Collegiate Times

Recently there has been a push by the Advisory Council for Environmental Sustainability (ACES) to impose a ?green fee? as part of the over $500 per semester in fees already paid by students. No, this has nothing to do with golf, but with the environment. According to the green fee proposal ? available on-line at www.gsa.uusa.vt.edu/Green Fee Proposal.doc ? the purpose of the fee is ? ? to enhance the student experience at Virginia Tech by decreasing pollution and increasing environmental awareness.?

This sounds good on the surface, but it is prudent to examine the details. After all, the proposed fee of $6 per student per semester would bring in over $300,000, the expenditure of which cannot be taken lightly.

The proposal mentions two primary uses for the money ? energy efficiency within campus facilities and increasing the rate of campus recycling. By ?energy efficiency,? the proposal refers to energy use within campus facilities. The idea is that by investing money up front to improve facilities (some from the green fee, and some already provided by the university) that thousands of dollars in potential long-term energy savings can be realized. Certainly this is a good step in terms of both environment and finances.

The major concern here is not the intent of the fee, but the method by which it would be implemented. So far the green fee effort has been entirely student-led and controlled. Its proponents are collecting petition signatures, providing information, and asking both the Student Government Association (SGA) and Graduate Student Association (GSA) to endorse it. The final step will be to ask the Virginia Tech Board of Visitors to add the $6 per semester to our comprehensive fees.

There are several problems with this being a ?fee.? For one, students would be forced to pay it whether they feel it is a worthwhile cause or not. But let?s assume for the moment that most students think raising money for environmental purposes is a good idea.

The second ? and biggest ? problem with it being a fee is once the Board of Visitors (BOV) passes it control of the money will be out of the hands of students and into the hands of university administration.

Yes, there will be some student input, but that can be ignored. It is a matter of human nature that bureaucracies tend to serve their own interests rather than the interests of the people they represent. So how could we be absolutely assured that once given this extra $300,000 the administration wouldn?t use a portion of it for some purpose other than what is intended?

Finally, there is the issue of dollar amount. Yes, it is small now, but what about down the road? It is a historical fact that fees ? like taxes ? do only one thing once they are in place, and that is go up. The fee is proposed to be $6 ? one possible reason for this being that it is so small few people will complain. Once in place, however, a greedy bureaucracy could raise it in small increments annually so that ten years from now it is substantially higher. If it is $6 now, it could just as easily be $40 or $50 not long after we all graduate.

An alternative to making this a green ?fee? would be for students to contribute the money on their own to ACES without involving the BOV or administration. At other universities where similar fees have been passed, the measures have enjoyed overwhelming student support (75 percent or greater). Assuming Hokies are of a similar mindset, this indicates that convincing students to make voluntary contributions for the cause would not be difficult.

The voluntary system would address all three concerns previously mentioned. No one would be forced to pay if they didn?t want to, for one. More importantly, the student organizations who are leading the charge for the environment would maintain direct control over the money, thus ensuring it would be spent appropriately. And of course, since it would be voluntary, future increases could be regulated by willingness of students rather than the administration.

The intentions of this green fee are noble, but the devil is always in the details. I strongly encourage all students ? especially those in the SGA and GSA ? to examine the green fee carefully and consider all available information as well as any unintended consequences before making a decision. After all, this affects not just us, but every Hokie who will follow in our footsteps.