Voters
Continued from Page 1
ed, and we, as students, need to
send them a message."
The Oregon Student Associa
tion, a lobbying group for stu
dent interests, found that tu
ition at Oregon’s public
universities has increased 80
percent since 1990.
Oregon universities have lost
Congressional support and fund
ing. In 1990 higher education re
ceived 12 percent of the general
fund, and now funding consists
of 6.25 percent.
“It makes me angry,” Swanson
said. “But at one point it makes
me get out there and make our
voice heard.”
Wortman said students don’t
even have to go to the polls but
can sign up for an absentee bal
lot.
((I don't feel as though
students are apathetic,
just uninformed. They
haven’t made a
connection with issues
that are real to them.
Geneva Wortman
ASUO President
“They’ll have a longer time to
sit in their dorm room or class
room and look it over to make
an educated decision,” she
said.
Swanson wants to engage more
student activism at the Universi
ty. The kind of energy the Uni
versity has been known for in the
past. The activist reputation
speaks for itself.
The University was ranked
first in the nation in percentage
of registered students in 1992
and 1994. In the last three presi
dential elections, Oregon has had
the highest youth turnout in the
nation.
“The majority of people have
their heads in the clouds,” said
student Brandon Gouner, who
registered to vote in front of John
son Hall yesterday. “To make a
difference in a capitalist society
is to vote.”
Wortman wants to debunk
the myth that students don’t
care about politics.
“I don’t feel as though students
are apathetic, just uninformed,”
she said. “They haven’t made a
connection with issues that are
real to them.”
The ASUO wants students to regis
ter for the Nov.3 election by the
Oct. 13 deadline. Some important
student issues that will be ad
dressed in the next legislative ses
sion are:
ITEM 1: The Oregon Need Grant:
The grant started in 1977 to help
the neediest students go to col
lege. It was used to pay for the
students’ tuition and an extra
stipend for books. The grant has
n’t kept up with the rising cost of
tuition and today only covers
about 11 percent of the total edu
cational costs.
ITEM 2:The Child Care Block Grant:
Students want the governor and leg
islature to include state funding for a
block grant in their budget. Currently
the ASUO-subsidized child-care
centers have MO families on the
waiting list. Since 1989the state has
not directly allocated any money to
assisting student parents.
ITEM 3: Access to Quality cam
paign: A movement to lobby for
higher faculty compensation. Uni
versity salaries rank 39th in the na
tion. Some Oregon salaries are
$16,000 below the national average.
ITEM 4: Other concerns students
have is a tuition freeze, more finan
cial aid and continued control over
the student controlled and allocated
incidental fee.
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Campaigns
Continued from Page 1
pus safety and lobbying for a tu
ition freeze and more faculty
compensation.
“It is so important to actually
get something done on the real
level,” ASUO President Geneva
Wortman said. “There are some
fights that just need to be
fought.”
Students may not be aware of
the battles previous ASUO presi
dent won to improve higher ed
ucation and student life.
“They take it for granted,” said
City Council Member Bobby Lee
and 1992 ASUO President. “It's
the student’s job to take care of
the legacy of previous leaders.”
He said the loss of OSPIRG
funding is an example of the lack
of student understanding of pre
vious ASUO leaders’ goals.
Lee remembers the energy and
inspiration of his term when the
campaign goal was beating Ore
gon State University and Univer
sity of Washington at voter regis
tration.
Lee and the ASUO registered
9,000 students that year, the
latest number of students regis
tered anywhere in the nation. He
brought in celebrities and politi
cians such as Jesse Jackson and
Bill Clinton, to rally students to
register.
He said a local state represen
tative threatened to cut funding
to the UO Law School, and the
students voted the representative
out of office.
During Lee’s office, funding
for the Multicultural Center
was secured, KWVA got its FCC
report and started running, and
the direct loan system that al
lows students to get their finan
cial aid and loans through the
University at Oregon Hall was
established.
“We wanted to inspire stu
dents that they can make a differ
ence in the world,” Lee said.
“That inspirational element has
been lost for a long time.”
He says the ASUO should
think big but keep in mind the
larger picture.
Lee said all branches of the stu
dent government — the Student
Senate, Constitutional Court, Pro
grams Finance Committee and
the Executive-worked together to
achieve its goals.
“Don’t get into politics too
much,” Lee said. “Internal bick
ering alienates you from the rest
of the students and wastes stu
dent money.”
Last year’s ASUO President
Bill Miner and Vice President
Ben Unger fought to reauthorize
the Higher Education Act,
change scheduling’s add and
drop deadlines, keep printing
fees down and educate students
about renter’s rights, voter regis
tration and the new conduct code
changes.
“With campaigns you need to
pick a cause that is deeply and
widely felt,” said Miner, who
works as a Congressional aide
for Elizabeth Furse. “The
biggest thing is not necessarily
to achieve the goal but to re
cruit people into the organiza
tion — to bring people into the
ASUO and train them to be
grassroots.”
But Miner admits his office
spread itself too thin when it
only had one year to finish its
agenda.
“It takes four months to figure
out what way’s up and what
way’s down,” Miner said. “You
really have to narrow your
goals.”
Unger thought his office need
ed to strike a clear balance be
tween fighting for higher educa
tion or students.
“You need to fall on your
sword for the students,” Unger
said. “Students sometimes get
left off the list of people to stand
up for. Everyone’s a lot smarter
about how to deal with students.
They don’t try and squash us
anymore.”
Nowhere to ru
The Oregon Daily E
where to hide.
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www.uoregon.edu/~ode
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