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Email: editor@dailyemerald.com
Online: www.dailyemerald.com
Tuesday, July 8, 2003
Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Ian Tobias Montry
EDITORIAL
Students to
grin and bear
tuition hikes
So tuition is set to increase — again.
Since 2000-01, when tuition was $3,819 per year, stu
dents have seen an increase of $500, or 13 percent. From
this past academic year to the next, students will likely
see another increase, taking tuition costs to $4,875. Over
the full four-year period, tuition has gone up almost
28 percent.
Frankly, as students, we're pissed off. 1 low are we sup
posed to afford the cost of a college education? We're poor.
We're hungry. We're barely making it, and now we have to
pay even more?
To get to the bottom of the situation, we let pissed-off
college student and Mr. Rationale battle it out.
Pissed-off college student: I was sitting down to my gour
met meal of ramen and ice water, sweating over next year's
tuition, when I had an epiphany. I hate the Oregon Legisla
ture and its gross mishandling of higher education funding.
Mr. Rationale: Sorry to tell you, but you don't really hate
the Legislature. Representatives and senators are working to
adequately fund state services, only one of which is higher
education, and they only have so much money to do so.
Pissed-off college student: OK, so if these people are
working to help us, then they need to have the intelligence
and motivation to find a way to sufficiently fund higher
education despite the bad economy.
Mr. Rationale. The truth is, the bad economy can't be
fixed by magical number crunching in the Legislature. The
Oregon University System has an operating budget for the
2003-05 biennium of just more than $4 billion. About
$700 million will come from the Legislature, which is
comparable to past budget cycles.
Really, what it comes down to is that the legislature
plans funding according to fiscal projections based on state
revenues. When the state is in a recession, more people are
typically out of work. When more people are out of work,
fewer people earn income. When fewer people earn in
come, the state doesn't collect as much income tax revenue,
and thus must make cuts accordingly.
Pissed-off college student: Well that makes sense, but it
seems to me that Oregon lawmakers have two options. Get
off their lazy asses and start implementing job growth poli
cies and programs or raise taxes.
Mr. Rationale: The thing is, college student, the Legisla
ture already tried tliat route. In January, voters handily re
ject Measure 28, which would have reduced the staggering
cuts many state services endured. Higher education alone
lost almost $80 million during the 2001-03 biennium.
Voters knew of these cuts when they cast their ballot, so go
ing back to citizens isn't a viable option.
As far as job growth programs, perhaps that is a good idea.
But job growth policies can't be formalized over night. In the
long run, such ideas will help Oregon's work force, but they
won't solve the current higher education crisis.
Pissed-off college student: Well... well ... voters suck. I
mean, what the hell, I'm supposed to pick up these extra
expenses on my own? Or with my parents' help?
Mr. Rationale: Yeah, pretty much.
It seems clear that the cost of a college education isn't
going to come down anytime soon. Given the fart that the
Legislature works to fund services adequately, state re
sources are pitiful and job growth won't help students now,
students will have to grin and bear it.
And pay and pay and pay for it.
It may not be exactly what students want to hear, but after
all, we are the ones who benefit from a college education.
EDITORIAL POLICY
This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald
editorial board. Responses can be sent to letters
@dailyemerald.com. Letters to the editor and guest
commentaries are encouraged. Letters are limited to
250 words and guest commentaries to 550 words.
Authors are limited to one submission per calendar
month. Submission must include phone number and
address for verification. The Emerald reserves the right
to edit for space, grammar and style.
If YOU ONE IT
TO HIM, YOU &OT
TO GIVE II TO US'.
FEDERALi
.LAW/v
YOU'RE AN ILLEGAL ALIEN, AND YOU
WANT IN-STATE TUITION?!!?
—
OREGON
HIGHER
eDUCAT l OH
ILLEGAL AID
Peter Utseyforthe Emerald
What part of the word "illegal" do peo
ple not understand?
Senate Bill 10, which would offer in-state
tuition rates to illegal aliens, not only re
duces opportunities for U.S. citizens and le
gal immigrants, but also directly conflicts
with federal law.
Title 8, Chapter 14, Section 1623 of the
Immigration Reform Act of 1995 states:
"Notwithstanding any other provision of
law, an alien who is not lawfully present in
the United States shall not be eligible on
the basis of residence within a State ... for
any post-secondary education benefit un
less a citizen or national of the United
States is eligible for such a benefit... with
out regard to whether the citizen or na
tional is such a resident."
What this means, in simple terms, is that
in order to legally offer in-state tuition to il
legal aliens in Oregon, as Senate Bill 10 seeks
to do, we would also have to offer in-state tu
ition to residents of all states. I don't see this
happening in, oh, say, the next trillion years.
With funding for higher education
falling lower and lower, and more and
more students enrolling in the university
system, capping enrollment is becoming
the only way to maintain the quality of ed
ucation that we, as students, expect and de
serve. It doesn’t take a higher education to
realize that if enrollment is capped while
we encourage and allow more illegal
aliens to enroll, the space still has to come
from somewhere. And where it comes
from is denying admission to equally de
serving, but legal residents.
