STARS and Collegiate Athletics

The research examined higher education’s (focus on the NCAA) participation in (AASHE’s) Green Athletics category in the sustainability tracking, assessment and rating system (STARS) sustainability report while evaluating how well collegiate athletic departments engage in the various categories within Green Athletics. A quantitative content analysis using descriptive statistics, Chi square, and Pearson r correlation was conducted. The analysis found that of the 335 institutions that actively use the STARS reporting tool, the NCAA accounted for 247 rated institutions of which only 50 attempted points in Green Athletics while only 21 institutions succeeded. T the lack of participation from institutions in Green Athletics and propose an alternate to better engage collegiate athletics in STARS reporting is discussed including the low-reward of points in category, lack of resources, and disconnect or misalignments between current practices and categories or initiatives for green athletic points.

CITE: Pelcher, J., McCullough, B. P., & Trendafilova, S. (2020). Collegiate athletics environmental sustainability efforts within STARS reporting. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education.

#Collegiate #Athletics #Environment #Sustainability #STARS