Wednesday will be the first day of a showdown in Salem, not just over the Oregon University System budget during the next two years, but the future of the incidental fee at the University of Oregon, which pays for student groups, the EMU and athletic tick ets.
Wednesday is the only day students can testify before the Oregon Legislature about the OUS budget, which is facing cuts that could lead to an 8 percent tuition increase during the next two years.
“Bottom line, we need bodies there,” ASUO Stat e Affairs Coordinator Brian Tanner said.
The ASUO and members of the Oregon Student Association lobby group have seen the OUS budget battle coming since last fall, when Gov. John Kitzhaber released his proposed state budget. The Legislature will deba te each section and come to a final number before the end of the session.
But concerns about the incidental fee arose last Thursday during a legislative work session for the OUS budget. ASUO President Jay Breslow, who testified with University Preside nt Dave Frohnmayer, said the discussion suddenly changed from the budget to the fee, its size and how it’s allocated.
Breslow said some legislators questioned the fee’s validity when roughly only 10 percent of the students vote each year for the grou ps and people who will decide who gets the money.
“It raised some red flags,” ASUO Legislative Organizer Melissa Unger said. Unger added that the Legislature first allowed schools to have a fee and has the authority to put a cap on the size of the fee or eliminate it completely.
“They can do anything,” Unger said. “Whether the fee thing goes down or not, Wednesday is an incredibly important day.”
The ASUO is offering transportation for students who want to speak or simply show support for the budget. Vans will leave from outside the ASUO office at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday and return about 4:30 p.m.
Vans will also go to Salem next Monday and Thursday at the same time and same place for legislative work sessions. Unger said if the fee is debate d, it will happen in those sessions.
Although the work sessions are not open to testimony, members of the committee can ask for input from the audience.
Erin Pursell, a former ASUO intern and OSPIRG member, said she will go to Salem to show support for the fee, which she said is one of the most powerful amplifiers of student voice.
“It’s the biggest political tool students have,” she said.g