SRU students vote to create Green Fund

The university trustees stopped short of imposing mandatory fees on students.

STAFF REPORT

SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — It’s not often that college students will vote to increase their own costs, but those at Slippery Rock University did just that this spring.

They voted 1,548 to 246 in favor of creating a Green Fund to support environmental initiatives on campus and in the surrounding community.

The original plan would have involved a special fee assessed to students, but the version adopted by the university’s Board of Trustees earlier this month eliminates any student fee.

The board’s plan is to have the university president work with students over the summer on how the program should be funded. The Green Fund will be launched this fall.

The trustees were reluctant to set a precedent of having student groups petition for the imposition of student fees, said SRU spokesman Karl E. Schwab.

The Green Fund is a campus grass-roots effort to increase the university’s environmental awareness and energy conservation efforts.

Student representatives of the fund first approached the trustees with their plan in April, saying they planned a three-day referendum to gauge student support for a “Green Fee.”

The positive response was overwhelming, but trustee approval was required to put the plan into effect and the board voted June 6 to create the fund.

The account will be administered by a Green Fund Advisory Board that will include students, faculty, an administrator, a representative of the facilities staff and a member of the off-campus community and will require presidential approval.

The board will accept proposals and distribute funding for programs promoting environmental education and projects related to environmental sustainability.

“This is a project students initiated as part of their overall awareness and concern for the environment,” said SRU President Robert Smith. “SRU has a history of providing environmental-related academic programs. We offer majors in environmental education and environmental science along with a master’s degree in sustainable systems. Our leadership in environmental issues is strong.”

“Our students are to be commended for their initiative, work and planning,” said newly elected trustee chairman Robert Taylor. “As trustees, we are pleased to be able to support our students in this worthwhile undertaking. I believe projects funded by The Green Fund will have wide benefit, not only on campus, but in the local and regional community. It is a good idea and it is a good project for SRU.”

“I am extremely pleased trustees allowed creation of the fund,” said Rachel DeWolf, an environmental studies major from Marshall, Mich., who also helped initiate and gain student approval for the plan. “We are thinking that such projects as the Green Bike Initiative, where bicycles are placed around the campus for anyone to use, thus decreasing car use, are projects that may qualify for funding.

Other ideas such as education projects and programs to raise environmental awareness and facilities environmental modifications will also be considered. Individual students and campus organizations may begin submitting proposals next fall.”

Other major SRU “green” projects already under way on campus include the SRU Foundation’s new $120-million suite-style residence halls project which made use of numerous “green building” concepts throughout construction, including on-demand hallway lighting, energy-efficient heating and air-conditioning units, improved insulation techniques for energy efficiency and recycled materials.