Elizabeth McMahon, Staff Writer
Since 2007, The University of the South has been an advocate for sustainability. They continue that legacy with their new addition, The University of the South’s Responsible Investment Guidelines, of which a sample of the draft was sent to the entirety of the community via email on Dec. 19, 2024. Although the document available is a draft, it signals to the Sewanee community that the University values sustainability and is willing to take the necessary steps towards that goal.
In an interview with Sara McIntyre, the University’s Sustainability Manager, she said about the draft, “This sustainability statement was not driven by my office. In fact, I didn’t see it until pretty late in the game.”
McIntyre continued, explaining the significance of administration spearheading this sustainability commitment. “They’re saying, ‘Hey, we want to think about sustainability. We want to think about our future. We want to think about our energy consumption and how we interact with the environment, and we are going to hold ourselves accountable.’”
This sustainability commitment was not developed in the Office of Environmental Stewardship & Sustainability (OESS), but by the University’s administration McIntyre noted its unusualness when she said, “So all of those, all the sustainability master plans, were really from this office. They’re part of the charge of the University in starting our office [when they] said, ‘Y’all need to do this.’ But those have really been driven by us.”
Provost Scott Wilson shed light on why this new commitment came from the University itself rather than the OESS. He said:
The University has long been engaged in work related to sustainability, and the recently adopted strategic plan calls for continued effort to elevate our sustainability efforts. There was no pressure from campus constituencies to advance sustainability practices. Rather, the administration, the strategic planning committee, and the university’s governing points shared an interest in this effort. We all feel a need to act on this important issue.
Additionally, the Provost elaborated on how this will affect Sewanee’s goals of sustainability. He said:
The sustainability statement will provide a reminder to the governing boards, the administration, and campus stakeholders that we are committed to principles of sustainability. Such a commitment will help provide a guidepost that will affect some of our decisions as an institution. From a general statement on sustainability, people can think about incremental steps to advance our grander goals. The strategic plan calls for a review and updating of the climate accountability plan, which was authored by the Office of Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability during the first years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Work on the climate accountability plan is an example of how important steps can be taken under the umbrella of the sustainability statement.
This sustainability statement, along with the other statements and pledges, throws Sewanee into an ecologically friendly future and puts it as a leader for green living. As McIntyre said, “The most important piece is that, unprompted, the University of the South published its own sustainability statement.”