Contending with reduced state support during a time of significant enrollment growth, Bowie State University in Maryland has again seen its deferred-maintenance budget take a considerable hit — which includes money for many energy-efficiency projects.
“Our goal was $2.2 million,” says Bowie State President Mickey Burnim of a University System of Maryland Board of Regents policy directing all state schools to allocate 2 percent of their operating budgets to deferred-maintenance projects. The school budgeted only $750,000 for fiscal year 2010.
The drop in deferred-maintenance money has forced Bowie to prioritize its maintenance needs, putting off, in the process, some long-awaited campus renovation, building, and energy-efficiency projects altogether for the foreseeable future.
But the school’s budget challenges have not reduced its commitment to energy efficiency. Bowie State has conducted a yearly Carbon Footprint Inventory to measure the amount of carbon emissions produced throughout the campus. It also signed the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which mandates that all future campus construction be built to at least the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED silver standard.
