While the campus garden’s celebration of Earth Day is in full swing, how much the site is funded is in question.
The University’s Green Fee — $10 that comes from each full-time student each semester — funds sustainable projects that help make the university a greener place.
The TIGUrS garden is only one of many sustainable proposals that await the approval for Green Fee funding. Green Fee hearings end Thursday, and then a committee will make recommendations to President Rudd and the Vice President of Student Affairs. They then will make a final decision on which of the 20 proposals will be funded, according to Daniel Bureau, executive assistant to the vice president of student affairs.
Despite word that the Green Fee “may not be a thing anymore,” Bureau said there are no plans to eliminate the Green Fee itself.
“We are currently hosting Green Fee meetings to discuss 20 proposals we received,” Bureau said. “We developed a budget of $350,000 for 2017-2018 based on projection of enrollment.”
Bureau said the total amount for the proposals are $450,000 ($100,000 more than the budget), which means that not all 20 proposals will be funded or fully-funded.
“How that plays out depends on the approval of committee recommendations and the approval of senior institutional leaders,” Bureau said.
Even though there are rumors circulating that the garden could lose its funding, Bureau said he “can’t imagine” the garden not being funded by the Green Fee.
“The garden is a proposal that has been funded for the past nine years,” Bureau said. “The likelihood is that it will be funded, but the amount will be decided once we determine which proposals to fund and considering our budget of $350,000.”
The TIGUrS garden is the most expensive proposal by more than $10,000. The garden’s requested amount is $67,231. This includes salaries for seven employees, general supplies, new picnic tables and umbrellas and the installation of a new volleyball court.
The other competing proposals range between water filling stations at the law school campus, replacing lights with energy-saving LED lights and many recycling projects. Those who submit a proposal must detail a requested amount of money, explain how the money will be spent and what the university would get from the project.
Karyl Buddington, one of the original creators of the garden, said that while the garden has created an outlet for many students, this is not the first time that the fate of the TIGUrS garden has been “up in the air.”
“Last semester, a person in senior administration said that the garden was going to be paved over for a parking lot,” Buddington said. “When I told students, they were devastated. They fought peacefully and respectfully, and, in the end, the garden stayed where it was.”
Buddington said that the Green Fee itself was created 11 years ago. After that, she thought of all the green space on campus and what could be done with it.
“I thought, ‘Why don’t we plant food so people can see how they can grow their own food in small places and show that veggies are just as beautiful as flowers,” Buddington said. “We formed a committee, applied for Green Fees and built the garden in two days.”
Two days of work then spawned a campus garden that has lasted nine years.
The TIGUrS garden is only one of about 20 sustainable proposals that await the approval for future Green Fee funding. The Green Fee is made up of $10 from each full-time student each semester and funds sustainable projects to help make the university a greener place.
