Office Staff Present at National AASHE Conference

Green Fees 1.0 – by Haley Thomas

While most of the students at the College Of Charleston may have spent their Fall Break relaxing or studying, eight members of the College’s Office of Sustainability traveled cross-country to Los Angeles, California to attend the 2012 National AASHE (The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education) Conference. Jen Jones, the newly appointed Facilities Coordinator for the Office, presented at the conference on “Green Funds 1.0: Getting a Fund Started”. The presentation was a collaboration between Jen and three other administrators from different campuses. The panelists represented diversity from public to private, community college to PhD granting, and east coast to west coast. The panel presentation explored the stories, challenges, and successes of the four different institutions on their journey to adding a green fund to their sustainability initiatives.

Jen began with the very basics surrounding the concept of a green fund by explaining, “A green fund is a sum of money specifically set aside for campus sustainability projects.” As explained in her presentation, the green fund comes from student fees, campus operation budgets, administrative funds, and alumni donations. After describing the basics each member of the panel told their story of how their fee was approved and discussed the major barriers they ran into and how they overcame them, Jen gave an informative presentation on the College Of Charleston’s green fund and how is came to be implemented in the Fall of 2010. Jen’s discussion included the challenges faced and current projects funded by the Green Fund at College Of Charleston. In addition, Jen and the other panelists provided support and advice for colleges and universities that are either working on developing a fee for their institution or wish to get started on one. Jen’s panel presentation was on the last day of the conference and for everyone involved it was an exceptional ending to a long four days.