ASUO has a difficult budget season ahead, facing a 113% budget increase for the nonprofit Oregon State Public Interest Research Group, which may force ASUO to prioritize OSPIRG funding over student organizations or new contracts in the future.
In spring of 2022 UO students voted in support of a ballot measure that would increase the budget for the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group.
As stated on the ballot: “A YES vote would fund OSPIRG at $3.75 per student per term for the 2024-26 academic years. Any student choosing not to support OSPIRG can receive a refund. A NO vote would not provide constitutionally dedicated funding for OSPIRG for the 2024-26 academic years.”
The measure did not mention that OSPIRG was already funded at $1.75 per student per term, and that a yes vote supported a $128,671 budget increase for the 2024-26 academic years in order to comply with the ballot measure.
It passed with 1,754 votes out of a student body of more than 23,000 people.
According to Dan Xie, a political director who works for the national non-profit that helps run OSPIRG, this budget increase is less than OSPIRG would have if their budget had kept up with inflation since its foundation on the UO campus in 1971.
That being said, there is no requirement that ASUO increases the budget of programs to account for inflation unless they provide a necessary service to students.
ASUO can increase the I-Fee — which makes up the ASUO budget — by up to 5% each year in order to keep up with inflation and help programs grow. But because of higher than normal inflation ASUO has very little money to spare, and it’s likely the I-Fee will increase by more than 5% for next year.
What is OSPIRG?
OSPIRG is the Oregon branch of a national nonprofit called the Public Interest Research Group. It campaigns for policy changes through fundraising, lobbying and other efforts. Some of its campaigns on the UO campus include fighting to reduce single use plastics and addressing local houselessness and food insecurity.
OSPIRG is run by a board of students that work together with PIRG employees like a campus coordinator, State Director and Policy Directors. While OSPIRG receives significant funding from UO and meets on campus, OSPIRG is a statewide organization and does not work exclusively with UO.
According to Xie, OSPIRG funding goes toward costs of running campaigns like hosting fundraising events and hanging posters. It also pays for student board members, PIRG staff like Xie and yearly dues paid to PIRG.
Since OSPIRG is an organization independent of the university, it receives funding from ASUO through a contract which is renewed every couple of years. In most cases when a contract ends ASUO and the outside organization enter into negotiations to agree on a new contract.
But in 2016, a ballot initiative was passed that amended the ASUO constitution to allow organizations independent of the university to fund their budgets by ballot measure. According to Xie, OSPIRG was part of a coalition of student organizations that pushed for the amendment.
“They are the only ones in my knowledge that have ever been fully funded through a ballot measure,” ASUO Senator and Contracts Finance Committee Chair Jenna Travers said. “They actually are the ones that put forth the ballot measure to change the constitutional language in 2016.”
When a budget increase is passed in this way, ASUO is then obligated to accommodate the necessary funds from the I-Fee. Xie sees this as an opportunity for UO students to have a direct role in supporting OSPIRG and its campaigns.
The I-Fee is a set amount of money that UO students pay each term. The intent of this money is to be used by ASUO to fund programs and events to benefit the UO student body.
“The principle here is that students on campus should be able to have their voices heard in the places where decisions that impact them are made, when it comes to issues like protecting the environment and having clean air and clean water in the future,” Xie said.
OSPIRG funding from ASUO has always been in the form of the contract, but as things stand now the amount of money given to OSPIRG in their contract is decided by ballot measure, whereas all other ASUO contracts are negotiated between an outside organization and ASUO financial committee members.
According to a graphic provided by Xie, if OSPIRG funding had adjusted for inflation each time its contract was renewed instead of negotiating with ASUO, its budget would be over $400,000.
While this may be true, members of ASUO are still concerned about the budget increase.
“We’ve asked national PIRG multiple times ‘what do you plan to do with this?’” Travers said. “They haven’t given us a use for it.” OSPIRG student members declined to comment.
According to Travers, when working with the OSPIRG student chair to look at how the increased budget will be spent, OSPIRG was left with roughly $20,000 to spare after allocating the funds to a wage increase for OSPIRG staff like their state organizer and stipends for the students that make up the OSPIRG board.
ASUO looks to fill the gap
According to ASUO President Luda Isakharov, the gravity of this budget increase became apparent in early last October when ASUO began to work on financial priorities.
Later that month, the ASUO senate began a process known as benchmarks—the beginning of the yearly budget process. This is the time when ASUO plans out how the I-Fee will be spent the following year and how much it will need to be increased to meet ASUO’s needs.
During the Oct. 26, 2022 ASUO senate meeting, financial committee chairs and executive branch members presented budget recommendations and attempted to tackle a challenging budget season and address a major expense they weren’t expecting.
The I-Fee can increase by up to 5% each year without special approval from the university president and board of trustees. With this year’s budget coming in at just over $9 million, according to the 2022-23 ASUO budget book, ASUO would have about another $450,000 to spend next year.
But after the financial committees presented their recommended budgets at the Oct. 26, 2022 ASUO senate meeting, Isakharov and ASUO executive Finance Director Brad Morin revealed the expenses that would soak up the whole 5% I-Fee increase.
The ASUO executive presentation showed that necessary wage increases and rising costs due to national inflation would swallow $457,000.
The OSPIRG budget increase passed by ballot measure in spring 2022 would take up another $128,671, or it would have until ASUO officials realized at the next senate meeting that the OSPIRG budget increase wouldn’t need to be addressed until next budget season.
Travers hopes to fund OSPIRG this year with a part of the overall sum in order to make next year’s budget season more manageable.
ASUO members like Isakharov said there was confusion because OSPIRG has no funding left on their contract for the next academic year. As a result, ASUO members assumed OSPIRG’s intention was to increase its funding during this year’s budget process, but the language in the spring ballot measure means the increase wont be effective until next budget season.
While ASUO will not have to allocate the OSPIRG increase this year, something else was set in motion: an ASUO special election.
According to Travers, one of the ballot measures, if passed, would change the language in the ASUO constitution that allows budgets to be increased by ballot measure ensuring that independent organizations could no longer receive funding through ballot measure.
The proposed amendment does not function retroactively, so even if it passes the OSPIRG budget increase will remain in effect. The final steps to fulfilling the OSPIRG budget increase or attempting to avoid it will be left up to next year’s ASUO members.
