Hey, this is important.
You’ve probably heard those words a lot over the last week or so. But if you’ll indulge me, I’d like to let you in on a couple of the things I’ve learned at the University of Oregon. You can’t trust the food at Carson. You should study in advance, but cramming the night before works better than people would have you believe. And, student government is worth getting involved in.
The Associated Students of the University of Oregon (ASUO) is responsible for allocating nearly $10 million in incidental fees; incidental fees fund many things on this campus, from student football tickets to the various student unions and clubs to the newspaper you’re holding. The fee funds childcare for student parents, and shuttles that take students home after dark. The ASUO Executive represents University students to the community and to the world.
The ASUO represents students’ opportunity to take an active hand in their own governance and to exact change on campus and around the state. Without the incidental fee and the ASUO, a lot of the best things on this campus wouldn’t exist.
It turns out that student government is good for more than planning school dances.
Unfortunately, it’s not all roses. It isn’t easy to be a college student in Oregon right now; tuition has increased by 50 percent at Oregon universities over the last six years. It is more difficult now than ever for students to work their way through college and to get financial aid. Low voter turnout among young people makes it easy for politicians to ignore these problems.
In the coming year, the ASUO will address these issues, among others. College students don’t have a ton of money (just barely enough for pizza) or a lot of political influence. But we have each other, and it turns out there’s power in numbers.
The election this November is a great chance for students, not only to elect a new set of legislators but to demonstrate that power. We can talk all we want, but the only way we’ll convince the Oregon Legislature to make higher education affordable is by voting.
The ASUO is part of the Student Vote Coalition, which last election got more than 33,000 Oregon students registered to vote. In the following legislative session, tuition increases were reduced and more funding was given to financial aid. Our legislators listened, but only because students’ voice was too loud for them not to. We can make more progress in the future, but we need every student to register by Oct. 17, and to get out and vote on Nov. 7.
We also need your help, and the best way to do that is to intern for credit. Students in the ASUO work on every campus issue you can think of, from multi-cultural advocacy to the student conduct code; there are literally dozens of available student seats on committees that make real decisions about life on campus. Swing by our office in the EMU and see if anything interests you.
One of the most exciting things about being a University student is having more control over your life. It’s a lot of fun, but it also means that we share a responsibility to make our community a better place. I hope you’ll join us.
Jared Axelrod is President of the ASUO