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Wesleyan University STARS Report
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Version 2.2 - April 2020
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Introduction
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Wesleyan University has tracked its sustainability efforts through participation in external ranking systems, including Sierra Club’s Cool Schools, and the Princeton Guide to Green Colleges. Each of these systems evaluates sustainability in a different way, but presents an incomplete picture of Wesleyan’s work to promote a sustainable campus. This is Wesleyan’s third STARS report; the first was completed in 2013.
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Since 2007, Wesleyan has been tracking its carbon footprint. In the areas of energy and transportation, greenhouse gas emissions are a good way of monitoring progress. For areas like inclusion, academics, and wellbeing, finding concrete ways to measure Wesleyan’s sustainability progress and compare to peers has been more elusive. When the Sustainability Office opened in 2012, Wesleyan sought a more holistic and accurate way of measuring the success of its sustainability efforts. The Sustainable Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System (STARS) presents the perfect opportunity to measure both qualitative and quantitative information on a number of sustainability metrics in a way that can easily be compared from year to year and school to school.
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STARS is a transparent, self-reporting framework developed by AASHE (Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) for colleges and universities to measure their sustainability performance. STARS is intended to engage and recognize the full spectrum of colleges and universities—from community colleges to research universities, and from institutions just starting their sustainability programs to long-time campus sustainability leaders. STARS encompasses long-term sustainability goals for already high-achieving institutions as well as entry points of recognition for institutions that are taking first steps toward sustainability. STARS is designed to:
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● Provide a framework for understanding sustainability in all sectors of higher education.
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● Enable meaningful comparisons over time and across institutions using a common set of measurements developed with broad participation from the campus sustainability community.
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● Create incentives for continual improvement toward sustainability.
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● Facilitate information sharing about higher education sustainability practices and performance.
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● Build a stronger, more diverse campus sustainability community.
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STARS evaluates sustainability in four broad categories: Academics, Engagement, Operations, and Planning & Administration, with subcategory criteria given different weights based on sustainability impact. Scores in each of the four categories are tallied and divided by the total possible points available in that category. Each institution’s final score is an average of its scores in the four categories. There are four STARS ratings available (Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum). The table below summarizes the minimum scoring thresholds corresponding with each rating.
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Rating
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Bronze = 25-44.99
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Silver = 45-64.99
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Gold = 65-84.99
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Platinum = 85-100
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Wesleyan completed its first STARS report in 2013 and earned a Silver rating with a score of 53.06 and a second Silver rating of 58.11 in 2016. The Sustainability Office will conduct the STARS evaluation on a three year rotation to track the success of Wesleyan’s sustainability efforts and set targets for improvement. The following report gives an overview of each STARS credit, how well Wesleyan performed, and offers suggestions from the Sustainability Office for improvement. For full credit submission information, visit Wesleyan’s official STARS report:
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https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/wesleyan-university-ct/report/2019-12-20/
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How to Read This Report
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Please navigate this report using the tabs at the bottom of this Sheet. 2019 vs. 2016 shows changes in Wesleyan's STARS rating, 2019 Credit Details provides details on each credit score within Wesleyan's submission, and Peer School Comparisions indicates how Wesleyan's score compares to peer colleges and universities
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Please direct any questions or comments about this report or STARS to Sustainability Director Jen Kleindienst at jkleindienst@wesleyan.edu.