Click here to visit the Emerald’s Campus Elections Homepage. Listen to candidate interviews and watch election video.
The Student Senate is made up of 18 members, 15 of which serve two-year terms. The Programs Finance Committee senator who wins seat 1 will serve a single year while the winner of seat 3 will serve for two years.
The members of the PFC are responsible for allocating student fee money to programs, contracts and departments of the ASUO. The PFC is made up of three PFC Senators, two at-large members, one member appointed by the ASUO president, and one member appointed by the ASUO Programs Council.
For the 2007-08 school year, the PFC allocated more than $5.6 million in student fees.
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Name: Jamie Sholian
Age: 18
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 1
Major: Pre-business
Hometown: Portland, Ore.
Year in school: Freshman
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary: Sholian said she would work to establish an environment where programs get the money they need to grow while not sacrificing other programs. She promises a fair budget to everyone.
Qualifications: Sholian said she would work with the rest of the ASUO to be fair, impartial, and unbiased.
Reasons for applying: Sholian is looking for ways outside of her sorority to be involved on campus.
Role of student government in local, state and federal politics: Sholian believes the first priority of student government should be the University, and then the city and community beyond. She added she thinks student government should give students a voice in the rest of the political spectrum.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding: Sholian thinks the amount of support a group has on campus will affect its funding.
Changes, if any, to stipends: Sholian said she would not change anything about the stipend model.
Should the Student Senate have a role in international politics: Sholian thinks the Senate should have a role in issuing opinions, but doesn’t feel the voices need to be limited to student government. She would like to see everyone be involved in the bigger picture, rather than the selective few in student government.
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Name: Opey Freedle
Age: 27
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 1
Major: Family and human services
Hometown: Myrtle Point, Ore.
Year in school: Senior
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary: Freedle is running with the “Progressive Action Coalition (Pac-8).” He said he wants to be accountable to student groups. He wants to reach out to groups to educate them on the PFC process and make the process more transparent. He also wants the ability to consider exceptions within the process. He said he would also separate contracts and departments from programs in the budget process.
Qualifications: Freedle has been involved in programs for three years, has done work coordinating events, and has gone before the PFC (for the LGBTQA) each of the last three years. He is also on the board of the Oregon Students Equal Rights Alliance (OSERA).
Reasons for applying: Freedle wants to make the PFC process less intimidating and more accessible to the students who go through it.
Role of student government in local, state and federal politics: Freedle said he has lobbied before the legislature with OSERA. He said working at a statewide level is necessary to make change.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding: The most important factor is looking at groups with viewpoint neutrality, Freedle said, but also considering the educational value and diversity of events offered to the campus community.
Changes, if any, to stipends: Freedle would look at each program and the services it provides. He said stipends are valuable to the students doing the work.
Should the Student Senate have a role in international politics: No time for answer.
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Name: Kate Davis
Age: 20
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 1
Major: Family and human services
Hometown: Lake Oswego, Ore.
Year in school: junior
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary:Davis is part of the campus improvement movement, which hopes to work on cutting costs and helping the overall student population.
Qualifications: Davis interned with the health center, and part of her campaign is to improve the relationship between the health center and the student government. Davis has also served as the Program Finance Chair for Students for Choice.
Reasons for applying: Davis said it is really important to her to become more involved with school and she wants to see improvement on campus.
Role of student government in city, state and federal politics: Davis said college students should learn about how government works, even if it is just on the campus level. She hopes through student government she can motivate even a few people toward change.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding:
Davis feels understanding the policy behind financial decisions is a major factor in funding. She said she believes in preventative versus reactive decisions, and it is important to take into account what students will see in the future.
Changes, if any, to stipends: Davis is unfamiliar with stipends, but wants to make sure students are more aware of where the money is going.
Student Senate role in international politics: For Davis, being American and in college are motivation enough to be involved with international politics.
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Name: Keith Bassett
Age: 20
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 1
Major: Planning, public policy and management
Hometown: Salem, Ore.
