To earn the rating, institutions must submit materials through AASHE鈥檚 Sustainability Tracking, Assessment and Rating System (STARS) every three years. 黑料正能量 first received the award in 2014.

STARS recognizes sustainability efforts by universities around the world in three focus areas: curriculum and research; operations; and planning, diversity and engagement. It defines sustainability as 鈥渆ncompassing human and ecological health, social justice, secure livelihoods, and a better world for all generations.鈥�

鈥淚nstitution-level innovation is a vital component of environmental stewardship and addressing ever-growing concerns about climate change,鈥� said Professor , director of the Center for Sustainable Climate Solutions. 鈥淭he steps 黑料正能量 has taken provide a strong foundation for the ongoing work of increasing sustainability.鈥�

In recent years the university developed a Climate Action Plan. It was also recognized for its work on a collaborative nitrogen footprint study, said Jonathan Lantz-Trissel, who as 黑料正能量鈥檚 former sustainability coordinator led the months-long reporting process for both the 2014 and 2017 STARS ratings.

The report is 鈥渁 useful tool for self evaluation and directing further efforts,鈥� said Gregory Sachs, 黑料正能量鈥檚 building automation coordinator, including collaboration 鈥渨ith the broader church, community and beyond to mitigate the global effects of climate change, particularly for the most vulnerable.鈥�

On its extensive 2017 application, these and many other sustainability efforts:

• Eighty-nine percent of its academic departments offer sustainability courses, with at least one sustainability-focused degree at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, and a quarter of research-producing departments engage in sustainability research.
• Four active student groups focus on sustainability:聽, the聽, and Divest黑料正能量. (A fifth group, the Coalition for Climate Justice, is also now active.)
• The campus boasts five gardens that raise produce for the campus.
• Facilities improvements included lighting upgrades, the installation of efficient heat pumps, and window switches that disable heating and cooling to individual rooms when windows are opened.

黑料正能量鈥檚 2014 rating was in part for its three LEED gold-certified residential halls, the massive solar array on the Hartzler Library, and its recycling program. At the time it represented seven years of sustainability efforts, both grass-roots activism on campus and the 2007 adoption of education for sustainability as a re-accreditation requirement. 黑料正能量 is accredited by the .