MSA passes sustainability referendum

The program would allow student voice on projects.

By Belinda Kocen

Published Jan. 30, 2009

Students will vote on a referendum next month asking for the approval of a new student fee of $1 per student per semester for sustainability initiatives.

The referendum will be available for student vote Feb. 9 through Feb. 11, along with another referendum regarding the Associated Students of Missouri and elections of Missouri Students Association senators.

The MSA Senate voted on the wording of the referendum Wednesday and plan to send out an e-mail Feb. 9 instructing students how to log on to a Web site and vote yes or no for the referendum. Sustain Mizzou President Pat Margherio said the process will be similar to that of MSA elections last fall.

"E-mail communication will be our main source of publicity," MSA Budget Chair Matt Sheppard said.

If the referendum passes the Student Activity Fee will decrease by $.34 per student instead of the full $1.34 after the Student Fee Review Committee and MSA made their recommendations last semester.

"I want to make it clear to students that they can pass the sustainability referendum and not pay more next year," Mays said.

The $1 per student per semester will not be a reduction of fees from another departments MSA Senate Speaker Jonathan Mays said. The money would be used to support student sustainability efforts on campus by hiring two graduate assistants and up to six student workers. The graduate assistants and student workers would focus on research projects and educational efforts on campus, Margherio said.

Sheppard said the only auxiliary fund he knows is being reduced is the ASUM. This is because they had roll over fees to begin with; any other auxiliary fund that will be reduced had roll over fees he said.

"The reason that student fees are still able to decrease is because we are reallocating roll over money from other auxiliaries towards the sustainability efforts," Sheppard said.

The referendum states that the graduate assistants and student workers would also advocate for the money saved by sustainability programming to go back to the student body.

"Going green saves the university money which I want to go back towards sustainability projects and back to students for grants and scholarships," Sustain Mizzou Student Adviser Ben Datema said.

Datema said according to his research, other campuses that have student sustainability fees charge anywhere from $5 to $25 a student. Also, he said other campuses have 10 to 15 student workers dealing with sustainability issues rather than the eight mentioned in the referendum.

"Sustain Mizzou has been happily overwhelmed with projects, but we are overwhelmed nonetheless," Datema said at the operations meeting Tuesday.

The referendum will help gather students' opinions regarding sustainability efforts.

"We can get a full range of students' voices since Sustain Mizzou can't take polls and make surveys," Margherio said. "The fee will take the pulse of the student body to see what they feel is important and what projects they want."

If students approve the fee it will continue in 2011 and will be required to be re-approved every four years by the student body. To pass the referendum MSA requires a two-thirds majority vote.