January 1, 2010

A Summary Report of the Sustainability, Tracking,

Assessment and Rating System (STARS) for Trent University
By: Timothy Shah, Adam Wright & Scott Baker

1.0 STARS in Brief

This summary report is based on the Sustainability, Tracking, Assessment & Rating
System (STARS) version 0.5, a report produced by the Association for the Advancement
of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). The authors of this report were hired as
interns with the student group, Sustainable Trent to conduct both primary and secondary
research on the university’s sustainability performance. The research was carried out
from May to August 2009.

Measuring a university’s sustainability performance is by no means an easy task. Given

the complexity and numerous intricacies of an institutions’ system, there are numerous
factors that can determine the level of sustainability. For the report, these levels of
sustainability are categorized into three sections: Education and Research, Operations
and Administration and Finance. The three sections will outline the main research
findings and provide recommendations for the university.

In a time of great uncertainty surrounding the natural environment, universities are being
looked to by society to produce research in areas ranging from climate change to
biodiversity. Ultimately, universities have great potential to provide recommendations
based on sound research that are progressive and incorporate a high degree of
environmental, economic and social sustainability. Centres of higher education like Trent
are indispensable for researching, publishing and teaching on the aforementioned topics.
Collectively, institutions like Trent are fostering awareness of the environment and
providing students with more of an inclination to take on career jobs that have some
element of environmental and social responsibility. In addition, sustainability actions
support other institutional priorities such as saving money and improving building
operations. It is for these reasons that the institution is taking these sustainability matters
seriously; their implications will be summarized in this report.

The purpose of this report is to measure the sustainability performance of Trent

University’s Symons Campus. Using criteria and guidelines from STARS, we were able
to research various levels of sustainability on campus including the environmental,
economic, social and technical dimensions and to ascertain whether they constitute a
credit under the STARS system. Ultimately, the descriptive findings from the report will
lead to a better understanding of Trent’s sustainability performance. This will provide the
institution with greater knowledge on how micro and macro level changes can lead to
substantial savings on capital costs and more importantly lead our university towards a
more sustainable and environmentally conscious future.

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2.0 Education and Research Summary

2.1 Co-Curricular Education

First and foremost, Trent University is a leader on the co-curricular education front.
STARS define co-curricular education as “institutions that provide their students with
sustainability learning experiences outside the formal curriculum”. Through our research
we were able to categorize different levels of Trent’s co-curricular initiatives.
Unsurprisingly, the university met most of the tier two credits for this STARS section.
The nature of this section explored co-curricular themes such as outreach programming,
sustainability-related competition and sustainability in Introductory Seminar Week. All
three STARS credits are of equal weighting with the purpose of determining how a
university bridges its co-curricular activities with meeting its institutional goals.

Outreach programming is best epitomized through the campus environmental

organization and levy group, Sustainable Trent. In brief, this group meets the criteria of
STARS as it facilitates and manages sustainability outreach programs that aim to raise
awareness over the environment and sustainability more generally. This is done through
encouraging education and involvement of any interested party be it students, faculty or
members of the Peterborough community. Furthermore, the aforementioned parties are
eligible to receive funding for sustainability projects but must complete a form that
details the nature of the project and its benefits for the Trent community. All of the
programs and events put on by the group act as peer to peer education and awareness
through engaging campus students to think critically about their daily consumer choices.

Sustainability-related competition was principally demonstrated through the “One

Million Acts of Green” campaign in the 2008-2009 academic year. The campaign
mobilized Trent students to think consciously about their habits and activities and the
impacts they have on the environment. Competition among other universities acted as an
impetus to spread awareness and environmental advocacy across campus to bring people
together and share a common purpose. While competition on campus exists between the
four colleges, it mainly comprises athletics, college spirit and fundraising. All of these
inter-collegial competitions are critical for increasing university spirit; however there is
no present sustainability-related competition amongst the colleges. This is something that
can be explored in the future.

