The Red and Black

Issue date: 3/25/09 Section: News

DURSO [Click to enlarge]

A semesterly fee will collect about $180,000 from students each year if the Office of Sustainability referendum passes on Thursday.

The referendum, a joint effort between Go Green Alliance and the Student Government Association, proposes to create an Office of Sustainability to be funded by a $3 student fee each semester.

The money would go toward the salary of an officer who would promote sustainability, organize an operating budget and provide student internships and grants from the office, said University senior Andrew Durso, co-chair of Go Green Alliance, in a phone interview Tuesday.

Durso said the $3 cost was chosen based on calculations averaging the cost of similar offices at other universities.

The HOPE Scholarship would not cover the fee because it would be assessed as a Student Activities charge, Durso said.

Referendum voting is open on Oasis through Thursday.

The office would coordinate all the University's efforts toward environmental sustainability and promote "education pedagogy," Durso said.

Education pedagogy would teach "students in all colleges that their major has an impact on sustainability," he said. The efforts would also extend into faculty research.

The Office of Sustainability originated in an open forum sponsored by the Go Green Alliance. After approaching administrators and learning there was no funding for such an office, Go Green Alliance went to SGA with their proposal.

"The initiative itself, and trying to make the campus more sustainable, is something SGA has been involved in," said Ed Mirecki, the associate director of student affairs and SGA adviser, in a phone interview Tuesday.

Mirecki explained two processes for adding a referendum to the SGA ballot.

The first option, he said, is to petition 10 percent of the student body and present the proposal and student signatures to SGA.

The second method, used by Go Green Alliance, is to propose the referendum to the SGA Senate, and achieve approval by a two-thirds majority vote.

Odum School of Ecology Senator Chris Morphis proposed The Office of Sustainability referendum, which SGA passed Feb. 17 - but not without debate and careful consideration, Mirecki said.

Continued...

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