ASUO vice president married to former OSPIRG board chair since 2009

ASUO Vice President Katie Taylor and her husband and former OSPIRG chair Charles Denson whisper to each other during an OSPIRG funding hearing on Feb. 15, 2011, where the ASUO voted to not fund OSPIRG with student incidental fees. (Michael Ciaglo/Oregon Daily Emerald)
ASUO Vice President Katie Taylor and her husband and former OSPIRG chair Charles Denson whisper to each other during an OSPIRG funding hearing on Feb. 15, 2011, where the ASUO voted to not fund OSPIRG with student incidental fees. (Michael Ciaglo/Oregon Daily Emerald)
By Emily Schiola
Published January 24, 2012, last modified January 25, 2012

ASUO Vice President Katie Taylor and former OSPIRG Board Chair Charles Denson have been legally married since late 2009, according to a marriage license filed in the Lane County Courthouse.

Both attended Lane Community College prior to coming to the University. Denson transferred to the University in 2009, and Taylor the following year.

Taylor became the board treasurer of the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group in June 2009 while still attending Lane Community College. The couple was married there six months later  during Thanksgiving break on Nov. 25.

She became the ASUO vice president after running in the successful Ben and Katie campaign the following spring. The two ran promoting strong support for the University’s OSPIRG chapter.

Taylor acknowledged that there are members of the ASUO who know about the marriage but said doesn’t talk about her personal life often. She also said that her relationship with Denson has had no bearing in her ongoing support for OSPIRG, citing that she began working for the organization in 2008 as a canvasser.

“I was a part of OSPIRG before I ever met Charles,” she said. “I am not the person on ASUO that is charged with giving OSPIRG recommendations. This year I have been the most removed from OSPIRG than I ever have.”

Denson, who was OSPIRG state board chair from February 2009 through December 2011, also stated that they keep their professional and personal lives separate.

“I don’t think our relationship has any impact,” he said. “Her decisions are irrelevant to her personal life.”

The University chapter of OSPIRG is a contracted service created to speak for students who feel underrepresented in Salem. The total amount given to the organization by the University this year is $86,268.

Over the past 10 years, its budget has proven to be a controversial issue on campus. Some students disagree with the funding model because the money is largely spent off campus to support progressive issues, which those students consider to not be student-related or representative of all students. These concerns resulted in the organization losing 100 percent of its ASUO funding in 2010.

However, a majority of students who voted in the last two elections have marked their ballot in support of funding the group. Members of the group showed up to offer support at last year’s controversial budget hearings, and this year OSPIRG is requesting a 97 percent increase in funding for the 2012-13 academic year.

OSPIRG will have a budget hearing next Tuesday to discuss the possible increase. Taylor emphasized that as vice president, she has had no part in the continuing discussion over OSPIRG’s funding.

“If you look at the work I’ve done this year, its been very much separate from OSPIRG,” she said. “It has nothing to do with our relationship, and nothing to do with my job.”

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About Emily Schiola

Emily Schiola is a third year student majoring in journalism. Some day, she wants to work for a major publication, but for now she enjoys playing music and swimming.
  • GRoss

    Corruption has never been so ugly, Katie what are you doing girl

  • Brudin

    We need to remember that regardless of any conflict of interest, or lack thereof, OSPIRG is still the one ASUO expenditure that is fundamentally wrong. Unlike political programs on campus, and unlike OSA and USSA, OSPIRG is the only expenditure that pays professional advocates. This relationship might add another element to it, but the funding of OSPIRG did not turn from a good idea to a bad idea just from the news today

  • Madura32

    I wonder if the vote would have changed if students would have know that they were married.

  • DuckAlum

    Shady as hell. Time to get rid of OSPIRG for good!

  • JayZ

    If you love OSPIRG, you gotta put a ring on it.

  • Harperlois63

    Who cares? They aways said they were pro-OSPIRG. Students voted them in nonetheless. This isn’t news its gossip.

  • Randy Star7

    This is trachy reporting. I don’t care. You bumped Chip Kelly off  the front page for this?

  • Jessi

    What a joke and a waste of space, who cares who she is married to? We voted her in with full awareness of her history and support of OSPIRG. This is not news, she did nothing wrong, there is no controversy here. This reporter wasted her time. 

  • Jessi

    In what way is this “shady”? They both formerly worked for OSPIRG, now they don’t. It’s not like she has a hidden agenda to give OSPIRG more funding.

  • Jniles

    Highly doubt it. 

  • August

    how is this corrupt?!

  • Maneesh

    Seriously? What is the point of this comment? All this does is show how much of an asshole you are

  • UOmom

    How nice it is to see a young couple that is so active and engaged! They really give a good impression of the University. Thank you Daily Emerald for posting this article about this wholesome couple and congratulations Charles and Katie!

  • Bhnd8ball

    Well I wonder what type of grants she’s getting for being married. . . 

  • Nathan Howard (I <3 PIRG)

    I couldn’t agree more!!!  -How nice it is to see a young couple that is so active and engaged! They really give a good impression of the University. Thank you Daily Emerald for posting this article about this wholesome couple and congratulations Charles and Katie!

  • Anonymous

    Why does it really matter that they’re married? This isn’t the presidency of the United States, it’s the ASUO. It’s actually a little disheartening that this is front page news for a university that can and has made so many strides in the political, educational, and diversity related fields. It’s interesting, but I see no correlation between what ASUO has done and what OSPIRG is. Both strive to encourage students to speak up and advocate for issues they feel effect them. Does this really effect any of us? If they’ve been married for three years and you just found out, then no. We’re all students, we all have personal lives. Unless you can say that there is nothing in your life that could be made into a scandal, then I say leave them alone and let them continue with their lives and jobs. 

