SALEM — Students representing the Student Power Coalition and Students for Higher Education Excellence Now@@http://oregonsheen.org/@@ went to the state’s capital on Tuesday to discuss a local governing board for the University.
The Student Power Coalition is a group composed of ASUO students and Oregon Student Association@@http://www.orstudents.org/@@ members. Their focus is to prevent the creation of a local governing board. According to ASUO University Affairs Coordinator Manny Garcia@@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/executive.php?a=12#toc1107@@ some of the group’s main concerns are tuition increases, transfers between schools and accountability at a statewide level.
Garcia is concerned that if there is no state oversight, tuition could increase to the point where it is unmanageable.
“I had to drop classes, because I couldn’t afford rent — that’s ridiculous,” OSA and Student Power Coalition member Jaki Salgado said.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Jaki+Salgado@@
Another concern is the difficulty with which credits can transfer between universities.
“If things are localized, it will be much harder to transfer credits to OSU and back,” Garcia said.

The third concern is regarding accountability of a local board. Garcia explained that it would be much easier to have oversight of where students’ money is going at a state level. The group puts an emphasis on the necessity of transparency in a governing board.
SHEEN, headed by University law student Sam Dotters-Katz@@http://oregonsheen.org/@@, journeyed to Salem to push for the opposite. This group is in favor of the creation of a local governing board and sat down with lobbyists to gain their support.
The two groups also went to Salem to discuss a bill that establishes a task force for higher education. A week ago, the bill was geared toward creating a special committee that would research ways to govern the University and come back with a comprehensive plan outlining the best option.
Dash-4 amendments were recently made that would fast-track this process in order to come to a conclusion sooner. SHEEN was in support of these changes. The Student Power Coalition, though, supported another set of amendments they argued were more related to the original bill.
“It doesn’t make sense to know the outcome before doing the research,” said ASUO Chief of Staff Kerry Snodgrass.@@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/executive.php?a=12#toc29@@ “We need to really look into all the options before finding a solution.”
Throughout the day, both groups met with legislators to discuss the bill.
Rep. Patrick Sheehan supported SHEEN’s mission.@@http://www.leg.state.or.us/sheehan/@@
“The University of Oregon is completely different from any other university, and we need to accommodate,” he said.
The Student Power Coalition found many supportive representatives as well, including Sen. Floyd Prozanski (D-Eugene).@@http://www.leg.state.or.us/press_releases/prozanski_042009.html@@
“I look at long-term visions, and I want to make certain we leave doors open and try to bring down debt,” he said, regarding the bill.
At the end of the day, the House Higher Education Committee @@http://www.leg.state.or.us/committees/commPages/2011i_hhed.html@@voted to move the bill with the dash-4 amendments to the Ways and Means Committee@@http://gov.oregonlive.com/committee/Joint/Ways-and-Means/2011/@@. Should it move out of that committee, it will be sent to the House floor.
“Both sides came to push today, and I’m glad the committee made the decision they did,” ASUO Sen. and SHEEN member Laura Hinman said.@@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/senate.php?a=30@@
Both groups seemed happy with the work that was done at the capital.
“We started a lot of meaningful conversations today and will be looking a higher education and moving forward,” said ASUO Communications Director Andrew Rogers. @@http://asuo.uoregon.edu/executive.php?a=12#toc1109@@