In regards to concerns about OSPIRG’s budget, I would like to delineate a few things about the organization.
Our society is not perfect, and students have historically been at the forefront of social change. From the civil rights movement to the peace movement to the environmental movement, students have been instrumental in instituting progress on a local, national and global scale.
The students who launched the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group here at the University in the early 1970s took on some of the most pressing problems facing the public, from consumer rip-offs, to hunger, to pollution in our air and drinking water. They were idealistic, yet realistic enough to know that while these problems affect the student body, they could not be solved if work is limited to campus boundaries.
Students established incidental fee-funded chapters at other Oregon schools, pooled their money and hired lawyers and experts to address the issues. This enabled students to solve problems without having to lift a finger. As they nevertheless wanted to, the students hired additional full-time campus staff to provide them with leadership training and organizing skills essential to running successful projects on campus.
Today, students are no different. We want to make a difference but do not have the time, money or credentials to influence decision-makers. We do, however, have access to the student fee, which allows us to pitch in $2 per term to generate $400,000 dollars worth of social change. Because of OSPIRG’s distinctive funding mechanism, the student group can do more than hold meetings and pizza parties. The organization views students as citizens and offers opportunities to make a lasting change.
OSPIRG is needed on the University campus now just as it was 30 years ago. It is the leading student group fighting such critical problems as homelessness in Eugene, potential drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, logging, mining and road building in our forests and national monuments, and toxic dumping in the Willamette River. Seeing that 105 new students attended OSPIRG’s fall general interest meeting — we didn’t even serve food — and turnouts for our other events have been equally large, OSPIRG’s campaigns are well received at the University. Furthermore, OSPIRG continues to be a popular resource to students when it comes to renter’s rights, credit card hazards and loan debt.
Contrary to misconceptions some have expressed, OSPIRG skimps on administrative costs and staff salaries. It does not have an office in Salem and does not use student fees to finance partisan politics or lobby the Legislature. If you have met any OSPIRG students, you know that we are honest and conscientious, and we put our heart, soul and grueling unpaid hours into the work that we do, simply because we care.
OSPIRG’s funding structure is what gives us the ability to make an impact and get results, and has been proven effective for 30 years.