Alexandria Bennet talks about some of the benefits of the Green Fund.

By Katie Browning, Staff Writer, & Amy Smith, News Editor

Students voted to pass the “Green Fund Initiative” last spring, adding a $5 charge to each student’s tuition for every semester.

The fund was proposed to provide a financial resource from which students could “further sustainable causes viewed as important by both students and faculty,” according to The Green Fund Initiative proposal written by PLNU senior John Penner.

With roughly $25,000 now set aside, the process of determining how the Green Fund will be spent is underway. According to the initiative, the Sustainability Task Force, formerly known as the Resource Stewardship Task Force, will choose how the funds are spent.

“Students voted to place the fund disbursement responsibility on the task force,” said Penner. “The task force chose to create an application so that students would get to choose where the money is spent.”

That application, which the Sustainability Task Force says will be made available online by the end of this month, will allow any PLNU student, staff member or faculty member to make a proposal.

Student involvement is at the heart of the process, PLNU Sustainability Coordinator Alexandria Bennett said.

“We wanted this to be centered around what students want this year,” said Bennett. “My number one goal is to get students more connected with decisions relating to sustainability on campus.”

PLNU senior Jordan Young is already working on his application for the addition of fruit trees on campus.

“I thought it would be a cool idea,” said Young. “I want trees to be visible around campus so everyone can pluck some fresh organic apples or oranges on their way to class.”

Young is a student assistant for PLNU Sustainability and hopes other students will be motivated to submit Green Fund project applications.

“The important thing is that this application process is open to all students,” said Young. “It just takes an idea and a couple minutes.”

Other ideas include an on-campus thrift store, which PLNU junior Jeff Murray would like to have.

“I think it would be cool to see students get creative,” Murray said.

The initiative itself gives examples of acceptable uses for the funds including front-loading washing machines, fuel-efficient campus vehicles or a community garden.

Applications are due Dec. 31. Members of the Sustainability Task Force will determine which projects receive the funds. The project plans and funds will then be transferred to Physical Plant, which is responsible for completing the projects by March of next year.

“When the Task Force decides on a project in December each year, it will be finished by mid-February to mid-March of the same academic year,” said Penner.

The initiative also states that a minimum of 25 percent of the funds collected each year “must be spent within the academic year in which they were received.”

Many students say they are not familiar with the details of the initiative.

“If the Green Fund is anything more detailed than to just ‘recycle,’ then I have no idea what it is,” said junior McKenzie Jank.

Junior Michelle Smith, Jank’s roommate, said the only contact she has had with the Green Fund has been a sign she “always reads” that tells her that the fund has been passed, with no details to follow.

“I would just like to know where [the money] is going,” Smith said. “Students are either going to see where it’s going and like it, or say that we need to put it toward something else.”

And the Green Fund isn’t the only “Nazagreen” effort on campus this year. Other changes include the purchased hydration station in Nicholson Commons for filling re-usable water bottles as well as the installation of low-flow showerheads in each residence hall.

The showerheads have a lever that allows residents to adjust water pressure while maintaining the same water temperature. According to a campus-wide e-mail sent by PLNU Sustainability Coordinator Alexandria Bennett, use of the low-flow lever could reduce water consumption on campus by 70 percent, saving about two gallons of water per minute used.

Landscaping changes have also been made, as Physical Plant has replaced certain areas on campus with native drought-tolerant plants to reduce water use. Soon, students will be able to vote online whether or not certain grassy areas on campus should be replaced with native plants.

These efforts and others are what the admissions office says make PLNU a “forward” school. “Forward” is the theme for the latest admissions campaign, as it promotes PLNU as a forward-thinking and cutting-edge university. Eric Groves, director of undergraduate admissions, said the “green” efforts fit with the idea.

“This eco-friendly thing shows that we are very balanced and forward-thinking,” Groves said. “It shows that we are a university of yesterday and tomorrow. We can be a faith-based school yet very strong in the sciences.”