Perspectives
It’s election day, so this
will be short, sweet and
to the point.
Vote yes for OSPIRG.
Here’s why you should
vote yes: OSPIRGgets
things done.
For example: Tuition is
rising (it’s up 90 percent
since 1990). OSPIRG
worked to defend $30 bil
lion in financial aid, we de
fended the student-interest
loan exemption and in
creased the maximum Pell
Grant allocation by $300.
Now students can graduate
from school without de
claring bankruptcy.
Our waterways are be
coming toxic sewerways
(2.5 million pounds of tox
ic chemicals were dumped
in the Willamette in 1996
alone). OSPIRG defended
Eugene’s right to know
about the toxic chemicals
that are going into our wa
ter and helped Gov.
Kitzhaber make the right
to know about pesticide
use one of the biggest envi
ronmental issues in the
< state.
Air quality is dropping,
asthma rates are skyrocket
ing. OSPIRG pushed the
Environmental Protection
Agency to enact tough new
clean-air standards.
Banks just keep getting
bigger. The bigger the
bank, the more outrageous
the bank fees. OSPIRG re
search, led by Consumer
Advocate John Valley,
helped save us all money
by finding the best banks.
Why should students be
working statewide to save
Oregon from toxic chemi
cal overload and to fight
for better student financial
aid? Because we can.
Students have the op
portunity to find the prob
lems and make the solu
tions.
We have the time, we
have the structure and we
have the power. To not
work on these issues in the
Commentary
Merriah
IM1H
most serious way we can
would be to tie our own
hands behind our back.
Here’s how I see it: With
so many problems out
there, a few people (like
17,000 University stu
dents) can be a strong voice
by contributing a couple of
dollars each term to hire
professional staff to go
straight to the problem and
tackle it head on. When
pollution washes up on
Oregon beaches and ruins
our rivers, we have the ad
vocates to stand up for bet
ter pesticide protections
and a system to hold in
dustry accountable for the
cleanup.
Without statewide staff
reaching the four comers
of the state, we would end
up cleaning up their mess
with our taxes alone.
A long list of student
groups that work to make a
difference have endorsed:
Movimento Estudiantil
Chicano De Aztlan
(MEChA), the Black Stu
dent Union (BSU), Les
bian, Gay, Bisexual and
Transgender Alliance
(LGBTA), Graduate Teach
ing Fellows Federation
(GTFF), the Women’s Cen
ter, the International Stu
dent Association (ISA),
Students for the Ethical
Treatment of Animals
(SETA) and the Survival
Center.
And to tell you the truth,
if they were on the ballot
we would endorse them,
too. Here’s the thing: The
more issues that students
work on and the more vic
tories we have the better
this state gets.
A small group of people
on campus (and some
powerful special interests
off campus) that just don’t
like students working on
saving the environment
and student aid have tried
to feed this campus a line.
They’ll say anything.
You’ve heard it all by
now. We’ve done our best
to rise to the challenge and
provide you with the infor
mation you need. We have
budgets and financial
breakdowns that say the
same things that we’ve al
ways said. We hire staff to
work for students and get
things done.
Ralph Nader was on
campus Tuesday for Earth
week, and by the way he
talks we have a lot to do.
He put everything in per
spective. When a laborer
wakes up to work 12 hours
in the field, they are forced
to think only about how
they are going to make
enough money to survive.
They want something
more but they lack oppor
tunity.
If there’s one thing we’ve
got it’s opportunity. Stu
dents work hard too, but
Ralph said we have a dif
ferent challenge and I
think he’s right. If we don’t
stand up and fight for jus
tice, cleaner air, accessible
colleges and universities,
who will? Think of how
many people wish they
could be in our shoes. We
have to take advantage and
raise a stink.
You pay $2.88 each term
and you get a shot at clean
er water, cleaner air, more
student aid. Now that’s a
bargain.
Vote yes for OSPIRG.
Merriah Fairchild is OS
PIRG’s state board chair
woman. Responses may be
sent via e-mail to mfair@
gladstone. uoregon.edu.
Without funding,
OSPERG has
been more visi
ble this year than in any of
my four as a University
student. That should say
something about their
“need” for $128,000 —
funding that would make
them the third highest
funded student organiza
tion, behind only student
government itself and the
Emerald.
When students get to
gether to raise awareness
and effect change on cam
pus, they need little or no
money. And this is shown
by the fact that many of
OSPIRG’s most popular
activities, namely stream
walks and canned-food
drives, cost little to orga
nize.
So, logically, most of
OSPIRG’s “projected”
budget will not fund those
types of things.
Nearly 80 percent will
leave the UO campus and
pay the salaries of profes
sional lobbyists to influ
ence local, state, and fed
eral policies.
That’s taken from their
own projections. Eighty
percent, baby. The rest
pays bureaucratic and ad
ministrative expenses.
Student incidental fees
should not fund partisan
political causes, they
should certainly not pay
lobbyists’ salaries and, as
much as possible, our stu
dent fees should stay on
campus.
OSPIRG violates all
three points. This is why
students should again
deny funding it in today’s
election. Although you
may agree with some of
OSPIRG’s politics, you are
probably opposed to their
funding on principle.
Why?
Imagine the formation
of a student gum-rights
group at the University,
Commentary
Jonatfum
one that would bring
speakers to campus, spon
sor some gun-safety semi
nars and a few intern
ships. But 80 percent of
their $128,000 budget
would fund the salaries of
National Rifle Association
(NRA) lobbyists to do pro
gun research while they
weren’t lobbying.
