Student fee promotes a greener campus

Green Fee Committee grants money to support sustainability projects

The Green Fee fund still has $50,000 to distribute for projects around campus.

The Green Fee is designed to take students’ fees and use them to turn Georgia College into a more environmentally friendly campus.

The Green Fee, which is actually a sub-fee of the Student Activities fee, was originally proposed three years ago but took until last spring to get approved by SGA, the mandatory student fee committee and Georgia College President Dorothy Leland.

The program has approximately $50,000 to use.  Any Georgia College student, faculty or registered student organization, is allowed to propose an idea, but each project must be conducted by a student and advised by a faculty member. The proposed project has to be based at the university, and according to Julia Metzker, professor of chemistry and member of the Green Fee committee, most proposals must be researched.

“Each project has a research component to it,” Metzker said. “If the project is well researched then it won’t die. This gives students the chance to use the campus as a sort of lab.”

Each project that passes through the system and is approved is allotted $5,000. If the program gains more success in the next few years, the fee per student may increase slightly according to Metzker.

Loribeth Berry, a junior environmental science major, feels that this fee is different from other fees.

“The best thing about it is that the money is intended for student use,” Berry said. “We are really hoping to see students step up and apply for these grants and start making green changes on our campus.”

Along with Metzker, the committee is comprised of 11 students coming from a variety of majors, and four other faculty members, one from each of the four colleges: Sam Mutiti, Will Hobbs, Cynthia Orms, and Doug Oetter. In the near future, Metzker would like to see several representatives from each major join the committee.

One of the students on the committee, sophomore environmental science major Colin Maldonado, is part of the review council and oversees the received proposals.

“Me and several other members on the committee will receive proposals and grade them according to a specific evaluation criteria,” Maldonado said. “If the proposal can clearly measure success of the project, provide a explicit structure for conducting the research, and is in line with Georgia College’s sustainability goals, we will present it to the full committee. If accepted, the full committee will then allocate specific funding for the project.”

Members of the committee are also allowed to write proposals and have them reviewed by other members. They can also take part in projects that other students initiate. Allison Barfield, a freshman chemistry major and member of the committee, is currently working on a composting project with Metzker and other students that involves composting scraps from the dining hall and grass clippings.

Recently, the Green Fee committee hosted two pre-planning clinics where students could come and suggest ideas. Although a few ideas were proposed and are now being reviewed, the committee would like to have seen a few more students at the meetings.

“We are seeking out greater participation by students, because it is only us who are able to actually conduct the research, and each project could use at least three to four students,” Maldonado said.

Metzker said the Green Fee’s biggest obstacle is communicating with the students. In order to get the word out about this program, Metzker would like to start an annual campus sustainability symposium. This would help students see the public face of the Green Fee program. If the program is successful, the symposium could be presented at a regional level and possibly even a national level.

Along with including a sustainability symposium, the committee also plans to start working on projects this semester and into the summer so that they will have completed projects by Spring 2012. The committee hopes this will help attract future students interested in being a part of an environmentally conscious campus.

According to Barfield and Maldonado, one of the biggest issues that needs to be addressed is energy and water conservation within the residence halls.

“I would like to research and develop a way to monitor energy and water consumption within the dorms,” Maldonado said. “Having no cap on utility expenditures, I have found an overly careless attitude towards leaving lights on and running water.”

Barfield would also like for motion sensitive lights to be placed in the dorms to conserve energy as well as the addition of recycling bins in the halls, similar to those that can already be seen around campus.

Metzker hopes in the years to come students will not be able to walk around campus without seeing something that is a result of the Green Fee.

Posted by Anna Morris on Apr 2 2011. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.