An annual $4 student fee that will help foster green ideas was renewed Tuesday when it was placed on the student body president runoff ballot as a referendum, and overwhelmingly approved.
Members of the Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee (RESPC) had limited time to campaign for the fee that funds the committee’s projects, but the work paid off when a large majority of voters supported the referendum in the runoff ballot Tuesday.
Jenna Koester, co-chairwoman of RESPC, said the committee plans to allocate the majority of the funding to the replacement of Fetzer Gym’s roof with state-of-the-art solar technology.
Since its introduction in 2003, the fee has funded many RESPC projects, including the installation of solar panels on Morrison Residence Hall.
Due to confusion about when the fee would have to be renewed, Koester said the committee was notified that the referendum would be on the ballot just two weeks before the general election.
The fee was originally passed with the provision that it had to be renewed every two to four years, said Student Body Treasurer Shrija Ghosh, who helped get the referendum on the ballot.
“Better safe than sorry,” Ghosh said, adding that the wording of the fee was changed this year so that it would be renewed permanently.
Because there were five student body president candidates, Koester said this gave RESPC the chance to place the referendum on the almost guaranteed runoff ballot and campaign for an extra week.
“We had to go into turbo mode and get started with campaigning,” she said. “It was a little bit hectic but I don’t think it changed the outcome at all.”
