Students at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN voted last week to approve a $10 per student per semester Renewable Energy fee to increase energy efficiency and the use renewable energy for the campus. The referendum was approved by an overwhelming 83% majority.
“The mandate is clear: Austin Peay students want to be a force for change. We want to decrease our reliance on fossil fuels,” says Gail Gillis of Students Organized to Advance Renewable Energy (SOARE). “We hope students on other campuses will campaign for similar fees. Our leaders are beginning to listen, and together we can present a united voice and positively impact our entire country’s energy future.”
Now the APSU student government and administration will forward the fee increase request to the Tennessee Board of Regents for approval this summer. If the Regents approve the fee, implementation could begin fall 2007.
This is extremely interesting, as our administration is currently proposing a similar student fee that the administration will match to complete a long-awaited energy retrofit. Perhaps you can connect me to someone I could speak with from Austin Peay to find out how the student organization (SOARE) went about making the student body aware of the issue and eager to vote in favor?
Hi Jennie,
It took a year of building up our group and being a part of various events and sponsoring events with other groups to get to the point of the SGA allowing a student vote. We surveyed and educated the students, sponsored a film festival and speakers re: mountaintop removal coal mining, sponsored a “Hot Topic” debate about global warming and tabled at various events where we knew there would be a big turn-out, i.e. freshman orientation events.
We got friendly with the local newspaper and got some good publicity there. We wrote articles for the university newspaper. We have a GREAT faculty advisor who helped us immensely.
Check out the SOARE website and contact our president, Jessica Cameron at jcameron15@apmail.apsu.edu. She can give you some good pointers.
Best wishes in your worthy endeavor. You can do it!
Gail