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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 19, 2005)
Senators push anti-spyware legislation | 8 Oregon Patty Emerald An independent newspaper www. da ilyemerald. com Since 1900 | Volume 106, Issue 137 \ Tuesday, April 19, 2005 Senate bill grants aid for at-risk students The legislators involved hope to target dropout rates and ease students' transitions to college BY ADAM CHERRY NEWS REPORTER State Senate Republicans joined forces with Democrats in the Senate Education and Work force Committee last week when the five-mem ber bipartisan committee unanimously approved Senate Bill 300, which allows some high school students to enroll in post-secondary courses for credit at colleges and universities. Legislators indicated that they hope to streamline the transition from high school to college and reduce dropout rates, especially for disadvantaged students, with the “Expanded Options Program.” Sen. Charles Starr, R-Hillsboro, Education and Workforce Committee vice chair, said the bill would act as a complement to what many dis tricts are already doing and will provide accelerat ed opportunities for at-risk students. “We all agree that those disadvantaged stu dents really need all kinds of encouragement to get them involved in their own education and get them into higher ed when they’re not likely to be able to pay for it,” Starr said. “It’s a hand-up in stead of a hand-down, and that’s good.” Sen. Avel Gordly, D-Portland, sponsored the bill. “The value of this idea is that it gets more and more kids hooked on college,” Gordly said in a press release. “Once they see that they can suc ceed at the college level, their confidence will im prove and their interest in continuing their edu cation will grow.” The bill will now be forwarded to the Joint Ways and Means Committee, which writes the state budget. Starr described the Ways and Means Commit tee as a “graveyard for good ideas,” but Gordly said she believes the program is in line with the legislature’s priorities. “The Ways and Means Committee’s charge is EDUCATION, page 8 IN BRIEF Ben & Jerr/s holds Free Cone Day Eugene’s Ben & Jerry’s scoop shops at 1239 Alder St. and 485 Coburg Rd. will serve free ice cream today from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.. Free Cone Day is part of an annual tradition, now in its 26th year, that Ben & Jerry’s shops around the world share with their customers to thank them for their support. The two Eugene Ben & Jerry’s shops tradi tionally pick a charity to support on Free Cone Day. This year’s charity is Relay For Life, which raises money for cancer research. Customers who choose to donate to Relay For Life will re ceive “buy one, get one free” coupons to be re deemed on a future Ben & Jerry’s visit, in addi tion to their free ice cream cones. Eugene franchise owner Gary Bertelsen said only 14 of the usual 36 flavors will be served on Free Cone Day in order to handle the massive crowd. He said last ypar close to 11,000 free cones were served at the Alder Street shop, which has served more ice cream during Free Cone Day than any other shop in the western United States for the past four years. — Eva Sylwester Finances plague housing iJast and present University officials weigh in on the future of residence halls, property acquisition, and the fairness of certain financial policies BY MEGHANN M. CUNIFF SENIOR NEWS REPORTER The Living Learning Center, slated to open in fall 2006, is hailed by University officials as an innovative and long-overdue addition to the University campus, especially with the resi dence halls ranked No. 1 on the Princeton Re view’s 2004 list of “dorms like dungeons.” But officials are aware that the addition does nothing to improve the 50-year-old resi aence nans aireaay in ex istence, and they say fi nancial problems continue to hinder Uni versity Housing. Many questions exist among past and present Univer sity officials about the state ot housing finances over the years and the fairness of the administration’s policies to ward the housing department. Interviews regarding land repayment polices within the University and the housing depart ment’s financial obligations reveal differing opinions about how student housing money has been used to quell the ongoing financial prob lems that threaten Oregon universities. Financial factors Former University Housing Director Marge Ramey said the University seems to view stu dent housing as a “stationary cash cow.” Ramey served as director from 1983-91 and said during that time the University used student housing money to fund land acqui sitions that benefited the entire University as well as a variety of other projects unrelated to student housing. University Housing is required to pay hun dreds of thousands of dollars each year in in direct overhead assessment