foundation, Trelstad said.

The report card penalized OSU for not making information on endowment holdings available to the public, and for having investment managers handle the details of voting on its holdings.

More than half of schools graded failed the shareholder engagement and endowment practices categories.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute is focused on endowments, as its name suggests, Trelstad said.

A more detailed ranking system by another organization should be released in 2009, he added.

"It will look a little bit more in-depth at campus operations and research, as well as diversity issues," Trelstad said. And that should play into the strengths of OSU.

The College Sustainability Report Card shows that overall, college campuses are increasing green practices and policies, however, and more than two out of three schools showed improved scores.

The nonprofit Sustainable Endowments Institute is a special project of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors.

For more information on the report card, go to www.endowmentinstitute.org/sustainability.

Kyle Odegard covers Oregon State University. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.

The report card

Administration - A: OSU will prioritize resources and investments based on sustainability

Climate Change and Energy - B: OSU will purchase 100 percent renewable energy, reducing current greenhouse gas emissions by about 60 percent

Food and Recycling - A: OSU spends a quarter of its budget on local food products

Green Building - A: All future construction on campus will be green buildings

Transportation - A: Bicycle friendly, with a free campus shuttle and a fleet of hybrids

Endowment Transparency - F: Information not public

Investment Priorities - C: Aims to optimize returns; foundation considering policy to review socially responsible investments

Shareholder Engagement - F: Investment managers handle proxy voting

Other schools' grades

University of Oregon - B-minus

Willamette University - C-plus

Reed College - C-plus

University of Washington - A-minus

Washington State University - C-plus

Stanford University - B-plus

University of California - B-plus

University of Southern California - C-plus

Arizona State University - B-minus

University of Arizona - C-plus