WPI Makes Sierra Magazine’s ‘Coolest Colleges’ List

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Monday, August 26, 2013

GoLocalWorcester Features Team

Worcester Polytechnic Institute has been named one of America's "Coolest Colleges" for 2013 by Sierra magazine--honoring the Central Massachusetts institution's commitment to environmentally progressive policies and practices.

While WPI received an overall ranking of #125, several New England colleges place in the national Top 20, including the University of Connecticut, which topped the entire list at #1. Also in the top tier was Vermont's Green Mountain College at #6, the University of New Hampshire at #14, and Harvard University at #15. Nearby University of Massachusetts Amherst ranked #27 and Wellesley College ranked #50. Boston University placed at #88, Mount Holyoke College at #124.

WPI's greenness by the numbers

WPI received a total of 442.44 points out of a possible 1000. Here is how the school's ranking broke down by category (shown with the maximum possible in each subcategory):

Co-Curricular 50/72
Energy: 115.34/249
Investments: 0/72
Food: 34.89/49
Innovation: 20/40
Instruction/Research: 36.38/68
Planning: 10/76
Purchasing: 6.44/34
Transport: 26/113
Waste: 90.04/107
Water: 53.33/120
Total 442.44/1000

Cool schools

Sierra magazine, the well-known publication of the Sierra Club, has been ranking America's greenest colleges for seven years, so who better to know what a difference a campus can make.

"With each 'Cool Schools' issue sent to press, we are reminded that LEED-certified buildings equipped with low-flow toilets and stocked with recycling bins push carbon dioxide levels lower and keep reservoirs fuller, landfills emptier, and trees standing longer," according to Sierra's editors. "But what of the students? The most powerful renewable energy resource these campuses generate is freshly educated young people. And colleges crow that instilling eco-literacy--teaching youths about the state of our planet--will put us on the right path. Will it, though?"

Sierra set out to find the answer (and rate the responses) with an extensive questionnaire that "asks about everything from where a campus gets its energy to whether its landscapers use native plants and its cafeterias offer recycled napkins."  The magazine got responses from 162 qualified schools, then crunched the numbers. A perfect score would have been 1,000. "Our top-ranked school netted 850, proving that even the nation's best has room to improve."

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