Green Initiative Fund runs into delays

The Green Initiative Fund Advisory Referendum Vote, which was scheduled for April 13 and 14, has been postponed until further notice.

The Student Association (SA) is planning to take action on the issue in the future, citing the strong push from the campus’s environmentally minded students. SA’s Department of Environmental Affairs, which is spearheading the push for the Green Initiative Fund, decided that having the vote at this stage would be undercutting their original intent for what the fund would ideally consist of.  Chair of the department, senior representative Adam Malchoff, said, “It no longer was providing a reliable and easily accessible source of funding. Even if the Green Initiative Fund was established, there was never any guarantee that there would be money in it. And that certainly was not what I was advocating for.”

The goal of the Green Initiatice Fund was to enact a small student fee to create a pool of money that could be used for sustainable and environmentally friendly projects around the campus.

SA president Kevin Wysocki said he supports the fund but believes there are issues that need to be worked out before it can be brought to a vote. 

“I wanted a referendum for the Green Initiative Fund this semester,” Wysocki said. “But doing so proved to be more complex than anticipated for a number of reasons. Other schools have run into legal problems in the past when using a binding referendum to allocate funds from the student activity fee for a specific cause.”

Other SUNY schools have attempted to increase their student activity fee by using a referendum vote to decide which programs and causes the money would be used for.  The University at Albany attempted to use a referendum vote to increase a particular group’s budget. The vote was ruled unconstitutional by a federal appeals court.  The court demanded that the school administer the money collected by the mandatory activity fee in a manner that would not be viewed as favoring one group or cause. 

Malchoff said he will look into the situation at other SUNY schools and attempt to ratify any concerns that may come up.

“At this point I have become familiar with SUNY restrictions and will take time now to research the legal issues further in order to work within the guidelines,” Malchoff said. “I have faith [that] the original concept is still achievable as long as it is approached properly.  This has been at over 50 other schools, many of them public.”

The only other school in the state to create a similar fee is SUNY Plattsburg, which has instituted a $3-per-student semester fee attached to their activity fee. Students at Plattsburg can choose to opt out of the fee, which allowed the fund to pass. 

Katie Tyczynski, a junior early childhood education  major and member of the Department of Environmental Affairs believes the campus should look into an opt out option.

“We need to work with SA and the administration to figure out how to create an opt out option for Fredonia Students in regards to the Green Initiative Fund,” Tyczynski said. “We have reached many students around campus and garnered support so it is important for us to keep students informed as well as interested in the future” 

Wysocki believes student support is key to keep the fund alive.

“Regardless of the current economic situation, if students want things like a campus garden, more recycling and improved energy efficiency, then students should continue to advocate for the Green Initiative Fund,” he said.

The original proposal was to raise the mandatory student activity fee from $93 to $96.  The New York State Legislature set the state cap at $100 for activity fees and the possibility of bringing Fredonia’s fee within $4 of the state limit made many in the student government wary of the increase. Budget and Appropriations committee member Marisa Santillo believes the increase would effect student groups at this juncture. 

“If the student activity fee is raised and we come too close to the cap it will hurt groups on campus,” Santillo said, “because they will not be able to receive increases in their budgets. If the fee ends up at the cap the current budgets of groups would have to be cut to keep the overall budget in-line with the cap.”

Wysocki said, “The student government must act finically responsible now.” He said tough economic times and concerns of tuition increases have caused concern over creating the Green Initiative Fund.

The Department of Environmental Affairs plans to push for the Green Initiative Fund in the future after all concerns are addressed and all SA members are comfortable with having a referendum vote.