Sustainability in Introductory Seminar Week has become an integral part of the

orientation. Among many of the activities, the highlights include proper waste
management orientation and a pocket guide for sustainable campus living, prepared by
Trent’s Sustainability Coordinator. The former, is a more of multifaceted activity where
Student Dons, ISW staff and volunteers orient first-year students on how to recycle and
compost materials. This is an important step for first-years because their waste
management system at home may vary tremendously from the one on campus. The latter
initiative outlines sustainability information that is specific to the university. It outlines
tips from water conservation and waste reduction to green event planning and
volunteering for sustainability. In sum, both initiatives are intended to orient students on
sustainable living and encourage them to get involved with campus groups and volunteer
opportunities.
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2.2 Curriculum
To obtain credits in the curriculum section of STARS, the institution must have a formal
education program and courses that address sustainability. Based on our count, Trent
offers about 144 sustainability-related courses at the undergraduate and graduate level.
According to STARS, sustainability-related courses include sustainability as a course
component or module, or concentrate on a key sustainability principle or issue. These
courses range in disciplines from Anthropology and Indigenous Studies to Environmental
Resource Science/Studies (ERS) and Economics. Considering 18 of 27 academic
departments on Symons campus offer sustainability-related courses, the institution
demonstrates that it is in progress of advancing the sustainability curriculum. However,
STARS also looks at sustainability-focused courses.

STARS identify sustainability-focused courses as courses that “concentrate on

sustainability, including its social, economic and environmental dimensions, or examine
an issue or topic using sustainability as a lens. On this front, Symons campus offers just
less than ten courses which includes “Greening the Campus” and “Ecological Design”-
both of which are ERS. Ten courses is not an unimpressive achievement, however, these
courses need not be exclusive to ERS students and should be open to interested students
in other disciplines. As sustainability becomes more popular in higher education, more
students are going to want to be immersed with its curriculum. Therefore, putting
academic restrictions i.e. pre-requisites on these courses will act as an impediment for
these interested students. However, on a positive note, pre-requisites also enable the
course to be offered at a more advanced level. It also helps ensure that the course remains
available for students who are majoring in environmental studies.

Formal education programs include Environmental Resource Science/Studies at the

undergraduate level, and a graduate program in Sustainability Studies that recently
received provincial approval from the Ontario Council of Graduate Schools (OCGS). In
brief, the ERS program meets the STARS criteria as it is interdisciplinary covering the
three critical dimensions of sustainability- social, economic and environmental. For the
past three academic years, 2006, 2007, 2008, Trent graduated 80, 77, and 56 students
respectively from its ERS program. The program is only getting more innovative and
popular as they just created Canada’s first Bachelor of Environmental Science/Studies
(B.E.S.S.) degree.

In addition to the new B.E.S.S. degree, Trent has also created a collaborative Ecological
Restoration program with Fleming College and the new Indigenous Environmental
Studies Program (IES). In brief, the Ecological Restoration program has an
interdisciplinary focus with a foundation of science-based curriculum. As a joint
university and college program, it has an integrated approach combining applied learning,
field skills and experience with theoretical and scientific knowledge and principles. On
the note of interdisciplinarity, the Indigenous Environmental Studies Program is unique
to Trent University and exposes students to Indigenous knowledge systems as well as the
science and information from the social and environmental sciences. The program
challenges students to better understand the environmental issues that are impacting
Indigenous People both in Canada and abroad.

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The Master of Arts in Sustainability Studies will begin in September 2010. It will
emerge as a highly dynamic and interdisciplinary Master’s program ultimately advancing
the sustainability curriculum through critically examining all three dimensions of
sustainability. Thus, both at the undergrad and grad level, Trent offers formal education
programs that are sustainability focused meeting the credits of STARS and ultimately
paving the way for advanced research, teaching and publications in sustainability for the
future. All of these formal education programs are innovative and enhance Trent’s
reputation as a leader in environmental education.

Sustainability Study Abroad Program is another crucial element of gauging a university’s

sustainability curriculum. Through an interview with the Director of the Trent
International Program (TIP), we were able to learn more about TIP’s commitment to
sustainability. There are two notable achievements- one is INSTRUCT and the other is
the Trent in Ecuador program. In short, TIP helped develop the INSTRUCT program
which served to enhance the capacity of institutions and communities in Ecuador and
Mexico to promote environmental remediation and sustainable development through an
Integrated Ecosystem Management approach. The INSTRUCT program is no longer
operating however, for many years, the Trent in Ecuador program offered Trent students
an internship opportunity to participate in environmental remediation efforts in the Lago
San Pablo watershed.

