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OPINION
East Oregonian
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Founded October 16, 1875
KATHRYN B. BROWN
DANIEL WATTENBURGER
Publisher
Managing Editor
JENNINE PERKINSON
TIM TRAINOR
Advertising Director
Opinion Page Editor
OUR VIEW
Plute leaves Pendleton
better than he found it
No one has had a bigger impact
gas tax. And their response when
on Pendleton in the last decade than it predictably failed is pretty rich.
Al Plute.
But Plute was the councilor who
The city councilor and downtown put the most work into the effort,
developer has renovated three of
while most of the others sat back and
the largest buildings in the region,
allowed him to be fed to the village
has been an outsized member of the
wolves. Plute deserves credit for at
planning department and city council least sticking his neck out there for a
and, along with his wife Gail,
good idea before its time.
supported numerous
Plute also
local nonpro¿ts and
deserves
credit for
Al Plute was a trying to institute
charities.
the
And he did it
full-time resident long-term budgetary
all while being a
planning that the
of the city for
full-time resident
city must consider
of the city for just
just seven years. if it is to get its
seven years.
rapidly inÀating
He leaves an
During that
infrastructure costs
time, Plute has also
control.
outsized legacy. under
rubbed plenty of
But his quick
folks the wrong
desertion of the city
way with his gruff demeanor and
shows some of his faults, and some
blunt talk. But that personality also
of Pendleton’s, too. Plute was too
allowed him to openly address
impudent for his own good at times,
Pendleton’s clear problems —
but Pendleton was too rigid and
making him an outlier on a council
parochial to tolerate some rufÀed
that for too long has been content to feathers and new ideas.
kick those problems down the road
Both are worse off with Plute’s
or sweep them under a rug.
departure. Out-of-town landlords
Plute, and the rest of the council,
are the number one problem in
was wrong to hurriedly and
downtown Pendleton, and there will
haphazardly move forward with the
soon be another one added to the list.
Unsigned editorials are the opinion of the East Oregonian editorial board of Publisher
Kathryn Brown, Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, and Opinion Page Editor Tim Trainor.
Other columns, letters and cartoons on this page express the opinions of the authors and not
necessarily that of the East Oregonian.
OTHER VIEWS
Improving college affordability
The (Eugene) Register-Guard
O
regon’s decision to change
the way it awards the Oregon
Opportunity Grant to college
students — shifting from a ¿rst-come,
¿rst-served basis to one that favors
students with the greatest need — was
the right one, in line with the intent of
the grants.
The program, originally called the
Oregon Need Grant, was set up by the
state Legislature in 1971 to help needy
students attend community colleges and
public and private four-year colleges
within Oregon.
It is Oregon’s largest state-funded,
need-based grant program for college
students. In the
2014-15 academic
year, it awarded a
total of $57.3 million
to more than 36,000
students.
But, under the
¿rst-come method of
awarding grants, there
was no guarantee that
the money would
indeed go to the
neediest students.
In fact, the neediest
students were less
likely to get help
because they tended
to apply later, after the
money had run out,
higher education of¿cials found.
Eligibility for the Opportunity Grant
is based on ¿nancial need, as determined
by family income and household size.
Students from families with up to
$70,000 in adjusted gross income per
year — meaning income after speci¿c
deductions have been taken — are
eligible to apply.
Until now, the deck was stacked in
favor of students from families with the
¿nancial savvy and ability to apply early,
before the money ran out.
One of the hurdles facing students
applying for the Opportunity Grant, for
example, is the Free Application for
Federal Student Aid form, or FAFSA.
That form requires, among other things,
the most recent tax information from
the student’s family. But employers
have until Jan. 31 to provide W-2 forms
to employees for the previous year. If
students were to have a shot at getting
any of the grant money under the
¿rst-come system, they needed to apply
by early February.
Families with ¿nancial know-how —
or who employed an accountant — could
estimate with some degree of accuracy
the numbers needed for the FAFSA,
even if they didn’t have a W-2 form, and
¿le an amended form later — allowing
them to ¿le early and jump to the head of
the grant line.
Oregon is among the 10 states with
the largest expenditures on need-based
grants (and no merit requirements) for
college students, according to a study
done in 2014 for the Washington State
Legislature.
But Oregon received an F on its
report card for college affordability a few
years ago from the nonpro¿t National
Center for Public Policy and Higher
Education, because there wasn’t enough
help for needy students.
“Financial aid to low-income students
is low,” the center wrote. “For every
dollar in (federal) Pell Grant aid to
students, the state spends only 24 cents.
Poor and working-class families must
devote 44 percent of their income, even
after aid, to pay for costs at two-year
colleges.”
Oregon’s de¿nition of needy when
it comes to ¿nancial aid is a fairly
generous one. The unadjusted median
household income for the state was
$51,075 in 2014,
according to the most
recent Census ¿gures.
Families with incomes
up to almost 140
percent of the state’s
median income are
eligible to apply for
Oregon’s need-based
grant program.
Washington
state’s comparable
program, the State
Need Grant, for
example, is weighted
toward students from
the poorest families.
Students from families
where incomes are less
than half of the median adjusted gross
income for the state are eligible for the
full grants offered by the program. Those
with family incomes that are 50 to 70
percent of the state’s median family
income are eligible for partial grants.
An analysis of the impact of the
State Need Grant, done in 2014 at the
request of the Washington Legislature,
con¿rmed that the model gave the state
the most bang for the buck, in terms of
both enrollment and graduation rates for
students who might not otherwise earn
college degrees.
