Mayor Kitty Piercy holds city session | 8
Oregon Daily Emerald
An independent newspaper
www. da ilyemerald. com
Since 1900 \ Volume 106, Issue 871 Wednesday, January 26, 2005
UO Senate
conducts
emergency
meeting
BY PARKER HOWELL
SENIOR NEWS REPORTER
Undeterred by a low turnout, the Student Sen
ate sought students’ opinions at an emergency
meeting Tuesday evening about whether inciden
tal fee money should help bankroll extended li
brary hours next year.
Only three students who aren’t senators at
tended the forum.
Senators have hesitated to authorize money to
fund half the cost of 24/7 service at the Knight Li
brary during Dead Week and Finals Week each
term next year, concerned that using student
money might be a “slippery slope” toward stu
dents funding more services.
Discussion at Tuesday’s forum continued this
theme, with students saying the Senate should
dip into the surplus as a last resort.
The library has offered students a place to
cram around the clock since spring 2003. But this
year, University librarian Deb Carver has said the
library will no longer be able to shell out $4,000 a
term for security.
Library records show that the extended library
hours are used about 4,000 times per term.
Carver previously told the Senate that funding
the extra hours falls outside the library’s core mis
sion, adding that the library never intended to
pay long term for the service, which primarily
benefits students.
But EMU Board of Directors member Gabe
Shaughnessy said students shouldn’t foot the bill.
“I think it’s ridiculous they’re asking us to pay
for it,” he said. “If Frohnmayer is putting together
a $600 million capital campaign, that’s a good
place for them to look. ”
Senator Lisa Lam said it would be helpful if the
library publicized the funding problem.
Senator Austin Shaw-Phillips agreed, saying
the Senate has taken heat over the library issue.
“We’re like their patsy,” he said.
Senators discussed sending postcards to Uni
versity administrators advocating for the service.
But Shaw-Phillips said it’s already clear most
students favor it, saying the best option now is to
help the library look elsewhere for funding.
parkerhowell@dcdlyemerald.com
For education’s sake
Gov. Ted Kulongoski's budget
proposal would increase higher
education spending $14 million
BY ADAM CHERRY
NEWS REPORTER
The biannual battle for funding is under
way in this year’s legislative session, and the
University and student associations have a
special opportunity to hold the line on high
er-education budget cuts.
Gov. Ted Kulongoski recommended an
increase in funds for higher education of
more than $14 million from the state's
general fund. If passed, the added funds
would be the first increase since the 1999
2001 biennium and would reportedly limit
tuition increases to between 5 and 7 per
cent annually for resident students.
An annual 5 to 7 percent tuition increase is
much closer to normal than the increases of
more than 10 and 9 percent over the last two
school years.
“We will only ask to go above (increases of
5 to 7 percent) if we don't get the governor's
budget,” Senior Vice President and Provost
John Moseley said. “Our top priority is to get
the students funded.”
Sources say the governor's budget is a step
in the right direction, but still not enough to
fix the state's education problem.
“We believe in a seamless education
that runs from birth to graduate school,”
state House Rep. Phil Barnhart, a Democ
rat, said. “Oregon is not anywhere near *
the kind of program we need to do an ex
cellent job in education.”
Barnhart said the general fund allocation
for higher education in the governor's budget
is slightly better than current funding.
Higher education hasn't fared well in previ
ous legislative sessions.
“We actually have fewer dollars per student
to spend on your education today than we had
10 years ago,” Moseley said. “The state has basi
cally pushed a major part of a college education
off on the students.”
A pay freeze for all state employees has affect
ed the salaries of university faculty and staff in
the Oregon University System, making it more
difficult for the University to attract employees.
Kulongoski hopes to lift the freeze — he
granted pay increases of about 1 to 2 percent per
year in his budget proposal.
