Students’ Association passed a bill to fund the installation of water bottle filling stations in multiple locations on campus.
The water bottle filling stations will cost around $500 a piece and will be expected to be placed in the Brown Library, the Campus Center and the SRWC.
Logan Dyer, senior class president and marketing major from Carrolton, wrote and presented the bill. Dyer said he first saw the need for the stations at the Rec Center.
“I was tired of having to tip my bottle over and not getting my bottle filled up all the way,” Dyer said. “The water wouldn’t make it in all the way at the fountains in the Rec by the cubbies, and I thought, ‘There’s got to be something that we can get here to help us fill up our bottles,’ and that’s when I started to try to go forward with my idea for the stations.”
The biggest push for the stations was the introduction of one in the COBA building, which SA President Beau Carter said has been a huge hit among the business students for a multitude of reasons.
“From what I’ve gathered from COBA students, students love it,” Carter said. “It’s very accessible and a lot of students use reusable water bottles so it’s a great opportunity to show our support for the environmental impact that it has, while also the accessibility and its convenience to students.”
Carter also said that if student reaction to the new stations are in line with what SA is expecting, the possibility of adding more on campus in the future could become more realistic.
“We’re starting with three and if it looks like it can be something that can be used all over campus, that would be a situation where we would begin to petition administration for more of these because we also don’t have the money to put one in every building right now,” Carter said.
Dyer said regardless of whether a student is in SA or just a regular student, great ideas from students can change this campus for the better and innovate us as a university, but they have to be brought forth.
“Hopefully this bill and this project will influence student Congress members and normal students alike down the road to think of innovative ideas that will improve our campus,” Dyer said. “If somebody doesn’t like something or if somebody thinks something should change, they should do something about it. I strongly urge everybody, not just students in congress, but students all over campus to speak up about things that they want changed because it never hurts to try. Come and talk to us, speak up about it and let’s see what we can do.”
