By Carrie Donovan
Beginning this spring, UGA students will pay an extra $3 per semester to attend the university – and the majority of them are happy about it.
The student population of UGA has long been accustomed to the financial burden of new university fees imposed by the administration, but the recent passing of the “green fee,” which was approved by President Michael Adams on Jan. 21, was actually developed, organized, and promoted by students themselves.
The new fee will raise about $150,000 a year, most of which will fund a new Office of Sustainability, which will be responsible for consolidating various environmental and sustainability efforts at UGA.
Before the approval of the department, when student groups wanted organize any sustainability initiatives or speak with the university administration, they had to do so alone. Now, the Sustainability Office will provide a bridge between students and the administration.
According to Sheena Zhang, a third-year Ecology major and an active member of Go Green Alliance, the environmental organization which developed and promoted the fee, the administration was more inclined to take the emerging demand for “going green” seriously due to the persistence, organization and intensity of the students who created the proposal.
Zhang attributes a large amount of the group’s recent success to Christina Faust and Andrew Durso, the former co-chairs of Go Green, who she says spent a lot of time talking to the administration about different sustainability initiatives they wanted to see on campus last year. “I think one of the ideas that came up was to have a green initiative fund for students to fund projects that students wanted to see on campus, and so then the current co-chairs (Emily Carol and Mark Milby) kind of took the torch from that and they basically spent a lot of time last semester talking to specific administrators and putting together their proposal.”
Rachel Spencer, a member of the Environmental Health Science Club and Go Green Alliance, said she expects the Office of Sustainability to be useful both as an independent office and also a channel through which students can continue to funnel environmental initiatives.
“The new office will allocate funds to projects that they believe will be beneficial to campus sustainability,” Spencer said. “So in that way individual groups and students can have a significant impact through the office.”
Kevin Kirsche, assistant director of planning in the UGA Office of University Architects, has been appointed director of the new office. He says many of the efforts during the first year will be geared towards basic environmental modifications, like promoting cleaner air and cleaner interior environments with developments similar to the eco-friendly expansion of Tate Student Center.
Even for students not directly involved with the development of the green fee initiative, support for increased sustainability on campus was evident.
When Go Green put the green fee on a campus-wide student ballot in fall 2009, 81 percent of UGA student voters approved of the new fee.
“I definitely think it will be a positive change,” said Kevin Johnson, a fourth-year accounting major. “Most people I know want to do something but just don’t want to get super involved. Three dollars seems like a pretty easy way to help out.”
For first-year students as well, the passing of the green fee gives them even more reasons to be proud of attending UGA.
“I’m pretty impressed (about the 81% voter approval),” said Jessica Dorsey, a freshman living in Brumby Hall. “It seems like people our age don’t usually care as much about helping the environment.”
The passing of the green fee also assuaged some fears about the progress of UGA green initiatives in comparison with other universities.
“We got a D on our sustainability card before the passing of the green fee,” said Zhang. “I think last year we were ranked 137th out of 150 schools, but, part of it is that there’s a lot going on around campus that no one really knows about, but the director of sustainability does know about them and that’s definitely going to help with public relations.”
The student population of UGA has long been accustomed to the financial burden of new university fees imposed by the administration, but the recent passing of the “green fee,” which was approved by President Michael Adams on Jan. 21, was actually developed, organized, and promoted by students themselves.
The new fee will raise about $150,000 a year, most of which will fund a new Office of Sustainability, which will be responsible for consolidating various environmental and sustainability efforts at UGA.
Before the approval of the department, when student groups wanted organize any sustainability initiatives or speak with the university administration, they had to do so alone. Now, the Sustainability Office will provide a bridge between students and the administration.
According to Sheena Zhang, a third-year Ecology major and an active member of Go Green Alliance, the environmental organization which developed and promoted the fee, the administration was more inclined to take the emerging demand for “going green” seriously due to the persistence, organization and intensity of the students who created the proposal.
Zhang attributes a large amount of the group’s recent success to Christina Faust and Andrew Durso, the former co-chairs of Go Green, who she says spent a lot of time talking to the administration about different sustainability initiatives they wanted to see on campus last year. “I think one of the ideas that came up was to have a green initiative fund for students to fund projects that students wanted to see on campus, and so then the current co-chairs (Emily Carol and Mark Milby) kind of took the torch from that and they basically spent a lot of time last semester talking to specific administrators and putting together their proposal.”
Rachel Spencer, a member of the Environmental Health Science Club and Go Green Alliance, said she expects the Office of Sustainability to be useful both as an independent office and also a channel through which students can continue to funnel environmental initiatives.
“The new office will allocate funds to projects that they believe will be beneficial to campus sustainability,” Spencer said. “So in that way individual groups and students can have a significant impact through the office.”
Kevin Kirsche, assistant director of planning in the UGA Office of University Architects, has been appointed director of the new office. He says many of the efforts during the first year will be geared towards basic environmental modifications, like promoting cleaner air and cleaner interior environments with developments similar to the eco-friendly expansion of Tate Student Center.
Even for students not directly involved with the development of the green fee initiative, support for increased sustainability on campus was evident.
When Go Green put the green fee on a campus-wide student ballot in fall 2009, 81 percent of UGA student voters approved of the new fee.
“I definitely think it will be a positive change,” said Kevin Johnson, a fourth-year accounting major. “Most people I know want to do something but just don’t want to get super involved. Three dollars seems like a pretty easy way to help out.”
For first-year students as well, the passing of the green fee gives them even more reasons to be proud of attending UGA.
“I’m pretty impressed (about the 81% voter approval),” said Jessica Dorsey, a freshman living in Brumby Hall. “It seems like people our age don’t usually care as much about helping the environment.”
The passing of the green fee also assuaged some fears about the progress of UGA green initiatives in comparison with other universities.
“We got a D on our sustainability card before the passing of the green fee,” said Zhang. “I think last year we were ranked 137th out of 150 schools, but, part of it is that there’s a lot going on around campus that no one really knows about, but the director of sustainability does know about them and that’s definitely going to help with public relations.”
Edited by Marlyncia Pierce
Good addition of Kirsche as a source. It would be good to learn more from him, get more detailed plans and hear his voice through a quote.
ReplyDeletePhotos need identified people in them and cutlines.