Many people don’t know that St. Joe’s is a 501(c)3 organization, meaning the university is exempt from certain federal taxes. And part of this status means publishing something called an IRS 990 form, which includes the salaries of St. Joe’s most compensated employees (see Billy Lange with over $800,000 in 2022), and is one of the only things we are doing to report our social sustainability footprint. Through the lens of social sustainability, I would like to argue that although we have many things to be proud of, there is a lot more left to do in order to understand how to better care for ourselves and others. 

In 1987, the U.N. published “Our Common Future,” also known as the Brundtland Report. This document highlights the need to look at sustainable development, not just through humanity’s environmental impact, but also through economic and social development. It is not enough for an organization to report only its financial statements. We need to report our emissions and energy usage, and also our wages to get a full picture of our development as a society. 

In my opinion, as an institution, St. Joe’s is doing a good job regarding social sustainability. Through St. Joe’s Just Employment Policy, this guarantees a Philadelphia living wage for one adult with no dependents, for full-time employees working 30+ hours a week, as well as for contracted workers, such as housekeeping and the dining staff. We are one of just two Jesuit universities (second to Georgetown) to make such a large stride in social development. So, let’s talk about it! Let’s report our social (and environmental) sustainability efforts with tools like the Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS). This tool benchmarks our economic, environmental and social sustainability efforts against other colleges and universities across the U.S. 

Despite this progress, there is a long way to go to achieve maximum social sustainability. For instance, why do our student workers and graduate students make less than a living wage? While there are efforts to be proud of, we must identify both our strengths and weaknesses to truly understand the bigger picture of our social sustainability footprint.