Students for Higher Education Excellence Now, a University-based political action committee in support of continuing former University President Lariviere’s efforts for local leadership, will head to Salem next week to present reform ideas to the state legislature.
The committee is headed by Sam Dotters-Katz, a former ASUO president and current law student at the University. Dotters-Katz decided to start the committee after Lariviere was fired last November.
“I saw a lot of anger and frustration in this community, and I think the frustration was about the fact that this decision was made in private without any input or consultation with our community and we had no recourse,” Dotters-Katz said. “There was a feeling of helplessness.”
According to Dotters-Katz, SHEEN hopes to push for the creation of a local governing board that would be more in touch with the needs of the University. They also hope to create a better funding relationship with the state so the University will be able to maintain a high level of education without needing to raise tuition.
“We want the legislature to know that we’re not forgetting what Lariviere’s legacy was,” Dotters-Katz said. “This was his package of higher education reforms that are really crucial to this school’s future.”
ASUO Sen. Laura Hinman,@@http://www.uoregon.edu/findpeople/person/Laura*Hinman@@ who also has supported SHEEN from the beginning, said she estimates that there are 20 undergraduate students actively involved in SHEEN who plan to travel to Salem and work for the cause and another 50 to 75 students who will attend events on campus.
“We’ve just been planning lobby meetings coming up this coming week, just making sure we’re going prepared to speak to the legislature,” she said. “It’s kind of overwhelming for some people, so we’re heading up in groups of five or eight. It’s a good way for students to get involved.”
According to Dotters-Katz, SHEEN has scheduled dozens of 15-minute meetings with legislators to discuss higher education reform. The group’s main interest has been legislators on the House of Representatives Higher Education Subcommittee.
SHEEN is funded completely by donations, and they do not use donations to pay members of the committee. They did pay one marketing firm for minimal start-up costs but will use the majority of the money to spread the word about their cause.
The group was founded with the help of Matt Davis, the Democratic Party of Oregon chair in Lane County,@@http://www.dpo.org/people/matt-davis@@ who was Val Hoyle’s@@http://www.valhoyle.com/@@ chief of staff at the time. Hoyle is a state representative for District 14 covering West Eugene, Junction City, Cheshire and Alvadore. She was also instrumental in the founding of the committee.
Davis helped Dotters-Katz in an advisory capacity, informing him about where the discussion was in the legislature and how the committee can be productive.
“It’s one of the most complex issues in the legislature right now behind health care and other funding,” she said. “There’s a lot of players involved. Everyone has a stake in what it means to have independent governing boards.”
“Ultimately,” Dotters-Katz said, “we feel that a local governing board is more accountable, more transparent, and it is better equipped to deal with the extremely unique circumstances with which the University faces in the marketplace of higher education in this state.”@@i don’t think education should be considered a ‘marketplace’ — i.e., not a business@@