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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (March 2, 1995)
Finance committee can’t interpret law An ongoing debate — centering on the question of whether the University's chapter of OSP1RG should receive student funds — will come to a head tonight, as the ASUO Programs Finance Committee hears the group's budget request, The debate, which has taken an ugly turn in recent weeks, is based upon two separate considerations: The first is whether it is logal for OSPIRG to receive a share of incidental fees, which are charged of every student along with their tuition, even from students who dis agree with the group's various positions — which include environmental, hunger and consumer safety issues. The second consideration is whether students are getting enough bang for the 137.775 bucks they shell out each term. The first question, the question of legality, is by far the stickiest. A group calling itself Students for Legal Gov ernment has boon organized to oppose OSP1RG, charging that OSPIRG's activities are political in nature, and therefore, should not receive mandatorily assessed stu dent funds. It is illegal, the group argues, to force stu dents to pay to support an organization which engages in activities they do not agree with. Students for Legal Government points to a variety of court r ases, as well as a 1985 Attorney General’s opin ion, to support this argument, which may or may not have merit, This newspaper is not qualified to make that legal judgment. Unfortunately, neither are the individual!*) behind Students for Legal Government. And. for that matter, neither is the Programs Finance Committee, which is being asked to do just that — make a logal judgment. OSP1RG receives a huge chunk of student foes At SI 37,775, OSP1KG has the third largest budget of ail stu dent groups, and its budget is not likely to decrease much in the future. With that much money at stake, the committee has an obligation to find a definitive answer from a qualified, disinterested source to this far from-clear legal ques tion. Seeking such an answer carries with it some risks. It makes the finance committee appear incapable of mak ing decisions, which is an invitation for the administra tion to come in and remove students from the foe allo cation process altogether. At many other universities, such responsibilities already lie entirely in administra tion hands. But the committee members still must take that risk They cannot rely on laymen to interpret the law for them, nor should they interpret it for themselves. They are qualified, however, to consider whether the money being spent on OSP1RG is going to good use, to the benefit of students. That second question, which should bo examined in detail, should ter the committee's only concern — at least until the legal question receives some satisfactory resolution. Oregon Daily Emerald aa g TNl Otgor1 0**> f mwa** ft put* shed da^y Monday IhfOugP f rn*a* (funny «*« tcffoof i^v end 1 w«*da> and Thursday during Ihe lummar by the Oegcm CWy i ">«**« PilMwg CO . I«C . the l)nrver*rfy ol Oregon f ug»w 0*6000 The ErnmakSoperate* independently of the unrvertffy waff o^cm at Suffe 300 Of the trt) Memorial Union and1» * member of the AatooMtad Press !Ni E-*h*mki • p»tva*e property The '(W»«( » uM of paper* * prose: utats* by Mm ttfloi-m-Chaf bay Soto Managing Editor Editorial Editor Newt Art Editor Freeiance Editor OavnJ Thom MoWve * W.-m Jeff Pa&Uty t off 8eff*naeK> Newt Editor Sports Editor Supplements Editor Night Editor Rebecca Merritt Qvt* Met 2 T»»s*a Noel Lon Rennes* Associate Editors Taafta i chenseher Sfctflen/ Government AtYn*?** LU n«>« Edwards, t?ommunjy. 7 «*rty Smith Mgher f dUrerftorv AdHwktfrphpr* Newt Staff Start Anbury . Amy CotomPo Amy l (>*rmnp*-vt. Pf*mo Fontana. Gayle f orman. OirttM***r f o* Moff (vsrton. Gary Gras* Joe Harwood. Kn» Nervy Trevor Kaarney Shemon A4du« Adam Kmcffer. Sutanne Marta. Mar* Me Tyre Paine* M *ord lien Moetvus Mai&*c Montgomery. Anne Moser Komlefcl CoNwn PoNg. Sherry fW«y Kate SabOimn. Paul Van S**fc* Snan $m»fh Jeremy Sftnaon. K<m Matte Hoar' Vtamacfc Lot ?acrefc General Manager Judy Had Advert)ting Director Mert Woffer Production Manager Mtnete Rost Advert I ting Am*# Am art. v A--1# frvgaos M»»- o Chsog, Tony for f »>n Neither N. ■ *« Herman Jeremy Mas. 'Sarah M* • r» Tom M'*<*y.aacr K»v, Classified tlecfcy Merchant Me\ag«r Kyw Daws. Jo* Seften Distribution: John Long Ferenc Rafeot/ Graham Strnpton Basinets; Keihy Cert»ne. SupervekV Judy CbnrtOty Production. Debta MCobb FVodUcfton Count -afo Shaw..