Court overturns term limit law
■The demise of term limits
will change the legislative
process and allow some
politicians to run again
ByJohnLiebhardt
Oregon Daily Emerald
Higher-education lobbyists are
cautiously optimistic about the
consequences of the Oregon
Supreme Court’s decision to nulli
fy the state’s term limit law.
The Oregon Supreme Court
ruled Friday that Measure 3, the
1992 ballot-initiative Oregon vot
ers passed to create the term limit
law, broke state statutes by making
more than one unrelated change at
once to the Oregon constitution.
The law restricted House members
to three two-year terms and sena
tors to two four-year terms, and
placed a 12-year limit on state leg
islative service.
Life without term limits will not
be any easier for groups who repre
sent higher education interests in
Salem, Oregon Students Associa
tion executive director Joelle
Lester said.
“When lobbying someone who
is new, we could have the opportu
nity to win them over and have
them be a champion of our pro
grams, while more experienced
folks may already have their own
ideas,” she said.
The court’s decision will allow
up to 25 members of the two hous
es who would have exceeded the
term limits to run for elections this
year. Also, members who were
previously ineligible because of
term limits may run for office
again.
The ruling will supply the Ore
gon Legislature with more sea
soned lawmakers and a longer in
stitutional memory, said Tim
Young, one of two student repre
sentatives of the State Board of
Higher Education.
“Term limits created turnover
and created a transient nature in
the Legislature,” he said. The rul
ing “should change the culture of
Salem from a bus station to people
sticking
around and
caring about
issues.”
Well-sea
soned legisla
tors are get
ting hard to
come by in
Oregon, said
Grattan Ker
ans, director
of govern
ment relations for the Oregon Uni
versity System—the group of sev
en state universities. Kerans left
behind 17 years of legislative ex
perience in Salem to work for
OUS.
“We had a situation that the per
son with six months experience
was the second-in-command one
day, and they were in charge the
next day,” he said. “That is not a
good way to run a railroad. ”
Young said the abolition of term
limits will reduce the power and
influence of professional, well
funded lobbyists on lawmakers.
“It is harder to manipulate you
if you have been around for 15
years,” Young said.
One junior legislator agrees. The
average junior lawmaker does not
have the experience to make deci
sions on a wide range of subjects,
said Rep. Phil Barnhart, D-Eugene.
To compensate, the legislator must
quickly find information either
from colleagues or, more common
ly, from lobbyists and civil ser
vants in the legislative branch.
Both groups sometimes have their
own agendas, Barnhart said.
“If you’re dealing with an area
you don’t know much about, you
may have to take a vote primarily
on other people’s information,” he
said. “And that’s not a good posi
tion to be in.”
Supporters of term limits have
vowed to carry on the fight. The
group Oregon Term Limits an
nounced it will start collecting sig
natures for another, less restrictive,
term limit initiative.
Regardless of the future of term
limits in Oregon, the demise of
Measure 3 can still be seen as a vic
tory for some. Kerans felt the meas
ure was too restrictive and went far
beyond other state term limit laws.
The 12-year ceiling on state-wide
public office created a “death
penalty” atmosphere in Salem.
Kerans said that Measure 3’s
message was “a person with 12
years’ experience is dangerous to
the public welfare and toxic to the
process, so we must bar them
for life.”
E-mail community editor John Liebhardtat
johnliebhardt@dailyemerald.com.
Residence
continued from page 1
is on that side,” she said. “It’s kind
of just a place to sleep and keep
your stuff.”
But Eyster’s vision for the new
residence hall, which he described
as a “living-learning center,” would
improve the quality of rooms and
the quality of students’ education,
he said. The new residence hall
would offer not just a bed, desk and
closet, but also academic support
services for students to meet with
professors and get involved with ac
ademic and residence life.
The residence hall would also
have accessibility for students with
wheelchairs, deaf students needing
special alarms and other students
requiring special accommodations.
Construction of a new residence
hall would open up space in exist
ing residence halls, which would al
low housing officials to renovate or
replace the older halls, some of
which are 47 years old, Eyster said.
But before construction begins,
several problems would have to be
solved, he added.
First, the building proposal must
survive several phases of review by
University President Dave Frohn
mayer, the Oregon University Sys
tem and Gov. John Kitzhaber’s of
fice, said University planning
associate Cathy Soutar.
Second, the building needs a lo
cation. Eyster favors the area be
tween Earl and Walton complexes
in place of the tennis courts, but
there are “significant hurdles to
overcome,” he said.
The campus development plan
would have to be modified and the
tennis courts would need to be relo
cated, Eyster said.
Another possible location is the
current Bean parking lot, but Eyster
worries about placing the residence
hall too far from classes, as students
complained in a survey last year
about Bean’s distance from some
University buildings.
The new residence hall “needs to
be close to the academic heartbeat,”
he said.
But before a site for the residence
hall can be selected, the building
must be funded, Soutar said.
Residence hall funding is an aux
iliary service, and the housing de
partment raises revenue from rent.
Lack of funds has kept the depart
ment from building or renovating in
the past, but Eyster said it cannot af
ford to wait much longer.
