The ASUO will cease funding OSPIRG next year after the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee voted to not renew the group’s contract Thursday night.
ACFC members said they made their decision because they were not convinced University students were getting a tangible return for the money OSPIRG sends off the University campus to pay professional staff.
The Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group supports student campaigns in federal and state governments. It is a statewide organization with chapters at three other campuses in Oregon and eight paid advocates in Portland and Salem.
Saying they were not convinced by OSPIRG’s arguments that the work its staff does off campus benefits students, ACFC members voted unanimously to strip all funding from the group next year.
OSPIRG timeline
1970 | Ralph Nader visits campus, inspires the foundation of OSPIRG |
1971 | State Board of Higher Education approves OSPIRG |
1998 | University students vote to remove OSPIRG’s funding |
1999 | OSPIRG returns to the University |
2009 | ACFC revokes OSPIRG funding |
The vote followed the recommendation of ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz, who asked the ACFC not to fund OSPIRG at the beginning of the budget process. Dotters-Katz acknowledged the benefits of OSPIRG, but questioned the appropriateness of using student fees to fund the organization.
“The purpose of the incidental fee is not to save the world. It is to make a difference on campus. Some students have cancer, or some students’ parents have cancer, but we don’t use the incidental fee to fund cancer research,” Dotters-Katz said.
Reducing OSPIRG’s funding was a major part of Dotters-Katz’s platform when he ran for office. Every member of the ACFC ran for office on the same platform as Dotters-Katz, a fact of which he reminded them during the hearing.
Dotters-Katz was joined at the hearing by several fellow opponents of OSPIRG. Supporters of the group also attended the meeting in large numbers. Members of OSPIRG’s board claimed two of OSPIRG’s campaigns had saved studProxy-Connection: keep-alive
Cache-Control: max-age=0
ts $1.6 million, which they said offset the cost of OSPIRG to students.
Supporters also argued that the organization gave students great political power and allowed them to affect the world off campus.
“We are talking about one of the hallmark things that makes this University what it is,” former OSPIRG President Jesse Hough said. “By getting rid of OSPIRG, you are pulling out my larynx.”
The final decision on OSPIRG’s funding largely rested on the shoulders of ASUO Sen. Tina Snodgrass, the ACFC vice-chair. While the other three ACFC members in attendance said they were in favor of removing OSPIRG’s funding, Snodgrass said she was undecided during the meeting and tried to convince her colleagues to partially fund the group. ASUO rules require a unanimous vote to reduce by twenty five percent or more programs that have received long-term funding.
When the ACFC voted to strip OSPIRG’s funding, however, Snodgrass voted in favor of the decision.
Though OSPIRG still has the opportunity to appeal the decision, Senate President Alex McCafferty, who also sits on the committee, said there was “zero chance” that the group would receive the full amount it was requesting. Dotters-Katz said he was satisfied with the result of the vote, but not with the feelings it inspired.
“When I see how upset the students of OSPIRG are, I absolutely feel awful, and I’m just advocating for what I think is right, which was the decision that the committee made,” Dotters-Katz said.
[email protected]