Students Tax Themselves to Install Campus Solar Panels

College campuses everywhere tend to revolve around the student union. Often, the gathering place hosts restaurants, shops and spaces for lounging or student organization meetings. The University of California, Riverside boasts all of these things and in a few years, the amenities will expand to the top of the building, too.

Two solar panels are on their way to making a home on the roof of the student union building. The green initiative was started and approved by the student body, and so was the self-induced tax that will pay for it.

College kids are broke, but even this tax won't break the bank. By each giving $2.50 per quarter term, the panels will be installed and renewable energy will flow through campus in four short years.

“To us, [the solar panels] are more of a symbol,” student Vicky Truong told New American Media. “Students are able to see it and associate our initiative with it. They can see that this is student-run and student-approved. We wanted to showcase that.”

Student green taxes are popping up around the country, but the proposed fees didn't fly everywhere. Recent UC Riverside graduate, Andres Cuervo, believes the reason it didn't pass wasn't because the students didn't believe in it, but because of a lack of a justifying explanation and not enough marketing.

“We looked at case studies from other University of California campuses, we learned from their shortfalls,” Cuervo said. “We learned that the fee needed to be really low, $2.50 per quarter, 25 percent went to financial aid, the actual money used is $1.87. Affordability was the first thing.”

Environmental initiatives are really strong with younger generations. The movement, according to Matt St. Clair, sustainability manager for the University of California, is similar to what the Vietnam and civil rights movements were to previous generations. He said, “In the context of other student movements, often when public policy lags behind public values, students voice public values and help move policy to respond to public concerns.”

The minimal taxes the students are collecting now are a smart way to go. Not only will it better the environment, but the reduced energy costs, as a result, may prove to have even bigger payoffs for future students.

Photo courtesy of UC Riverside.