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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 28, 1998)
New senate members approve a number of requests By Kristina Rudinskas Student Activities Reporter The first meeting of the 1998-99 Student Senate got off to a tumultuous start Wednesday night as new senators slowly learned correct procedure. “I think they are a energetic group of go getters,” said Senator Tamir Kriegel. ASUO President Geneva Wortman and Vice-President Morgan Cowling came be fore the senate to request several line-item transfers of funding to pay the deficit the previous executive had accumulated. “It’s annoying cleaning up after some one else’s mess,” Wortman said. Previous Vice-President Ben Unger explained the deficits were formed when special projects within the office failed to yield the money they promised. He also explained lone-dis tance funds expired within the first few months of his term. The Senate ap proved all of the transfers except for $750 the Executive wanted to take from the student media center. The cultural forum was barely granted a Student Senate $2,000 loan and a $2,000 grant to help fi nance a fund raiser co-sponsored by Alpha Chi Omega sorority to benefit Women space. The concert will feature Kerosene Dream and Calobo at the EMU Amphithe ater this Sunday; tickets are $8 for students and $10 for public. “Students shouldn’t be paying twice for this event,” said Senator Dan Reid. "I can’t give incidental fees for an event where stu dents are paying for tickets.” The $2,000 loan will be evaluated by the summer Senate after the event to deter mine the length of time the groups will have to pay the funds back. "There are some fundamental flaws in it,” said Senator Michael Olsen. “The in tentions are good, but we can’t charge stu dents twice.” The Senate also approved a request from AVENU, an architecture and allied arts magazine, to transfer $414 from payroll stipends to pay for the upcoming publica tion costs of the next issue. The Senate approved a request by the Chinese Student Association for $80 from the surplus fund to correct an accounting error. The Women’s Center was granted a transfer from salary line-item to help pay for an honorium for Sarah Buel, airfare to transport the new director, a retreat and several co-sponsorships. In other news, Michael Olsen was elect ed chair of the summer Student Senate. Student volunteers learn the ropes of political campaians Volunteering on a campaign can help students get real-world political experience ByJeniGoevelinger Freelance Reporter Just like every other day, se nior Michael Olson hurries into the office to meet with other cam paign workers. Olson is a student campaign volunteer for the Green Party, a political environmental organization. This morning he is told their senatorial candidate will not be allowed to participate in the up coming televised debates. The campaign volunteers hold a meeting to figure out what to do. They decide to stage a protest at the television station on the day of the debate. The volunteers form three groups to focus on different as pects of organizing the event. Ol son works with other volunteers to write a press release, which will be sent to the local media. “It has benefited me directly to work with the media because I got to see how the media works,” Olson said. “Campaigning gives you the opportunity to build your communication skills and work with people you wouldn’t necessarily work with — people like experts in the field such as candidates and campaign staff.” Political campaigns also offer student volunteers real-life expe rience that moves them out of the classroom and into the political arena. Olson has lots of experience with the nuts and bolts of cam paigning. He has worked on judi cial campaigns in his native Wis consin and has promoted Green Party candidates during previous elections in Eugene. “I think it’s important to get in volved in the political process because the government makes decisions that affect all of us,” he said. Through campaign work, Ol son has found many ways to get involved. He has organized meet ings, educated voters through street canvassing and talked to them one-on-one. He has helped register voters and promote his candidate’s name and political agenda. Professor Jerry Medler, who teaches political science at the University, said smaller cam paigns sometimes allow students to get more involved in the process. Students can volunteer in all aspects of politics includ ing fund raising, writing speech es, scheduling events, putting up signs and telephone banking, he said. "You get to do a little of every thing instead of standing in the back room licking 400 envelopes on a Thursday night,” Medler said. “But it depends on the stu dent. Not everyone has initia tive.” Medler said any student with initiative can find campaign work in Oregon politics, which is open to young volunteers. These motivated students usually progress quickly to greater levels of responsibility, he said. Senior Peter Enslow, chairman of the College Republicans, said he knew a student who started out answering phones on a cam paign and in little more than a year became a paid coordinator. “They saw that she excelled at what she did, so they asked her to organize events and set up ho tel reservations for the candi date,” he said. “She became a kind of planner, and now she does an even higher level of the same thing.” Enslow also found an abun dance of opportunities in cam paigning. He has distributed campaign material door-to-door, contacted neighborhood associa tions and pitched his candidate’s agenda through telephone bank ing. “Unfortunately, I couldn’t offer a lot more to the campaign be cause I’m a senior, and I’m too busy with schoolwork,” Enslow said. “They wanted me to be a telephone campaign manager, but they wanted me to be here over the summer.” He said the time commitment involved in campaigning varies depending on the type of elec tion. Working on a city council election will require less effort than working on a statewide elec tion, he said. Regardless of the size of the election, the goal of campaigning stays the same. “The basic idea is to get the [candidate’s] name out there,” Enslow said. "When I worked on the Gordon Smith campaign, he had us wear T-shirts and hold signs while walking down the road before a football game.” While promoting the candi date, students are getting “a chance to transcend just reading the book,” Medler said. "I think it’s like what Ross Perot called a lesson in the owner’s manual ‘How to Use America.’” Both Olson and Enslow plan to use their campaigning experi ences in the future and will con tinue their political activity. Ol son will pursue public interest research and will get involved in campaign financing. Next year, he plans to start a student lobby group with the University Cam pus Greens, the campus Green Party, which is registered with the ASUO. Enslow plans to pursue com munity politics after completing a master’s in teaching at the Uni versity of Portland. SHOOT FOR THE STARS THIS SUMMER /k Register now for 1998 UO summer classes. Summer DUCK CALL'S ready and waiting. Pick up your free summer bulletin then pick up the phone. 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