By Julia Oller | Echo
When senior Matt Rossi thinks about sustainability at Taylor, the first thing that comes to mind is hand dryers, followed closely by Euler and its geothermal system.
"I don't think about lifestyle habits," Rossi said.
Taylor's widely publicized sustainability efforts, such as Euler's LEED Gold certification and wind turbines, are governed by a little-known document called the Energy and Sustainability Policy.
Passed in 2011, the policy stated its goal regarding sustainable practices is "to establish energy conservation and efficiency as important issues for the entire Taylor community." Suggested methods for achieving this mandate include reducing electricity, natural gas and water usage in order to assist the university in improving its impact on the environment in addition to lowering utility costs.
This article marks The Echo's first in a series examining Taylor's sustainability policy and its implementation. Future articles will address sustainability on a practical and personal level.
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Taylor's ability to carry out the practical steps to sustainability laid out in the policy has been hampered due to budget cuts in the wake of a $1 million shortfall.
In July 2010, Kevin Crosby was hired as Taylor's first and only sustainability coordinator to discover ways the university could increase sustainability and save on utilities such as electricity and water. His position was cut at the end of the 2014 spring semester.
Ron Sutherland, vice president for business administration, said that while Crosby's work set standards in place that continue to save Taylor money, the decreased budget demanded costs be cut.
"We were trying to keep the tuition increase down to a 2 to 2.5 percent range, and so we had to make some difficult choices," Sutherland said.
Before Crosby's role was terminated, only one other Christian college, Messiah in Mechanicsburg, Pa., had a sustainability coordinator.
Michael Guebert, chair of the Earth and Environmental Science Department, said that while creating the position made Taylor a leader in sustainability, the university is now losing ground. Although the policy contains good ideas, they are not being applied.
"A policy's only as good as its implementation and enforcement, and it's not being enforced," Guebert said."Taylor University set themselves apart distinctively by hiring a full-time sustainability coordinator. With the trend in higher education that more universities are hiring sustainability coordinators, the university is becoming distinct by not having one."
Crosby said that while he believes the university is committed to pursuing sustainable practices, Taylor can do an even better job of stewarding its resources.
"There's no sugarcoating the fact that the loss of the sustainability coordinator was a blow," he said. "There's still so much room to improve."
Others have taken on Crosby's responsibilities. Sutherland and Director of Facilities Services Greg Eley are now in charge of sustainability within Taylor's buildings.
While monitoring facilities was a major part of Crosby's job, another aspect was educating students on the advantages of sustainable living. A large part of encouraging behavioral change was overseeing the Sustainability Assistants (SAs), students who promote on-campus sustainability through events such as the annual energy competition last spring.
The Earth and Environmental Science Department hired first-year Master of Arts and Higher Education (MAHE) student Elise Wetherell last spring to heighten the impact of the SAs across campus this year. She is assuming some of Crosby's responsibility as an advocate for sustainable living among students, such as taking shorter showers and turning off computers at night.
According to Guebert, Wetherell is indispensable in keeping campus sustainability alive.
"If we didn't have her, we would have next to nothing," Guebert said.
Guebert and Sutherland agreed getting students involved is the key to maintaining sustainable practices and reducing energy usage. For instance, last semester the SAs drafted and signed a water bottle ban to remove all plastic water bottles in The Grille and at tailgates. Sutherland said Taylor will seriously consider implementing the ban.
"Ultimately, for sustainability to be successful, we all have to own it," Sutherland said.
Taylor also measures sustainability's usefulness in terms of the money it can save.
"For sustainability to be effective, it also has to affect cost and bottom line," Sutherland said.
Guebert said that while he can appreciate assessing sustainability on its financial merits, he would like to see even more institutional commitment to sustainable buildings and practices.
"I understand this approach, but I wish we would go just a little further and say, 'If it's important, we'll do it,'" Guebert said. "Important is not always measured by dollars."
Regardless of green buildings or bottle bans, Sutherland, Guebert and Crosby agreed sustainability ultimately comes down to personal commitment.
"Environmental concerns are not going away," Crosby said. "When students leave the Taylor bubble, it's one of those things they're going to have to deal with for the rest of their lives."
