Pictured above: Emma Jacobs, shown next to the ORCA biodigester, said she is using the referendum campaign to spread awareness about SGEF.
Story and photo by James Bennett III
During the first consolidated Student Government election March 2 through 5, USF St. Petersburg students will be asked whether they would like to continue funding the Student Green Energy Fund.
Since the fund was approved by USF’s Board of Trustees and the Florida Board of Governors in 2011, it has cost students $1 per credit hour.
USF St. Petersburg students vote to continue funding SGEF every three years, in accordance with the bylaws that control the fund. According to SGEF’s website, the last referendum was passed in 2017 with 88 percent approval.
The referendum needs a majority approval to pass.
Emma Jacobs, Chair of the SGEF committee that allocates money from the fund, equated SGEF to the student body’s “wallet” for sustainability projects.
For example, money allocated from SGEF helped install some of the campus’ water bottle refilling stations, which, according to Jacobs, have diverted approximately 528,000 plastic bottles from landfills.
SGEF also paid for The Reef’s biodigester, which reduces the campus’ food waste impact.
Although St. Petersburg students have never voted to end SGEF, and the organization says it does not receive many complaints, Jacobs said she doesn’t want to get “too comfortable.”
“We’re not assuming that it’s going to pass,” Jacobs said.
“I also see the value and opportunity to spread awareness about SGEF through our campaign, and we want to take the opportunity to do so.”
Other than encouraging students to “vote yes for SGEF” on social media, Jacobs plans on setting up a table on the University Student Center’s east patio from 2 to 5 p.m. on March 2.
“We are here for the students. We’re representing student interests,” Jacobs said. “Students are paying money to us, so we want to hear their voice, their concerns.
“If they don’t want to be paying this money, we want to know why — we want to know what they want to see from our campus in terms of sustainability.”
Students don’t need to be on the SGEF committee to propose new projects; they can pitch them to Jacobs at sgefchairusfsp@gmail.com and discuss the feasibility of their idea, then attend a SGEF meeting for the committee’s feedback.
The organization meets every other Tuesday from 3 to 4 p.m. in the USC Coral Room. However, the next meeting will be on Wednesday, March 11.
The St. Petersburg campus has autonomy over its own SGEF — only students, faculty and staff from the St. Petersburg campus are able to join the committee.
To become a member of the SGEF committee, applicants are interviewed by SGEF and then voted in by the committee’s current members. Afterward, the applicant must be voted in by the Student Government senate at a general assembly meeting.
Although SG members discussed adding a referendum on the ballot that would propose a system-wide SGEF after consolidation, Jacobs said the St. Petersburg and Tampa SGEFs will remain separate. USF Sarasota-Manatee does not have a SGEF.
