Students demand LEED certification for science center
Liana Tierney '08
Issue date: 2/20/08 Section: News
With the intended LEED silver certification for the Center for Scientific Inquiry and Innovation (CSII) in jeopardy under the recently cut budget, three students have started a petition to assure student support for a LEED certified building.
The petition asks for the certification of the building to be put back in the plans or for a clear reason why the new building will not be LEED certified explained Austin Llewellyn '08, who, along with Claire Anderson '09 and Martha Cornwell '08 launched the petition at the Focus the Nation event on February 1.
Sustainability Committee Chair Cornwell was first to hear about the issue during a committee meeting. After discussing the issue with CSII faculty liaison Professor Tommy Ratliff, she asked Llewellyn, who had previously worked with the Siemens Corporation, a company which provides services to help customers obtain LEED certification, and Anderson who was working on Focus the Nation, to help launch the petition.
In October, the Board of Trustees approved an increase in the budget for hard construction costs for the CSII from $40 to $46 million. Two months later the Executive Committee and the President returned to the original budget due to concerns that the expected overall October budget would harm the other two goals of the current fundraising campaign: financial aid and the annual fund.
An option to keep the building under budget was to drop the LEED certification. However, with the recently cut budget there is still a commitment to incorporate sustainable features into the CSII. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) certification, created by the US Green Building Council offers third-party authentication to buildings that meet the highest green standards in design, construction and operation.
Llewellyn explained that the administration committing to a LEED certified building and then going back on the plan was "not sending the right message."
"I understand that it will be a green building either way, but without the certification we don't know to what extent and it's not the same publicity," he adds.
The petition asks for the certification of the building to be put back in the plans or for a clear reason why the new building will not be LEED certified explained Austin Llewellyn '08, who, along with Claire Anderson '09 and Martha Cornwell '08 launched the petition at the Focus the Nation event on February 1.
Sustainability Committee Chair Cornwell was first to hear about the issue during a committee meeting. After discussing the issue with CSII faculty liaison Professor Tommy Ratliff, she asked Llewellyn, who had previously worked with the Siemens Corporation, a company which provides services to help customers obtain LEED certification, and Anderson who was working on Focus the Nation, to help launch the petition.
In October, the Board of Trustees approved an increase in the budget for hard construction costs for the CSII from $40 to $46 million. Two months later the Executive Committee and the President returned to the original budget due to concerns that the expected overall October budget would harm the other two goals of the current fundraising campaign: financial aid and the annual fund.
An option to keep the building under budget was to drop the LEED certification. However, with the recently cut budget there is still a commitment to incorporate sustainable features into the CSII. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) certification, created by the US Green Building Council offers third-party authentication to buildings that meet the highest green standards in design, construction and operation.
Llewellyn explained that the administration committing to a LEED certified building and then going back on the plan was "not sending the right message."
"I understand that it will be a green building either way, but without the certification we don't know to what extent and it's not the same publicity," he adds.
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