The Green Fund is a student initiative that would add $5 to $12 dollars to tuition each semester in order to fund clean energy projects. These projects would include on-site generation, such as solar panels and geothermal heating/cooling, as well as efficiency projects, including motion-sensor lighting and electronic timers. A portion of the fund will also purchase energy through Tennessee Valley Authority’s Green Power Switch, which offers energy from renewable sources.
The Green Fund failed to be placed on the ballot during SA elections in spring 2011 after the referendum was halted by a vote in SA Senate. Following the decision by the Senate, Students for a Sustainable Campus, the organization behind the Green Fund, petitioned for the issue to be placed on this year’s ballot.
“It is a vote to see if students support an initiative like this on campus,” Liz Kazal, a senior environmental geosciences major and member of the SSC, said,
“There’s 96 Green Funds across the country,” Kazal said, “Four of those Green Funds are in the Southeastern Conference. This is not some crazy idea. It’s something that is happening all over the country.”
Some students support the cause of the Green Fund, but find themselves weighing the increase in tuition against the benefits of the initiative.
“I believe in building a better tomorrow. This seems like a small price to pay for something that may benefit the campus and future students,” Jon McLeod, a junior history major, said.
Harry Hawkins, a clinical mental health graduate, suggests the university find some way to give the surplus from using renewable energy back to the students who are investing money into the fund.
“The current atmosphere around the country is increases or hikes in anything are a bad thing,” Hawkins said. “I share that sentiment, but I believe this money will go towards something that, in the long run, will offset a slew of costs related to energy.”
Some students feel MSU should have other priorities than implementing a new sustainability initiative.
Christian Hall, a sophomore software engineering major, said MSU should re-evaluate its priorities.
“While I admire the university’s desire to be a greener campus, our facilities are starting to suffer from the growing pains of having such a large student body,” Hall said. “I think MSU needs to focus on caring for its student body before jumping aboard an initiative like this, however admirable it might be. If you had a house with too many children in it, would you be worried about regulating the house’s energy consumption or making room for the children?”
Rhett Hobart, Student Association president, has followed the Green Fund campaign throughout the process to place the initiative on the ballot, both in his current position and as the 2010-2011 SA vice president.
“I think that looking at the idea of a student fee is a bigger issue than simply one fee,” Hobart said.
If the Green Fund passes through the student vote, it will go through the President’s office and multiple steps in MSU before being put into effect. If the Green Fund takes the form of a student fee, it would need approval from the IHL Board.
“It’s a very long-term process that takes a lot of steps for approval,” Hobart said.  “It’s not whether or not they support a green fee, but it’s whether or not they support student fees, in my mind,” Hobart said. “There are lots of things you have to look at when you are looking at student fees, in a sense that it could open the door for more.”