‘Blue Goes Green’ fee rejected for now
A Utah State University Regional Campus fee for the Blue Goes Green grant was rejected by USU President Stan Albrecht.
The proposed fee was 75 cents per credit, capped at $9, The fee was rejected for having a cap, which is against university policy for fees which are paid per credit.
The initial proposal missed the Jan. 28 deadline to be submitted to Vice President of Student Services James Morales, therefore the executive committee didn’t have time to properly examine the proposal before taking it to a vote across the Regional Campus student body, said Dave Woolstenhulme, vice provost of USU.
“There just wasn’t the time for the proper vetting,” Woolstenhulme said.
The fee was passed by the Regional Campus student body by eight votes after 252 students voted.
“I think if we would have (had) it in by the deadline that would have been caught,” said Chris Dayley, student services coordinator for USU regional campuses and distance education.
As a result, when the new fee proposal was sent to Albrecht on Feb. 27, it was denied. Woolstenhulme said that because the students voted on the fee with the cap written in, taking off the cap would be misinformation.
“We just wanted to be very clear to the students what it is that they are voting on,” Woolstenhulme said.
Blue Goes Green, funded by student fees, awards grants for students who present ideas to make USU environmentally, economically and socially sustainable. Some examples have been clearly marked recycling bins and water bottle filling stations.
The Blue Goes Green fee for Logan campus is 9 cents per credit starting at $2. Woolstenhulme said the reason the Regional Campuses fee was larger per credit was because there are less students attending Regional Campuses, making it difficult to award grants to student sustainability projects without more funding.
“Part of the reason I’m sure is the sheer number of students,” Woolstenhulme said. “To be able to generate enough fees for the regional campuses to do much with the fee.”
Initially the proposal was given to the Regional Campus Fee Board by Blue Goes Green with a $10 cap, which was later taken down to $9 by the board.
The fee is expected to be proposed to the Regional Campus Fee Board again next year and taken to a vote, this time without the cap.
“I would be very surprised if they don’t bring it up again next year,” Woolstenhulme said. “We just want them to have good, clean, clear information that they are voting on.”
The fee would have been split up proportionately by number of students to the four campuses, Tooele, Moab, Brigham City and Uintah Basin.
— dahdahjm@gmail.com