Volunteers
Partnering with volunteers will benefit a green living program (GLP) by adding visibility, building a community of support and enhancing its campus profile.
Involving student volunteers creates a culture of peer support for the work of the individual GLP reps. Sometimes reps feel they are the only people bringing up the issue of sustainability in their dorm. Building a network of volunteers helps build a network of support for them, and it creates a campus of actively involved community members.
Adding volunteers will also add management requirements, such as keeping them involved, making sure their efforts are not duplicating efforts elsewhere, and ensuring communication among volunteers, reps and other parties.
Eco-Rep Volunteers
If your dorms are broken into entryways, you could grow a volunteer program with one "eco-rep" per entryway. At Harvard, a captain and three reps coordinate action between entryway volunteers in the freshmen "yard." The volunteers are expected to commit one hour per week, reading emails, putting up a couple of posters, being a visible face in the entryway to talk about sustainability issues, and directing students to GLP if they have questions.
Other Student Groups
On-campus environmental groups with undergraduate-, graduate-, academic- or initiative-focused missions might be interested in partnering with a GLP. For example, a student group called the Environmental Action Committee has teamed up with the Harvard Green Campus Initiative's GLP to run a model dorm room at Earth Day and help with an annual waste audit.
Eco-Project Teams
Another way to involve students is through distinct projects. For example, encourage students to develop individual eco-projects or build eco-project teams. Find an incentive for such participation, such as an inter-campus conservation competition.