This election season, students have the option to “go green” with a referendum seeking an increase in student fees to fund an account for environmental sustainability efforts at UCLA.
The Green Initiative Fund, which will be put before students in the upcoming Undergraduate Students Association Council election, would raise fees by $4 per quarter to finance student, faculty and staff environmental projects.
Students will have the opportunity to vote from May 5 to May 8. The referendum requires a simple majority of voters to pass.
Passage of the referendum would make over $200,000 per year available to groups aiming to reduce UCLA’s impact on the environment. Projects can focus on issues such as climate change, renewable energy and educating the campus community on sustainability.
“Some possible projects are student internships for environmental work, an organic garden that could bring food to the dining halls, or solar panels,” said Alisa Ahmadian, a student leader for The Green Initiative Fund.
Though there is room for student vision and creativity in the projects, the guidelines of the initiative set forth specific requirements to receive funding.
Kasey Topp, a student leader for the fund, said a strong focus on the UCLA community is a central criterion for project approval.
“In the proposed bylaws, it states specifically that this is for UCLA in particular and aims to lessen UCLA’s impact on the environment,” Topp said.
She added that student involvement in the project is another requirement.
“Any staff or faculty member can apply, but undergraduate student participation in their project is a requirement because this is our money. It is funded by students for students,” Topp said.
Allocation of funds would rely on a grant-making committee comprised of four students and three faculty or staff members. In order to receive funding, groups would fill out a written application before presenting their ideas to the committee, according to the bylaws of the fund.
While the passage of the referendum would increase fees for most students, those receiving financial aid would not be affected because of the University of California’s return-to-aid policy which applies to student fee increases.
“If passed, The Green Initiative Fund will actually raise over $300,000 per year, but by UC policy, 25 percent of that money returns to student financial aid,” Topp said. “So after return-to-aid, we have slightly over $200,000 for sustainability projects.”
Students such as Moena Nishimura voiced support for the referendum, viewing the environment as an increasingly critical issue.
“I would support it because the environment is overlooked a lot and it’s something we need to focus on right now. It’s a really relevant issue,” said Nishimura, a first-year biology student.
Nathan Jones, a fifth-year history student, said the fund is especially necessary within the context of a large university system.
“The bureaucracy is really inefficient and wasteful,” he said. “Anything students can do to reduce waste is much needed.”
But several students expressed doubts about their lack of control over the usage of the funds. Aaron Nichols, a fourth-year biochemistry student, said he would be hesitant to vote for the referendum because it sounds too vague.
“If there were to be a project that was ineffective, I would wonder where the money went,” Nichols said. “If they had a particular initiative in mind to use the funds for, I would be all for it.”
Jennifer Farzam, a first-year neuroscience student, expressed a similar sentiment.
“Before anyone can vote for this, we need to know exactly what the money will be going toward,” she said.
Topp said these fears are understandable but unwarranted, as the fund will only be granted to groups who meet the committee’s requirements and promise to use the money for specific purposes detailed in the bylaws.
“I hope that students will look into it more and see that it actually is very structured,” she said. “There are five pages of bylaws outlining where exactly this money is going.”
Getting the initiative on the ballot has been a lengthy process. Ahmadian said the guidelines had to go through several stages of approval, including USAC and the chancellor. The council approved the final bylaws by a two-thirds majority at their Tuesday meeting.
The initiative seeks to open the door to greater sustainability efforts both at the university level and in the greater community.
“It is important to stress that it is not a complete fix-it for environmental problems, it is just a first step,” Ahmadian said.
If the referendum is approved by students, UCLA will join the ranks of UC Berkeley and UC Santa Barbara in funding students’ efforts to address their environmental concerns.
More information on The Green Initiative Fund is available at their Web site,
www.tgifla.org.