Facing budget pressures, Boston College downsized the Office of Sustainability and will not hire student interns or a new manager of sustainability this year.
“This decision reflects the fiscal realities currently facing Boston College and all institutions of higher education nationwide,” an update posted on the office’s website reads. “As a result, we will not be hiring student interns for this fiscal year.”
The decision comes after months of financial uncertainty across college campuses under the Trump administration. University President Rev. William P. Leahy, S.J., announced last month that the University will cut expenses by 5 percent—approximately $69 million—over the next two years, citing inflation and rising operational costs.
In a statement to The Heights, Terence Leahy, director of engineering and energy management, reiterated that “the office remains open despite the fact that [they] are not posting for the open positions.”
Despite the reduction in staff, the Office of Sustainability will continue supporting sustainability efforts on campus, including achieving LEED Silver certification or better for new construction projects and continuing conservation projects, according to the update.
“We will continue to support our campus beehive, as well as Earth Day and Arbor Day activities, which remain important parts of our sustainability engagement,” the update reads.
In a now-deleted Instagram post, student interns in the Office of Sustainability thanked supporters of the office and encouraged students to remain environmentally conscious.
“We would like to thank our supporters and those who have engaged with our work over the last 19 years,” the post read. “While the office will no longer be active, we still encourage everyone to be the best environmental stewards they can be on campus and beyond.”
The post was deleted hours later and replaced with the same update published on the Office of Sustainability’s website.
Alessandra Veveiros, a student intern with the Office of Sustainability and MCAS ’27, said she chose to attend BC and study environmental science because of the University’s core values.
“I chose, like so many of my fellow classmates, to come to Boston College because of the values it has upheld for well over a century,” Veveiros wrote in a statement to The Heights. “I chose to study environmental entrepreneurship here because I believe in those values, and I am taking a stand to defend the Office of Sustainability because to not do so would be hypocrisy.”
Veveiros criticized the University for its decision, arguing that scaling back the office “goes against the ethos and principles for which this institution was founded.”
“Boston College, will you uphold those principles of our Jesuit founders and, for the Greater Glory of God, strive to ever excel and improve our stewardship of the Earth as Pope Francis in Laudato si’ so aptly stated, or will you choose to turn away from the values on which this very institution is built,” Veveiros wrote.