Year in school: Sophomore
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary: Bassett proposes splitting contracts and departments from student groups in the allocation process. He said there is currently inequality in how allocations are handled. He also wants to make sure electronic ticket distribution is implemented and do some outreach regarding student fees.
Qualifications: Bassett said he has extensive experience allocating funds, which he got as a member of an enterprise youth council in Salem. While on the council, he allocated about $1 million to programs promoting workforce improvement and education for youth.
Reasons for applying: Bassett said he will be a fair and balanced advocate for students. He believes his experience serving as residence hall association president will help him to continue representing student interests.
Role of student government in local, state and federal politics: Bassett said student government should focus on campus related issues, although those issues can affect all parts of the state.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding: Bassett said how much benefit students have the potential to receive from student money is a big factor for him. He said if the money doesn’t benefit students, programs should not receive it.
Changes, if any, to stipends: Bassett believes stipends serve as an incentive to keep bright people in student government.
Should the Student Senate have a role in international politics: Bassett doesn’t believe student government should be concerned with issues off campus.
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Name: Matt Rose
Age: 20
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 1
Major: Political Science, public relations and electronic media
Hometown: Sammamish, Wash.
Year in school: junior
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary: Rose’s platform is to keep the lines of communication between student groups and the ASUO and all other students. His goal is to allow people to have more questions answered by the student government. He thinks more explanation would be helpful.
Qualifications: Rose served on the
Programs Finance Committee this year. He said his experience will allow for communication to happen on a greater degree, will create institutional memory and will create more methods of communication.
Reasons for applying: The at-large position (Rose’s current position) does not give him the chance to make the changes he wants to make. Rose believes being in the Senate gives people greater ability to affect change.
Role of student government in local, state, federal and international politics:
Rose said student government should be an advocate for its constituents, and members of the student government should lobby for greater access to higher education. He said that can only be done through a student voice.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding:
Rose said that a group’s spending history is the only fair way to look at things, although extenuating circumstances are considered. This year on PFC, Rose felt that it was his job to determine whether the Executive recommendation was fair. He said while this year’s process was not kind to groups, but it was necessary given the restraints.
Changes, if any, to stipends: Rose said he would talk to all the people affected by stipends to ensure the dialogue is not lost. His changes would be done only by consensus of the entire student body. He would also create an official definition of what exactly a stipend is, as the definition is currently unclear.
Should the Student Senate have a role in international politics: Rose thinks international politics are beyond the Senate. There are plenty of opportunities on campus for private citizens to get involved with international politics, Rose said, and he believes discussion distracts the Senate.
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Name: Nick Schultz
Age: 18
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 3
Major: Political science
Hometown: Gresham, Ore.
Year in school: Freshman
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary: Schultz said he is running on an environmental protection and sustainability platform. He also wants to reform the budget allotment process and how the ASUO conducts business.
Qualifications: Schultz said he offers a unique balance of youth and ingenuity. He has no prior contact with the ASUO, outside of a submission to the Student Senate appropriations committee for a biodiesel van project. Schultz said having lived on campus for a year has helped him understand what students want, and where the ASUO could be improved.
Reasons for applying: Schultz said he was originally going to back another candidate, who chose not to run. He said too many students feel the ASUO doesn’t connect to them and he feels there is more it can do. Schultz believes he will bring fairness, accountability and student empowerment to the ASUO. He said there is a real problem when rec center is rewarded for being fiscally irresponsible.
Role of student government in local, state and federal politics: Schultz believes the student government should deal with issues that affect students here. He also thinks there are University-wide initiatives that could have a bigger impact. He said the University could become a trend-setter by implementing environmental standards.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding: Schultz said one factor is how many students are involved in a group, and another is what contribution the group is making to the University. He said it is wrong that programs are encouraged to ask for more money than they really need for fear of a budget reduction.
Changes, if any, to stipends: Schultz said if anything, he would reduce stipends. In his opinion, students should not be engaging in clubs and activities for the stipends, and he feels the PFC should cut stipends before making cuts to programs.
