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Parker Howell | Senior news reporter
About 80 graduate
students study
architecture in the
Portland Urban
Architecture
Program’s
fourth-floor studio
in downtown
Portland. Students
there have formed
a group to advocate
for access to public
transportation,
recreational
facilities and other
amenities provided
by incidental fees
to students at the
Eugene campus.
PSAC: Access to free transportation a priority
Continued from page 1
Students currently pay about $180
per term in incidental fees, according
to the ASUO Web site.
ASUO Vice President Mena Ravas
sipour said ASUO officials were not
aware that 80 students were not receiv
ing the same amenities as students in
Eugene until earlier this year when
PSAC began to form, but they are now
working to address students’ concerns.
“It’s kind of early to say what’s go
ing to happen, but right now we’re do
ing a lot of research to see if there’s a
way to partner with (Portland State
University) to work with partner serv
ices they could use up there,” she said.
PSAC is the second group located at
a satellite campus to ask for funding,
joining the already-established Oregon
Marine Students Association at the
Oregon Institute of Marine Biology in
Charleston. The OMSA was created,
like PSAC, to provide services for fee
paying students at the institute.
Students at the other satellite cam
pus, located in Bend, do not pay inci
dental fees, ASUO Accounting Coordi
nator Jennifer Creighton-Neiwert said.
PSAC’s formation began in late Oc
tober when Nelson, Interim President
Gary Blackwell and student Andrea
Brown held informal meetings as a
student council, an idea Blackwell
said students in Portland had been
discussing for several years.
Nelson said the group drafted a
formal petition asking for equitable
bus service and recreation facilities
addressed to administrators in the Ar
chitecture Department and copied it
to the ASUO as an afterthought.
Nelson said response was “near
ly unanimous” in favor of signing
the petition.
She said opinions about the fees
vary among the students, saying
some are upset and want their mon
ey back, although the group is simply
asking for equal access to services.
Nelson, who has attended school at
the Eugene campus, said Portland stu
dents didn’t form a group or request
support from the ASUO sooner be
cause many have not attended the Eu
gene campus and don’t have experi
ence with student government.
Blackwell said the council will al
low Portland students, who typically
are there for two years or less, to
pass on information so it doesn’t
have to be relearned.
But Nelson added that the ASUO
was similarly unaware.
“We were interested to find out
that the ASUO had no idea there
were close to 80 students up here ...
paying fees and not really receiving
anything for it,” Nelson said.
Nelson said affordable access to
public transportation is an ongoing
hassle for Portland students that she
took for granted in Eugene. Although
the architecture program is located
Parker Howell | Senior news reporter
Architecture
graduate
students Gary
Blackwell, left,
and Britt Nelson
discuss another
student's
designs at the *
Portland Urban
Architecture Pro
gram's studio in
downtown Port
land. Blackwell
and Nelson
helped form a
new effort to en
hance the Port
land architecture
program.
downtown near bus stations and
next to the MAX Light Rail, a com
muter train that travels throughout
the Portland area, she said students
have to pay for expensive passes to
use those systems.
“Down in Eugene, we know that
part of our student fee goes toward ...
free bus rides, so we were trying to
find some sort of subsidy or a way to
help us pay for our TYiMet passes,”
she said.
Blackwell said over half of the
Portland students use TYiMet, and he
said paying about $450 a year for the
service is unfair to students. Accord
ing to www.trimet.org, an annual
TriMet pass costs $408.
“You’re basically paying the fee,
but then you have to turn around
and pay a monthly bus pass fee,” he
said. “It’s one of those things where
you are sort of getting double taxed
in a way. ”
Blackwell said he has met with
TYiMet representatives about getting
student passes, but the company
only offers subsidized tickets to larg
er institutions.
“The problem is, they can’t go
with each student individually, so
we have to have a department make
contact with them and say, This is
something we want to do,”’ he said.
He said one solution would be to
partner with PSU, which already
provides its students with an option
to get passes.
Blackwell added that a lack of ac
cess to transportation can be a safe
ty issue, saying a student was re
cently forced to ride her bike
because she couldn’t afford a TYiMet
pass and was subsequently in
volved in a bicycle accident.
“It’s almost irresponsible that
these things haven’t been taken care
of, so students aren’t looking at sit
uations like this,” he said. “That
could have possibly been avoided if
she had a bus pass.”
Blackwell said Portland students
might also be able to gain easier ac
cess to the PSU recreation center. He
said he and a few other students
have been able to use it, but it was
“a real ordeal.”
Nelson added that Portland stu
dents would also like the ability to
reserve athletic tickets from Port
land because it is too costly and
time consuming to drive to Eugene
and back to get tickets. Neither
Blackwell nor Nelson had attended
a game at Autzen Stadium or
McArthur Court.
Blackwell said PSAC members
hope to accomplish more than just
equitable allocation of fee money.
“Really, the overarching idea is
providing a forum where students
can gather and address the issues
that are pertinent to their success in
the program,” he said.
Nelson agreed.
“We’re hoping to get past the stu
dent fees, get past these basic things
that have been plaguing the stu
dents and make this program better,
not only for the students but also
for the University,” Nelson said.
Nelson said advocating for serv
ices has spurred the group into ac
tion on other projects.
Blackwell said PSAC will aid stu
dents in networking with alumni,
aiding the transition from academia
to a professional setting.
“Having alumni that we can sort
of lean back on and provide some
guidance is a great opportunity for
the program to take advantage of its
alumni and strengthen that tie, and
there’s more meaning to it than just,
‘Oh, that’s the place where I got my
degree,”’ Blackwell said.
Blackwell added that the group
did not use “architecture” in its
name so it could expand to include
students from other academic disci
plines who might study in Portland in
the future.
With or without funding, Blackwell
said PSAC will continue.
“In our eyes, we don’t need money.
We don’t need formal recognition to
do the things we want to do,” he said.
“It’s a benefit that makes the process a
little easier.
“In our view, the council exists.
We’re here to make it stronger. ”
parkerkowell@ daily emerald, com