10th Legislative Session-March 28th, 2017
Student Senate Session #25
S.S.R. #30
Sponsor: Senator Finn, Senator Zaun, and Senator Bhalerao
Referred to the Sustainability Committee
Student Senate Action: Passed/Failed/Tabled
A Resolution
To showcase UISG’s action to strengthen sustainable purchasing and to advocate for the University of Iowa to commit to sustainable purchasing throughout its operations.
Section 1. Title
This title of the resolution may be cited as “Commitment to Sustainable Purchasing.”
Whereas, in the summer of 2016, three University of Iowa students — Akash Bhalerao, Jeremy Vogel, and Sean Finn — traveled to Washington, D.C. to represent the University of Iowa at the Sustainable Purchasing Leadership Council (SPLC) Summit; and,
Whereas, after the students attended the conference and returned to the University of Iowa, they advocated for the University of Iowa to become a member of the SPLC; and,
Whereas, Senator Bhalerao worked with Liz Christiansen, former UI Director of Sustainability, and John Watkins, Director of Strategic Sourcing, to connect them with Cuchulain Kelly, Communications Coordinator for SPLC, after which the University of Iowa joined SPLC as a Purchaser Member; and,
Whereas, SPLC helps its members find ways to develop sustainable purchasing practices within the institution; and,
Whereas, SPLC only has 24 Universities that are members, now including the University of Iowa; and,
Whereas, in fall of 2016, the University of Iowa Student Government committed to sustainable purchasing by creating a protocol sponsored by Senator Haygood, Senator Bhalerao and Senator Armstrong to mandate UISG to buy only sustainably and ethically sourced apparel; and,
Whereas, during this time, UISG also reformed the UISG Election Code to require that all apparel purchased for the purposes of campaigning must be sustainably and ethically sourced; and,
Whereas, also during this time, UISG Sustainability Director Shelby Cain, Senator Armstrong, and Senator Zaun created a T-Shirt Purchasing Guide to help student organizations with their purchasing decisions; and,
Whereas, currently, the Sustainability Committee is working on an “EcoHawks Commitment of Sustainability” through which student organizations can commit to sustainable practices, including purchasing; and,
Whereas, UISGPresident Zuckerman, Vice President Freeman and Senator Bhalerao have discussed sustainable purchasing with UI Administration, including President Harreld, VP of Student Life Dr. Tom Rocklin, Former Provost Butler and other student leaders; and,
Whereas, the University of Iowa has significant purchasing power and consumes a wide array and large supply of products throughout its operations, including a large quantity of apparel; and,
Whereas, the University of Iowa is a top class global institution that has the potential to make monumental changes toward sustainable purchasing, particularly with the assistance of the SPLC: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, UISG commits to sustainable purchasing practices and urges the University of Iowa to send a representative to the Annual SPLC Summits; and be it further
Resolved, UISG encourages the University of Iowa to prioritize sustainable purchasing throughout all of its operations with assistance from SPLC, including purchasing fewer disposable items and performing ethical and sustainable background checks on company supply chains for its purchases.
______, Speaker of the Senate
Mariah Prendergast
I hereby attest and certify that this bill originated from the 2016-2017 Student Senate Session.
______, Secretary
Sheng Hao Lu
APPROVED on , 2017
______, UISG President
Rachel Zuckerman