Brandeis received an overall grade of a B on the 2011 College Sustainability Report Card released Oct. 27. The Sustainable Endowments Institute, a nonprofit institution that works to advance sustainability on college campuses and in college investment practices, conducted the report.The Sustainability Report Card is an independent report that, according to its website, evaluates the "sustainability in campus operations and endowment" for over 300 colleges in the United States and Canada through the use of surveys and public data. Brandeis' overall grade remained the same from 2010 to 2011.

The Green Report Card grade is based on nine main components: administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement, according to the Green Report Card website.

Brandeis received an A in Climate Change and Energy, Student Involvement and Investment Priorities; a B in administration, food and recycling, Green Building and transportation; and a C in endowment transparency and shareholder engagement.

The report stated for climate change and energy that "the University has committed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent from 2008 levels by 2015." The report also noted that the University encourages energy conservation and has installed new technologies and renewable energy sources on campus.

Student involvement also received an A, and Brandeis was praised for student participation in energy conservation and waste reduction competitions and students such as Students for Environmental Action and the Student Union that offers 'DeisBikes and other sustainability-minded programs.

In an e-mail to the Justice, SEA President Hannah Saltman '12 wrote, "The fact that we received an A in Student Involvement recognizes our student body's high level of commitment in driving environmental initiatives on campus."

Saltman attributed the grade to the various initiatives that members of SEA have helped to create such as the Brandeis Sustainability Fund, "which provides grant funding to students to implement their own sustainability projects on campus" and their partnership with Students for a Just and Stable Future, which is lobbying the Massachusetts state legislature to run on 100-percent clean electricity by 2020.

Janna Cohen-Rosenthal '03, the Brandeis Sustainability Coordinator, said in an interview with the Justice, "I am proud that we have the A in Student Involvement and I am proud that we have an A in Climate Change and energy. . We are definitely open to doing more things, and our climate change action plan has a lot more room to do more things and implement them."

The University received its lowest grade of a C on endowment transparency and shareholder engagement.

The Brandeis University Office of Investment Management did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

Emily Flynn, a research fellow at the Sustainable Endowments Institute, said in an e-mail to the Justice that endowment practices are a large part of the Green Report Card because "endowment investment decisions are a direct expression of a universities" financial values and priorities." Therefore, she said, universities should "prioritize social and environmental funds, like renewable energy and community loan funds."

Flynn also noted that the universities surveyed for the Green Report Card have "a cumulative $325 billion in endowment assets," and thus, "that money can be hugely influential in improving campus operations.

Flynn said that Brandeis can improve its grade on the Endowment Transparency section of the Green Report Card by "making endowment information easily accessible to the general public, for example, through an online public website or available at a campus office."

Cohen-Rosenthal criticized the Green Report Card for being confusing, subjective, unclear and not helpful when the University looks for ways to improve sustainability on campus.

She said, "It is a great tool for working on endowment issues . clearly their priority and their focus is on endowments." She said, however, that the Green Report Card is too simplistic because it does not take into account the complexity of the issues beyond endowment transparency.

Cohen-Rosenthal said that in part due to the simplicity of the Green Report Card, she has registered the university for the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System. STARS "is a transparent, self-reporting framework for colleges and universities to gauge relative progress toward sustainability," according to its website.

STARS is a program of the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, an association of colleges and universities that helps to educate and promote sustainable practices on campuses.

Cohen-Rosenthal said that STARS would help identify new methods of improving campus sustainability, particularly in the realm of Climate Change and Energy.

She added that the STARS definition of sustainability is "super broad" and will encompass a broader range of campus sustainability efforts. For example, STARS will take into account educational offerings and other aspects that the Green Report Card does not.

Cohen-Rosenthal and students are currently compiling the data they hope to have online in January.