News Update: Students unite, Greening Fund goes forward

By Noah Munro

"I was so psyched with their answer that I wanted to jump for joy and holler at the top of my lungs!" said Lucas Somers after a promising meeting with Joel Wincowski, Director of Admissions, Bill Throop, Provost, and Joe Manning, Chief Financial Officer, regarding the newest edition of the Student Campus Greening Fund (SCGF). Somers and Michael Maniery, Student Senate Director of Publicity, led a group of seven other students from a wide range of majors in a presentation in Pollack Hall on March 23rd to express their unified support for the green idea.

"We wanted to see all the clubs united along with Student Senate and that is exactly what you've done," Joel Wincowski said to the students at the meeting. The three administrative officials responded enthusiastically and left with intent to take the new policy to the college cabinet just in time for budgetary review.

The administration wanted to be clear that SCGF does not represent all of what GMC is doing to green the campus. As Bill Throop said in the meeting, "We are responding to a student initiative so they can have their own pot of cash."

The initiative emerged from Rebecca Purdom's Environmental Advocacy class in Spring '04 and is essentially a fee of $15/semester comparable to the technology fee. The money would be used for campus projects that would further the school's environmental mission.

Last fall, the idea was carried forth by a group of students, including Somers, Maniery, Kat Sauter, and Derek Andersen, who have worked hard to make the greening fund idea a reality.

When the administration was originally concerned about creating an entirely new structure to manage the fund, the SCGF team responded by collaborating with the Student Senate which has now accepted this responsibility. Maneiry and Gary Graser, Senior Representative, reported that the Senate has approved the handling and oversight by creating a new Senate position to fulfill the roles originally laid out in SCGF's bylaws. Proposals will still be submitted by students and would be voted on by the Student Senate.

"The idea is that the Student Senate functions much the same as the United States Senate and we the students put our trust in our elected student officials," says Somers. "It was always important for us to have this be as democratic as possible but the new structure was unrealistic for a small school."

(Ed. Note: For an in-depth background of the initiative, please read "More Green for your Green", which can be found in November's online issue at: http://campus.greenmtn.edu/mountaineer/2004_Nov/paul_scgf.asp.)