[Peace] Rally for Wind Turbine this Friday

[Brian Dolinar]

Allies may be interested in supporting this rally organized by Students for
Environmental Concerns. BD


*Build the Wind Turbine Now! Rally
Friday, Feb 11th
11AM outside Swanlund Admin Bldg*
The University committed to building a wind turbine this year, but is now in
danger of going back on their promise.
Hold them accountable and demand a wind turbine now!
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=186046988093803

As many of you know the Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS)
have spent seven years fighting to get the university to install wind
turbines on the south farms. One wind turbine would provide 1% of the
electricity that is used on the UIUC campus. They did the legwork to
get millions of dollars in federal grants and then got those grants
renewed twice as the university dragged its feet; they pushed the
administration even after the project had been killed and got it
reinstated with an explicit commitment to build it this year (though
with increased costs, only one of the original three wind turbines is
slated to be built). Now, the grants are about to expire (and cannot
be renewed again), and the university is threatening to renege on
their commitment unless the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)
commits to spending an additional $700,000 of money gathered by the
campus student sustainability fee on the project. This $700,000 is
over-and-above the amount of money that is needed for paying the
contractors to build and install the windmill; the money will go
directly into the Facilities and Services budget. The SSC has already
devoted $500,000 to funding the turbine directly, thus the total money
from student fees going to fund the turbine project would be $1.2
million.

This is a blatant attempt by the U of I to strong-arm UIUC students
into giving up money they have volunteered to save to promote
sustainability on campus, and instead use the money to fund the
university's regular operating costs. If this is allowed to continue,
it sets a dangerous precedent where the administration will feel free
to raid the SSC money whenever they feel like it, thus changing a
voluntary student fee into yet another source of revenue for the
university. This kind of racketeering cannot be tolerated, so please
come support the SECS at the following event and insist that the U of
I abide by its public promises to break ground on the wind turbine
project before the sustainability grants expire:

For more information contact Amy Allen: "Amy Allen" <
theinkstainedwretch at gmail.com>

-- 
Brian Dolinar, Ph.D.
303 W. Locust St.
Urbana, IL 61801
briandolinar at gmail.com
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