Project Eco Dawgs
In 2007 the Student Environmental Center (SEC) - now know as Eco Dawgs - launched an ambitious campaign called Project Eco Dawgs to help the university establish a comprehensive and sufficienty funded institutional mechanism for furthering its efforts towards sustainability and do its part in lowering greenhouse gas emissions. The project proposal was written by Jon Dyer and Megan Pulliam of SEC and Justin Harrell and Andilee Warner of SIUC's Plant & Service Operations with contritbutions and revisions by many other students, faculty, and staff.
The Project had four main objectives:
- Form a Sustainability Council
- Establish a Student Green Fee
- Establish an Employee Green Fee
- Create a sustainability coordinator position and staff
Secondary Project objectives to be facilitated by the sustainability council:
- Climate Action Plan
- General vision for campus sustainability and a roadmap for its achievement (Sustainability Plan)
In the Spring of 2008, SEC organized a campus wide referendum where students overwhelming - 73% - supported the proposed $10 per semester green fee.
That summer, Chancellor Sam Goldman called for the formation of a committee to facilitate the implementation of the rest of Project Eco Dawgs.