Moreover, this approximate $ 10,000 per
year break in tuition for illegal aliens has to
come from somewhere You and I, as stu
dents, have already absorbed a $ 114 per term
cut in financial aid and a 19 percent perma
nent tuition surchaige and we are looking at
a potential 11 percent tuition increase next
year. Are you ready to also take the bite for the
estimated $780,000 loss in tuition revenue if
Senate Bill 10 passes? I didn't think so.
Proponents of the bill drag out various
emotional catch-phrases as justification
for breaking federal laws, the most popular
being that it will help illegal aliens become
productive citizens ! think the first step to
becoming a productive citizen is to be
come a citizen. Oregon State University,
for instance, already offers the opportunity
for resident aliens to apply for resident sta
tus— after they receive their green card.
Jessica Waters
Reality check
The government spends millions of dol
lars annually on efforts to control illegal
immigration into the United States. Sen
ate Bill 10 is a direct slap in the face to
those efforts, offering a financial bonus for
breaking laws of the United States. Illegal
aliens, by definition, are living in the Unit
ed States unlawfully, yet Senate Bill 10
would make them — for tuition purposes
— residents of Oregon. Anyone else see a
discrepancy here?
Also, as illegal aliens, these students
would not be eligible to be employed legally
in the United States. So we are to provide re
duced-cost education to them to be quali
fied for jobs they will not be able to take?
And don't tell me it is unfair to make these
poor people serve in low-paying jobs be
cause of lack of education. Supporters of al
lowing illegal immigrants to live and work
here have told us for years that it was only
right because they did jobs that we, as Amer
icans, didn't want to do. If we educate them
to fill upper-level jobs, then I guess that jus
tification is gone, now isn't it?
I guess some would say this makes me a
racist, isolationist bigot. Well, luckily, I
don't listen much to name-calling. What it
does make me, however, is a U.S. citizen
who believes our laws dre implemented to
be followed. Take all the emotional blath
er out of the argument, and what you are
left with are the existing laws. If you don't
like the laws, change them, don't break
them. There are plenty of laws I don't like,
but with citizenship come responsibilities
as well as rights. Notice, I said WITH citi
zenship. The individuals we are speaking
of are not citizens. They have broken the
law, and because of bleeding hearts and
political correctness, we want to reward
them? I can think of plenty of citizens who
would appreciate and deserve rewards
without having broken any laws.
Sure, I feel bad for anyone in unfortunate
circumstances, and I wish everyone could
get everything they want. But this is the real
world, and I'm not talking MTV. I'm talking
hardscrabble, work-your-butt-off, nothing
handed-to-you reality. So think twice before
you support giving your financial aid, your
seat in class and your future to someone
who will not follow the laws that you, as a
voter and a citizen, have helped determine
— let's hope you've been voting!
Contact the photo editor
at jessicawaters@dailyemerald.com.
Her opinions do not necessarily represent
those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
King would not approve
of street renaming
As a Eugene native and Centennial
Boulevard area resident, I am opposed to
the renaming of Centennial Boulevard. Af
ter canvassing the Chevy Chase and Chase
Village area for 10 hours, resident opposi
tion to renaming was overwhelming.
To rename Centennial Boulevard is to de
value the original intent of those it honors
— Eugene's pioneers, their families and na
tives of Eugene Our dty is built upon the
legacy of the Oregon Trail. Those who tra
versed the expanse to settle Eugene were re
warded with 1859 statehood and the nam
ing of Centennial Boulevard in 1959.
Given our city's present financial situa
tion, renaming Centennial Boulevard
makes absolutely no economic sense.
Monies will not be spent to create real job
growth or to feed the hungry, but will in
stead be needlessly spent by our city for
new signage and by businesses and resi
dences to change their addresses.
To rename Centennial Boulevard appears
to be a political maneuver endorsed by few
residents that has been unjustly repackaged
as a racial issue The city was making strides
toward honoring Martin Luther King Jr.,
when in the early 1980s it renovated and re
named Grant Park to Martin Luther King
Park However, because the trend is to name
major roadways for important historical fig
ures, the city should also follow suit but in an
action that does not create hardship for local
residents. While it is crucial that we must cre
ate and promote an ethnically diverse com
munity, Dr. King would be offended by our
recent undemoaatic attempt to honor him.
A corrected attempt must fbker history, budg
et constraints and all constituents,
Eugene
Legislators should stop
dodging real fiscal policy
Please! Not Again. Two weeks of hear
ings for an already "discredited" sales tax
proposal? This time should be best spent
"solving" Oregon's budget crises.
The political act behind this — so as to
say at a future date legislators tried to solve
the "crises," but Oregonians turned it
down — is quite apparent
For goodness' sake, do what's right and
forget about tax increases and get down to
the business of cuts, cuts, cuts, moratori
ums and spending limits. Yeah, it's going
to hurt but that's life Live it! The rest of us
have to.
House of Representatives Speaker Karen
Minnis, R-Wood Village and Max
Williams, R-Tigard; Get on board!
Eugene