To the President of the Undergraduate Student Government Alex Solis, staying green is important.
“Through sustainability initiatives, we leave BG better than we found it,” he said. “It is something that’s very important.”
Solis and Vice President David Neely both focused on green initiatives when they ran for office over a year ago. To support their goals, USG has applied to be certified as a green office, which required the Office of Sustainability to come and look at the office and see their green practices.
“If we pass, we will be the second office [to be green certified],” Solis said. “We need to take pride and see how the simple initiatives can make a difference.”
To go along with the staying green spirit, Coordinator of Sustainability Nick Hennessy came to speak with USG Monday night.
“Sustainability is all about preparing for the future,” Hennessy said during the meeting. “How we want to be preparing for our kids and our kids’ kids.”
The University is one of the 322 colleges that were named a green college by a Princeton review, he said during the meeting.
Hennessy said he runs an office of one, however there are student interns and volunteers that help him with their various projects to improve sustainability on campus and reduce the University’s carbon footprint.
“We don’t have a lot of alternative energy for BG,” he said during the meeting. “However, we do have sun panels on the Oaks and the ice arena.”
Other programs he helps run include Green Tailgating, Green Office Certification Program, Orange Bicycle Program and the Reuse Store.
After Hennessy spoke, USG members went on to talk about Call To Action, which is a student-run group that formed in response to racially charged tweets aimed at the Black Student Union that happened earlier this semester. Call To Action claimed the administration and Not In Our Town wasn’t doing enough for the students and presented five demands to the administration for changes to be made by Dec. 2.
In the last meeting, USG tabled a resolution that was meant to support Call To Action’s ideas because the legislation was found too broad and vague.
Speaker Katie Post was one of the many that encouraged the senate to continue the support for Call To Action.
“We should write a new resolution supporting Call To Action,” Post said. “A committee should be working with both the students and the administration to create a new one.”
There will be a meeting for USG next Monday, December 9 at 7:30 in 308 Union.
