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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 22, 1977)
Student activists move inside Capita Not too many years ago, a typi cal student reaction to a tuition hike at the University was to gather up the banners and the slogans and wear a path in the marble front steps of the State Capitol Building. Today, students are more often seen carrying briefcases to the Legislature to present the student side of issues relating to students. In an effort to coordinate the briefcase-wielding students from all seven state Universities, an or By TOM JACKSON Of the Emerald ganization known as the Oregon Student Lobby (OSL) was formed in 1975. The lobby’s board of di rectors consists of the student government presidents from the universities. The OSL also has a staff of researchers and during the 1977 legislative session had two lobbyists working full time in Sal em. According to Kirby Garrett, who worked as a registered lobbyist and served as the OSL’s execu tive coordinator until the end of the Oregon Student Lobby leads struggle for campus issues legislative session, the OSL had the admiration of many of the legislators. “We went to the Legis lature with facts and information,” says Garrett. “We didn’t make demands, and the legislators re spected us for that. They ap preciated our reasonable posi tions.” Garrett, who was among the early organizers of the lobby, says that the OSL itself has changed since its early days. “During the 1975 session, we concentrated primarily on academic issues, but during the 1977 session, financial issues were the major concern,” he says. Garrett says the OSL decided before the session began to con fine its lobbying efforts to issues affecting “access to education, quality of education, and utility of education,” with the emphasis on access to education. One of the most important and heavily lobbied issues for the OSL in 1977 was the expected raise in tuition, which the OSL viewed as a major barrier to access to education. After the smoke cleared at the end of the session, the tuition for resident undergraduate students was frozen at last year’s level for one year, resulting in about a $30 saving for those students for this year. Graduate tuition is on the increase, but not as much as Gov. Bob Straub had originally called for. “Straub’s proposals were so severe, that all we could hope to do was to limit the increase,’’ says Garrett. One legislator who contributed to the effort to keep tuition down was Sen. Ed Fadeley, D-Eugene, who chaired the Joint Ways and Means Subcommittee on Educa tion. It was Fadeley who gathered the support to pass the one year tuition freeze. After the action was taken, Fadeley said, "I couldn't have done what I did without the OSL, and they couldn’t have done what they did without me in the COCKTAIL LOUNGE HAPPY HOURS: 4-7 p.m. From our kitchen: FAMILY DINNER CHINESE STYLE for 2 or more ‘J.oo*v* o°n\* ou Appetizer: Shrimp Egg Roll and Fried Won Ton Entrees: Pork Chow Mein, Sweet and Sour Spareribs, Pork Fried Rice, Fried Shrimp Served with Egg Flower Soup, Coffee or Tea, Ice Cream or Sherbet and Fortune Cookie _ Only when 2 or more people Per Person Reg. $4.25 per person Sun.-Thurs. 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 11:30 a.m.-Midnight Orders to go... 485-1551 92 Centennial, Eugene position I was in.” But the tuition rate was not the only issue the OSL concentrated on at the Legislature. The availa bility of financial aid was another achievement of the OSL lobbying effort. Under a bill passed by the lawmakers, the eligibility ceiling for state need grants will be in creased to $17,000 this year and $20,000 next year. However, the session was not without its disappointments. The lobby worked for the passage of child care legislation, but was un successful. "We had support for the bill, but it just didn’t fly,” says Garrett. Another letdown was a bill cal ling for the release to students of faculty evaluations. That bill also died. When the Legislature is not in session, the OSL activity doesn t end. "There’s always something going on," says Garrett. Among the interim activities of the OSL are testifying at legislative interim committee meetings, keeping an eye on the State Board of Higher Education and the state emergency board, as well as pre paring research for the next legis lative session. 1 he lobby operates on a budget of about $50,000 per year, and is supported by students incidental fees. At the University, each full time equivalent student puts about $1 into the OSL budget. "The students put money into the OSL, but we save them more in the long run," says Garrett. But the OSL is not free from criticism. Some of the member schools complain that the organi zation is dominated by University of Oregon interests. Members from this campus, including ASUO pres. Gary Feldman, are critical of the OSL because, they say, this University pumps an in ordinate amount of money into the lobby while all of the schools reap the benefit. Feldman has recently said that he will review the OSL budget and decide whether or not the Univer sity should continue to fund the organization. "Tuition savings are worth the effort, but there are al ternatives to funding the OSL,” says Feldman. “One alternative is to find out what could be gained by shoring up our own lobbying ef fort. The ideal solution is to con vince all of the schools to fund the program at the same level the University does. "The inequity is that the other schools put in less money and get the same benefits," Feldman says. Dan Gamer, Garrett’s replace ment as the OSL executive coor dinator, says he "can understand Feldman's concern, because the it m. w Kirby Garrett University of Oregon subsidizes the OSL to a much greater extent than any other institution. The other institutions need to make a much greater effort,” he says ‘‘The University of Oregon has been the most influential and most involved of any of the schools, and if it pulls out, it will hurt our credibil ity." Feldman points out that while this university puts about $15,000 annually into the OSL, Oregon State University and Portland State University, which are roughly equivalent in size, contri bute only $9,000 and $5,000 re spectively. If the University does continue to support the OSL, it is likely that student lobbyists will be returning to the Legislature next session as a unified student lobby group. Students interested in finding out more about the OSL or about vol unteer positions should call 378-4966 in Salem, or call the ASUO at 686-3724. A 268 Valley Rlv«r 485-2195 >—Ahe Candle Shoppe—*' ...candles and a lot more
