‘Green fee’ on WSA ballot next week

By Fritz Klug
News Editor

Next week, Western Michigan University undergraduates will be able to vote on a referendum to support a new fee to fund sustainability projects on campus.

The Sustainability Fund Initiative would be an $8 fee in the Fall and Spring semesters, and $4 for Summer I and II, and will, according to its supporters, fund sustainability research and initiatives on campus.

The fee would apply to undergraduate and graduate students on main campus, and would generate an estimated half million dollars annually.

The SFI would join the $21 Student Assessment Fee and $343 Enrollment Fee, which bundles the health center operations, technology, facility, recreation, and infrastructure fees. The funds would be housed in the Department of Student Activities.

In the summer semesters, the fees are cut in half.

65 percent of the SFI would go to a sustainability fund for student projects, 20 percent would go to fund a new Office of Sustainability, and 15 percent to pay for 10 part-time student positions.

Student proposals
The fund would be available to any student who pays the fee, Matt Hollander, a WMU grad student who works for the President’s Universitywide Sustainability Committee, said.

Students can make a request for either a research project, which could be an evaluation of different programs or types of practices, or a student-led initiative, which would be for the implementation of a sustainable practice on campus.

A proposal needs a faculty or staff advisor, Hollander said. They would then submit a budget of the total costs of the project to the PUSC for revisions. The proposal would then go to the Sustainability Fund Allocation Committee for a vote.

The WSA President would appoint the committee chair, who, with the Speaker of the Senate, appoint the eight other committee members.

There is no limit on the amount of funding that can be requested – although, if it is over 15 percent of the total amount for the semester, it will require a two-thirds vote from the committee.

“We are currently on the radar for sustainability nationwide,” Hollander said, “This could get us close to the top.”

For many sustainable practices such as wind or solar energy, the upfront cost is too high to have it feasibly integrated on a university level, given the economic climate.

“If students want to see these things, we’re going to have to support it,” Hollander said.

Hollander added that the SFI money could be good leverage for grants and state and federal funding for larger projects.

Office of Sustainability
Currently, the PUSC and Facilities Management are the main drivers for sustainability practices on campus.

President John Dunn signed the Tallories Declaration, which says WMU “will be a leader in developing, creating, supporting and maintaining sustainability,” and the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment to achieve carbon neutrality.

The committee also helped introduce the EcoMug on campus in Fall 2009.

Sam Cooper, a WMU alumna and sustainability researcher for the PUSC, said that passing the fee would be a good catalyst for the development of the office, as well as giving alumni a place to donate for sustainability measure on campus.

Even if the referendum isn’t passed this month, Cooper said that administrators are trying to get some $200,000 into the budget to establish the office.

From a thesis to the ballot
The idea for the fee came when environmental studies major Kate Sheilds went to the Greening of the Campus conference in November and learned about similar fees at universities across the country.

She then began looking at the feasibility of implementing such a fee at WMU for her senior thesis. Within a few weeks, she said it became apparent that it was plausible.

Sheilds said that the administration has taken many steps to show that they are supportive of sustainable measures on campus – now it’s the students turn to take that next step and show their support.

“There is a lack of funding and a central unit on campus for sustainability,” she said.

If passed by students, the referendum would go to the Board of Trustees for approval in July. If they endorse it, the fee would be instituted in Fall 2010.

So far the group has collected over 200 signatures, enough to put the measure on the ballot, Alex Roman, chair of the ECB, said.

A similar initiative was on a ballot in 2008, when the SAF was increased from $12 to $21. The measure passed with 65 percent of student approval.

This year’s election will take place from March 15-19. Tonight, there will be an informational meeting on the SFI, 7 to 8:30 p.m. in Room 211 of the Bernhard Center.

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Posted by heraldstaff on Mar 7 2010. Filed under Breaking, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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