The Oregon Daily Emerald reported yesterday that University President Richard Lariviere’s proposed deregulation of the University will halt tuition increases. (“University President says New Partnership will end 30-year streak of tuition increases,” ODE, Jan. 27)
President Lariviere is fond of pointing out that tuition has risen an average of 7.5 percent over the past 38 years. What he’s not so fond of pointing out is that if most Oregon public schools had their way, tuition would have increased a lot more than that. In 2009, Oregon’s public universities tried to raise tuition by as much as 15 percent.
Luckily, the student-led Oregon Student Association worked in conjunction with elected officials to cap those tuition increases. It’s a fact: Right now students have the power to stand together statewide and say no to unreasonable tuition hikes and the privatization of public education. If the New Partnership goes into effect, those statewide tuition caps will not exist at the University.
President Lariviere also claims that students will have more representation with the New Partnership. Currently, more than 100,000 students statewide — the united Oregon Student Association — hold decision makers accountable for tuition hikes. Students also have two voting representatives on the State Board of Higher Education and two voting representatives on the Oregon Student Assistance Commission.
Not only will the New Partnership remove checks and balances that generations of Oregonians fought for to keep higher education affordable, but it will establish a governing board with just one student representative and no elected officials. There is an old saying about things not being what they appear to be: “If it looks like a duck, it quacks like a duck and it swims like a duck, it’s probably a tax.”
Make no mistake: The New Partnership is an attempt to privatize our state’s largest public university while requiring the public to fund that privatization with $800 million in bonds.
The Oregon Student Association has unanimously opposed the New Partnership.
Do your part to ensure that every Oregonian has access to a quality, affordable education: Say no to the New Partnership and say no to killing the public’s ability to fight for tuition caps.
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