In 2006, DU students ran a successful on-campus campaign to address climate change, specifically focusing on DU’s carbon emissions. Since then, DU students have been funding sustainability initiatives through a yearly “green fee” of $16 included in the “activity fee” portion of tuition.
Shreya Surendra, DU undergraduate and chair of the Undergraduate Student Government’s (USG) Sustainability Committee (SusCom), explained how these fees have been used over time.
“After paying off the carbon offsets of Sturm Hall and Driscoll North, the students opted to use these fees to fund sustainability projects on campus, which is the SusCom that we see today,” Surendra said.
The Sustainability Committee manages the green fee funds by approving and funding on-campus projects that relate to sustainability. Although a branch of USG, SusCom operates differently than other USG committees.
“All the other committees on USG are only composed of senators, but anyone on campus who is an undergraduate student can join the sustainability committee,” said Surendra.
DU first-year and SusCom member Rachel Bienstock, explained the importance of voting on funding projects that will impact undergraduate students.
“I think it’s really important for students to have a say. Our younger generation has a different perspective on sustainability. Being part of this committee will allow that perspective to be more prevalent in the university’s decisions,” said Bienstock.
Since 2010, SusCom has expanded its funding. Energy efficiency projects, including funding the ski bus and repairing existing bike stands on campus to promote cycling at DU have been successful efforts of the committee. More recently, SusCom worked with Delta Zeta in the spring of 2021, approving a project in which sustainable period products were made available to the women of the sorority.
While most of the projects SusCom funds are through DU’s Center for Sustainability, Surendra emphasized that students can apply for funding for individual or group initiatives through a form on Crimson Connect.
“There are so many different ways that sustainability can be implemented that people aren’t aware of. Even if you think your project doesn’t relate to sustainability, reach out and we can find ways to make it sustainable,” Surendra said.
Surendra noted greater outreach as a goal for SusCom this year, explaining the importance of finding members of different backgrounds.
“I want to create a more diverse committee. A lot of our committee comes from an environmental science or sustainability background. I think it would be great to see people who aren’t in a sustainability related field getting interested in it,” Surendra said.
Students who are interested in becoming a member of SusCom can fill out an application on Crimson Connect.
