After seven months of deliberation, administrators are still reviewing a proposed environmental policy binding the college to earth-friendly principles.

An environmental studies discussion group created the policy draft last semester and submitted it to administrators in early March, according to junior Anna Ehrlich, vice president of the Ithaca College Environmental Society. The newest of several environmental proposals in recent years, ICES hopes it will be put in effect by April 22, 2001 — Earth Day.

According to the tentative schedule set by the study group that first submitted the policy, administrators, students and staff should be providing feedback at this time. But the administration is still reviewing the draft, said Thomas Salm, vice president of business and administrative affairs.

“We discussed this at the President’s Council [Tuesday]. We’re working on revising the policy to suit Ithaca College. We hope to have something in effect for the Earth Day goal,” Salm said.

The Resource and Environmental Management Program (REMP) previously attempted to pass an environmental policy for the college, according to 1994 The Ithacan articles. There were debates over the policy’s wording, which subsequently led to the policy being shot down.

Although ICES did not design this most recently proposed policy, it is the main force encouraging its passing.

It is important to remember the submitted draft is only the beginning framework, said ICES President Sean Vormwald.

A Campus Summit on the Environment is also part of the proposal to gather input from students, faculty and staff and further define the goals, he said.

Besides the eight goals proposed, REMP would evaluate each goal’s effectiveness and ensure the college follows the guidelines it set.

“[There are] a lot of other colleges that have ... a policy so that when they make every decision a college makes day-by-day, they look into what environmental implications are there,” Ehrlich said.

There are several guides to help schools consider the environmental impact in all their decisions. The Web site http://iisd1.iisd.ca/educate provides information about sustainable development on campus as well as sample policies from schools around the world.

Sarah Hammond Creighton’s book “Greening the Ivory Tower: Improving the Environmental Track Record of Universities, Colleges, and Other Institutions” aims to provide useful guidelines to help schools “be green.” Ithaca College is mentioned several times throughout her work.

Creighton cites the college’s decision to use concentrated cleaning solutions instead of buying diluted, ready-to-use ones.

“Concentrated cleaning products generate less waste than ready-to-use solutions and are often less expensive on a per job basis,” Creighton said. “Ithaca College reduced its cleaning costs by 80 percent by switching to a concentrated cleaner .”

But ICES said it is still important the college adopt an environmental policy so it can present a different image to the public.

“I think that would send a much better image to the community about where Ithaca stands on [environmental] issues,” Ehrlich said.