[Editor's Note: This story has been updated to reflect a correction. It was incorrectly reported that the Student Green Energy Fund will save UF about $600,000 a year. The story should have read that the fund will generate about $600,000 each year in funds that will be put toward student-proposed projects to lower UF’s electricity costs and thereby save the university money.]
The Student Senate unanimously passed a bill supporting the Student Green Energy Fund at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The bill, which will be voted on for a final time next week, supports a fund for projects that would lower energy use on campus.
It also supports an “energy fee,” which would cost students 50 cents per credit hour up to a maximum of $15 per semester.
The Senate has no jurisdiction over fees. Before the meeting, Gators Going Green Agency Head Brittnie Baker said she hoped Senate support would show administrators that students were willing to support such a fee.
Baker, a former senator, presented the bill and said that in the 2007-08 academic year, a Student Government referendum for the fee passed with 78 percent approval from student voters.
She said the university pays $43 million a year in energy costs.
The fee will cost the average student about $6 per semester, she said, similar to the cost of a Chipotle burrito.
Alex Palomino, who presented with Baker, said the fund will generate about $600,000 each year in funds that will be put toward student-proposed projects to lower UF’s electricity costs and thereby save the university money.
“Think of this as saving money for the university so tuition hikes don’t have to keep happening,” said Palomino, the director of student outreach for Gators Going Green.
The spring Student Government election ballots didn’t include a referendum on this because of time constraints, Baker said.
Baker and Palomino suggested periodically adding the referendum to SG voting ballots so students can vote to alter or eliminate the fee.
The Senate also passed a bill to allocate $49,293 to renovate Room 300 of the Reitz Union. The renovations will occur after this semester.
Sen. Umair Asghar was the only senator to speak against the bill. He said his problem was with the price tag.
The other bill that passed Tuesday night was originally supporting the Kony 2012 campaign, but senators debated the bill and made a few changes.
Sen. Nathan Wangusi, who co-authored the bill, spoke passionately in favor of the bill.
“In my mind, one child suffering is one child too many,” he said.
However, Sen. Carly Wilson proposed amendments to change the bill from supporting the Kony 2012 campaign to supporting, apprehending and prosecuting Joseph Kony.
The last bill the Senate heard Tuesday expressed condolences for Trayvon Martin.
Senators debated whether they should remove the “white and Latino” description of George Zimmerman, who claimed he shot Trayvon in self-defense. They postponed the bill to next week.
Sen. Amanda Norman, who co-authored the bill, expressed displeasure with the vote.
“We will be going through the same thing next week for no reason,” she said.
Contact Samantha Shavell at sshavell@alligator.org.
Gators Going Green Student Outreach Director Alex Palomino and Agency Head Brittnie Baker speak at the Student Senate meeting Tuesday night.