In summary, Trent recognizes the importance of incorporating environmental education

into the curriculum both domestically and abroad. We recommend that the Trent
International Program devise a system that tracks carbon dioxide emissions that are
released from the flights of student exchanges. A program also needs to be created to put
more responsibility and accountability on the exchange students. We propose that
students pledge to explore and take into account the social and environmental
consequences of studying, living, working, traveling, or volunteering abroad and will try
to improve these aspects of their international experience. This is known as the Green
Passport Program available at: http://greenpassport.ning.com/. We recommend that TIP
explores this program.

2.3 Faculty and Staff Development and Training

This category is the third and final of the Education and Research credits. Unfortunately,
due to time constraints and the difficult nature of obtaining information, we were not able
to explore this category in depth. However, presented below is a summary of the major
findings which include interdisciplinarity and sustainability research.

Interdisciplinarity is an important area of any university’s research and teaching. STARS

treat interdisciplinary research and studies in general as a significant indicator of
sustainability progress within the academy. From our research we found that at other
universities (especially, but not only, small universities), programs like Women's Studies,
Canadian Studies, and International Development Studies might find themselves with no
permanent appointments and without the status of a department. At Trent,
interdisciplinary units have the full status of departments. Also, faculty who do
interdisciplinary research are treated in just the same way as faculty who do single-
discipline research. Moreover, because of the ethos of interdisciplinarity at Trent, faculty
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who find themselves in single-discipline departments often think of themselves as

conducting interdisciplinary research. In sum, as an institution that values
interdisciplinary teaching and research, we are starting to bring about programs that
solidify and strengthen academic departmental relations.

Sustainability Research is an area that warrants more scrutiny to ascertain how much
funding and resources go into this area. However, due to the interdisciplinary nature of
our university, we found that a number of academic departments are conducting research
in sustainability. Topics in this area are diverse from researching the controversies in
renewable energy development to understanding how climate change is affecting birds
and other fauna in the Ganaraska Forest. There is also research being conducted in the
Politics Department on the social and economic elements of Fair Trade in the Caribbean.
Trent’s progress on sustainability research is made possible through grants. These grants
help pay for student research assistantships along with financing software infrastructure
and technology.

We recommend that the institution creates a research grant inventory marking all of the
research grants that are sustainability-related. We know that the total external and internal
research funding for the past academic year was $15, 000, 000. If the institution places all
of the sustainability-related research grants in one category entitled “sustainability
research”, we can determine how much of this total research funding as a percentage is
allocated to sustainability research. In sum, this can demonstrate Trent’s commitment to
this field, highlight the university’s commitment to interdisciplinary research and
exemplify the importance of conducting research in such a salient area.

3.0 Operations Summary

3.1 Buildings
Trent’s Environmental Advisory Board (EAB) produced a Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) report in 2007 expressing the benefit of “Adopting a
campus wide approach to sustainability in construction, maintenance, energy-usage,
water consumption, transportation, landscaping, and health and safety.” Since then, Trent
has begun the renovation of the athletics center to have a LEED silver rating. In addition,
the Camp Kawartha Environment Center is a stunning example of sustainable building
practices. This building was recently built in Trent’s nature areas.

Trent’s water usage has been dropping steadily since the 2005-2006 academic year with a
very significant drop in 08/09. Part of this can be attributed to low flow shower heads in
most campus residences. Front loading washing machines have also been introduced in
all residences leading to a drop in water usage.

The rooftop garden on top of the Environmental Science Building is also important to
mention because it provides increased insulation, stormwater management amelioration
and local food.

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3.2 Dining Services

The two dinning service providers at Trent are Aramark and the Seasoned Spoon Cafe.
The Seasoned Spoon makes a diligent effort to serve as much local, fair trade and organic
food as possible. The Spoon also has a variety of vegetarian and vegan options. Aramark
has made significant progress in the amount of fair trade coffee they serve. From
speaking with Aramark we learned that in the 2008-2009 academic year, 60 percent of
the institution’s total coffee expenditures were on fair trade coffee.

