Princeton Review adds university to 'honor roll' 
USC received the Princeton Review's highest possible score in the fifth annual "Green Rating Honor Roll."
The university was the only school in the state and one of just two, with Vanderbilt, in the Southeastern Conference to make the list.
The ratings are based on an analysis of colleges' sustainability and environmentally conscious practices, policies and student-accessible projects. USC was one of 21 colleges to earn a spot on the 2013 Green Rankings list.
Carter Cox, sustainability education and outreach coordinator,said its environmental science program and sustainability program collaboration set USC apart.
"Through Sustainable Carolina, most of the projects on campus are student-led," Cox said.
Sustainable Carolina houses 18 groups working on projects focused on facilitating green behavior in a number different areas of campus life.
Sustainable Carolina partners with the Environment and Sustainability Program, Outdoor Recreation, Healthy Carolina and Vehicle Management and Parking Services to enable all of these initiatives and get students involved in the process.
"[The collaboration] enables us to work toward being more sustainable in a lot of different areas," Cox said.
USC has also implemented a tailgate recycling program, which encourages recycling at football games, and the Garden Team, which coordinates growing food on campus and teaches students living off campus to do the same.
Margaret Bounds, Housing's sustainability coordinator, said USC received the honor because of the diversity of the green programs on campus and the integration of sustainability programs in West (Green) Quad.
And in the years since Green Quad was constructed, the Honors Residence Hall and Patterson Hall have won accolades for efficiency, too.
The construction of the Green Quad, Bounds said, made USC one of the first universities in the country to build a green residence hall and, she said, it remains one of the largest in the country.
"In terms of square feet, [the Green Quad] is what sets us apart," Bounds said.