Today I met with the Council of Trustees, and while the outcome of the meeting wasn’t exactly what we had hoped for, I am confident that we can come to a resolution that satisfies both the Council as well as Leave It Green. The Council has expressed, and voted unanimously for, their support of the Green Fund, and the fund will be implemented for the fall 08 semester. However, we will spend the summer looking into alternative sources of funding. The Council understands our stance and I know that we will be able to reach a compromise. Dan and I will continue to work within the mission and morals of Leave It Green, and you can trust us that we will do what is best for everyone. I want to personally thank President Smith for his ongoing support of the Green Fund. He has been an active defender of our cause, and has played a HUGE roll in our success so far. If you have any questions about the meeting, or what all of this means, feel free to e-mail me at rachel {at} leaveitgreen(.)org, and I will get back to you as soon as I can.

I hope you are having an AMAZING summer!

Rachel

Wow, it has been awhile since we have posted. Towards the end of the semester Rachel and I were busy attending meetings with President Smith and the Green Fund Advisory Board (GFAB) members. The GFAB is ready to go for the Fall 2008 semester under the leadership of Dr. Jerry Chmielewski

We also revised and sent the President the final bylaws so he could forward them to the Council of Trustees. This Friday (June 6th) the council of trustees will meet at Old Main at 1:00pm. At this meeting they will make the final decision on implementing The Green Fund. Rachel and I hope the council of trustees will listen to the 86% of the students who voted in favor of The Green Fund.

This meeting is open to the public, if you would like to show your support for The Green Fund please feel free to attend. If you can’t attend, wish us luck; Friday is the day we have all worked so hard for.

Dan

Today is Litter-Getter Day. We will be meeting at the Campground at 3 to pick up some trash. Come on out, and bring your friends!

“Never doubt that a small group of committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” This quote by Margaret Mead has inspired us from the beginning. It gave us hope that a small group of Slippery Rock students could make a huge difference. And we did. Green Fund is proof that when a small group of people come together for a common passion, big changes can happen. We just ROCKED the vote with 86.29% of the voters choosing to support the Green Fund. There were a total of 1,794 voters. We just want to extend a HUGE thank you to everybody that made this a success. The next step is the Council of Trustees vote in June. We will keep you posted along the way!

Congratulations,

Rachel and Dan

The time has come to vote!! The referendum should currently be in your SRU inbox. Go vote yes, and tell your friends!! Reminder, we will be camping out all week, it has been a lot of fun so far…come out and chill!

Hey everyone, I wanted to say thanks to everyone who came out for Leave It Green’s first annual Bike and Music Festival. The turnout was great! The long day started off with a bike maintenance class courtesy of Scott Medeiros!

At two, we kicked off the critical mass bike ride; we had close to 80 cyclist show up ranging from all ages. We took over the small town of Slippery Rock riding through campus, up and down main street, and then down Kiester road, all to raise awareness and promote bicycling.

After the ride, we had guest speakers Dave Krack and Scott Bricker. Dave Krack is from Butler and runs a free bike shop and a bike giveaway program called Fixed Gear. Scott Bricker is from Bike Pittsburgh. Both speakers covered many topics that involved biking in general, building a biking community, and how to stay safe while biking.

After the speakers three bands played late into the night. Brad Yoder from Pittsburgh provided some mellow and fun tunes, Dali Rocket drove all the way from Michigan just to entertain the crowd. Slippery Rock’s own The Unified Theory, finished the bands off with some energetic jamming tunes. Soon after the bands finished the tents went up, the camp fires were lit and s’mores were made.

It was an amazing and successful day. Leave It Green would like to thank several people for making it all happen, The Pa Film Institute and Larurel Dagnon for the funding (remember, the films show in the ATS auditorium at 7:30 Monday-Thursday); the Cycling Club for the free bike that was raffled off; Julie McNeil for her organizing skills; the speakers for their knowledge; the bands for their tunes; and of course all the participants.

I would also like to personally thank Rachel DeWolf for all of her hard work, this festival was her idea and she made it happen, thanks Rachel!

It is also important to note that one of the original Leave It Green founding members, Abbie Spear showed up to the Festival. Abbie has inspired Rachel and I in so many ways, it was good to see her back at the campground that wouldn’t be there if not for her efforts last year. Thanks Abbie!

