Wasting Away: Student Managers Facilitate Dorm Composting

Armed with buckets and posters, Cornell’s 35 student composting managers are combating food waste in dorms in an effort to reduce the amount of organic material sent to the Ithaca landfill. About two-thirds of student residence halls — all but the townhouses and some West Campus houses — are equipped with composting bins, including large dumpsters and buckets, according to Naomi Haber ’20, Sustainability Coordinator at the Campus Sustainability Office. Every year, 4,000 tons of organic waste, including waste from residence halls and dining halls, is converted to compost through Cornell’s composting facilities, the largest composting operation in Tompkins County. The student compost managing team, which was established in September last semester, are meant to lead sustainable development in the student community, according to Haber. They keep track of the compost buckets and are responsible for depositing food scraps into one of the large bins on either North or West Campus once a week.

North Campus Dorms and Program Houses Ready for Class of 2013

In the 1900s, the Cornell student body was housed entirely in fraternities and boarding houses — no real dormitories existed. According to Cornell: Glorious to View, a history of Cornell written by Profs. Carol Kammen and Walter LaFeber, both history, Andrew Dickson White, Cornell’s founder and first president, believed students should board themselves. Clearly times have changed. The Class of 2013 enters Cornell with a plethora of housing options, ranging from traditional residence halls to more specialized program houses. Let’s review some of the facts, figures and follies of the 10 traditional halls:
Balch Hall