seeks alternate funding for recycling program
The author of the proposed $2 recycling fee announced Wednesday the withdrawal of his resolution and his plan to consider alternative funding methods.
Sen. William Winters said he introduced the $2 fee last week with the hope of funding a campuswide recycling program, expanding on the current recycling pilot program.
Student Government, Residential Life, the Office of the Chancellor and the Student Environmental Action Coalition now oversee a pilot program within the residential halls. However, the University will need additional funding to maintain a program throughout campus.
Winters met with members of the Student Senate Rules Committee, SG President Patrick McCune and several SEAC members to consider methods of funding a campuswide program without charging students.
“We are going to be in discussion with the chancellor,” said Speaker Pro Tempore Jerry Fisher, Rules Committee chair. “We are still going to work for a campuswide recycling program.”
Chancellor Mark Emmert has expressed interest in funding a program in the past, Winters said.
“If the chancellor decides he can’t further fund a recycling program, then looking to a fee might be an option,” he said.
Creating a student fee should be a last resort, McCune said.
Also during the Senate meeting, senators spent more than two hours discussing the need for hiring two full time SG faculty advisers.
While some senators said they thought the existing SG office manager, Mary James, and Dean of Students, Kevin Price, already filled the job description, others argued SG members overworked them.
“The first week I was in my job, I talked with people in SG about their needs, and I was very interested in knowing what they thought,” said Dean of Students Kevin Price. “I found there was a need for someone whose primary responsibility was SG.”
The senators opposed to hiring new advisors said they thought SG would lose some of its power to independently serve the students.
“SG does not need a big brother babysitter,” argued Sen. Justin Germany.
In the end, senators voted to table the resolution and bring it up for discussion in a committee and before the entire Senate next Wednesday.
Also next week, senators should discuss a bill allowing students to vote at any voter location during SG elections.
Tracy Simoneaux