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TUESDAY • June 9, 2020
• $1.50
Good day to our valued subscriber Patricia Cowgill of La Grande
Eastern’s preliminary budget cuts $1.5 million
Tuition and fees
increase in wake of
COVID-19
recovery
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
LA GRANDE —
Eastern Oregon Univer-
sity anticipates cutting
$1.5 million in fi scal year
2020-21 from its educa-
tion and general budget to
offset coming cuts to state
funding. And students are
going to pay a little more
to attend the La Grande-
based college.
The university’s board
of trustees met June 4 via
Zoom to approve a pre-
liminary budget for the
upcoming school year,
according to a university
press release. Along with
the hefty cut, the board
approved increases to tui-
tion and enrollment fees.
Lara Moore, vice pres-
ident for fi nance and
administration, pre-
sented two tuition and
fee proposals for 2020-
21, according to the
press release, and after
extended discussion, the
board selected the lower
increases.
Under the plan,
on-campus resident tuition
will increase by 4.2% per
student credit hour, a dif-
ference of $7 per credit,
the press release stated.
Mandatory enrollment fees
for on-campus resident stu-
dents will go up by 5.5%,
and overall cost of atten-
dance, which is based on
a student taking 45 credits
and living on campus
with a medium meal plan,
increases by 3.8%.
“We’re using
every lever in
our toolbox
to soften the
impact of
COVID-19.”
EOU’s tuition and
fees have been steadily
increasing in recent
years, with the 2019-2020
fi scal year seeing a 4.9%
increase in on-campus
tuition. Students paid
approximately $22,664
to attend EOU as a local
full-time student during
the 2018-2019 school year.
According to the EOU
Lara Moore, vice
president for fi nance and
administration at EOU
See, Budget/Page 5A
Distance
and a
diploma
at UHS
Union High
seniors get to walk
the stage — one
family at a time
By Sabrina Thompson
The Observer
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
North Powder Charter School seniors ride on a police and fi re crew-escorted fl atbed trailer Saturday through the streets of North Powder in a parade
after receiving their diplomas at the high school.
Seniors remember the good
North Powder graduation focuses on
positives during students’ school years
By Ronald Bond
The Observer
NORTH POWDER —
North Powder Superinten-
dent Lance Dixon had a
simple message during the
charter school’s graduation
commencement speech
Saturday as it related to the
class of 2020 and the last
three months of their high
school careers: Remember
the good.
“Being remembered
for bad reasons dissipates
the memory over time, but
the good reasons stay with
people forever,” he said in
a recorded commencement
speech shown Friday night
at La Grande Drive-in.
“Tonight I want to focus
on the good, and by good
I mean the things you as
a class have taught us and
are remembered for.”
The commencement,
among the unique cele-
brations this spring, is not
likely to be forgotten. The
two-day event included
the video speeches and a
slideshow at the drive-in
Friday night, then Saturday
the seniors received their
diplomas before a parade
weaving through the streets
of the town.
While the coronavirus
pandemic that brought the
end to the school year for
Oregon students in mid-
March was touched on,
each participant giving
commencement speeches
instead looked back at the
positive accomplishments
of the 16 seniors in the
class of 2020, and in some
instances, what the instruc-
tors themselves learned
from the students.
“A teacher never stops
learning, and you, class
of 2020, were some of my
best teachers,” said elemen-
tary school teacher Dana
Marlia, who was a fi fth-
Staff photo by Ronald Bond
North Powder valedictorian Michelle Williams, one of 16 graduating seniors from the
charter school, receives her diploma Saturday from school board President Tyson Orr
in the high school gym while Superintendent Lance Dixon (center) looks on.
grade teacher for those in
the 2020 group. “Many of
the teaching principles I
stand by today are because
of you, my teachers, seven
years ago.… It is your
turn now to go out into the
world and continue to be
the teachers you are des-
tined to be.”
Salutatorian Roper
Bingham carried this
theme in his speech, noting
he learned a valuable life
lesson from his 15 class-
mates before listing off
some of what each had
taught him: from having
the boldness to speak up
UNION — Seniors
from Union High School’s
class of 2020 walked
across the stage Saturday
morning to receive their
diplomas in a socially dis-
tanced ceremony, fol-
lowed by a video presen-
tation at the La Grande
Drive-in later that night.
EO AliveTV put together
footage from the ceremony
and pre-recorded speeches
to play for the seniors and
their supporters.
“We all get to get
together and watch it at the
drive-in, and it is some-
thing we will all have for
the rest of our lives,” grad-
uate Ashlyn Baxter said
about her favorite part of
the celebration.
Saturday morning, 33
of 34 graduates strolled
through a set of doors to
the gymnasium. Family
members and supporters
entered through th doors
on the opposite side of the
gym to watch their gradu-
ates cross the stage. Once
a graduate made it across
and back to their family,
the group left the gym and
the next student and group
came in. Carter Wells, the
district’s superintendent
and the high school prin-
cipal, said this allowed for
proper social distancing.
“These seniors have
been denied so many
things because of COVID
— their spring quarter,
their senior year,” Wells
See, Positives/Page 5A
See, Union/Page 5A
Protest draws a crowd in Enterprise
About 200 turn out
for Black Lives
Matter event
By Ellen Morris Bishop
EO Media Group
ENTERPRISE — Nei-
ther rain nor hail nor light-
ning bolts nor thunder
claps deterred around 200
people of all ages from
joining in the nationwide
Black Lives Matter protests
Friday evening at the Wal-
lowa County Courthouse
grounds.
The peaceful protest
began at 6 p.m. Protesters
were undeterred when, at
7 p.m., threatening black
clouds pelted the protesters
with half-inch hail followed
by a hard rain. Many of the
demonstrators remained
until after 8 p.m.
“About 98% of the
INDEX
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people were from Wal-
lowa County,” said protest
organizer Gianna Espi-
noza, who lives in Enter-
prise. “There were a couple
of tourists who stopped
by and joined us, plus two
people from La Grande
and probably some summer
residents, but it was pretty
much all locals.”
Along with Espinoza,
See, Protest/Page 5A
Photo by Hannah Comstock/for EO Media Group
A hailstorm Friday afternoon does not deter Black Lives
Matter protesters in Enterprise, though some convert their
signs into head protection gear.
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THE STORYWALK
541-963-3161
Issue 69
2 sections, 14 pages
La Grande, Oregon
Email story ideas
to news@lagrande
observer.com.
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Online at lagrandeobserver.com