Rev. 3-08

University Environment Committee

1/24/08

Presiding: Charles Hodson

Regular members in attendance: H. McKinnon, D. Lawrence, J. Twark, C. Hodson, M. Montgomery

Ex officio members in attendance: B. Koch, P. Cox, M. Schmidt, T. Atkinson

Visitors: J. McLamb, R. Kempf, R. Chin, S. Sheta

The meeting was called to order at 3:30 pm.

Actions of Meeting

1. Approval of minutes of 11/15/07

Action taken: The minutes were approved with changes

2. Pigskin Pigout

J.J. McLamb from Athletics shared plans for the Pigskin Pigout carnival, which will take place April 8-12, 2008, with setup on April 7. The event will be held in the green space at the corner of Charles Blvd. and Greenville Blvd. J. Gill has reviewed and approved the plans. Athletics will pay for any damage and for reseeding the grass after the event. In case of rain: Setup will be delayed if it rains prior to the event. If it rains during the event, all vehicular traffic will be halted and trailers will park on pavement. J. Gill will determine when the rain policy should be followed.

Action taken: These plans were approved.

3. “Concepts to Share on ECU Sustainability”

Sherief Sheta, a visiting faculty member in Technology Systems, presented a report on ECU sustainability. Sheta is an architect at Mansour University in Egypt and is spending the semester at ECU as part of an Egyptian government-funded sustainability initiative. He has been working with Bob Chin, also in Technology Systems. His report is a survey of current attention to sustainability at ECU in academics and operations. The next step in his study is an on-campus survey of various stakeholders at ECU to determine their views on sustainability. He is currently determining how best to administer such a survey.

Discussion: There was a wide-ranging discussion of Sheta’s report and of sustainability issues at ECU more generally. Atkinson reported on her meeting with Michael Lysaght of Aramark about dining hall sustainability practices. She presented a report on the recent “Going Trayless” experiment in which trays were removed from dining halls for several days. This resulted in a substantial reduction in food and water waste. Over 30% of students, however, reported that they would not want to go trayless permanently to prevent waste. The renovated Todd Dining Hall will not have trays. Another dining hall initiative is RecycleMania, a contest in dining halls to meet recycling goals. Aramark is considering working with Fresh Point Distributors, which buys in season produce from North Carolina farmers. Koch reported that Lysaght is meeting with Aramark district managers about recycling cooking oil. This is a free service provided by a company in Wilson, NC that produces biodiesel.

There was discussion of Sheta’s survey. Hodson suggested it could be distributed through Faculty Senate. Chin indicated that the survey is ready to be distributed.

Sheta indicated that it is hard to find information about sustainability. Montgomery reiterated the need for a sustainability coordinator position, and Twark added that this coordinator should have the skills to develop a website. Cox emphasized the need to be knowledgeable about sustainability practices already in use. Koch volunteered to set up a sustainability website. Montgomery suggested that ideally links to this website would receive prominent placement on the ECU homepage.

Schmidt presented a student survey she conducted for extra credit in her biology class. Schmidt will write up her methods so Hodson can submit her data to Faculty Senate.

4. Committee sustainability priorities

Twark circulated a draft list of sustainability priorities that the committee might present to Faculty Senate for a resolution. After discussion, the draft list was revised. This list will be discussed further at the next meeting. (See Appendix A)

There was a motion to adjourn and the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 pm.

Next meeting: 1/24/08, 3:00pm

Items to be discussed:

Trees/landscape (especially Belk building)

Finalizing sustainability priorities

Schmidt’s student survey

Appendix A

Environment Committee Objectives for ECU Campus Sustainability

Spring 2008

ECU should:

1. Approve and distribute to students, faculty, and staff the sustainability and conservation survey created by Dr. Shereif Sheta and Dr. Robert Chin.

2. Hire a full-time sustainability coordinator to publicize existing practices and coordinate new initiatives.

3. Develop a website detailing sustainability practices and initiatives at ECU and feature this site prominently on the ECU homepage.

4. Continue to replace old windows, doors, etc. and to insulate campus buildings to decrease campus energy consumption.

5. Construct all new buildings to at least LEED-silver standards.

6. Purchase more hybrid buses and hybrid or electric maintenance/parking vehicles.

7. Work with Greenville Utilities to install wind and solar power generation on campus in order to supply the relatively small amounts of electricity needed to heat water and operate lights.

8. Preserve existing mature trees when possible.

9. Encourage Aramark and ECU Dining Services to purchase local, Eastern North Carolina produce and meat in order to ensure the freshest food possible for students and to support the regional economy. Mandate this practice in the next food service contract.

10. Include plans for expansion of sidewalks, bike lanes, and greenways in the 2008-2008 ECU Campus Master Plan. ECU planners should maintain contact with the City of Greenville to ensure that ECU Campus sidewalks and bike lanes conform to the 2004 Greenville Greenway Master Plan. Funding of such facilities should be negotiated in partnership with the City, so that costs can be shared.

11. Set up more recycling bins around campus to encourage recycling.

12. Explore the possibility of recycling water from sinks into toilets to conserve water, at least in new buildings that will be constructed.

13. Launch campus-wide initiative to reduce use and waste of plastic bottles.