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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 1997)
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THE BIRKENSTOCK STORE 181 East Broadway • 342-6107 • Hours: Mon.-Sat 10-6, Sun 11-5 Also located in downtown Corvallis and Salem ■ ASSOCIATION: The local student chapter plans to ‘unleash’ higher education By Jennifer Schmitt Community Editor Federal financial aid funding, affirmative action and the Higher Education Act are facing federal attack, and students need to get involved to preserve higher edu cation, said the president of the United States Student Associa tion. Kazim Ali, USSA President, said the national student lobby ing association’s goal for the year is to “unleash education” and make it available to more prospective students. The USSA uses a grass roots approach to raise support and awareness for higher education issues that affect the 3.5 million students the organization repre sents, Ali said. The University and all of the colleges and universities in the Oregon State System of Higher Education are members of the na tional student association. In past years, a local chapter of the USSA was funded by Univer sity students, but students voted in 1994 and again in 1995 not to continue supporting a chapter on this campus. The vote was reversed last spring when students voted on and passed a referendum allocat ing 50 cents per student per term to a USSA fund. “We are still in a transition phase right now,” said Matthew Scotten, ASUO president. “We just got the funding back last year.” Other state universities and colleges have a person acting as a field organizer for their chapters. “The money is going to be spent on hiring a full-time field organizer to deal with federal is sues statewide,” Scotten said. “Until we have enough to hire, we are saving the money. Some money is being spent on local ac tivities we have set up for this year.” Members involved in USSA have been setting their action plans for this spring. “We plan on doing a lot of grass roots things,” Scotten said. “We want something quantitative to show the need and importance of the issues when we go to ALI VV cl 5» 11 1 II g - ton, D.C.” Universi ty represen tatives will be trying to preserve federal sup port for state grants such as the Oregon Need Grant. The per centage or federally supported grants has dropped from 70 per cent of financial aid being grants in 1970 to only 30 percent of aid being grants today, Scotten said. “We really need federal sup port for state grants to work well,” he said. “That support has been dropping, which increases the debt burden for students, es pecially with the rising cost of tu ition.” The Pell grant and state/stu dent incentive programs are also in danger, Ali said. State/student incentive programs are programs in which the federal government shares the cost of the grant with the state. “The main issue of education al access is economic access,” Ali said. “If need grant programs are eliminated, the effects would be devastating to needy students.” The USSA is planning com munity empowerment forums and postcard campaigns to raise support and awareness for feder al financial aid, he said. The University will also be as sisting the national student asso ciation in defending attacks on affirmative action, Scotten said. A federal bill is being intro duced to Congress this year which would declare gender and tc There have been studies linking education and public assistance. If we can get people educated, then there is a greater chance they won’t have to rely on welfare programs in the future. — Kazim AM USSA President -99 race based programs unconstitu tional. But Ali said the access prob lems in education are race- and gender-based and as a result need gender- and race-based solutions. “This is not about quotas,” Ali said. “Affirmative action is sim ply what it says: it is a positive step forward.” Mentoring and recruiting pro grams for students are some ex amples of affirmative action that should be high priorities, he said. A national day of action is be ing held on Mar. 4 in support of affirmative action, and students are encouraged to write letters of support. “This is a time to realize the Martin Luther King dream,” Scotten said. “I don’t think ban ishing affirmative action is a good idea.” The Higher Education Act, passed in 1965, is reauthorized every five years, and this year it is up for reauthorization again. As part of the reauthorization, USSA representatives want to add legislation that will allow higher education to be consid ered “work” under welfare re quirements, Ali said. “There have been studies link ing education and public assis tance,” he said. “If we can get people educated, then there is a greater chance they won’t have to rely on welfare programs in the future.” FIND OUT ABOUT “ONE OF THE 20 BEST CORPORATE JOBS IN THE U.S.” Join Meier & Frank Executives on Monday, January 27, 1997 from 11:00 - 3:00 in the EMU Fir Room for an open house. If you are currently a senior in college, graduating by June 1997 with a 3.0 or better GPA, and interested in an exciting career in Retail Management, please join us for refreshments and learn about our management training program. Also, juniors who are interested in our summer internship program are invited to attend. 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