August 21, 2003

CU STUDENTS CARE ABOUT MORE THAN PARTIES
Survey Shows CU Students Favor Environmental Improvements on Campus: Recycling, Energy, Water, Transportation Are Top Issues

For Immediate Release

Contacts: Will Toor, Director, C.U. Environmental Center; Jared Seidenberg, Co-Chair, Environmental Board

Forget the stories about CU the party school. A new survey released by the University of Colorado Environmental Center shows that students at the university believe in strong action by the university to protect the environment – and are willing to pay, if necessary, to have a "greener" campus.

In April 2003 the UCSU Environmental Center contracted Aspen Media and Marketing to conduct a phone survey of 300 randomly chosen, full-time CU-Boulder students to gauge the current level of environmental concern at the university. "Results revealed that a large majority of students surveyed are in favor of campus environmental action and would like to see CU be a national leader in campus environmental policy," according to Will Toor, director of the Environmental Center. Of the students surveyed, 86 percent believed that it is either very important or somewhat important that CU is a leader in campus environmental management.

Survey results indicate that students believe that the university should expand its use of renewable energy ; use recycled or tree-free paper; eliminate the use of chemical pesticides on campus lawns; and offer organic food in campus dining halls.

Survey highlights include:

• 92% of the student body supports a $2.00 student fee increase to fund 100% wind generated electricity for the three student controlled buildings – the UMC student union, the Recreation Center, and the Wardenburg Health Center
• 72% of residence hall students would support a $10/month rent increase in order to purchase wind energy for the residence halls
• 74% of students are opposed to spraying pesticides on campus lawns to control dandelions.
• 75% of students believe campus food service should offer organic options; 40% would be willing to pay 20 percent more for organic food.
• 63% of students strongly or somewhat supported the upcoming switch to paid printing in campus computer labs to reduce paper waste.

According to Jared Seidenberg, co-chair of the UCSU Environmental Board “The last time we surveyed the student body, the survey results led to the students starting to purchase wind power, and the university switching to paid printing, with 100% recycled paper, in campus computer labs. We hope that this survey will lead to additional changes, such as larger scale use of renewable energy and a ban on campus pesticide spraying.”

The complete University of Colorado at Boulder 2003 Student Environmental Survey is available online.

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