3.3 Energy and Climate

Trent developed an environmental policy in 2001. One of its objectives is to "minimize
energy and water use through efficient management and practices." Trent witnessed an
appreciable drop in its electricity usage in the 2008-2009 year relative to the pervious
three years. This is at least partially due to lighting retrofits and vending machine motion
sensors known as “vending misers” which were implemented by the Sustainability
Coordinator, Shelley Strain. In addition to Shelley’s duties as Sustainability Coordinator,
she also runs the Eco Trent program. Trent significantly reduces the amount of
commercial electricity it purchases by drawing renewable power from the Stan Adamson
power house. The amount of energy generated varies from year to year but it meets
approximately 35-40 percent of Trent’s electrical demand.

There is also a new hydroelectric dam currently being constructed on land leased by
Trent University. The run-of-the-river dam will use the drop in elevation between lock 22
and 23 on the Otonabee River to generate 8 megawatts of renewable electricity. There has
been concern raised about the sustainability of the project because over 100 000 cubic
meters of material will have to be excavated and moved off-site in order to dig a 1.3
kilometer long canal. Water from the Otonabee River would be redirected through the
canal to a hydroelectric dam; then re-enter down river of lock 22.

3.4 Materials, Recycling, and Waste Minimization

In the 2007-2008 academic year, Trent produced 621 409 kilograms of total waste
(includes recyclables and compost). Trent's environmental policy states that it will
"minimize waste generation through reduction, reuse and recycling". Programs are in
place to minimize waste including the Lug-a-mug program by Sustainable Trent which
uses free hot beverage coupons to encourage students to use re-useable mugs. Aramark
also offers a discount on hot beverages when students, faculty and staff bring their own
travel mug. The university has minimized its paper waste by making paper intensive
resources such as the course calendar, available online. In addition, Trent has minimized
its paper waste through charging printing fees per sheet of paper, reducing unnecessary
printing.

According to Trent’s Physical Resources office, the university’s average waste disposal
costs are between $90,000 and $100,000 annually. This cost is based solely on how much
volume of waste we produce. The institution composted 15,000 kilograms in the 2006-
2007 academic year.

In the 2007-2008 academic year, Trent composted 56,000 kilograms of organic waste, an
increase of 273 percent. From the 2006-2007 year to the 2007-2008 academic year, the
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waste disposal costs dropped 9.6 percent; from $100,460.55 to $90,820.92. This drop in
disposal costs may have been attributed to a higher composting rate.

There are many initiatives on campus to divert waste. Resource Recovery Stations are
available in most places on campus. They make recycling and composting simple with
words and pictures indicating were waste should be placed. The Blue Boxing program at
Trent has volunteers from Community Living Peterborough. These volunteers are
stationed in cafeterias helping people put their waste in the proper bin of the resource
recovery stations ultimately increasing the amount of waste diverted from the landfill.
The Community Living volunteers also gather used printer cartridges at designated drop
off areas. Trent also has a composting program that encompasses yard waste, pre-
consumer and post-consumer compostable materials. In the 2007-2008 waste audit it
showed that Trent diverted 319 916 Kg of waste, more than 50 percent of the total waste
produced.

To deal with hazardous waste on campus Trent follows a hazardous waste standard,
which was developed in 2005. Trent’s environmental policy states that it will “minimize
and where possible, eliminate from physical plant operations the use of hazardous
chemicals and toxic cleaning substances”.

3.4 Transportation
There are alternatives to single passenger motorized vehicles when commuting to
campus. The Rotary Greenway Trail connects downtown Peterborough directly to Trent,
making cycling, rollerblading, skate boarding and other motor less means of transport
safer and more enjoyable.

Students that wish to drive to school need to obtain a parking permit. Permits range in
price from $87.61 to $299.65 (plus tax) for an eight month academic year. The cost of
parking permits helps maintain the lots and also acts as a deterrent to regular, single
passenger trips to campus. Students also get the benefit of a group discounted bus pass
($236.40 compared to $440 at the monthly rate) for the eight month academic year. The
fee is automatically included in their tuition and levy payment. This makes public transit
much more economically accessible and a more attractive option than driving.