Meanwhile, campus
gun-control advocates are
forced to pay the fee, re
gardless of their beliefs.
If you are opposed to
this in principle, you op
pose OSPIRG’s funding
because they do the exact
same thing—albeit for a
cause more palatable to
college students than
guns. Left, Right, conserv
ative, liberal: It is wrong
to fund political causes
with student fees. Some
one with a minority opin
ion always gets the short
end of the stick.
OSPIRG tries to skirt
this issue by calling them
selves “nonpartisan.”
Yeah. OSPIRG is about as
nonpartisan as a neutered
dog is. Well, you get the
point.
Politics means taking
sides. OSPIRG can’t have
it both ways. Gun-rights
advocates believe they’re
working in the “public in
terest,” too. OSPIRG is
partisan indeed, and that
means that students who
disagree with their goals
are forced to fund a politi
cal cause antithetical to
their own.
So what about The
Commentator and the Sur
vival Center? Don’t they
take sides?
The Commentator and
Survival Center do not
hire lobbyists to promote
their politics in govern
ment. This is a vital differ
ence. Promoting and
bringing awareness to a
viewpoint on campus is
entirely different than lob
bying for a cause in Wash
ington, D.C.
OSPIRG is zealous
about regaining its fund
ing, not because of the stu
dent and campus aspects
of their program, (which
students here showed
would be accomplished
anyway) but because
they’re a political lobby
ing machine that wants a
$128,000 truckload of our
cash.
Proving my point? Ex
pect to see a lot of unfa
miliar faces here on elec
tion day. Those are the
state OSPIRG employees
taking sick leave to make
sure their cash cow gets
funding this time around.
Do you really think
Ralph Nader would travel
thousands of miles to pro
mote a simple campus
group before election day?
Really. It’s about money,
politics and little else.
Last year, students test
ed the waters to see what
cutting OSPIRG’s gargan
tuan budget would do.
This year, students
showed they could bring
awareness to OSPIRG’s is
sues without all of that
money.
We’ve been doing fine
without funding OSPIRG
for a year. Let’s make a tra
dition out of it by voting
no on OSPIRG today and
Thursday.
Jonathan Collegio is major
ing in political science and
economics. Responses may
be sent via e-mail to ameri
caQgladstone. uoregon. edu.
Vote for human rights, vote for the Gardenburger boycott
NORPAC is the largest growers’ co
operative west of the Mississippi
with a distribution network that
reaches Japan and earns annual sales of
$300 million. Farmworkers make their
earnings through piece rates. Their wages
are based on the number of pounds, sacks
or buckets of crops they pick in a day.
Sound reasonable?
We must understand that 1. piece rates
fall well below subsistence levels, 2. farm
workers work with substances that destroy
life and 3. farmworkers are excluded from
employee rights guaranteed under the Na
tional Labor Relations Act of 1934.
Farmworkers who pick strawberries
have been paid at a rate between 12 and 15
cents per pound for the last 15 years while
the relative supermarket price of strawber
ries has gone up exponentially during the
same period .
Farmworkers are the largest workforce
in the United States who work, live and
get sprayed with substances intended to
kill life. Pesticides, herbicides and fungi
cides have been shown to cause cancer, tu
mors, death and physical deformities in
newborns. Annually there are 300,000 re
lated pesticide injuries to farmworkers.
The NLRA guarantees employee collec
tive bargaining rights, the rights to paid
breaks and a safe work environment,
among other things.
Farmworkers are completely excluded
from these provisions and growers don’t
see a need to provide them.
Child labor is allowed in the agricultural
industry.
Gardenburger plays a very important
role in the boycott of NORPAC Food Inc.,
and its product line, Flav-R-Pac, by contin
uing to have its products sold through the
distributions network of NORPAC Food
Sales. In essence, Gardenburger is break
ing the boycott of NORPAC Food Sales.
This relationship is why Gardenbuiger’s
earning in sales are increasing. This is why
Gardenburger refuses to honor the request
of farmworkers to support the NORPAC
boycott called by PCUN.
We ask that you support the boycott
campaign to discontinue the purchasing of
Gardenburger and NORPAC products on
this campus. You can do so by choosing
the alternative patty in the dining halls,
telling friends and family to stop purchas
ing Gardenburger and NORPAC products
and urging the University administration
to select alternatives.
Farmworkers voted in the fields to im
prove their situation. The explanation of
the consumer and market demands given
by the University administration and
housing administration allegedly provides
the justification for Gardenburger and
NORPAC products’ presence on this cam
pus.
What it actually does, contrary to what
we may think, is make a political state
ment in support of this market relation
ship. What about the students on this cam
pus whose parents and families are
currently working in the fields?
The leadership of the University is forc
ing these students to take part in their own
families’ exploitation. This is not some
thing the University wants you to hear.
Children of farmworkers are trying to be
a model to their parents by obtaining an
education. How does one feel safe and
welcome when the University is partaking
in their own exploitation?
When the University decided to join the
movement to boycott South African in
vestments because of apartheid’s oppres
sive and exploitative nature on black
South Africans, it was the ethical thing to
do. Why should support for farmworkers
be any different? Oppression and exploita
tion similar to South Africa is occurring in
the fields of the Willamette Valley.
Should we not uphold democracy for
farmworkers who experienced it and are
asking us to do the same? Is it democratic
when year after year racist policy is creat
ed and implemented that pits us as U.S.
citizens against farmworkers over issues of
wage, working conditions, police brutality
and housing?
Democracy apparently is not allowing
us to have a place at the table.
This commentary was submitted by the Com
mittee to Boycott Gardenburger and Flav-R
Pac.