Students voted in favor of the Tufts Environmental Consciousness Outreach's (ECO) referendum for campus use of wind power yesterday.
According to Elections Board Public Relations Chair freshman Simone Press, nearly 40 percent, or 1,984 of the eligible population of 4,971 students voted in yesterday's online election, held all day from 9 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.
There were 1,746 votes - 88 percent of the votes - in favor of the referendum, and 178 votes, or roughly nine percent, against. The remaining three percent of voters abstained.
ECO member sophomore Amanda Fencl said she was impressed so many students took the time to vote. "It says a lot about Tufts students, too," she said. "This is a huge step towards Tufts' clean energy future. It shows that the administration and students are on the same page, which means that having wind power is that much more possible."
ECO Chair senior Jennifer Baldwin agreed with Fencl. "Tufts is such a socially and environmentally progressive campus. I don't think we've had the most outspoken environmental groups in the past, so now people are taking us more seriously," she said.
The referendum was originally planned to be part of the ballot for the April 20 Tufts Community Union (TCU) Presidential election between juniors Jeff Katzin and Rafi Goldberg. Due to a miscommunication error regarding the referendum's technological representation, the vote was moved to yesterday.
Baldwin she did not think the referendum vote would pass because it was no longer part of the TCU Presidential election ballot. "At least the pinwheels made a big difference," she said, in reference to the hundreds of multi-colored pinwheels placed around campus yesterday, reminding students to vote.
The ECO referendum aims to institute wind power at an average cost of $20 per student, per year. The vote was held to see if there would be enough student support on campus to carry the policy through. Baldwin said the next step is to gain further approval by the Board of Trustees, the University administration, and the TCU Senate.
According to Press, in order for a referendum to pass, at least 25 percent of the student body must vote, and of that percentage, 50 percent must vote in support of the referendum.
"This referendum is non-binding, because only the [University's] Board of Trustees can fully approve an increase of tuition, yet the referendum is a good step in the direction of discovering how Tufts students feel about energy consumption and conservation," Press said.
-- by Allison Roeser and Zosia Stzykowski