Recommendations
1) STARS Support from Trent Officials

The biggest challenge of this report was retrieving information from busy staff. Some
were not able to take time away from their regular duties and provide us with the
information we needed to complete the report. If the STARS project had backing and
administration knew ahead of time what information needed to be gathered, then the
report would have been much easier to write and put together. Hopefully, the process will
be easier to do in the future when we notify administration staff well in advance.

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2) Helping to Continue the STARS Project

Continuing to obtain STARS credits will aid the institution in environmental goal setting
and will also give the university the ability to showcase all of its environmental initiatives
and successes. Depending on Sustainable Trent’s budget situation, the group might be
able to hire two students this summer to continue to work on this project. Alternatively,
obtaining STARS credits can be carried out as micro projects in university courses-
Environmental Science 1000 would be an appropriate course to do this in. The Greening
the Campus course (offered by ERS) could also incorporate a project allowing students to
carry out STARS. These specific recommendations will be made to the course
instructors: Professor Stephen Hill and Professor and Chair of ERS, Stephen Bocking.

3) Use Policy to Bring Local Food onto Campus

There are currently no formal policy or initiatives by the university in an effort to serve
local food on campus. Doing so will help support the local economy and reduce the
environmental impact of Trent food services.

4) Upgrade the Existing Stanley Adamson Powerhouse

This upgrade would increase the amount of electricity we produce at Trent, saving the
institution money in the long run, and reducing our dependence on less sustainable
sources of power.

5) Once new Water Fountains and Sings are in Place, Create Policy Banning the Sale of
Bottled Water on Campus

Empty water bottles are a large unnecessary source of waste that the university has to
deal with. Other universities in Canada have already taken this step and we have shown
that we can hold a bottled water free convocation as was demonstrated in June 2009. This
would improve Trent’s image as an environmentally conscious institution and help draw
in students to our already strong environmental science and studies programs.

6) Composting improvements

i. The university needs to obtain various community environment funds to operate a

sustainable composting program. Environment funds could be obtained from the Ontario
Trillium Foundation, Eco-Action Canada, Nature Conservancy, Conservation Authorities,
the City of Peterborough, the Sierra Youth Coalition and other organizations that value
sustainability.

ii. Compost can be sold to local businesses in the Peterborough community. Given that
there is substantial demand for the compost, it would generate considerable revenue for
the institution. Trent needs to identify the compost market in Peterborough; this can
provide an outlet for selling the compost produced at Trent. McGill and UBC have
already done this and run their composting programs completely off of the revenue
gained from selling their compost to the community.
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iii. Academic departments need to help build the composting program at Trent. More
information and knowledge will be gained and this can provide the university with a
better assessment of its waste management system. For instance, research projects
administered by professors and students on studying the environmental impacts of the
university's organic waste pile- this is where most of our compost goes to.

6) 15 cent charge for take-out containers:

Trent’s main dining service, Aramark, introduced compostable take-out containers for the
2008-2009 academic year. Such an initiative demonstrates a green responsibility and
commitment to cutting down on overall waste volume. Prior to this, Trent provided non-
recyclable and non-compostable take-out containers adding a substantial amount of waste
to our campus. For the 2007-2008 school year, Trent diverted about 54 percent of its
waste. With the introduction of compostable take-out containers, it is expected that waste
diversion rates are only going to increase.

Similar to a charge on plastic bags at grocery stores, Trent should administer a 15 cent
charge on all compostable take-out containers. Aramark reported that is costs 33 cents to
purchase one compostable take-out container. The problem lies with students who are
using these containers profligately and inappropriately. Many students on campus
unconsciously ask for take-out containers when they eat in the cafeterias. Sometimes they
have a general preference to use take-out containers over a ceramic plate because the
container is easier to eat out of. In addition, at some cafeterias on campus, ceramic plates
are hidden or not always made available to the students, staff and faculty. For these
reasons, it is worth considering the implementation of a surcharge on the take-out
containers.