  • MG

    If it wasn’t corrupt, then she would have disclosed the relationship from the very beginning, so that potential conflicts of interest were clear.  The fact that they kept it a secret proves corruption.

  • Anonymous

    I am just confused on what the point of this article is. The University of Oregon is supposed to be a safe and inclusive place. To publish this gossip is just a pathetic way of targeting two influential  leaders. Let’s focus on issues, not gossip. 

  • Anonymous

    Since when did the Daily Emerald become a tabloid? This affects nobody other than Charles and Katie. 

  • mudslinger

    I am certain a legal marriage status is not university priority.  It was on public record, obviously, therefore there was no need to announce it in a public forum, years after the event actually occurred. Now, or during the election. It was not a secret and by your logic, not corruption. 

  • Umad?

    LOL at the picture choice. Way to make a non-issue into a front page article, Emerald reporter. Have fun working for Teen People in later life. *slow-clap*

  • guest

    Personally, I would like to know from either Charles or Katie what their honest reasons were for hiding this.

  • 2392

    The Emerald putting this on the front page today has made me lose even more respect for it as a publication. If this is what they think students need to be concerned with, they may as well make the shift to a full on tabloid.

    The Emerald is supposed to be a newspaper, not Us Weekly.

  • MG

    One should not have to go digging through the thousands of sheets of public records to find something that obviously has the appearance of a conflict of interest.  These people are potty training for potential future political careers.  Corruption, even the most minor, starts here.  Let them get away with it now, and they’ll feel they can get away with it when they have a position they can do more damage from.

  • mudslinger

    Well, to avoid being accused of corruption in the future, I hope they post what they ate for dinner on the front page of tomorrow’s ODE.

    I still don’t understand your use of the term “corruption.” Or how a marriage, years after the fact, is “news” and again, how it affects you, or how it is a need for anyone outside of the relationship and a legal entity to know about it.

    I will make sure to invite the ODE to my ceremony before I plan to run for governor. 

  • MG

    Wikipedia has a nice set of articles on the subject.  Start with “Political corruption” and make sure to read the sections on “trading in influence” and “patronage.”  Also you should read the article on “conflict of interest.”

    It affects anyone who pays incidental fees, which are then given to OSPIRG on a contract basis with the ASUO executive, of which subject of the article is the second officer in charge.

    If you were running for governor and married to a major player in a company that the state contracts with, you can be damn sure that you’d be scrutinized. And rightly so.  Of course, if you kept it secret despite the apparent conflict of interest, that would certainly raise some eyebrows, would it not?

  • Knightofcydonia

    This article is sloppy and unethical. To reveal aspects of their personal life and use it to insinuate wrongdoing is just low. 

  • GoDuckz

    You cannot make a claim that someone has behaved unethically off of such scarce evidence as “if they weren’t behaving unethically, why were they not more up front.” No corruption has been proven. No grand secret has been proven. A former PIRG member and huge PIRG support  apparently has a personal tie to a member of PIRG. Ms. Taylor has never, to my knowledge, been secretive about her support of PIRG. Unless you want to make the case that  Ms. Taylor is only a supporter of PIRG because of her romantic interests, which I think is an argument which reeks of sexism.

  • DuckAlum

    They obviously have conflicts of interest.

  • DuckAlum

    They obviously have conflicts of interest.

  • LD

    The ASUO manages $14 million in student dollars. The potential for corruption is just as real there as it is in “real” government. These things should be disclosed.

  • MG

    While not applying to the President and Vice President (as far as I can tell), the Green Tape Notebook requires members of the ASUO Senate to disclose conflicts of interest in writing at the beginning of each year.

    However, ORS 244.120 makes it clear that a public official with a potential conflict of interest shall publicly disclose the same, and refrain from participating, in official capacity, in any discussions involving the conflict.  It seems unlikely that the touchy topic of OSPIRG has not come up during the various functions the Vice President participates in.   But you are right, there is no evidence of wrongdoing.  However, the VP’s actions since taking office must now be reviewed to determine if there was any wrongdoing.

    And, if you think that because this is college and the elected officials here should be held to a different standard than other elected officials, keep this in mind:  the ASUO budget is generated from a tax in the form of incidental fees, and total approximately $7.9 million.  The City of Coburg, Oregon has an annual budget of only about $1.7 million.  If the amount of responsibility is greater than that of a small incorporated city (also run by elected officials), then the standards for conduct should be the same.

    The incidental fee for 2010-2011 was $192 per term.   For some students this amount of money could be the difference between eating top ramen and eating something more healthy, or worse, the difference between eating top ramen and not eating at all.  For students who are borrowing to pay for their education, it amounts to almost $2400 in additional debt over the course of four years.

    These people are playing with actual lives, spending money that is taken through the force of taxation.

  • Occupy Yourself A Job

    I’m willing to wager the same people who believe the lack of open disclosure regarding this marriage also get their panties tied in a knot when they hear the names “Cheney” and “Halliburton” in the same sentence.

  • Woka Floka Flame

    This issue was really useful and important…as the poop catcher in my birdcage. Chip says he’s staying and THIS is the front page?

    I think it should be front page news if the ODE retains ASUO funding…