ASB Senate members respond to rejection of Green Fund legislation

Some members of the ASB Senate are scratching their heads following President Taylor McGraw’s rejection of the Green Fund legislation.
Although McGraw had been supportive of student-led sustainability initiatives, he rejected  an ASB resolution that stated support for a Green Fund at Ole Miss. He cited concerns over the legislation's specificity.
In a previous interview McGraw said the Green Fund committee had done very good work, but he wanted to know exactly what the groups top priorities were.
Haley Kesterson, an ASB senator, felt McGraw should not have rejected the legislation.
Keterson said she understands McGraw’s concerns, but the legislation’s four options were only suggestions that ultimately the ASB has no control over as to how the administration initiates the Green Fund.
"We write the bills, we present them to the administration. If that's what they like, then that's what they'll carry over and actually implement. If they don't like it then they'll change it," Keterson said.
She said the minute details of the legislation could be changed by the administration if they wanted to.
"If making everyone happy means (taking out the four options) that's fine because it's not up to us any way," Keterson said.
Zach Newton, an ASB senator and co-author of the resolution, said he feels the bill was written well, in regards to specificity. He also said, in large part, the bill was a statement in support of Campus for Clean Energy's (the  student organization behind the Green Fund initiative) desire to move forward on student-led sustainability projects.
"It was not  necessarily saying that the ASB supports the options, but that we support the ideas for the Green Fund and the ideas for the Green Fund are good ones," Newton said.
The ASB Senate will resubmit the legislation to McGraw.
If Ole Miss is to get a Green Fund, it needs to be approved by the university administration and the Mississippi Institutions of Higher Learning, which provides guidance to Mississippi's public universities.