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ACE and EPA Urge Institutions to Evaluate Campus Environmental Programs

December 15, 2004

The American Council on Education (ACE) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are recommending that college and university presidents conduct an assessment of their institution’s environmental programs and practices in order to ensure that these programs are being managed as effectively as possible.

In a Dec. 10 letter, ACE and EPA staff give campuses a broad outline of what to look for in such an environmental assessment, and advise presidents of the resources available through EPA to assist in the review process.

“We want to encourage institutions to begin their stewardship of the environment in the early phases of any program that has environmental ramifications,” said Sheldon E. Steinbach, vice president and general counsel for ACE. “They must look carefully at the status of the planned program, what the allocated resources are, and how to monitor progress.”

The letter urges presidents to make use of the resources available through EPA’s Sector Strategies Program, which is designed to help specific industries manage their environmental issues. The program brings together key trade associations to develop strategies to promote adopting environmental management systems (EMS) to foster better regulatory performance, and to improve mechanisms for measuring environmental progress. An EMS is a comprehensive program in which organizations can assess their environmental impacts, set improvement goals, carry out plans to achieve them and monitor results.

Because of the work of ACE and others in the higher education community, colleges and universities were officially named as part of the Sector Strategies Program in June 2003. More information on the program can be found at EPA National Colleges and Universities Sector . In addition, a group of volunteer members has developed a set of tools to help colleges and universities set up and manage their own EMS. The initial results of this working group can be found at Environmental Management Systems (EMSs) for Colleges and Universities.