Dozens of rain-soaked Oregonians waited eagerly outside 180 PLC Wednesday night for a rare opportunity to speak out about the state’s budget.
Despite the room’s 230-person capacity, countless residents were still turned away.
The lucky ones, those who gained admittance when a straggler drifted out during the testimonies, found themselves in a tense environment packed with the tired and frustrated begging the Joint Ways and Means Committee for the state funding they need.
Senator Kurt Schrader and Representative Mary Nolan led the 21-person panel through 2 1/2 hours of two-minute testimonies. The Committee listened to approximately 65 speakers share the financial and social repercussions that would take place if the Co-Chairs’ Budget, rather than the original and much more generous Governor’s Recommended Budget, were approved by the Legislature. The highly anticipated event ran the entire allotted time, and as a result many citizens were denied the opportunity to speak.
Predictably, Nolan opened the forum by justifying the drastic cuts made to the governor’s budget.
“The governor assumed about $800 million of revenue that is not authorized under current law,” she said. “We are not allowed to spend money we don’t have; we are not allowed to borrow in expectation of revenue we have coming in the next few years.”
Nonetheless, Nolan’s announcement did not deter the passionate speakers from various state-assisted organizations including OHSU, the Oregon Wine Board, Head Start and the Board of Lane County Commissioners.
Higher education was, as expected, a very prominent point of discussion at the forum. ASUO President Jared Axelrod was the first to speak on behalf of the University.
After thanking the legislators, Axelrod asked them to address a “pressing issue.” He reported a few staple concerns legitimizing the need for higher education funding: Under the current budget, students will, increasingly so, be forced to take out more loans, drop-out of classes or stop attending school altogether.
In an effort to communicate the reality of low funding’s impact on university communities, Axelrod noted the lack of full-time faculty, and that more money flows into the University from out-of-state tuition than from the Oregon Legislature itself.
“This matter is of the utmost importance on this campus and campuses across the state,” Axelrod said. “The current (Co-Chairs’) budget will only perpetuate the problems… let us not continue this downward spiral.”
Axelrod said state funding is “almost to the point of embarrassment,” and is “unworkable to the mere point of unacceptable.” Should the projected $300 million cut from the Oregon University System (OSA) be made, he said, the state will receive an F minus in affordability.
Five Oregon State University students also came to give testimony, but none of them were able to speak. Despite arriving on campus 1 1/2 hours early, they remained unheard because time ran out. Their silence was especially disappointing because they had also been denied testimony in Corvallis the night before.
Mike Olson, ASOSU President, said the delegation attended the forum to increase higher education funding awareness and to support the original Governor’s Recommended Budget.
“I just hope that students continue to voice their opinions to legislators as they look to finalize budgets and set the funding and future for higher education,” Olson said. He also commended Axelrod on his successful testimony.
Besides Axelrod, two other University representatives spoke. English Professor Suzanne Clark stated that University President Dave Frohnmayer was unable to attend because surgery on his broken leg, regrettably, kept him from the forum.
Clark brought an English professor’s touch to the testimony, centering her remarks around a line written by American poet Langston Hughes: “What happens to a dream deferred?” She said a college education is a dream that the people of Oregon ought to guarantee.
“A college education is a necessity to youthful dreams of the future,” she said. “Students give up on college before they even finish high school. It is just too expensive.”
Art History Professor Jeffrey Hurwit, a former University Senate president and 27-year faculty member, said he has seen an almost constant erosion of state support for higher education since 1980. When times are bad, he said, funds are slashed, and more incredibly, budgets are cut even when times are good. Herwit asked the committee to fully fund the governor’s budget request.
“The Oregon University System will continue to fall behind and fall to a level from which it will never recover,” he said, unless the Oregon Legislature acts now. “Do what is right for our young women and men. At long last, invest in them.”
Senator Vicki Walker said she was struck by the number of students who turned out to call for more funding. She added that the OSA “has done a fabulous job.”
She and Schrader both said they were surprised, not to mention disappointed, that nobody addressed the corporate minimum tax. The Legislature needs to find an effective way to generate the revenue requested by post-secondary institutions, and Schrader suggested the corporate minimum tax as one high-profile potential solution.
He said more sustainable spending and revenue are imperative, but stressed that although the Co-Chairs’ budget is significantly lower than the Governor’s Recommended Budget, budgets are increasing, if only minimally, as compared with last biennium.
But students weren’t convinced.
University student Mike Filippelli did not speak, but he submitted a written testimonial.
“It’s time for the state to reinvest in higher education,” he said. “I definitely think that legislators are aware that students are in the room, and (they) not happy about the budget.”
Lane Community College (LCC) had a much stronger presence than the University. With at least 100 supporters present, LCC was loud – literally.
Mary Spilde, LCC president, drew the first of many standing ovations from students, staff and faculty members decked out in light blue LCC T-shirts.
“Oregon is the poster child for disinvestment,” she said. “If community colleges are funded at the 529 (million dollar) level, there is a glimmer of hope. If not now, then when?”
Michael Rose of the LCC Board said he has heard the committee’s story before.
“Each legislative session we are told community college needs will be addressed in the next session,” he said. “Now is the time. It’s what you do that will define you, not what you said you will do.”
Walker said she was pleased that people at the forum were looking at the big picture.
“If we can’t invest in the capital construction that needs to happen and we can’t invest in the staff and students, there won’t be any need to go to college,” she said. “It needs to be considered a complete package.”
With all of the student voice at the testimony, the committee co-chairs said it is highly unlikely that the committee will turn a deaf ear.
“I think we will see some changes as a result of the huge outpouring,” said Schrader.
Nolan agreed, saying the student presence was “fascinating,” and that there were undoubtedly enough students to make an impact.
But in the end, she stuck to her guns.
“I can’t print money,” she said, “I have to find it.”
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