STARS—the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System—includes a wide range of sustainability measures and is used by hundreds of colleges and universities.
HSU’s STARS report is publicly available on the STARS website.
“This STARS Gold rating is a wonderful recognition of the effort by HSU’s students, faculty, and staff to ensure HSU is a responsible steward of our environment in a way that’s accessible to all members of our community. It is a major accomplishment, and I look forward to seeing more sustainability initiatives become fully developed in the future,” says HSU President Lisa Rossbacher.
HSU compiled the report during the 2016-17 academic year, with input from across campus. The report describes widespread efforts to enhance sustainability in academics, student and public engagement, and campus operations. The University previously earned a silver rating in STARS in 2013.
Humboldt State has a longstanding commitment to environmental responsibility. The University broadly incorporates sustainability across academic and service learning disciplines, as well as many student volunteer programs. Princeton Review consistently rates HSU as a “Green Campus”.
Last year, the University became a signatory to Second Nature’s Climate Commitment, and recently completed a comprehensive Climate Action Plan. Longer term, the University has set ambitious goals of becoming carbon neutral near 2030, eliminating the “achievement gap” often faced by underrepresented or low-income students, and ensuring that sustainability and social justice are at the core of the HSU educational experience.
With more than 800 participants on six continents, AASHE’s STARS program is the most widely recognized framework in the world for publicly reporting comprehensive information related to a college or university’s sustainability performance.
“STARS was developed by the campus sustainability community to provide high standards for recognizing campus sustainability efforts,” said AASHE Executive Director Meghan Fay Zahniser. “HSU has demonstrated a substantial commitment to sustainability by achieving a STARS Gold Rating and is to be congratulated for their efforts.”
Unlike other rating or ranking systems, this program is open to all institutions of higher education, and the criteria that determine a STARS rating are transparent and accessible to anyone. Because STARS is a program based on credits earned, it allows for both internal comparisons as well as comparisons with similar institutions.
For more information about HSU’s sustainability programs, visit http://www2.humboldt.edu/green/.
For more information about the STARS program, visit stars.aashe.org or the Sustainability Office’s website.