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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 17, 1997)
This is the final sound off. Have you ever considered, even for a second, replying to one * of these things? Let us know. editorials, letters, commentary and perspective BY MAIL: P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 BY PHONE: (541)346-5511 BY E-MAIL: ode@oregon. uoregon. edu IN PERSON: Suite 300, EMU All thumbs To the scheduling of the panel presentation: The program’s three days of events were well organized and executed but at least one was poorly scheduled. Wednesday’s panel presentation on “Realizing the Dream” took place in the EMU Ballroom at 10 a.m. and, not surprisingly, was sparsely attended. At that time, students (and faculty) are either asleep or in class (or both), and the EMU Ballroom is not exactly the most visible location on campus. In contrast, attendance for the candlelight vigil in the busy EMU Courtyard on Tuesday afternoon was high for an event of its magnitude —and for good reason. To the Skinner Butte cross: Now that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has deter mined the cross won’t reside on public land, many residents are calling for its destruction. But at least five churches or reli gious institutions have expressed in terest in placing the cross on their prop erty. If there is a home for it on pri vate land, it de serves to be there. The cross is too im portant to too many people. To Dave Frohnmayer: Our beloved Uni versity president is teaching a freshman seminar entitled “Theories of Leader ship” twice a week in Gilbert Hall. Be sides the scary fact that he actually has time to do this, the idea of our presi dent interacting with undergraduates is a good one. While Frohnmayer may never teach again, the effort put forth to do so this term is worthy of recogni tion. The Oregon Daily Emerald is published daily Monday through Friday during the school year and Tuesday and Thursday during the summer by the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Oregon, Eugene. Oregon. A member of the Associated Press, the Emer ald operates independently of the University with offices at Suite 300 of theErb Memorial Union The Emerald is private property The unlawful removal or use of pa pers is prosecutable by law Editor-In-Chief: Steven Asbury Managing Editor: Thom Schoenborn Night Editor: Steven Asbury Community: Jennifer Schmitt, editor. Eric Collins Entertainment: Nicole Kreuger, editor Jesse Stephenson Higher Education: Laura Cadiz, editor. Benjamin Kwasney Opinion: Ashley Bach, Brian Diamond, editors. Chris Hutchinson, illustrator Student Activities: Angie Suchy, editor. Autumn DePoe, Dana Williamson Sports: Mark McTyre. editor. Andrea DeYoung, assistant editor. Chris Hansen, Ryan Frank, Ryan Halvorsen Copy Desk: Sarah Kickler, copy chief. Mike Schmierbach, Kendra Smith Presentation: Dennis Bolt, editor. Matt Carton Photography: Mathew Stiffler, editor. Joe Bunik, Amanda Erickson. Shannon Kilduff, Chad Patteson Freelance: Carl Yeh, editor On-Line: Nicholas Stiffler. director. General Manager: Judy Riedl Advertising Becky Merchant, director. Anne Amador, Lee Yen Beh, Yujin Chi, Matt Johnson, Andrew Lakefish, Anne Miller, Trina Shanaman, Rose Soli, Matt Solomon, Greg Walsh Classified: Tara Sloan, manager. Natasha Lumpkin, Debbie Levy. Heather Moye Production: Michele Ross, manager Ingrid White, coordinator. Shawna Abele, Laura Daniel, Trevor Kearney .Tara Knight, Melissa Lebahn, Molly McCanta, Ellen Milne. Mike Young Business: Kathy Carbone, supervisor. Judy Connolly Distribution: John Long, Dave Ovall, Ferenc Rakoczi Newsroom.(541)346-5511 Display Advertising .(541) 346-3712 Business Office .(541) 346-5512 Classified Advertising.(541) 346-4343 Residency rules need clarity ■ OUR OPINION: Current policy for out-of-state students is inconsistent, vague and unfair Who is a resident of the state of Oregon? The question might i seem simple, but it’s not. Ac- A cording to the state, a resident is « anyone who is living and paying taxes in Oregon. According to the Oregon State System of Higher Education (OSSHE), it’s a little bit more complicated. OSSHE declaring a student as a resident means much more than be ing able to vote in Oregon and get an Oregon driver’s license — it means that student doesn’t have to pay out-of state tuition. Currently, the state subsi dizes about 75 percent of the cost of high er education for residents. Those who come to the University from another state do not get this government subsidy be cause the state says they haven’t paid into the system through taxes and therefore, should not be able to cash in on the bene fits. This means out-of-state students pay a considerably higher price for a University education than residents do. Many peo ple who want to attend the University from another state have a great interest in establishing residency so they can reap the rewards of a subsidized education. That’s where OSSHE comes in. If be coming a resident of Oregon were as easy as getting an apartment, registering your car and paying taxes in Oregon, a consid erable number of people would find it in their interest to become residents — and state colleges would stand to lose a lot of money. For this reason, OSSHE has set up a separate standard for becoming a resi dent that is considerably harder than the state’s requirements. Under OSSHE’s re quirements, for out-of-state students to become residents they must be financial ly independent, live in Oregon for one year, be primarily engaged in activities other than those of being a student and prove that they came to Oregon for rea CHRIS HUTCHINSON/Emerald sons other than to receive an education. It is those last two requirements that are responsible for almost all the prob lems people have with becoming a resi dent. What activities qualify as being a student? How does one prove what his or her intent was when he or she came to Oregon? Questions like these are, in many ways, matters of opinion. Who is supposed to decide what someone’s in tent is when they came to Oregon? OS SHE can almost arbitrarily decide who can get residency and who can't based on their interpretation of these two require ments. The whole situation just lends it self to controversy. Students who attempt to become resi dents but are rejected based on OSSHE’s opinion on their intent face two prob lems. Not only must they pay out-of-state tuition in Oregon, but having given up their previous residency, they must pay out-of-state tuition back home as well. They are, in essence, residents of nowhere, stuck uncomfortably between the cracks of the system. The vagueness of these rules is no acci dent. Oregon colleges are in a tricky situa tion with residency issues. On the one hand, they don’t want to lose money when people from other states establish residency. On the other hand, they don’t want to lose money when people from out of state — unable to pay out-of-state tuition and unwilling to go through the residency process — are forced to leave for another school. What’s left is a murky set of requirements purposely filled with loopholes so OSSHE can monitor who be comes a resident and who doesn’t. As long as residency requirements are unclear, there will be problems with de termining who is and isn’t a resident of the state of Oregon. Instead of relying on OSSHE’s judgment on what someone’s intent is, a clear set of requirements should be drawn up. If people meet the requirements, they become residents; if not, they don’t. Period. If OSSHE is worried too many people will establish residency once the rules are clear, make the requirements harder. In stead of asking potential residents to live in the state one year, why not make it two? The fact is it doesn’t matter what the requirements are as long as they are con sistently applied. That way, no one will be confused as to 'why his or her bid for residency was rejected. Only when the re quirements to become a resident are clearly defined will the residency prob lem be resolved. This editorial represents the majority opinion of the Emerald editorial board.
