Tour guide Michelle Zar leads her group across the stone floor in The Commons on Peabody campus, stopping just before the building’s four-story atrium. The pause signals the group has reached the pinnacle of their tour — the gem of the university’s $154 million investment.

“The interesting thing about this building is that it is environmentally friendly. It is LEED-certified, meaning that the light is adjusted to the sunlight, the restrooms use less water and all the materials were purchased within a certain distance from this campus,” Zar said.

A new stop on the campus tour this year is The Commons since all freshmen will live there. But central to the pitch is its “green” status.

So is this eco-marketing? Maybe. Whatever the case, the university’s interest in the environment is certainly becoming a selling point, explained Kenny Moore, project manager of The Commons, even just in its aesthetic appeal.

“I think sometimes, when you love The Commons Center, you are loving the LEED items whether you think about them or not,” Moore said. The fires in the fireplaces, for example, are environmentally friendly by releasing a very small percentage of pollutants into the air, he explained.

Nevertheless, it is something the university wants to stress to potential students.

Michael Thomas, a prospective student, noticed and said he was impressed.

“I have never seen a building that green on a college campus before,” Thomas said, “and besides the fact that it was green, it was a really nice building that was tastefully designed.”

Tour guide Sam Schreiber explained, though it is not mandated, guides are strongly encouraged to mention Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and going “green” on campus tours.

Zar said she always mentions the LEED certification when she leads her tours into The Commons building.

“It shows that Vanderbilt is making an effort to be environmentally friendly,” Zar said, “and we need to start somewhere since there are a lot of environmental issues facing us today.”

“LEED is definitely an attractive point to people because (students) are becoming more conscientious about the environment,” Moore agreed.

Moore said it is important to tell prospective students about the green buildings because it is The Commons’ way of helping the Vanderbilt community and the community overall.

“We impact our environment by reducing the negative impacts,” he said.

Vanderbilt may be marketing going “green,” but Moore said the trend is not unique to this campus.

“There are a lot of universities, small and large, like Vanderbilt, that are looking into going green,” he said. “Schools are looking at what they can do because the students are caring more.”
Prospective Vanderbilt student David Kanoff noticed the trend when he went on his college campus visits year.

“A lot of the colleges that I visited talked about environmentally friendly buildings and how they are trying to save the environment,” he said. “I saw Vanderbilt as keeping up with the trend since it’s more of the top schools that I visited that are following the move to green buildings.”

When Kanoff visited the university earlier this year, he said the “green” Commons was emphasized on both his tour and the information session he attended.
“I probably heard it mentioned about five times while I visited the school,” he said.

Kanoff added he does not plan on making final college decisions based on buildings like The Commons Center.

“All of the other things that Vanderbilt has to offer like academics, athletics and campus spirit impact my decision more than the environmentally friendly building, especially because a lot of other college campuses are going green too,” he said.

Prospective student Ivy Prince agreed it is nice to know the university is making the effort to be environmentally friendly, but it was not among her top criteria in choosing a school.

“It’s not something that I’m really thinking about when I’m applying to school because there are so many other factors,” she said.

Although the green buildings at The Commons are being stressed to those visiting the Vanderbilt community, Moore made it clear the center is spreading awareness to other parts of the campus as well.

“I think the Commons is setting a trend for the rest of the campus,” Moore said. “Vanderbilt is trying to get plugged into the green-conscious environment.”

—Joslin Woods can be reached at joslin.l.woods@vanderbilt.edu