charges that go into a general fund for the University, some thing to which auxiliary enterprises like parking also contribute. Ramey said one major difference in Univer sity Housing now that she’s retired is the pres ence of that indirect overhead assessment. Ramey said the University asked her to pay the assessment during her final years with housing but she “objected to that absolutely strenuously.” “I felt very strongly that to try to attack the students simply because they lived in the Uni versity housing was very unfair,” Ramey said. When the assessment was added in 1991, the first year University Housing Director Mike Eyster took over, Ramey said “the money had to go on to (students’) increased board and room because there’s no other income in (housing),” meaning fees in the resi dence halls had to increase if extra financial obligations were tacked on like the indirect overhead assessment. University Vice President for Administration Dan Williams, who will retire July 1, said he bristles at the thought that housing has been somehow treated unfairly over the years and said the administration’s policies toward hous ing are no different than every other university across the country, specifically with the indi rect overhead assessment. “We put into practice a policy that’s very common at other institutions, and that is to re cover your institutional overhead costs from your auxiliary enterprises,” Williams said. Since its inception in 1991, the indirect over head assessment has cost housing more than $250,000 annually, and the payment amount has increased every year. University Housing is also required to make payments toward residence hall debt for every university within the Oregon University Sys tem. The debt fund is known as the consoli dated debt pool. The cost of construction and renovation of residence halls goes into an OUS fund that each university pays into based on its average residence hall occupancy rate. Thus, debt payment is based on student population rather than the actual amount of debt a particular institution generates, making it possible for smaller universities within OUS to build residence halls. The debt pool was capped in 1997, but Uni versity Housing will continue making pay ments through 2027, meaning housing is still paying debt on residence halls that are more than 50 years old. For the debt pool to be capped, each university had to agree to pay OUS an additional $20 per occupant that goes into an emergency reserve fund. Structural changes Former University Housing Director H.P. Barnhart, namesake of the H.P. Barnhart resi dence hall complex, worked in housing from 1949-79 and said his duties didn’t pose any problems to the residence halls’ financial state at the time. “I know I had a boss who told me ‘hey, you have to please the students, you have to pay your expenses, and you have to be able to pay the bonds and if you do that, why, you’ll have a job,”’ Barnhart said. “So that was the way it was operated. ” Barnhart said the consolidated debt pool was something he “squawked about” upon its inception, but because it served to provide res idence halls for universities that couldn’t af ford to independently finance them, housing officials eventually accepted it. Neither Ramey nor Barnhart said they en countered financial difficulty from the consol idated debt pool, something Eyster and Williams attributed to the pool’s role as a rev enue-generating device before renovation be come a dire need for the University. If the debt pool is used to build new resi dence halls rather than renovate them, the sys tem is gaining more revenue, but University officials said if it’s used for renovation it only increases the amount of debt while occupancy remains the same. “During (Barnhart’s) years the consolidated debt pool was used to add beds across the sys tem, and when you’re adding beds you’re HOUSING, page 4 PART ONE OF TWO Today: Officials’ financial and land repayment policies hinder residence halls. Wednesday: Financial consultants offer opinion and a task group addresses the transition of property management. Percentage of total revenue UNIVERSITY HOUSING REVENUE ALLOCATION (1997-98) (1998-99) (1999-00) (2000-01) (2001-02) (2002-03) (2003-04) Total Revenue: Total Revenue: Total Revenue: Total Revenue: Total Revenue: Total Revenue: Total Revenue: $19,774,556 $20,962,992 $22,539,426 $24,427,316 $26,532,646 $28,224,591 $27,977,862 Indirect Overhead Consolidated Emergency Assessment Debt Pool Reserve Fund Graph by Brit Furtwancler and photo by Tim Bobosky The colored bars represent the percentage of University Housing’s total revenue that is spent on the indirect overhead assessment, the consolidated debt pool and the emergency reserve fund. Some University officials say the presence of outside financial obligations has hindered renovation of the residence halls.
