N.C. State recently established a Sustainability Fund through a student-led campaign that is expected to produce $85,000 per year. A sustainability fee of $3 a year will fund the initiative, vesting N.C. State in a push for sustainability.
According to Kyle Barth, Chair of the 2013 -2014 Sustainability Fund Board, the fund was designed to give students a voice.
“I’m excited to be involved in the inaugural year and give students an opportunity to have a seat at the table to develop N.C. State sustainability,” Barth said. “This initiative has been started across peer institutions with the collective goal to improve sustainability. This fund has the potential to empower students.”
The fund is accepting proposals until March 17 for short-term projects that produce immediate impact or long-term projects that would grow in funding and size over time.
Barth said sustainability is a hard term to define, and as a result, the board could select proposals relating to a variety of disciplines.
“The board is excited to take in a large variety of proposals that range from education, outreach, infrastructure, seminars and technology,” Barth said. “The aim is to change the standard specific discipline that sustainability is. Sustainability could be a part of anything.”
The board also consists of alumnus Matt Melillo, Nathan Pedder, a senior in mechanical engineering, and Joe Murray, a senior in mathematics. In addition, there are three faculty members including Derek Aday, associate professor of applied ecology, Thomas Kolnicki and Tracy Dixon, director of the University Sustainability Office.
“The Sustainability Fund is a great opportunity to improve the campus by creating a way for students to directly apply their talents as creatives, researchers and leaders,” Murray said. “In this respect, I hope the fund serves as a resource for students to find a passion for sustainability and a means to explore that passion.”
The origin of the fund can be traced to an early initiative called “Think Outside the Brick,” which was led by the student government. This fund, about $2000 annually, financed projects that included community gardens on Centennial Campus and in the Honors Quad. The student government sustainability commission soon realized that a $2000 budget was not big enough to enact meaningful projects. One of the original founders of the new Sustainability Fund, Caroline Hansley, a senior in interdisciplinary studies, pushed for a student fee to fund sustainability on campus, according to the fund’s webpage.
Though the sustainability fund is relatively new compared to other universities, Barth said the University is now on par with Texas A&M University regarding their $3 student fee rate.
However, other in-state institutions with a longer history of similar funds are generating more money.
Other universities include UNC-Chapel Hill with an $8 per year per-student fund and Appalachian State University with an annual $10 per-student fund. The University of Illinois has set the bar with $28 a year per student fund that generates roughly $6 million for sustainability. Many other universities have succeeded in increasing funding, and N.C. State could soon be among them, Barth said.
“NCSU is very well suited for such a fund,” Barth said. “We have a great faculty and growth all over campus in sustainability including agriculture, research and other areas. The president visited and brought with him the manufacturing initiative in which green energy and sustainability can play a big role.”
The University of Illinois has been a success story in terms of sustainability funding. The university completed a project which installed occupancy sensors across its campus in classrooms, restrooms, offices and other areas. This caused the electricity consumption to decrease, saving $11,000 and cutting 88,000 lbs of CO2 over its lifespan. If the University of Illinois can do it, N.C. State can do it better, Barth said.
“Because this initiative is funded through a student fee, students will be given top priority. If you are a student who has a project in mind, the best way to help your case would be to work with a faculty or staff member to submit it,” Barth said.
