SGA promotes sustainability awareness

The West Virginia University Student Government Association is taking initiative to create a more environmentally-conscious campus with its upcoming Sustainability Awareness Week and a campus-wide dining hall waste audit.

SGA Governors Isabelle Shepherd and Zach Redding are the main proponents of the green campus movement, and projects included in the audit are driving the governors to promote sustainability and reduce waste on campus.

The audit will monitor how much waste is generated within the dining halls and the results of the study could bring major changes to WVU dining, concerning the way food is prepared or thrown away, Shepherd said.

"The things we would be doing could involve posting more advertisements in the dining halls that say ‘Take only as much as you need,'" Shepherd said. "When you make food, energy and water go into it, and when it's wasted, we're not only wasting food, but we're wasting resources."

Shepherd said she also hopes to help save the University money by eliminating the total waste and getting a biodigester for dining areas, which would convert organic wastes into a nutrient-rich liquid fertilizer and biogas, a renewable source of electrical and heat energy.

The audit will run from March 5-9 and SGA will need a total of 175 volunteers for the project to be successful, Shepherd said. Students interested in helping campus dining create less waste can volunteer at www.tiny.cc/wasteaudit.

"The task of each volunteer will be simple and only takes two hours," Shepherd said. "It is a timeless volunteer opportunity."

Rollins also announced the upcoming SGA elections will be designed based on the organization Rock the Vote. Rock the Vote is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization that was successful in engaging young adults to exercise their right to vote in both the 2004 and 2008 U.S. Presidential elections.

"It's going to be a spin-off of MTV's Rock the Vote by aiming to educate students about where the polls will be located, what SGA is and what platforms the parties are running on," Rollins said.

Governor Matt Boczanowski organized the first Graduate Student Town Hall Wednesday to hear WVU graduate students' interests on campus improvement, with topics including faculty and student relationships, academic expectations, orientation programs for prospective graduate students and extended library access.

"I think the meeting was a great success," Boczanowski said. "We had a great turnout and had an informative discussion regarding the graduate survey that was issued all 7,000-plus graduate students on campus."

President Jason Bailey said he encourages SGA members and students to attend the Board of Governors-Student Government Association Constituency Meeting.

The meeting will be held Thursday at 4:30 p.m. at the Jerry West Lounge in the Coliseum.

Governor Benjamin Seebaugh announced there will be a "Speak Up" event concerning LBGT community issues on March 13 in the Mountainlair Ballrooms. Bullying on campus will be a main topic of discussion with the LBGT panel at the event.

"Following this speak up we will be hosting a speaker about bullying in the fall," Seebaugh said. "Situations like bullying in the work place will be discussed as well."