ASUO Vice President Katie Taylor@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Katie+Taylor@@ and former OSPIRG Board Chair Charles Denson@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=student&d=person&b=name&s=Charles+Denson@@ have been legally married since late 2009, according to a marriage license filed in the Lane County Courthouse.
Both attended Lane Community College prior to coming to the University. Denson transferred to the University in 2009, and Taylor the following year.
Taylor became the board treasurer of the Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group in June 2009 while still attending Lane Community College. The couple was married there six months later  during Thanksgiving break on Nov. 25.
She became the ASUO vice president after running in the successful Ben and Katie campaign the following spring.@@http://benandkatie.org/@@ The two ran promoting strong support for the University’s OSPIRG chapter.
Taylor acknowledged that there are members of the ASUO who know about the marriage but said doesn’t talk about her personal life often. She also said that her relationship with Denson has had no bearing in her ongoing support for OSPIRG, citing that she began working for the organization in 2008 as a canvasser.
“I was a part of OSPIRG before I ever met Charles,” she said. “I am not the person on ASUO that is charged with giving OSPIRG recommendations. This year I have been the most removed from OSPIRG than I ever have.”
Denson, who was OSPIRG state board chair from February 2009 through December 2011, also stated that they keep their professional and personal lives separate.
“I don’t think our relationship has any impact,” he said. “Her decisions are irrelevant to her personal life.”
The University chapter of OSPIRG is a contracted service created to speak for students who feel underrepresented in Salem. The total amount given to the organization by the University this year is $86,268.
Over the past 10 years, its budget has proven to be a controversial issue on campus. Some students disagree with the funding model because the money is largely spent off campus to support progressive issues, which those students consider to not be student-related or representative of all students.@@perhaps add…”not all of which is student related”?@@ These concerns resulted in the organization losing 100 percent of its ASUO funding in 2010.
However, a majority of students who voted in the last two elections have marked their ballot in support of funding the group. Members of the group showed up to offer support at last year’s controversial budget hearings, and this year OSPIRG is requesting a 97 percent increase in funding for the 2012-13 academic year. @@wow@@

OSPIRG will have a budget hearing next Tuesday to discuss the possible increase. Taylor emphasized that as vice president, she has had no part in the continuing discussion over OSPIRG’s funding.
“If you look at the work I’ve done this year, its been very much separate from OSPIRG,” she said. “It has nothing to do with our relationship, and nothing to do with my job.”