MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A proposed student fee that would pay for renewable energy and other environmental projects at the University of Memphis has been endorsed by students.
University president Shirley Raines must now approve the recommendation for the $10 per semester fee. If she does, it will then be forwarded to the Tennessee Board of Regents for final action.
The fee drew wide support in an electronic referendum earlier this month. Of the 1,659 students who participated, 69 percent voted in favor of setting a fee, although no dollar amount was stipulated. Last week, the Student Senate voted to cap the recommendation for the fee at $10.
Students could begin paying it this fall.
University of Tennessee at Knoxville, Middle Tennessee State University and Tennessee Tech already have set environmental fees, while Austin Peay State University has taken steps toward one.
With some 20,000 students enrolled at U of M, a $10 per semester fee would raise about $400,000 annually.
William Porter, assistant vice president for student affairs and dean of students at U of M, said the school hasn't decided yet exactly how to spend the money.
But the Environmental Action Club, the campus group which pushed to pass the fee, wants half the money used for purchasing "blocks" of renewable energy through the Tennessee Valley Authority's "Green Power Switch" program.
Participants in the program pay extra to get electricity that's generated by renewable sources, such as wind, solar and methane gas facilities.
Roslyn Weiss, president of the Environmental Action Club, estimated that with half the fee going to green power purchases, about 10 percent of U of M's energy could come from renewable sources.
The other half of the revenues from the fee should go toward projects that improve energy efficiency and sustainability on campus, Weiss said.
MTSU is the largest college consumer of green power, buying 55,000 blocks annually, according to TVA officials. Each block is 150 kilowatt-hours- about 12 percent of a typical household's monthly power use.
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