Tonight I have the pleasure of attending OSPIRG’s ASUO budget hearing as a bystander, a different perspective than I had last year as an OSPIRG panel member. I will no longer be sitting next to ASUO Vice President Maneesh Arora, and opposite Alex McCafferty, former chair of the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee, anticipating utter humiliation.
Three weeks into serving an internship last winter term as OSPIRG media coordinator, and after multiple canvassing expeditions, I was asked to sit on its panel and fight to get funding back from the ASUO.
I couldn’t wait to share the news with my mother, who grew up alongside the PIRG organization and approved of their advocacy. She had paid close attention to their prime in the ’80s and ’90s.
But I would learn soon enough that there is a clear distinction between the student, state and U.S. PIRGs.
The PIRG sent me and the panel to Washington, D.C., last winter term, free of charge. I was only involved with OSPIRG for five weeks, but I was drawn into the excitement of it all, and I figured no matter what happened, I would embrace the next couple of weeks for all they were worth.
There were a couple instances during the trip that raised red flags.
Our scheduled lobby day was set for Sunday, Feb., 21. There were four sessions throughout the day, and the majority of Oregon Student PIRG representatives managed to make it to one or two meetings before rushing back to the airport.
I felt empowered while navigating my way through Capitol Hill, but it struck me as odd that the students were asked to remain quiet during the actual sessions. We introduced ourselves, explained our roles in the student PIRG, then handed the floor to Oregon State PIRG Executive Director Dave Rosenfeld and Field Organizer Jenn Lavelle to execute the lobby against Citizens United. Student statewide Board Treasurer Katie Taylor was able to fit in a couple words, as well.
Turns out that members of Oregon’s student PIRG are strictly limited to the amount of lobbying in Washington, amounting to almost none. They hire members of the state PIRG to do it for them, most of whom work for the student and state PIRG simultaneously. Some students see this as a conflict of interest.
At our nightly meetings, we learned how students, state and U.S. PIRGs are funded. The state PIRGs that emerged on college campuses in the 1970s cannot receive public funding under tax laws or receive funding through private sources. It remains unclear how the student and state PIRGs split. Though they are funded differently, because students are allowed to be funded publicly, state PIRGs share executives with student PIRGs and split the costs. In other words, state PIRGs depend on student branches to pursue their interests.
The depressing reality is that it’s been difficult for student PIRGs to accomplish anything in recent years. It seems as though the true spirit that originally ignited the PIRGs is burning out.
Students’ energy now goes into fighting to fund executives’ salaries. Their involvement on campus revolves around collecting signatures that are supposed to make a statement.
The students, convinced they played a significant role in the legislative process for the PIRGs, seem to be mere puppets of a hierarchical system.
And in two days I would be flying back to Oregon to sit on a panel and fight for a cause I wasn’t confident I believed in.
Fifteen minutes before budget hearing, I was given a typed list of OSPIRG accomplishments to present to the ACFC. Unprepared and bubbling with resentment, I sat through the panel, blasted with counterpoints I didn’t know how to respond to.
I felt like a complete fool. I placed most of the blame on my naivety, but not entirely. The OSPIRG campus coordinators could have done a better job to make sure the panel was well prepared.
That night was my turning point with OSPIRG; I would no longer actively support the group.
Even though I opposed its bureaucratic values, being a prominent member of OSPIRG for that short amount of time gave me an experience I could not have gotten from any other student organization. Sure, it was saturated in mixed emotions, but it played a huge role in my college experience.
I understand students’ arguments in opposition, but I also think the hype surrounding it has persuaded many to sway one way without educating themselves of the issue at hand. I ask that before anyone protests, individuals representing both sides think for themselves, weigh the arguments, and have something intelligent to say.
If OSPIRG does receive its full funding, I ask that it uses this power to reform the system to return it to the hands of students, and the interests of the public. But if they don’t win back funding, I won’t lose any sleep over it.
[email protected]
Celentano: OSPIRG needs to regrow its student roots
Daily Emerald
February 1, 2011
0
More to Discover