Members of the Oregon Student Association will be heading up to Salem today and Thursday to thank state legislators for the hard work they put in to making higher education a top priority in the 2007 legislative session by passing 14 major bills. They will also lobby for continued progress in the 2009 session.
Government spending for higher education had been declining during the last decade, but the financial reinvestment made by the legislature in 2007 resulted in the largest amount of money going to higher education since 1999, OSA spokeswoman Courtney Sproule said.
The OSA members will be giving bag lunches to state lawmakers outside of session meetings. The sack lunches will include food and snacks representative of the thanks the group wants to offer, such as apples for higher education.
There will also be notes in the lunches like a mom or dad would write on a napkin such as “don’t forget band practice,” Sproule said. However, these notes will say: “Thank you so much for reinvesting in higher education last year, but don’t forget about us in next year’s session,” Sproule said.
University OSA members, including ASUO President Emily McLain, will visit legislators on Thursday as part of the two days of gratitude.
“We want to thank them for their reinvestment into secondary investment, but let them know there is still a lot more to do,” McLain said.
Students that want to join the OSA members in Salem can contact McLain by e-mailing her at [email protected]. The group will be leaving from the University between 11 and 11:30 a.m.