At its final meeting of the year Sunday night, Graduate Student Senate recommended that OU look into the possibility of purchasing wind-generated electric power.
The graduate senators passed the resolution that supports the university investigating buying wind power from the Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co., which recently announced plans to build a 50-megawatt wind farm in western Oklahoma.
The resolution encourages the use of wind power as a renewable energy source, for which the State of Oklahoma is well-known, over non-renewable resources.
"The development of wind energy is something that, in the 21st century, can help our state crawl out of the financial hole it's in," said Seneca Scott, history and Native American studies senior and member of the Green Corn organization.
Green Corn has pushed for the development of wind-generated power and is currently circulating a petition around campus to gain further support.
The GSS resolution also mentions that, once OG&E constructs the wind farm, the power could be purchased by a student fee increase of about one dollar per student per semester.
Graduate senators, however, said the passing of the resolution did not mean they supported a fee increase, but that they supported the idea of harnessing wind power.
"We're just recommending that this possibility be looked into, not that these fees be applied right away," said John Harris, meteorology graduate student and GSS chairman-elect. "We're just looking at this as a viable option to the use of non-renewable resources."
No student fees could be added without the approval of the OU Board of Regents and the Oklahoma State Legislature, said Chris Grossman, political science graduate student.
Sunday night was also a time of recognition for the graduate senators.
GSS passed legislation commending several figures of student government including former UOSA President Alex Yaffe, UOSA General Counsel Kyle Lankford and GSS Secretary Andrew Franklin.
GSS Chairman Chris Kannady gave Franklin, who has served in GSS for five semesters, the opportunity to be chairman for the meeting.
"I really appreciate being allowed to do this," Franklin said. "It was really different. It's a lot harder than it looks."
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