Whitman College
PA-2: Sustainability Planning

Excerpt from the Climate Action Plan:

"Climate change is arguably the defining issue of our time, and will soon be addressed in past tense, making it a critical course of study. To pursue climate neutrality without utilizing the core purpose of the institution, education, would be severely lacking. The risks of a changed climate need to be understood by all to motivate adoption of best means for mitigating these risks by reducing our impact and adapting to changes.

Goal: Integrate climate action and learning together to create positive behavior change that reduces emissions among students, staff, and faculty alike, as well as campus visitors. In effect, evolve the campus into a 'living laboratory' of sustainability.

Objectives:

The working group [Sustainability Working Group] is not recommending specific objectives for Curriculum and Research at this time. The Working Group encourages the faculty to determine how best to integrate these issues into the academic program."

Excerpt from the Climate Action Plan:

"Human behavior change is critical to creating a campus culture aware of our climate impacts. As an institution of learning, teaching is our primary purpose, both in and out of the classroom, for students, staff, faculty, and visitors alike. By committing to become climate neutral, Whitman has demonstrated leadership, but we must also work to expand the reach of our efforts. The following recommendations are broken down by target audience. The following efforts rarely stand alone and instead are extensions of efforts in the previous categories.

Goal: Become a shining light of sustainability and climate action in the region.

Objectives:
* Retool the Green Leaders club into EcoReps run by the Campus Sustainability Coordinator to educate campus residents about their environmental impact and initiate behavior change. Implement a sustainability pledge or dorm certification process.
* Renew sustainability in new student orientation and campus welcome to establish culture of accountability.
* Continue to coordinate with student groups to cooperate on campus events and efforts.
* Initiate energy conservation competitions between residence halls after the installation of building sub-metering and dashboard technology. Compete each semester in alignment with Campus Sustainability Day and Earth Week.
* Connect students with parents and alumni working in the fields of sustainability, renewable energy, climate change, environmental protection, and more.
* Establish volunteer sustainability leaders in campus offices and departments to bring about peer-to-peer sustainability education.
* Offer sustainability-related workshops for campus employees.
* Leverage building sub-metering for conservation competitions between campus offices and departments.
* Expand education of parents, prospective students, and alumni or Whitman’s sustainability initiatives.
* Find direct, meaningful ways for donors to the College to contribute to emissions reductions measures
* Invite parents and alumni to sustainability programming or to be guest speakers, etc.
* Continue to collaborate and build relationships with neighbor institutions and organizations. Leverage these relationships for friendly competition, collective action, and cross-pollination of ideas.
* Invite community members and organizations to connect with students, demonstrate their work or research on campus as guests, and collaborate for mutual benefit.
* Expand outreach of campus initiatives into off-campus partnerships and education."

Excerpt from the Climate Action Plan:

"Standardize building efficiency measures for new construction and retrofits, including the adoption of resource conservation technologies such as LED lighting, daylight harvesting, low-flow faucets, dual-flush toilets, etc. As recommended by PAE, this proposal would cost an estimated $43 million by 2050.

* Set universal heating and cooling set points for campus buildings, with some exceptions - Penrose Library, Baker Ferguson Fitness Center, etc. The Department of Energy recommends a heating setpoint of 68F and a cooling set point of 78F. Pair with an energy conservation campaign to build building occupant buy-in.
Install utility sub-metering and building dashboard systems into residence halls, and then roll out to all other campus buildings. Piloted by Olin Hall, residence halls will follow. Standard Plumbing Heating Control’s proposal for the residence halls and library cost an estimated $150,563.
* Sub-meter all utilities on all major campus buildings and tie into publicly-accessible building dashboard interfaces both onsite and online to provide better operational data and means for decision-making, as well as leverage for occupant behavior change.
* Increase purchase of renewable energy credits to 100% of our electricity consumption and then purchase GHG offsets related to natural gas emissions mitigation for campus natural gas usage
* Pursue engineering studies for campus solar productivity no later than 2020. PAE’s proposed solar power plan for campus would cost $9 million prior to incentives.
* Install solar thermal collectors on campus buildings to augment heat and hot water
* Continue to explore wind and solar power production on campus agricultural holdings in partnership with power companies
* Develop strategies for continuously funding renewable energy projects on campus
* Based on engineering studies of campus solar productivity, establish a goal for percentage of power from solar or total solar nameplate capacity."

"Enhancing diversity, equity and inclusion" is one of Whitman College's five strategic priorities:

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values of Whitman College. Our mission focuses
on educating a broad range of talented students in a college community where everyone
can participate fully in the life of the college and experience a genuine sense of belonging.
For Whitman, diversity includes the composition of the students, faculty and staff, as well
as the curriculum, ideas, experiences, relations and cultural traditions across our
community. We must become a place where both majority and minority members of our
community experience difference every day, where diversity is woven throughout our
cultural fabric: our values, our behavior, our culture.

Rationale
As an educational institution, Whitman College has been on a long journey towards
diversity, equity and inclusion, making them core values to our mission of educating a
broad range of talented students. Equity provides full participation for all students, faculty
and staff to all facilities, programs and resources of the college. And inclusion means
creating a sense of belonging for all members of our community, where the climate
promotes full participation in the life of the college. Such an inclusive, equitable and
diverse learning environment enhances student learning by providing opportunity for
vigorous exchange of ideas that improves the quality of a Whitman education.

Approach
• Weave diversity throughout our cultural fabric: our values, our behavior, our culture.
We believe that such a deepened educational experience benefits all students, staff and
faculty, irrespective of their social identity or status, and benefits the society in which
they live.
• Commit to the intellectual, social and personal development of our students so that
they may more fully engage with our collaborative and interconnected world. We
believe that a democratic society depends in part on an educated citizenry, and
therefore our mission compels us to provide a Whitman education to the broadest
range of the population to ensure meaningful and effective participation in democracy.
• Ensure that a Whitman education is increasingly available to historically
marginalized and underrepresented groups (including but not limited to race,
ethnicity, economic standing, sex and gender identity, sexual orientation,
nationality, religion, culture, geographic origins, neurodiversity, and
ability/disability).

The Climate Action Plan was approved by the Board of Trustees.

Whitman College is a signatory of the President's Climate Leadership Commitments Carbon Commitment, overseen by Second Nature.