The rationale of the 15 cent surcharge is to induce students, faculty and staff to change
their behaviour and consider cutting down on their use of take-out containers. Saving
money is an effective motivator for changing behaviour. With a 15 cent surcharge,
individuals will undoubtedly think more consciously about the use of a ceramic plate
because of the cost-savings involved. While logical thought would assume that
compostable take-out containers will compost anyway, it still takes a substantial time to
biodegrade and additionally has no element of conservation. Aramark will have to keep
on ordering containers costing them more money and thereby potentially increasing the
cost of food; which is an economic burden to students.

Using simple arithmetic, let us say that compostable-take out containers have a surcharge
of 15 cents. If 100 students buy their meals in compostable take-out containers instead of
using a ceramic plate at the respective cafeteria, then the following math can be used to
determine total revenue that could be raised from the surcharge:

$0.15 x 100 take-out containers = $15.00

In other words, for every 100 take-out containers used, $15.00 can be raised from the 15
cent surcharge.

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We know the cost of purchasing a single compostable take-out container is 33 cents.

$0.33 x 100 take-out containers = $33.00.

Therefore, through the introduction of a 15 cent surcharge, Aramark will make back or
save $15 for every 100 take-out containers they order. Thus, the net cost for the
containers ends up being $18. Through the creation of a partnership between Aramark
and the institution, the money collected from the surcharge can be used for environmental
sustainability projects on campus or be used for purchasing local and organic food. The
terms and conditions for the revenue raised from the surcharge can be decided upon at a
later date, but it is worth noting the environmental and economic advantages associated
with the introduction of a 15 cent surcharge on compostable take-out containers.

4.0 Administration and Finance Summary

The credits discussed in category three: Administration and Finance (AF) are unique
from the previous two sections in that they utilize more of a qualitative approach to assess
the sustainable aspects of the university. As a result, there were many credits that require
thorough discussion before their sustainability can be gauged. Overall, Trent has taken
some great strides towards sustainability including the creation of a permanent position
for a sustainability coordinator and the creation of a sustainability plan for the campus.
Despite these achievements it should be noted that there are areas where Trent could take
greater efforts to focus on sustainability. These concerns include Trent’s adherence to fair
trade policies and a lack of guided vision towards sustainable investment.

4.1 Planning/ Sustainability Infrastructure

This section proved to be one of Trent’s strongest sections in the AF category. This stems
from the strong sustainability plan and the revised master plan. It should be noted that
Trent University’s sustainability plan was developed with input from faculty, staff, and
students. The plan includes measurable goals with corresponding strategies and
timeframes to achieve these goals. The policy guiding the sustainability plan is reviewed
annually by the President’s Environmental Advisory Board. Through this, the
Environmental Committee supports and monitors the implementation of this policy
through its annual activities and agenda. The plan was approved by the President’s
Executive Group (PEG) on October 2, 2001.

In addition to this, the Physical Resources Department established a Sustainability Office

in the summer of 2007. Operating under the umbrella program “ecoTrent” their
sustainability initiative is intended to recognize, compliment, support and expand the
efforts currently underway on campus. In addition, the Sustainability Coordinator (SC),
together with staff, students and faculty will develop measurements to support these
efforts, report on successes and to boost the implementation of new programs. Through
the creation of a permanent position for an on-campus sustainability officer, Trent
University is tangibly showing their commitment towards on-campus sustainability, this
is a great step forward and will undoubtedly help Trent shift towards sustainable
practices.

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4.2 Investment
This section of the report primarily deals with the investment practices of Trent and the
unions that control pension funding. Trent University has an Investment & Pension
Committee which is responsible for recommending Board investment policy. In addition,
the institution has an Audit Committee which is responsible for monitoring the
performance of the university's investments. These committees monitor the financial
health/administration/governance of the employee pension plans and the results of annual
external audits of the pension fund and general university accounts. It should be noted
that Trent University has two main pension funds; they include TUFA and OPSEU. While
both serve to secure better pensions for their members through investment pools, neither
fund has a commitment to sustainable-based investment. The TUFA pension fund is the
major pension fund at Trent and is governed and managed by the Board of Directors
through the aforementioned Investment and Pension committee.