Should the Student Senate have a role in international politics: Schultz feels there are a lot of decisions that can be made locally that will have a larger impact.
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Name: Shalan Ryan
Age: 21
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 3
Major: Ethnic studies
Hometown: Eugene
Year in school: junior
Criminal charges: none
Platform summary: Ryan is running on the Pac-8 slate. She plans to hold all areas of the ASUO accountable to student needs, she hopes increase understanding of both the Senate and PFC processes, and reform PFC to accurately maximize fund allocations to programs. Ryan said students are not necessarily benefiting from the entire incidental fee. She also believes that viewpoint neutrality should be the basis for budgeting.
Qualifications: Ryan said she has been working within programs since she was a freshman, and has served as co-director of the Native American Student Union where she was in charge of a $20,000 budget.
Reasons for applying: Ryan said she just wants to make a difference at the University.
Role of student government in local, state and federal politics: Ryan said student governments reflect the policital current of the time, and can be instrumental in organizing lobbying.
Most important factors of a group when considering funding: Ryan said she would not compare one group against another, but feels group spending and fundraising, as well as, whether the group is providing a value almost all students can use are important.
Stipend change, if any: Ryan could not say if she would encourage stipend reform.
Should Student Senate have a role in international politics: Ryan said she had no opinion.
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Name: Neil Brown
Age: 21
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 3
Major: Political Science with an economics minor
Hometown: Brazil, Indiana
Year in school: Junior
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary: Brown’s platform is to make life at the University more affordable and accessible, and the ASUO itself more efficient. He wants to bring more accountability to the budget process.
Qualifications: Brown has experience outside the ASUO from his involvement in student programs. He said he thinks his outside view is necessary in the ASUO because Senators and members of committees often have “a bubble” around them that prevents them from seeing things from the point of view of average students.
Reasons for applying: Brown said the ASUO has a unique role to play in student life because of its control over student money. He wants the University to be a place where students enjoy coming for classes and for activities outside of the classroom.
Role of student government in local, state and federal politics: Brown feels the ASUO should limit its role in those levels of government. While Brown feels the ASUO should play a big role in asking for money for education budgets, he said the ASUO oversteps its bounds when it becomes involves in issues such as passing anti-war resolutions.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding: Brown said he would take into account a group’s programming and efforts affect the student body as a whole, as well as how it raises its own funds. Every group should be looked at on a case-by-case basis, he said.
Changes, if any, to stipends: Brown said the one thing that would address stipends is to have something standardized in the Green Tape Notebook. People who work in groups should be compensated for their time, Brown said, but there should be something in the student governmen rules so that year after year groups know what to expect.
Student Senate role in international politics: Brown said any role in external politics should be limited to educational issues.
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Name: Nate Benjamin
Age: 20
Desired position: PFC Senate Seat 3
Major: English, history, humanities
Hometown: Anchorage, Alaska
Year in school: Junior
Criminal charges: None
Platform summary: Benjamin is running with the “campus improvement movement.” The platform is to expand services, cut costs and build community. They will push to
explore the possibility of creating a student book exchange.
Qualifications: Although he has not worked in the ASUO, Benjamin was the president of his fraternity.
Reasons for applying: Benjamin said he has experience dealing with tight, constricted budgets and feels he has a “great vision” for PFC.
Role of student government in local, state and federal politics: The ASUO’s primary responsibility is to students, but it also has a responsibility to other branches of government, Benjamin said.
The most important factors of groups when it comes to determining their funding: Brown said a group’s track record from the previous year, their ability to fundraise on their own, their ability to manage themselves responsibly are important. He said groups should show that they need money and will spend it wisely.
Changes, if any, to stipends: There is an unfair burden on programs, Benjamin said, and the burden should be shifted to contracts and departments.
Should the Student Senate have a role in international politics: The Senate should have a role in international politics, by raising awareness for students, Benjamin said.