A group of UF students is looking ahead to Fall, when they hope to pass the Student Green Energy Fund.
The money from the fund will go toward specific operations that will reduce UF’s carbon footprint. It will benefit UF’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2025, said Heather Dean.
James O’Connell, the director of internal and external affairs for Gators Going Green, said UF would raise the money by adding 50 cents to each credit hour.
“For a normal semester, it adds up to about two Starbucks drinks,” the 20-year-old environmental engineering junior said.
Dean, a 22-year-old political science senior with a sustainability studies minor, said the specific uses of the money would have to be approved by a committee of faculty, administration and students.
Even though students become hesitant when adding tuition fees, Dean said, she has received positive feedback so far.
“They understand that this is something that is going to positively affect the campus for generations to come,” she said. “They want to invest in UF and make it a better place.”
The students missed the deadline to pass the fund this semester.
“We are kind of doing everything so that next Fall, everything can just be started right away and push through really quickly,” Dean said.
First, student petitions must be signed to get a referendum on the Student Government elections ballot. Dean said about 500 students must sign the petitions.
“The first step is to have the students approve it so that the university knows that this isn’t something that’s being forced on students,” she said.
The petitions would gain UF’s approval, and then it would have to go to the Board of Trustees and the Florida Board of Governors.
O’Connell said other Florida universities have already passed a similar fund.
“This is an example of something that we can do that makes our campus better and makes our university stronger,” he said.
