The Institute was founded in 2005 and is a nonprofit part of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors, said Bethany Rogerson, a spokeswoman for the Sustainability Endowment Institute.

MSU earned four B’s, four A’s and one F, according to the College Sustainability Report Card’s Web site.

The grades are based on different categories, Rogerson said.

These categories include administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, shareholder engagement and student involvement.

The F was for shareholder engagement because investment managers, rather than a committee of stakeholders, make decisions in regard to investments at MSU. The majority of universities did poorly in this category, with 56 percent receiving an F. The average grade was a D-, according to the Web site.

“Personally, I think we should vote shareholder resolutions and do it on the advice of a committee that represents the university community,” said Terry Link, director of the Office of Campus Sustainability.

Data is collected from surveys sent to the universities and the Sustainability Endowments Institute has a team researching the universities’ efforts. Of the 300 universities sent surveys, 290 replied, Rogerson said.

“If the school didn’t respond to a survey or if the survey had gaps, researchers filled it in with public info,” she said.

When MSU received the surveys, they were distributed among departments. Once complete, the surveys were sent back to the Office of Finance and Operations to be reviewed, said Kathryn Lindahl, the assistant vice president of Finance and Operations.