The Sierra Club released its third annual Cool Schools ranking of 135 US colleges and universities this fall, based on a self-reporting survey of nine categories: efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, administration, and other. About 20% received a grade of A- or higher; all but one are in Eastern or Western states.

Here's how the 27 'A' schools and all the 135 participants distribute geographically.

The value of the Cool Schools project is to make sustainability awareness and action an integral part of education, so I am disappointed not to see most of the large public institutions from middle America. Many of these graduate 5,000-10,000 students each year and thus have a significant impact on US culture and politics. For example, the eleven large Midwestern universities that make up the Big Ten Conference[2] and their communities tend to self-identify as 'liberal', yet they all appear to have chosen not to participate in the Sierra Club survey. One can argue that merits of participating in this particular rating system versus another, but external standards and accountability are central to evidence-based greening. Relying strictly on virtue-based self-assessment is ultimately self-defeating.

The Sierra Club's publication of results can be improved in the future by greater transparency, another key component of evidence-based greening. Only about ~3% of the country's higher ed institutions are represented, but I could find no detailed explanation of participation. I found nothing on scoring methodologies, either. Compare this with the disclosure of methodology for sustainability rankings from Newsweek and Greenpeace.

Weak transparency leaves the door open for complaints from those those whose schools are rated lower or are absent from the list, as the online comments illustrate. I had a business information company in the 1990s and learned that people who don't like the results can be quick to criticize both methodology and motive. I found transparency can both lessen the criticism from others as well as improve my own performance. So I offer these comments with the constructive intent to help the Sierra Club, of which I am a member, improve its performance.

Update 2010.01.28
East and west schools also lead the EPA Green Power Partnership's Top 20 College & University list, representing "the largest purchasers among higher education institutions within the Green Power Partnership." Midwest schools do fare better here, including three Big Ten institutions. Large public universities should dominate this list, since ranking is based on gross, not relative, renewable power use.

Green ICT in higher education.

[1] These regional classifications, created by Vertatique, are somewhat arbitrary. For example, reallocating schools located west of the mountains in Appalachian states (e.g., in NY & PA) to the Midwest would increase that region's percentage of All Schools, but not of 'A' Schools, thus worsening the Midwest's relative performance.

[2] I will leave those not familiar with US university sports to puzzle out why there are 11 schools in the Big Ten. (Vertatique is located in a Big Ten community.)