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The Intercampus Student Forum (ICSF) has a new chair: UCD's own student government president Will Simmons. For the first time since ICSF's inception has the chair been from UCD, and only the second time a non-Boulder person has been elected as chair. ICSF functions as the student advisory body to the Board of Regents, reports to the Regents, and is like the student government of the entire CU system. Two representatives from each school are selected to serve, the president and one other executive. At UCD, this means the president and vice president serve.
ICSF is an integral part of the student lobbying that happens each year. The Regents set forth their list of priorities and ask ICSF to help them accomplish these goals. This year, however, Simmons wants to make some changes. He wants to present the Regents with a list of priorities, as students see them, and ask the Regents to help the students and ICSF. "Now I'm in the position to open my mouth to people who can really twist some arms," says Simmons.
In addition to asking the regents for help, Simmons wants to change some of the bylaws that govern ICSF, most importantly make the chair position a rotating position. He wants to give each school an opportunity to have their own representative chair ICSF. Even if the school isn't able to have a representative in a particular year, they will at least have the opportunity. Whether or not the Regents will agree with the rotating chair idea, Simmons says: "I think they'll eat it up."
With the chair having been a Boulder representative so often, this has, perhaps, tinged the kind of conversation the chair has with the Regents. Although never an attempt to ignore the other three campuses, a Boulder chairperson is most familiar with issues, concerns and opinions that pertain to the Boulder campus. But what concerns students at Boulder are often not the same concerns for students at UCD, Health Sciences Center, and CU-Colorado Springs. With a rotating chairperson, Simmons hopes ICSF will be better able to act as a representation of the system as a whole rather than just Boulder.
The timing of Simmons' selection to the chair, and his proposed changes, come with the Regents' and president's move to Denver, which will place the governing arms of CU at 1800 Grant street, in the heart of Denver. Some believe this move will help kickstart the process of UCDHSC becoming the flagship university for the school.
Still, ICSF's goals are really to help the Regents address the unique concerns from all four campuses. For example, Colorado Springs, with its high military population, wants to create a standing policy regarding course work and reimbursement if you have to drop a class due to deployment. Currently, it is up to the individual instructor as to whether or not the student will be able to make up the work when they return. And if a student withdraws after the reimbursement date, they still have to pay for the class. This can adversely affect the student's GI bill and how much money they get for college. Although this issue might come up at other campuses, this issue is particularly pertinent to Colorado Springs' campus.
We're no. 1, we're no. 1
The Auraria campus has moved into the no. 1 spot in the state for renewable energy. According to Shaun Lally, UCD's representative to the Student Advisory Committee to the Auraria Board (SACAB), said that SACAB was able to buy 17 million kilowatt hours of wind energy from Sterling Planet, a company based out of Georgia. These hours represent approximately 45 percent of the total energy use of the campus. Originally, the plan was to at least power the Tivoli with wind power, but the bid came back low enough that SACAB was able to purchase four times more energy than they originally thought. Behind Auraria are DU, with a purchase of 15.5 million kilowatt hours, and CU-Boulder, at eight million. Nationally, Auraria is around 13th when it comes to purchasing renewable energy. The University of Pennsylvania ranks no. 1 nationally in the EPA's Green Power Partnership rankings with a purchase of 112 million kilowatt hours and is able to power 28 percent of its campus.
This year's Fall Fest will be powered by renewable energy, and SACAB, along with Colorado Public Interest Research Group (CoPIRG), plan on getting the word out about the use of renewable energies on campus. In the spring, they plan on reintroducing a referendum concerning renewable energy and hope that students will not only want to renew the fee, but increase so more of the campus can be powered using wind power.
In addition to Auraria, Duke University, ranked no. 2 nationally, and the University of Utah, ranked no. 6 nationally, also purchase their renewable energy from Sterling Planet.
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