The University of Arkansas Office for Sustainability has launched the 2020 Greek Life Sustainability Scorecard!
This is the third year that the Office for Sustainability has facilitated the program, and we are incredibly happy to see so many chapters furthering sustainability efforts within their membership. We saw a participation increase from 3 Panhellenic houses in 2018, to 7 chapters partaking in the Greek Life Sustainability Scorecard program in 2019. While the participation rate has increased and the chapters have made significant contributions to green the University, there is still lots to be done!
The 2020 scorecard has undergone some renovations based on the results and feedback we received from the previous year.
The 2020 scorecard is an electronic excel sheet that can be downloaded here. The 2020 program will remain convenient and the scorecard will be user-friendly, but some new sub-categories have been added. Awareness, Waste Reduction, Biodiversity, Efficiency, and Innovation are the five larger categories that chapters can earn points in.
The scorecard is worth 50 points total and the largest category this year is “Awareness” with 18 points. “Waste Reduction” has 15 points available, “Biodiversity” is worth 4 points, “Efficiency” has 9 points, and “Innovation” is worth 4 points.
Caring for native biodiversity is just one of the ways UArk Sororities can show their commitment to sustainability
The new version of the scorecard is more productive than in years past, and it encourages chapter members to engage with the campus community and various departments, as well as participate in local sustainability activities and volunteer events. It is also more accessible than years past, and many of the sub-categories feature options that allow the participants to receive as many points as possible. Additionally, all sub-categories on the scorecard have tips and supplementary resources attached to them in order to make the program quick and efficient!
Many sororities now have recycling within sorority halls
The 2020 Greek Life Sustainability Scorecard was sent out to the participating chapters this Earth Week 2020. To accommodate the chapters for time lost during the scorecard renovation process and due to COVID-19, the due date for the scorecard has been pushed back to December 18, 2020 (the last day of the fall semester). This allows the chapters to take additional time to complete as many tenants on the scorecard as possible!
Similarly to years past, each chapter’s scorecard will be reviewed by the Office for Sustainability, and all participants will receive a Gold, Silver, or Bronze ranking. We strongly encourage our participating chapters to relay their university-level awards to their national chapters.
Last year, 7 Panhellenic sororities participated in this program. The Office for Sustainability would once again like to congratulate Kappa Kappa Gamma, Alpha Omicron Pi, Delta Delta Delta, Alpha Chi Omega, Phi Mu, Chi Omega, and Kappa Delta all for receiving one of the 2019 Greek Life Sustainability Scorecard awards and rankings.
If you are in a Greek Life organization and would like to participate in the 2020 program, please email Office for Sustainability Zero Waste Coordinator Sophie Hill at sch017@uark.edu for more information on how to get started!
By Sophie Hill, Zero Waste and Greek Life Sustainability Coordinator. Edited for blog by Linden Cheek.