SSCC 2008 Live: Why Your Campus Needs an Office of Sustainability
posted by Andrea Webster on April 2nd, 2008 Go to comments
Email This Post 
Sonia Marcus, Ohio University
Your campus does not need an Office of Sustainability, but if you don’t have one, you’re going to struggle with:
-Communications: An Office of Sustainability becomes a communications hub. There’s no other good way of coordinating the initiatives. It’s a place for people to direct their questions and concerns. It’s a way of judging what the campus population is concerned about, and, most importantly, it’s a way to see that the campus population is concerned. You can then allow the questioner to act on the answer to their question or suggestion and create change. The Office of Sustainability is a clearing house for information about community and campus sustainability. (i.e. Planet Ohio.)
-Connections: The Office of Sustainability plays the match maker role. People will come to you asking for ways to get involved and offering ways to get involved. The office’s job is to connect these people.
-Community/Culture: It’s much easier to generate a campus sustainability culture when you have an office of sustainability.
-Coordination: (Coordination of complex projects in particular.) Sometimes projects have so many stakeholders that it seems almost impossible. An Office of Sustainability has access to all the different departments that need to participate. Planning events such as Earth Week or energy conservation competitions becomes much easier with an Office of Sustainability.
-Credibility: The Office of Sustainability automatically gives things credibility. The office has an email, phone number, and is a department on campus. Students sometimes have a healthy distrust of authority. The Office of Sustainability becomes a neutral ground.
If your campus has 5 different students groups that are working on sustainability issues, an office of sustainability can be very helpful at creating a joint effort.
Advice to students: when you present your idea to the higher levels of administration with your student coalition, bring the administrator who supports you.
How much does it cost to start an Office of Sustainability:
You don’t need hundreds of thousands of dollars to start an Office of Sustainability if you have someone who is passionate about the issues to get you started. Once this passionate person drives interest, participation, and staff support, hopefully more money will be appropriated.
Who should the Sustainability Coordinator report to?
It’s all about who you hire as a sustainability coordinator. If this person is able to tap into and join the education and the facilities sides of the institution, it doesn’t matter where the office is located.
Many campuses are struggling to create an office of sustainability, or even to hire a sustainability coordinator. What questions do you have? What experiences do you have to offer? I encourage you to start a conversation on this blog! That’s why it’s here.