It is difficult to clearly ascertain whether Trent’s investment pools are making any attempt
to make sustainable investments due to the secretive nature of investment. With this is
mind it should be noted that both TUFA and OPSEU do not mention sustainable
investment in their mission statements or values. As well, it was noted that making
sustainable investments are not seen as a great investment because of their lower financial
returns. It is ethical to make these investments but in a time of economic hardship with
university endowment funds lower than ever before, academic institutions are primarily
interested in making those investments that seem to have higher financial returns.

4.3 Community Relations and Partnerships

Trent University has over eighty groups/organizations both on and off campus that
provide opportunities for students and faculty to get involved with community service,
leadership, and sustainability. Trent University, along with the Sierra Youth Coalition,
hosted the first ever Ontario Sustainable Campuses Conference from January 13-14,
2006. The conference, "Improving Connections in the Sustainability Movement,"
featured keynote speaker Elizabeth May, then executive director of the Sierra Club of
Canada.

Prior to this shift towards sustainability, Sustainable Trent, a student-run organization,

was formed to create awareness about sustainability issues and provide funding for
sustainable initiatives. More specifically, Sustainable Trent was created in July 2005 as a
much needed multi-stakeholder action oriented environmental organization. It is a student
driven initiative supported by university-wide participation. Other community building
initiatives at Trent include the graduation green pledge, and the Trent Centre for
Community-Based Education (TCCBE). The TCCBE connects students and faculty with
local organizations to create community-based research, service learning and experiential
education opportunities. This past academic year (2008-2009), 309 students from Trent
University participated in research projects in Peterborough and Haliburton County.

4.4 Diversity, Access, and Affordability

In 2004 Trent University released a plan titled “Strategic directions for Trent University
2003 – 2010”. In particular this plan discussed the benefits that international students
bring to the university community. In this, the report states that “because international
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and domestic students with substantial international perspectives and experiences enrich
the university and our community academically, financially, and culturally, the Trent
International Program (TIP) aims to be a core and catalyst for Trent University’s
internationalization”. It should be noted that the term “internationalization” was brought
forth by the multi-year plan set out by the provincial government. This plan calls for all
schools that are provincially funded to internationalize or diversify their student
populations. It would appear that this plan is focussed on recruiting international students
because of both the financial benefits and the cultural enrichment that international
students provide to the university.

4.5 Trademark Licensing

Trent University has a purchasing policy which aims to ensure that apparel manufactured
for Trent University is made under humane working conditions in compliance with
accepted international standards and local laws and to improve working conditions and
labour practices in the apparel industry worldwide. In addition, Trent is a part of the
worker rights consortium (WRC). Despite this according to several reports Trent is
affiliated with Russell athletics even after the WRC initiated an investigation into the
closure of the Jerzees de Honduras factory in San Pedro Sula in Honduras. This is odd as
Trent is an affiliate of the WRC but at the same time ignores warnings given by the
WRC. In addition to this, there is no mention of the WRC in the Trent on-line archives.
Although a loophole in the Trent’s contract with the supplier absolve them of directly
buying from Russell, the fact remains that Trent took no interest in asserting pressure on
Russell athletics despite action from other universities.

5.0 Summary and Future Directions

Gauging a university’s sustainability performance is a complex and laborious process.
The summary report of our research findings will hopefully act as an impetus to further
explore incomplete STARS credits in the future. The primary findings demonstrate
Trent’s commitment to sustainability including the economic, environmental and social
dimensions. While we have outlined some recommendations for the institution, there are
numerous areas for improvement particularly in the administration and finance area.

In summary, the primary objective of our research was to use the STARS credits to guide
our organizational structure and allow us to comprehensively report on how our
university performs on the credits. We believe that our sustainability commitments will
henceforth become even more comprehensive, student-driven and well supported
administratively. The STARS project will eventually be completed for Trent University.
It may continue as a summer project employing students of the university or can be
carried out as micro projects in university courses.

Contact information
For comments, questions and/or suggestions about the STARS report, the authors can be
reached at the following email addresses. Scott Baker: 6bake6@live.ca, Adam Wright:
adamwright@trentu.ca and Timothy Shah: timothy.shah@gmail.com.

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