The University received an average grade of “C” on the 2010 College Sustainability Report Card today, despite hiring a sustainability manager, directing excess funds from student fees toward expanding the recycling program and implementing a new bus system.The Sustainable Endowments Institution complies the Report Card every year and measures how “green” college campuses are based on criteria like climate change efforts and investment priorities.It’s down from a slightly better “C+” last year, but the University did improve in several areas, including student involvement, which jumped from a “C” in 2009 to a “B” for 2010. “I’m certainly impressed with the strides LSU has made in the past years in terms of sustainability,” said Katie Peterson, president of the University’s Environmental Conservation Organization. “At the same time, we have leaps that we can make, as demonstrated by our grade of ‘C.'”Students voted in an April survey to direct excess funds from student fees toward expanding the recycling program. Student Government is working on bringing a farmers’ market to campus, and students reduced energy consumption by an average of 18 percent during the UNPLUG Energy Challenge last semester — all reason sfor the better grade, according to the Report Card.Peterson said while it’s great student involvement is up, the University needs to give more if it truly wants to improve its sustainability.”LSU touts sustainability as one of their [top] issues, but there’s almost no money to fund it,” Peterson said.A small student green fee of just one or two dollars would help the University move closer to total sustainability, Peterson said. The money could be used for things like double-sided printers in the library and other “green” efforts.”To be serious about sustainability, LSU is going to have to invest money, I hope the [administration] is going to do that soon,” Peterson said.The University bombed in other areas of the report card, such as endowment transparency, which went from a “B” in 2009 to an “F” for 2010.  The endowment transparency section measures public access to endowment information and shareholder voting records, which are key to fostering a constructive dialogue about opportunities for clean energy investment, according to the Sustainable Endowments Institution’s Web site.The LSU Foundation doesn’t make its shareholder voting records public, according to the Report Card data. And while the LSU Foundation made a list of endowment holdings available to the public by request in 2009, it’s limiting that access to only trustees and senior administrators for 2010, pulling the grade down.Jason Soileau, assistant director of Facility Development, said the University has no control over the LSU Foundation and is working with the Foundation to improve the University’s transparency grade. But he said the LSU Foundation has made sustainability one of its priorities recently.In September, the LSU Foundation launched the Green Tiger Project — an effort to beautify campus and promote environmental sustainability.Soileau said the Report Card is a useful tool for the University.”It’s one of the many bench markers in sustainability,” he said. “It helps us from year to year to figure out what areas we need to focus on.”The area also improved in the transportation category, which jumped from a “B” in 2009 to an “A” for 2010, the University’s highest grade on the Report Card.The University’s new bus system, Easy Streets and ECO’s abandoned bike auction all raised the grade to an “A,” according to the Report Card data.SG added a sustainability director to its executive staff last spring to act as a liaison between students and the University’s sustainability manager, the Campus Committee for Sustainability and ECO.The director position is mentioned positively in the 2010 Report Card.”We have a lot more students involved on campus,” said Cas Smith, SG director of sustainability.Smith said he is working on composting efforts this semester and said he is hopeful student engagement will continue into next year and beyond.The only other Louisiana schools on the 2010 Report Card list are Tulane University and Loyola University, which made a “B” and “C-,” respectively. —-Contact Kyle Bove at [email protected]