The University Senate will consider a resolution supporting in-state tuition for undocumented Oregon residents this afternoon.
First drafted by ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz and sponsored by mathematics professor Peter Gilkey, the resolution endorses a bill in the Oregon Legislature that would allow “a student who is not a citizen or lawful permanent resident of the United States” to pay in-state tuition if the student lived in Oregon for five years before obtaining a high school diploma or the equivalent of one.
The University Senate resolution states that House Bill 2939, known as tuition equity, is “equitable, wise, and just educational policy.”
Anthropology professor Lynn Stephen said she strongly supports the resolution.
“I have spoken with a number of undocumented students who were unable to come to the U of O or had difficulties once here,” she wrote in a letter to Dotters-Katz and Gilkey. “This is very important to me and I am so glad to have a chance to vote on this as a U of O senator. It also sends a very positive message to Latino immigrant families in Oregon.”
The resolution is a revised version of one submitted by Dotters-Katz. In it he stated, “The University of Oregon must always stand against institutional inequality and barriers at all levels of education for every Oregonian and every human being.”
A second resolution, sponsored by biology professor Nathan Tublitz, would establish an online budget reporting system at the University. Specific information on University expenditures is not easily available, the resolution states, and “it is currently nearly impossible to ascertain how much did the Biology Department spend on frogs for dissections last term or what were the monthly fax charges accrued by the Romance Languages Department last month.”
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