IUSA wants to make campus green, sustainable with new initiative

The IU Student Association is making an effort to make IU a greener and more sustainable campus.

IUSA is working with various campus organizations to get an optional $5 green initiative fee listed as one of the checkboxes available during online class registration.

By urging IU students to sign a petition form in support of it, IUSA hopes to accomplish this goal.

“The idea is a grassroots way to put into being the efforts of student groups across campus and gives us something to show sustainability wise,” said senior Abby Schwimmer, IUSA director of sustainability.

The green initiative fund will go to any project on campus that could be seen as supporting sustainability or environmental efforts. Campus organizations may send in a request for a proposal to IUSA if an organization is working on an environmental project.

Examples of green projects include purchasing recycling bins or motion sensor lighting, according to an IUSA press release.

“The optional registration fee of $5 is not an energy fee,” Schwimmer said.

Through IUSA, a group of students and faculty members will determine which sustainability initiatives the fees will go to each semester. IUSA will create this panel and discuss how the money will be best used to make IU a more sustainable place.

They will decide where the money is urgently needed, said junior Nathan Bower-Bir, coordinator for IU Volunteers in Sustainability.

“The beauty of this fund is that it is subject to student control and supports a great cause,” Schwimmer said.

The process to get an optional fee on the checkbox list is to receive a quarter of the enrolled student body, approximately 10,000 students, to sign the petition.

“It’s not a commitment that you pay the fee if you sign the petition,” Schwimmer said. “It is stating that you support making the option available.”

To establish these funds, IUSA is working with Greeks Go Green, Volunteers in Sustainability, INPIRG and the Residence Hall Association.

Every dorm has a director of environmentalism, and they are handling how the petitions are being signed and how to get the word out about the green initiative to their particular residence hall, said sophomore Aarthi Devanathan, director of environmentalism for RHA.

“Students have an interest in making the campus greener, and signing the petition is a great place to start,” Schwimmer said.