* Ai*»<v Tare Gauftney Brad Jose. Motfy McCarHa Jerorier Roia?d Qeyton Yee Newt/oom 346-5511 Outplay Advertising 346-3712 Business Office 346-5512 Classified Advertising 346-4343 n Dr R>ster Went to Gloucester In a shower of rain, He stepped in a puddle Right up to his middle Aid never went there acpin. is GLOVCEST IN WteHlNtoJON? I MO, WAWMGTOM>5v ■ COMMENTARY Activism must remain strong Kalpana Knshnamurthy Think about why you come to sc hool You want to get an education You want to get a glimpse of how other people think about our world and our c ultures Essentially, you want to leant. I came to the University of Oregon to do all of these things But the more I learned about the way that stu dents' concerns are ignored, the more I learned that if I wanted to change issues 1 had to get involved So 1 looked around it my choices I could either ignore the mess and hope it went aw ay or do something about it fortu nately. the U of O has a 25-year tradition of student activism Twenty five years of students fighting for civil rights, cultural diversity, ethnic identity, and a clean environment Twenty-five years of students saying that people shouldn't sleep on the streets, that wo shouldn't clear cut our forests, and that we shouldn't h« rac ist or sexist or homophobic Twenty-five years of students fighting to make our voices heard. I chose OSPIRG because I wanted to he heard and wanted to have a voice in the process If students want to take on a spe cial interest, they need to get organized So in 1972, U of O students organized a statewide petition drive that would create the first Public Interest Research Group in the nation. Grattan Koran*, then the editor of the Emerald, even ran the petition on the front page of the paper. The drive worked and ONPIRG bee nme a reality at the II of (): since then the PIRG’s have spread to 35 slates across the nation. It was, and still is. somewhat irrelevant what "public interest” issues OSP1RG students are active on. There's no OSP1RG definition of the term "public interest " Because students, and only students, pick OSPIRG's agenda, any group of involved students can work to set the agenda And there's really no reason why OSP1RG couldn't work on promoting nuclear energy or on managed forest plans Those stam t>s, however, don't seem to be popular with students As the Environmen tal Studies major becomes a reality. 1 don't think it comes as a surprise to anyone that stu dents are making a conscious de< ision to work on issues like ancient forests and recycling, Not only do students control what OSPIRC works on hut we also control how OSPIRG is funded and how that money is spent Mere at U of O. students vote every other year to fund PIRG through the incidental fee the same fee that funds the Survival Center, the Black Stu dent Union, and nearly every other recognized student group at the U of O Just last year, stu dents voted to fully fund OSPIRG and pool the money statewide to hire the maximum number of staffers. No lawyers in ugly white suits, no fatsuit lob byists Just a group of recent college graduates working with students to organize and educate around student selected issues. Students have always felt staff were the best resources possible for the issues they work on Why shouldn't we have a full time staff at our disposal? Pol luters and special interests have staffs working for — staff who facilitate pollution and the erod ing of democratic rights. For example, the American Plastics Council, an out-of-state lobbying group, spent $400,000 last year to gut the landmark state recy cling law that U of () students fought to pass. When all's said and done, the staff are an integral part of why U of () students passed the nation's toughest re< ycling law, why U of () students i ontinue to register huge numbers of new voters, why between 150 and 200 U of O students educate hundreds of Eugene school chil dren about the environment And all of this is funded through the incidental fiv The incidental fee if just that, incidental. And students have voted for OSPIRG and increases in the incidental fee because they support a diverse set of stu dent programs OSPIRG’s cut of the fee works out to about $2.75 per student. If we want to talk about expenses and ai t ess to higher education, let's talk about tuition and financial aid cuts instead We need student programs because we have a right to protect our planet, to explore out cultural identities, and to have a voice in the prot ess We, as students, have a right to organize and fully fund all the programs that exist through the incidental fee. Ulti mately, we must keep student activism strong at the U of Q Just as it's been for the last 25 years. Kalpana Krishnamurthy is the State Board Chairwoman for OSPIRG ■ LETTERS A COMMENTARY POLICY 1 ho Oregon Daily Emerald welcomes letters and commen taries from the public concerning topics of interest to the Uni versity community. l etters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is submitted. Commentaries should be between 600 and H00 words, legi ble. signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the commentary is submitted I he hmemld reserves the right to edit any letter far length or
