Congress of the South 40 was awarded for its commitment to sustainability after submitting a bid on behalf of Washington University at the Midwest Affiliate for College and University Residence Halls Regional Leadership Conference, Nov. 2.

The Midwest Affiliate for College and University Residence Halls Regional Leadership Conference (MACURH) commended the University for their high level of student-driven efforts towards sustainability, such as adding composting to the Danforth University Center and Fossil Free WashU’s ongoing push for fossil fuel divestment.

Representatives from 31 colleges were in attendance at this year’s conference, held at Saint Louis University, and schools were given the opportunity to submit bids to be recognized in different categories. Sophomores Ola Adebayo, CS40 speaker, Kennedy Wiley, CS40 director of development and Risako Nozaki, CS40 sustainability chair, chose to bid on behalf of the University’s recently-improved sustainable practices, such as the campaign to replace plastic straws with paper ones.

Each school’s representatives wrote bids for their school to be considered the best in their respective category. MACURH judges then critiqued each bid and determined a winner.

Washington University was the only institution to submit a bid for Commitment to Sustainability, but they were not automatically guaranteed the bid and still had to undergo the same critiquing process. Some categories did not name a winner.

During the critiquing process, judges criticized the high cost of the University’s sustainability initiatives. Overall, they applauded students’ efforts to promote sustainability even without support from the administration, such as Fossil Free WashU’s push for fossil fuel divestment.

Nozaki is happy with the number of students invested in environmental issues on campus, with organizations such as WashU Green Associates and Student Sustainability Board working to help students live more sustainably, along with Student Union advocating for carbon neutrality.

“It’s great that a lot more students are more aware now,” Nozaki said.

In addition to student activism on campus, Adebayo thinks that smaller changes on campus, such as providing composting bins for students to use in their dorm rooms, are also effective because they allow students to make an effort to be sustainable even if they are not involved in a specific campus organization or are unsure how to improve their habits.

Tyler Priest, student leadership coordinator for residence education, was impressed by the CS40’s first regional award and highlighted the students’ commitment to sustainability. He said that other institutions at the conference shared his appreciation of the University’s student involvement.

“The students here at Wash. U. are doing some pretty fantastic things,” Priest wrote in a statement to Student Life. “This bid was a culmination of many different groups, offices and students efforts and is a huge honor to not just CS40 but the entire University.”

Nozaki believes that the University still has more work to do in terms of becoming more sustainable, including divesting from fossil fuels.

“Next year in the spring we’re having the Bloomberg climate change conference [Midwestern Collegiate Climate Summit] at Wash. U., and I think that’s kind of embarrassing that we’re not even divesting from fossil fuels but we’re having a climate change conference,” Nozaki said.

Student Environmental Council president senior Dugan Marieb is pleased with the advocacy work shown thus far and hopes to see the University tackle waste diversion, clean energy procurement and divestment.

“With such a strong portfolio of cross-campus collaboration, I believe Wash. U. is well-positioned to continue advancing sustainability both on campus and in our broader reach as an institution,” Marieb wrote in a statement to Student Life.

Co-leader of the South 40 composting program and vice president of advising for Student Sustainability Board sophomore Mandy Huang said it is important that the administration “[build] a culture around sustainability at Wash. U.”

“We’ve definitely made progress, progress that I’m very proud of,” Huang said. “It’s really inspiring and empowering to see other students around me, a multitude of clubs and teams that are working on projects to make a change on campus…It’s imperative that we are all conscious and responsible for the impact of our actions on the world around us, and realize how it not only affects the physical environment but the people that live in it.”

Adebayo emphasized that no matter an individual student’s level of advocacy, making the University more sustainable can be achieved with efforts both big and small.

“You don’t have to shut off all your lights and walk in the dark for the rest of your life,” Adebayo said. “It never has to be that serious, but just knowing that maybe you’re doing one thing every day to try to do something, and that’s honestly all anybody could ever ask you for.”