Standing on the first floor of the EMU Monday, former ASUO Senate President Athan Papailiou offered to passersby free packets of ramen noodles and this message: “This is what you will be eating next year if you vote for an ASUO candidate who will raise your student incidental fee.”
The tactic is part of Papailiou’s newest campaign, a campus equivalent of a political action committee called Students for Lower Incidental Fees. The group, co-chaired by Papailiou, Department Finance Committee at-large member Brendan Good and undeclared major Kenny Crabtree, says it seeks to raise awareness about the size and growth of the mandatory fee students pay each term. The incidental fee funds the student government and in turn more than 120 student programs, the EMU, departments such as the Oregon Marching Band, and the ASUO’s contracts with Lane Transit District and other services.
“We think that’s a little excessive considering what it pays for,” Good said of the incidental fee, which cost $195 in fall and winter terms this year but was lowered to $95 in the spring due to excess funds from larger than anticipated enrollment. “The student government pays for a lot of services that are over-funded and under-utilized and benefits a very small percentage of campus.”
Good, who unsuccessfully ran for Senate three years ago and was appointed to his DFC seat by ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz, said the group is non-partisan. Good said the table space in the EMU came from College Republicans, but only because they responded before the College Democrats, who Good said he also approached.
“We have not endorsed a candidate (in the ASUO election). We only raised concerns about a candidate who says they want to increase student services, which means you have to increase the incidental fee,” Good said.
Alison Fox, the campaign manager of ASUO executive candidates Emma Kallaway and Getachew Kassa, said it was clear Good was aiming for her ticket. “Honestly, I think the claims he makes about Emma and Getachew are false. It would be very difficult to find any student on campus who wanted a huge increase in the I-fee,” she said.
Fox said Kallaway wanted to enhance student services, not pile on student fees. Kallaway wants to increase the number of fundraising events the ASUO Executive organizes each year and generate revenue through the continued sale of energy tax credits, Fox said.
“It’s interesting that (Good) said he doesn’t endorse a specific candidate because, by calling out Emma and Getachew in this way that isn’t really accurate, he’s really endorsing Oregon Action Team,” Fox said.
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ntal Fees has purchased advertising in the Emerald in support of Oregon Action Team with a list of endorsements from current officeholders. The ad also included a quote from Dotters-Katz saying that Oregon Action Team “represents the values of the everyday student.”
Dotters-Katz said Monday he never spoke with anyone at Students for Lower Incidental Fees about the advertisement.
“I am not formally or officially involved in any campaigning,” he said. He offered only a measured endorsement of the group’s goals.
“I think to say that special interests reside in the ASUO and have an agenda of increasing the size of their budgets is a true statement. But I wouldn’t endorse a blanket statement of cutting any program or service without a thorough process,” he said. “I think that this election cycle thus far has produced very sophisticated and innovative campaigning techniques. Introducing PACs and these third-party non-candidate groups just furthers the maturation of the polity of the ASUO.”
ASUO Elections Coordinator Aaron Tuttle said it would take a formal complaint to the elections board to decide whether the tactics of third-party groups violates election rules. “We try to limit that idea of bribery,” he said of handing out free food. “While handing out ramen may be getting your message out, are they in violation of election rules? I can’t say. Anybody that is promoting or opposing a slate for a candidate or its ideals could be potentially held accountable for their actions.
“It’s an interesting way to get your position out, that’s for sure.”