In a meeting on Friday between Students for a Sustainable Campus and the Mississippi State University Student Association Attorney General Justin Watts granted the campus sustainability group a referendum vote for a green fund on the September Senate elections ballot.
The resolution will advance, pending the verification of the group’s petition’s signatures. Despite graduating seniors who signed the petition, SSC will not be required to collect any more signatures, Watts said.
The student group of about 30 members anticipated a vote late this semester, but because of miscommunication with SA, the vote will be postponed.
SA President Rhett Hobart said according to SA constitution, before a special election can take place, Information Technology Services must be notified 14 days in advance and the student body seven days in advance.
SSC is trying to pass a measure that would allot $5 of student tuition toward a green fund, which would enhance sustainability efforts on the MSU campus. However, Hobart said any tuition allocation must go through numerous steps of approval and said the passage of a referendum will not automatically put the tuition allocation in place.
Last fall, the group began surveying the general student body to gauge interest in such a project, and at the beginning of the spring semester, the SSC began meeting with SA senators to develop a resolution.
When those senators presented the resolution to add the vote for the green fund to the spring executive council ballot, it failed by one vote. After the resolution was defeated, the SSC began collecting signatures, using an alternate method that could still allow the issue to come to a vote in the spring through a special election. 
Once 15 percent of the student body signed the petitions, SSC submitted them to SA on April 4.
However, because of miscommunication in the executive council of SA and a misunderstanding of constitutional policy by SSC, there is not sufficient time for a special election to take place this semester.
   Anne Welch, a senior interdisciplinary studies major, said the entire process has been frustrating.
“We are trying to work within our means as a student group, but it is difficult and it should not be,” Welch said.
Hobart said he was not notified about the completion and submission of the surveys until Wednesday, though they were submitted on April 4.
SSC said they were unaware of the policy direction necessary to submit the petitions, but Hobart said the group should have come to him directly for instruction. 
“A petition for a referendum is something that has not taken place in recent years and we can only work to improve the system by knowing the problems that we have,” Hobart said. “This process has definitely shown us places that we needed to evaluate in our constitution to make sure that it is clear for any future groups.”
SSC member Liz Kazal, a senior chemical engineering major, said she simply wanted a recognition of the lack of communication and wanted to know that the SA would correct matters.
“Although it has been frustrating, it is definitely encouraging that we will have a vote next semester,” she said.
Chief Administrative Officer of the SA Shelby Balius said the SA learned from this process that improvements can be made.
“Through the problems we encountered, we have learned that changes need to be made.  We plan to make the process more clear for the future,” Balius said.