The Oregon Legislature’s decision
to change the method used to award the
Opportunity Grant may be a dif¿cult
one to swallow for middle class families
feeling squeezed between the wealthy,
who don’t need ¿nancial help, and
low-income families, who are now ¿rst
in line for grants.
But the Legislature also increased
funding for the Opportunity Grant in
the 2015-17 biennium by almost 24
percent, dedicating $140.9 million to
the program. It estimates that it will
allow another 16,000 people to receive
grants as a result, which may soften
the blow for some families relegated
to a lower position on the priority list.
And the University of Oregon has said
that it wants to make sure that students
currently receiving the grants aren’t left
without aid as a result of the change — a
key issue.
In the end, the Legislature made the
right move, ensuring that the grants
will go to the neediest students, as was
intended when the program was created.
Under the first-
come method
of awarding
grants, there
was no
guarantee the
money would go
to the neediest
students.
OTHER VIEWS
How covenants make us
W
hen you think about it,
we want, she suggests, is “separability
there are four big forces
amid situatedness.” We want to go off
coursing through modern
and create and explore and experiment
societies. Global migration is
with new ways of thinking and living.
leading to demographic diversity.
But we also want to be situated —
Economic globalization is creating
embedded in loving families and
wider opportunity but also inequality.
enveloping communities, thriving
The Internet is giving people more
within a healthy cultural infrastructure
choices over what to buy and pay
that provides us with values and goals.
David
attention to. A culture of autonomy
Creating situatedness requires
Brooks
valorizes individual choice and
a different way of thinking. When
Comment
self-determination.
we go out and do a deal, we make a
All of these forces have liberated
contract. When we are situated within
the individual, or at least well-educated
something it is because we have made a
individuals, but they have been bad for
covenant. A contract protects interests, Pally
national cohesion and the social fabric.
notes, but a covenant protects relationships.
Income inequality challenges economic
A covenant exists between people who
cohesion as the classes divide. Demographic
understand they are part of one another. It
diversity challenges
involves a vow to serve the
cultural cohesion as
relationship that is sealed
different ethnic groups rub
by love: Where you go, I
against one another. The
will go. Where you stay, I
emphasis on individual
will stay. Your people shall
choice challenges
be my people.
community cohesion and
People in a contract
settled social bonds.
provide one another
The weakening of the
services, but people in
social fabric has created
a covenant delight in
a range of problems.
offering gifts. Out of love
Alienated young men join
of country, soldiers offer
ISIS so they can have a sense of belonging.
the gift of their service. Out of love of their
Isolated teenagers shoot up schools. Many
craft, teachers offer students the gift of their
people grow up in fragmented, disorganized
attention.
neighborhoods. Political polarization grows
The social fabric is thus rewoven in a
because people often don’t interact with those
romantic frame of mind. During another
on the other side. Racial animosity stubbornly period of national fragmentation, Abraham
persists.
Lincoln aroused a refreshed love of country.
Odder still, people are often plagued by a
He played upon the mystic chords of memory
sense of powerlessness, a loss of ef¿cacy. The and used the Declaration of Independence as a
liberation of the individual was supposed to
unifying scripture and guide.
lead to mass empowerment. But it turns out
These days the social fabric will be
that people can effectively pursue their goals
repaired by hundreds of millions of people
only when they know who they are — when
making local covenants — widening their
they have ¿rm identities.
circles of attachment across income, social and
Strong identities can come only when
racial divides. But it will probably also require
people are embedded in a rich social fabric.
leaders drawing upon U.S. history to revive
They can come only when we have de¿ned
patriotism. They’ll tell a story that includes
social roles — father, plumber, Little League
the old themes. That we’re a universal nation,
coach. They can come only when we are seen
the guarantor of stability and world order. But
and admired by our neighbors and loved ones
it will transcend the old narrative and offer an
in a certain way. As Ralph Waldo Emerson put updated love of America.
it, “Other men are lenses through which we
In an interview with Bill Maher last month,
read our own minds.”
Sen. Cory Booker nicely de¿ned patriotism by
You take away a rich social fabric and what contrasting it with mere tolerance. Tolerance,
you are left with is people who are uncertain
he said, means, “I’m going to stomach your
about who they really are. It’s hard to live
right to be different, but if you disappear
daringly when your very foundation is Àuid
off the face of the earth I’m no worse off.”
and at risk.
Patriotism, on the other hand, means “love of
We’re not going to roll back the four big
country, which necessitates love of each other,
forces coursing through modern societies,
that we have to be a nation that aspires for
so the question is how to reweave the social
love, which recognizes that you have worth
fabric in the face of them. In a globalizing,
and dignity and I need you. You are part of my
diversifying world, how do we preserve
whole, part of the promise of this country.”
individual freedom while strengthening social
That emotion is what it means to be
solidarity?
situated in a shared national life.
In her new book “Commonwealth and
Ŷ
Covenant,” Marcia Pally of NYU and
David Brooks became a New York Times
Fordham offers a clarifying concept. What
Op-Ed columnist in September 2003.
Strong identities
can come only
when people are
embedded in a
rich social fabric.
LETTERS POLICY
The East Oregonian welcomes original letters of 400 words or less on public issues
and public policies for publication in the newspaper and on our website. The newspaper
reserves the right to withhold letters that address concerns about individual services and
products or letters that infringe on the rights of private citizens. Submitted letters must
be signed by the author and include the city of residence and a daytime phone number.
The phone number will not be published. Unsigned letters will not be published. Send
letters to Managing Editor Daniel Wattenburger, 211 S.E. Byers Ave. Pendleton, OR 97801
or email editor@eastoregonian.com.