Remember this festival was the kick-off to Leave It Green’s annual camp in. Leave It Green members will be camping out all week this week to honor and remember the original Leave It Green movement. Come down and camp-out with us! Everyone is welcome to join!

Lastly do not forget the Green Fund Vote is this week, check your emails and vote “YES”!

Wow guys, today, Dan and I presented to the Slippery Rock Council of Trustees. (We would like to thank Andrew B, Maria G., and Katie S., for coming out with their green shirts..you guys rock!) The presentation went EXTREMELY well, and throughout the whole meeting, the trustees and other administrators at the meeting kept alluding back to the fact that Slippery Rock is a breeding ground for amazing leadership.

After the meeting, many of the members of the council came up to us and expressed their excitement for our idea. One member said, “You are right, Slippery Rock is the leader in so many things. Why can’t we do this too? This is such an important thing right now, and you have a great program.” Another member invited us to voice our opinion on the parking issue (we actually call it a walking issue) at their next meeting. (If you guys remember, the walking issue is what sparked the creation of Leave It Green, so we are glad to get back to our roots.) So we left this meeting with an overwhelming sense of confidence.

So. How can we keep this confidence brewing? We are asking you to send (positive) letters to the Slippery Rock University council of trustees expressing your interest in a green fee. This group has been really supportive, so we are excited to begin working with them. Thank you all so much for your support. You are what motivates us to do what we do.

We love you guys!

Rachel

Hey everyone, I just finished posting the latest and greatest Green Fund documents here on the site. Kudos goes to everyone who put a lot of heart and hard work into getting these together. They are awesome!

Be sure to check out the Activist Packet at the very least. That has tons of useful information in there. If you’re feelin’ spunky, check out The Bylaws. They are chock full of really cool insights into how The Green Fund works.

– Alex

Wow… what a long day!

Today was full of meetings and craziness. Rachel and Doug met with the SGA executives today, who filled them in on the appropriate details to better achieve our goal of passing a $5 student fee. This task wont be easy; before break President Smith asked Leave It Green to look into alternative funding options. After much discussion and today’s meeting with SGA, we feel sticking to the original plan is our best option. In order to add a new fee, we will have to get the approval from the board of trustees. We are very confident in this decision and willing to do whatever it takes to pass The Green Fund.

We have also confirmed our voting dates. Originally we thought the vote would be held with SGA elections, instead they will be held on April 7th – 9th. We have yet to decide if the vote will be held over the Internet or using traditional methods. Currently we are discussing this issue and will make the final decision Thursday at the SGA meeting.

While Rachel and Doug were meeting with SGA, Matt Bucceri and I met with a group of communication majors. The group will be designing and creating our donation brochure as a class project. We hope to send this out to SRU alumni, faculty, staff and Slippery Rock community members. These donations will be put into the foundation account which could potentially be used to fund research grants and student scholarships.

Tonight was our activist meeting, and I want to thank everyone who showed up. We were impressed with the turnout and made some good progress. There is obviously a strong team of motivated individuals ready to get the word out. We also got our Green Fund buttons in, which we will be giving away for free. If you did not make the meeting but want to get involved send Rachel or I an email.

Its crunch time, we are doing everything we can to get the word out on The Green Fund. Thursday, we and the SGA will be writing our language for the referendum. Friday we will be meeting with SGA President, Larry Brink, and President Smith. So keep checking back for updates.

Cheers to activism!

Tuesday March 18th 7:00pm ATS room 311, Leave It Green will be hosting a meeting for anyone interested in volunteering for the Green Fund campaign. We will need volunteers for chalking, informing students, presenting to classrooms, handing out and hanging fliers, and most importantly, spreading the word for students to vote “YES” for the Green Fund. This is a great resume builder and an awesome opportunity to get involved. Don’t you want to be part of this monumental positive movement?

If passed, the Green Fund will positively change SRU forever. SRU will be the first of the 14 State schools to implement a green fee, and we will lead the way for sustainable campuses in Pennsylvania. Leave It Green has designed an informative packet for volunteers; this will help you spread the word more accurately and effectively. At this meeting we will designate specific tasks to individuals and plan out or campaign strategy and timeline. Please come and be part of this historic movement! Tell your friends and get involved!

If you have any questions, call Rachel at 269-275-0659, or Dan at 440-724-4716. See you all there!