Being Green at KSU
Kent State University was founded in 1963 and more than fifty years later it has over 35,000 students enrolled throughout its many campuses. The main campus has been going through major construction for over two years to revise its energy use, expanding population, and transportation efficiency. The university has had a focus on being more “green” and is now constructing its campus in a way that reflects its mindset.
The university has an entire hall dedicated to facility planning and operations, procurement, and university architecture. In this hall is where the plans for future goals and projects are created to make the school more green. They also try to involve students who are interested with sustainability with internships, faculty resources, and university jobs.
The Manager of Sustainability for Kent State explains,
“Creating those transportation options has been a focus for a while…so we see how use is changing. Connecting with students is very important. For some things we know the answers because of data that we have… but we are always looking for feedback from students because they are the ones utilizing the resources we provide.”
Hearing students thoughts on the idea of Kent State being “green” is important to Melanie so she can understand what the university can improve on, the knowledge the students have about being green, and creating new resources.
There are many different views from students that they can provide to make the most innovative concepts to implement. Kent State Fashion Design student, Sarah Petite, gave her views on recycling from a creative perspective. She said,
“I think that being green is really important especially because theres so many things that they can do with recycled plastic and recycled glass now. We can make like shoes with water bottles and t-shirts and everything so it’s really cool.”
An Integrated Mathematics student, Rebecca Johlie, explained her thoughts on being green at Kent State,
“Being green is important to me because I think it is important to take care of our earth and protect the environment. I do think that we could be more green, I’m not exactly sure how, but I do think there are areas that we could improve on.”
Some main focuses Kent has had are transportation and recycling. The PARTA bus system is going to incorporate buses that run on natural gas and will be building a public natural gas station in Kent for other transportation vehicles to use as well. Also, making more flash fleet bikes and zip cars available for students to use.
More recycling bins are being placed on campus and the university will once again participate in the Recyclemania competition amongst universities around the country. They rely on students to be proactive about being green in different ways during this competition.
Retro fits are also another way the campus is being updated to be more efficient. For example, more windows are being replaced and added for natural lighting and to hold heat or cold air inside buildings. Innovations like these will help the university run more efficiently and use less energy. The university has been placed onto the Princeton Review as a green colleges in the U.S. because of these renovations. Overall Kent State is working hard to inform and create a more sustainable environment for students and the community.
