American University claimed the No. 2 spot in the Princeton Review’s annual list of the Top 50 Green Colleges in the United States, its highest score on the list yet.
The new ranking saw the University rise 13 spots from No. 15 in 2024’s edition of the list, which measures schools with “superb sustainability practices, a strong foundation in sustainability education, and a healthy quality of life for students on campus,” according to the website. The data is based on both student opinion surveys and university-reported data.
AU finished behind the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. The University announced the placement in November 2024.
To determine the rankings, the Princeton Review asks colleges and universities about their efforts to provide an “environmentally beneficial student experience.” Some of the questions cover energy consumption, sustainability programs and waste output. Ratings are then decided based on the institution’s responses.
AU Director of Sustainability Megan Litke told The Eagle she was excited to have the University’s ongoing sustainability work reflected in the Princeton Review ranking.
“It’s just really great to continue that momentum,” Litke said. “And to use the ranking to reinvigorate enthusiasm around [sustainability] across campus is great too.”
AU, the only D.C. university in the Top 50 Green Colleges list, pledged in 2016 to fight climate change when it signed onto the Climate Commitment through Second Nature, a nonprofit focused on sustainability in higher education.
It became the first carbon-neutral U.S. university in 2018 before fully divesting from its endowment in fossil fuels in 2020.
Grace Cosovich, president of AU’s chapter of Sunrise Movement, said the climate advocacy group has been pushing for a full divestment from the fossil fuel industry — which she said hasn’t been completed yet.
“What AU has accomplished compared to a lot of other universities is very impressive,” Cosovich, a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences, said. “But the level at which they’re operating is not remotely close to what they’re saying that it is.”
She said that though the University has made progress on divestment from fossil fuels, the University is still taking money from the industry, mainly through grants and gifts — which have totaled up to nearly $1.5 million between 2010 and 2022. This, Cosovich said, is according to Form 990 documents compiled from Foundation Directory Online. One such Form 990 obtained by the Eagle from Sunrise entails the Charles Koch Foundation’s 2021 tax returns, including a $8,000 grant to AU detailed on age 11.
“Losing that money would not really create a massive dent in the American University structure,” Cosovich said. “[The University] claims to be such an amazing force of sustainability … and yet this is something [they’re] really struggling to let go of, when it’s not going to crush [AU] by any means.”
In addition to committing to existing progress, Litke said one current goal for the University’s sustainability office is helping more people fulfill the unique roles they can play in advancing sustainability, whether in their job, area of study or on-campus club.
“We can’t advance this work on our own,” Litke said. “We really need everyone on campus to recognize that they can play a role in helping us to reduce our carbon footprint and improve our sustainability metrics across the board.”
The Office of Sustainability’s EcoRep program is designed to get students engaged in doing exactly that.
EcoReps are undergraduate students tasked with promoting sustainable practices in their communities on campus while volunteering with activities such as monitoring waste bins for contamination and assisting with waste sorting at events and in the Terrace Dining Room.
Alexis Ellis, an intern at the Office of Sustainability and an EcoRep program leader, said the program aims to assist a large number of students in not only getting involved with green action on campus but also staying updated on the state of campus sustainability through things like waste audits.
“We specifically do those to see how much of our trash is actually going in the trash, how much of our recycling is recyclable,” Ellis, a junior in CAS, said.
The EcoReps program also helps run campus events such as Project Move-Out, where students can donate unwanted possessions from their dorms to a donation center in the D.C. area, and the AU Electric Competition held last fall, which saw energy conservation efforts in residence halls save the campus 832 kilowatt-hours of electricity.
Ellis said this spring semester will be eventful for the EcoRep program. AU will once again compete against about 100 other universities in the Race to Zero Waste campaign to see who can improve their waste numbers the most.
“It’s an eight-week long campaign where we basically assess our sustainability initiatives, and we do try to get our students involved in that as much as possible,” Ellis said.
Beyond student engagement this spring, Litke said the next step in the University’s sustainability journey is also in the works. This semester, the University will begin work on its next five to 10-year sustainability plan, she said.
“A little bit more down the road from [2021], I think we have a better sense of what the possibilities are and where we have momentum and opportunities,” Litke said. “And so I’m excited to rewrite that plan and figure out where we as a community want to go forward in the next five or so years.”
This article was edited by Owen Auston-Babcock, Tyler Davis and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Olivia Citarella, Hannah Langenfeld, Ariana Kavoossi and Sabine Kanter-Huchting.
