2008 Woodie Awards
It's time to think green
Katherine Marr. She can be reached at kmarr@student.umass.edu.
Issue date: 9/3/08 Section: Editorial / Opinion
Pick any school - from a big university to a small liberal arts college - and it's like déjà-vu: the universal pickiness of admissions committees and the increasingly sizable tuition checks due every new semester. Lately though, two other trends have been gaining momentum in select colleges and universities.
Schools are taking the plunge to become either earth-friendly, or ? how shall I say it - something more akin to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. To be frank, it's an either/or situation, considering we're talking about the difference between low-flow shower heads and luxury hot tubs.
Here's the logic behind the installation of hot tubs. Kids are growing up with a lot nowadays. Their own (private, sibling-free) bedrooms are a cross between Pottery Barn and Circuit City, and mere steps away from Jacuzzis where they soak while sipping one of the day's several, high-priced lattes. Why should students choose to settle for any less at school? If colleges don't spruce up their digs, prospective students might glimpse the campus at the Fall Open House and hightail it away with their noses in the air.
What a nightmare for any college. But some schools are losing sleep over fears of a different caliber - global warming, the energy crisis and environmental damage. Won't students, ever-eager to spearhead a cause, jump to get involved in a green college? Hence, some schools are elevating 'low-flow shower heads' to the top of their priority list.
I admit that water conservation escaped my priority list when I chose a college. Instead, I gave bonus points to the schools with stained glass lamps on the library tables, which pretty much ensures that I'd be totally impressed by trendy campus cafés and dorms that resemble a lofty apartment out of "Friends."
But considering the world's dicey state of affairs, my priority list would read a little differently now. The Princeton Review revealed recently that students and their parents are showing a greater interest in green schools, and colleges and universities have responded with an eco-friendly tune of energy conservation and resource preservation.
Schools are taking the plunge to become either earth-friendly, or ? how shall I say it - something more akin to the lifestyles of the rich and famous. To be frank, it's an either/or situation, considering we're talking about the difference between low-flow shower heads and luxury hot tubs.
Here's the logic behind the installation of hot tubs. Kids are growing up with a lot nowadays. Their own (private, sibling-free) bedrooms are a cross between Pottery Barn and Circuit City, and mere steps away from Jacuzzis where they soak while sipping one of the day's several, high-priced lattes. Why should students choose to settle for any less at school? If colleges don't spruce up their digs, prospective students might glimpse the campus at the Fall Open House and hightail it away with their noses in the air.
What a nightmare for any college. But some schools are losing sleep over fears of a different caliber - global warming, the energy crisis and environmental damage. Won't students, ever-eager to spearhead a cause, jump to get involved in a green college? Hence, some schools are elevating 'low-flow shower heads' to the top of their priority list.
I admit that water conservation escaped my priority list when I chose a college. Instead, I gave bonus points to the schools with stained glass lamps on the library tables, which pretty much ensures that I'd be totally impressed by trendy campus cafés and dorms that resemble a lofty apartment out of "Friends."
But considering the world's dicey state of affairs, my priority list would read a little differently now. The Princeton Review revealed recently that students and their parents are showing a greater interest in green schools, and colleges and universities have responded with an eco-friendly tune of energy conservation and resource preservation.
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