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USU student lobbies for environmental position on student executive council

Following recent measures taken this year by Utah State University to decrease the university’s carbon footprint, USU students are lobbying to implement a new position on the Utah State University Student Association (USUSA) executive council.

Michael Cherry, president of USU’s Delta Sigma Chi fraternity chapter, is spearheading these efforts to install what he calls a Vice President of Sustainability. On Oct. 8, Cherry presented the idea to the USU Executive Council during their weekly public forum.

Cherry said USU made a goal in 2007 to become carbon neutral by 2050. He also said both the USU Faculty Senate and USUSA passed further resolutions in 2019 to accelerate the process of becoming carbon neutral. 

“This is a lofty goal to obtain, but with the right tools and mindset within USUSA, I believe that we can start making changes here,” Cherry said. “I would love to see a new position that really moves forward with sustainability.”

Cherry also said the position would be in charge of reducing waste at USUSA events and advocacy, directing new policies aimed at sustainability and taking charge of other sustainability measures on campus. 

“We have this plan in place, like it’s written down, but it’s not necessarily happening yet,” Cherry said. “We don’t have time to wait. The climate is changing, man. We gotta act now.”

According to USUSA President Sami Ahmed, the idea of a sustainability vice president has merit. However, Ahmed said creating a new position may prove more complicated than the student lobbyists may have considered.

For one thing, adding another position to the Executive Council would change the voting dynamics on the council, according to Ahmed. Ahmed said the president does not usually vote on the council, but if there was to be a tie, the president’s vote would be the tie breaker. 

“I have the power to break a tie. If we were to add another officer in there, the USUSA President would lose that power,” Ahmed said.

Ahmed also said there are other issues at play, including a concern that by adding a new position, the Council may be setting a precedent for other groups at USU to lobby for positions on the Council. However, Ahmed emphasized the Council is not opposed to sustainability measures on campus but is primarily concerned with logistics.

“Someone with an equally good idea could come in and say, ‘What about this?’ Or, ‘Why can’t we have this?’” Ahmed said. “At the core, I don’t think anyone has any issues with the idea … It’s more of a logistics issue.”

According to Cherry, other universities such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) have already created positions with a focus of increasing campus sustainability, and USU has a chance to be one of the pioneering schools in that regard.

“This is my big attempt to try to get USU to be one of the schools on the forefront of this issue,” Cherry said.  

Cherry is not alone in his lobbying efforts. Stemming from an idea Cherry has had for a while, Cherry and the three other members of his team gained motivation from an assignment in an Environmental Policy class at USU. 

According to Cherry, he and his teammates decided to take the assignment- which asked students to design an environmental policy at USU or in Logan- as a challenge to enact real change. Cherry said his team is working on a charter for the new position right now, and his team is developing a student petition to be completed by Dec. or Jan.

Still, Ahmed said, even if the council decides to consider the proposal, implementing the new position would be more of a long-term plan with a one- to two-year timeline. 

Cherry said the hope is to bring real change to USU, even if it takes longer than a semester. 

“I know that I’m really into this, and that if we can at least get other organizations on campus on board with this, then it doesn’t really matter if we continue after this,” Cherry said. “Those other organizations will continue pushing it forward.”

@jshwilki

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