DRAFT Sustainable Campus Committee (SCC) Meeting Minutes
Monday, September 12th, 2011 : UC Alumni Boardroom, 12:00pm – 1:30pm
Members Present: Cherie Peacock, Robin Saha, Liz Roosa Millar, Stacy Boman, Steve Siebert, David Shively, Irma Russell, James
McKusick, Jordan Hess
Others Present: David Schaad, Student; Robert Duringer, Vice President Administration & Finance
Old Business
The previous meeting minutes were approved via email.
All minutes posted at:
http://www.umt.edu/greeningum/Get%20Involved/Sustainable%20Campus%20Committee/SCC%20Meeting%20Minutes.aspx
New Business
The agenda was reviewed.
Biomass update was requested
1. Introductions
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New Co-Chair Nominations (Cherie)
Not all of the new members have been identified, so co-chair nominations cannot take place yet. Hopefully we will know
what students are going to be in SCC by Friday.
Stacy and Jeff (ASUM) will figure out how many students need to be involved on each committee.
Cherie will follow up on letter of appointment sent to new members.
Annual State of Sustainability Report (Cherie)
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The draft needs a little more work before being sent out. Cherie proposed the date of Sept 26 to circulate it to SCC
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members and a discussion date of October 3 so that it can be submitted to VP Duringer by October 7 .
Proposal made to submit report to members using Google Docs in the spirit of sustainability.
Cherie proposed aligning next year’s report w/President’s strategic plan since there’s overlap between them--will need a
work group to address both this year’s report and next year’s. Steve Seibert offered to look into how the President’s
Strategic Plan and the State of Sustainability Report align.
STARS Reporting System (Cherie)
Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System: Like LEED, campuses fill out a questionnaire and get a rating. There
is a cost associated and it can only be done once every 3 years. Other universities are using this as a recruitment tool. Very
similar process to LEED Certifications and EBOM, so if one process is started, it would potentially be easy to participate in all
three.
Global Leadership Initiative was proposed as a source of funding for courses offered on STARS
Discuss priorities for next year (VP Duringer)
a. VP Duringer re. President Engstrom’s State of the University speech:
Biomass Update: UM was issued an air quality permit that was immediately appealed by several Environmental
groups. The permit is still under review and we should get results this week. Environmental assessment was the
biggest challenge. A team of people worked all summer and completed the assessment 3 weeks ago; President
Engstrom is reading the report now. An RFP was submitted for bids on fuel and we received no responses. Our RFP
was deemed too cumbersome and convoluted. McKinstry was asked to assist in revising the RFP. The indication
was given that biomass is too costly for us to afford. Project may end up being shelved until things can be figured
out, but it is a long term project so there is still hope it can be accomplished.
Use Your Power Wisely Campaign: no measurable outcome from this campaign. VP Duringer would like SCC input
on where to go with behavior changing campaigns. Robin noticed that the campaign seemed like it was run by a PR
firm, Cherie clarified that it was led by student focus-groups and her office.
LEED Certification: we are within 1 point of Platinum at the Payne Family Native American Center! We have
achieved Gold for certain. A plan is being developed to recertify our existing buildings, so more info will be
forthcoming. Cherie added that once the first building is put through the re-certification process, it creates
campus-wide policies that will make it easier for subsequent buildings to go through the process. Liz asked if
auxiliary buildings such as the UC will be assessed and VP Duringer responded that eventually all buildings will be
certified.
Where do we go from here? We’ve gotten through the easy items, are working on the harder items, and the rest of
the items have been laid aside for now. This makes the behavior change campaign even more important because
the more people that get involved the more we can spread the workload even farther.
b. Green Purchasing:
Robin found a great source of info through the Mayor’s task force and the Forest Service’s Green Purchasing policy.
The approach that most entities take are to identify the top 10 items purchased and evaluate those items to
identify the best options.
Cherie and Robin are going to develop a section for the annual report outlining what’s been done and where the
committee is heading on this issue.
Campus Stores and Chemistry stores are being combined, and Griz Mart is a new system for purchasing that will
allow people to search for items much as they do on Amazon.com so they will be able to search for
recycled/sustainable products.
It was proposed by several members of the committee that it be policy to use Green products when available and
only use non-Green products when no other options are available/reasonably affordable.
c. Greening Residence Life (Liz):
Liz and Cherie met with Sandy Schoonover to discuss the struggles & barriers for greening the dorms. Sandy’s very
open to new initiatives and has ideas to implement new programs. Liz thinks that starting sustainability behaviors
with new freshman would change the culture on campus. Our available action thus far is to continue to work with
Sandy to develop new initiatives. We do need to find a baseline for what they’re doing now so we know what’s
improving and working and how we can educate students.
Stacy would like ASUM Sustainability to work with Liz & Cherie on this issue.
It was also proposed that a Green Living & Learning Community be formed under Residence Life’s Living & Learning
Community program.
David proposed that custodians be compensated to address the recycled materials daily just as they address
custodial duties daily. He also proposed that recycling be more visible in the dorms and sustainability be included in
RA training.
d. Carpooling (Robin)
Robin: some research was done by students resulting in a report on commuting behavior. They looked at past &
present carpool programs at UM and spoke with coordinators and participants. They also spoke w/ or visited
websites from other universities. They found that successful programs have a system of incentives. There are
many campus entities that need to be involved in increasing the number of carpools taking place on campus.
Parking fees are a large consideration, as are the liabilities of carpooling.
Cherie would like to know if this is something we should include in the annual report, or if it should be something
separate.—Robin would like to include it in the report. 3 members concurred. Liz thought that both options should
be acted on.
Proposal submitted that rather than supporting everything in the initial report, the committee take that
information and expand upon it.
Robin will shape the report into a letter to VP Duringer and submit it to the committee for suggestions/edits.
Bioregional Sustainability Coordinators Meeting: Cherie is in the process of planning this event. It would include university
sustainability coordinators from Idaho, Eastern Washington, Montana and Wyoming. They will look for common projects, resources,
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barriers, etc.. The meeting will take place Oct 27 & 28 . Cherie would appreciate help and suggestions for topics if you are
interested.
NEXT SCC MEETING: October 3, 2011 at 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm Location UC Alumni Boardroom