“Ifwefailto (build and upgrade),
we will be unable to attract high
quality students to the University,”
he said.
Higher quality rooms and more
space would also attract older stu
dents who tend to move off campus
after their first year, Eyster said.
“We don’t even have room for
them to return but most choose not
to,” he said. “If we had larger rooms
to better fit students’ computers and
to offer privacy, we’d have more re
turning students, which would cre
ate a richer culture and environ
ment.”
Brooks said the No. 1 renovation
she’d like to see is larger rooms.
“When I first saw the dorms, I felt
like I would be claustrophobic,” she
said. “There’s just not enough
space.”
E-mail reporter Diane Huber at
dianehuber@dailyemerald.com.
CHARLES H. LUNDQUIST
| College of Business
^ UNIVERSITY OF OREGON
Winter Business
Career Symposium
Wednesday January 23rd
5:00 to 8:00 p.m.
Gilbert 101 & 102
• EXPLORE CAREERS: Hear from People in the Business!
• Network with UO Alumni and Employers!
• Win DOOR PRIZES! Attend the Reception!
• Compare and Contrast Jobs in the Same Field. . .
Track I Track II
Marketing/Sales Panel
5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
2=- Sports Bus. Marketing - Adidas
2s- Public Relations - KVO Pub. Rel.
>- Consumer Prod. - Black & Decker
Market Research - Ragatz Assoc.
Management Panel
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
>■ HR Management - Sony Disc Man.
>■ Sales Manage. - Enterprise RAC
>■ Account Management-Jeld-Wen
»■ Product Manage. - E&J Gallo
Accounting Panel
5:00 to 6:00 p.m.
2* Regional CPA - Grant Thornton
2^ Big 5 Accounting - Andersen
Corporate Acct. - Prec. Cast. Corp.
2=- Government Accounting - IRS
Finance Panel
6:30 to 7:30 p.m.
>■ Corporate Finance - Intel
2^ Financial Advising - Am. Express
>■ Banking - Wells Fargo
2^ Analyst-TBA
g For more information, please contact James Chang at the LCB, 346-3421
Budget shortfall squeezes students
■Gov. John Kitzhaber’s
proposal to balance the state
budget would affect low-income
students who depend on
Oregon Opportunity grants
By Eric Martin
Oregon Daily Emerald
Some University students who
use state grants to pay for school
would be forced to drop out if Gov.
John Kitzhaber’s initial proposal to
accommodate an expected state
budget shortfall is implemented, an
education lobbyist said.
Under the plan, 5,762 low-in
come students who receive Oregon
Opportunity Grants would lose
grant funds completely. About
30,000 such grants are awarded
statewide each year.
“It would make vulnerable stu
dents more vulnerable,” said John
Wykoff, a lobbyist for the Oregon
Student Association. “You’re just
going to have students kicked out
of the system.”
About 1,800 students attending
the University this year depend on
Oregon Opportunity Grants, or
“need grants.” The grants allot
$1,254 to each student, each year,
and help pay for books, tuition and
rent.
Gene Evans, a spokesman for the
Oregon Student Assistance Com
mission, which awards grants
and scholarships to students at
private colleges and public uni
versities, said the impact of
Kitzhaber’s latest proposal could
change many lives.
Evans said Kitzhaber is con
sidering other solutions to side
“It would make vulnerable
students more vulnerable.
You’re just going to have
students kicked out of the
system.”
John Kykoff
lobbyist,
Oregon Student Association
step the budget crunch because
too many programs stand to lose
too much.
Oregon higher education lobby
ists and financial aid officials said
they expect a different final blue
print to remedy the state’s project
ed $830 million shortfall.
Kitzhaber’s initial proposal,
announced Jan. 7, was formulated
as a starting point for legislators to
decide how to raise the sum.
Kitzhaber asked state agencies
in October to detail how they
would trim budgets in 2 percent
increments up to 10 percent to
blunt the shortfall’s blow.
He said he does not favor the Jan.
7 proposal because, among other
reductions, it would mean trim
ming about $300 million from the
$5.2 billion earmarked for school
support during 2001-03.
“Cuts mean the difference, be
tween going to school and not going
to school for some of these stu
dents,” Evans said. “And these are
the students that need aid the most.”
Students at the University who
need opportunity grants are far out
numbered by those who receive
loans or other grants, such as Pell
grants, said James Gilmour,-associ
ate director for the student financial
aid office. He said because the cost
of school is rising while funding
awarded through grants remains
fixed, many students are depend
ing more on loans.
But this is bad news for low-in
come students, Gilmour said, be
cause they’re taking a higher risk
when shouldering loans that must
be paid back.
“The first couple of years, these
students would be saddled with
debt and they would have no de
gree to show for it,” Gilmour said.
“This has a chilling effect when
these grants aren’t available.”
E-mail higher education reporter Eric Martin
at ericmartin@dailyemerald.com.
Oregon Daily Emerald
P.O. Box 3159, Eugene OR 97403
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.The Emerald operates
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Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The
Emerald is private property. The unlawful
removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law.
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