“It’s not enough,” Moseley said of the pay in
creases. “I think it’s the best he could do under
the circumstances, (but) I think the governor
would say that it’s not enough. ”
In 2003, the legislature passed a bill that re
quired the OUS to pay more than $14 million,
primarily in student tuition and fees, back to the
state to help balance the budget, a move that
Moseley characterized as an “attack on tuition.”
“I think that was the most unfair, egregious
thing that happened in the Legislature, and it
was done, basically, under the table,” Moseley
said. “We didn't even learn about it until a
month after the session was over. The U of 0
had to basically write a check back to the state
for $4.1 million of your money.” State funding
has decreased consistently.
In the 2003-2004 school year, the percentage
of state appropriations making up the Universi
ty’s budget hit an all-time low of about 13.9 per
cent. That was down from more than 30 percent
in the 1980s and a more recent peak of 20.2
percent during the 1999-2000 biennium.
OUS’s share of the Oregon general fund has
sunk from 12.2 percent in the 1987-1989 bienni
um to 6 percent in the 2003-2005 biennium.
Over the same period, the number of students
in Oregon public universities has increased by
23 percent.
And since 1990, OUS students have gone
from paying 29 percent to 56 percent of their
own education cost in tuition and fees.
“The state has got to understand that it's not
going to get the level of services it’s been used
to,” Moseley said. “Oregon is making some bad
choices right now.”
Moseley cautioned that further funding short
ages could alter the landscape of Oregon’s econ
omy for the long term.
EDUCATION, page 8
UO senior receives award for military excellence
Jared Paben | News editor
ROTC cadet Evan Hessel was one of 270 cadets nationally who won the George
C. Marshall Award, which earned him a ticket to a four-day seminar on military
leadership and national security in Lexington, Va., April 12-15.
BY SHELDON TRAVER
NEWS REPORTER
A University senior and ROTC cadet
was selected to receive the George C. Mar
shall Award for military excellence
Cadet and anthropology major Evan
Hessel was one of more than 270 ROTC
cadets selected nationally to receive the
award and attend a four-day seminar on
military leadership and national security
in Lexington, Va., April 12-15. Each uni
versity's cadet program chooses one stu
dent based on leadership skills, academic
achievement, integrity and how much
the cadet gives back to the program.
University ROTC Battalion Com
mander Lt. Col. Bill Fox looked at a
pool of 12 seniors and recommended
I lessel for the award.
"Of the 12 cadets, he was above the
rest in all respects," Fox said. He added
that Hessel went out of his way to pro
mote ROIC at his former high school in
Beaverton and makes time to instruct
freshman cadets. He also looked at 1 les
sel's scores on a special training event,
called the Leadership Development As
sessment Course.
"He was a team player and gave back
to the program," Fox said.
Hessel said he was surprised to hear he
had won.
"It definitely came out of left field,"
Hessel said.
"These cadets represent the very best of
a highly selective organization," accord
ing to the George C. Marshall Founda
tion Web site
Hessel said this is an opportunity for
him to meet many of his peers as well as
military leaders and historians. Discus
sion panels will include topics on current
military operations, media on the battle
field and the israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Hessel is active both with the ROTC
and on campus. In addition to working
part-time as a lifeguard at the Student
Recreation Center, he is an advisor for
Lane County Search and Rescue and
maintains a 3.51 GPA. He spends an ad
ditional 10-20 hours per week with the
ROTC in physical training, classes, prac
tical exercises and occasional weekend
training, such as the land-navigation
course his group completed on Satur
day and Sunday.
Hessel's friend and Cadet Battalion
Commander Paul Sherwin said the
award is seen as quite an honor among
cadets at universities nationally. 1 le said
ROTC commanders don't make the de
cision without a lot of thought and con
sideration, and he believes I lessel was a
good choice.
"1 le works very hard for other people,"
Sherwin said. "I thought he very much
deserved it."
Hessel will formally receive the
award May 20 at the annual
military ball.
ROTC, page 7