It’s been a busy term for OSPIRG activists — jamming the White House switchboard, encouraging students to register to vote and dressing up as corn for a Halloween press conference on genetically engineered food.
OSPIRG is the Oregon student chapter of the national Public Interest Research Group, which handles issues involving the environment, public safety and health, among other public concerns. The group has been more active this year compared to last year, due in part to the wide variety of projects and issues it’s tackled so far this term.
Chapter Chair Michelle Ternus said the group is more active this year in making their events visible on campus and addressing a broad range of issues, because of their increase in membership.
Most recently, the group donned Halloween costumes Oct. 31 to discuss the dangers of gene enhanced produce. Organic food experts and OSPIRG activists met outside Johnson Hall to warn people that some genetically engineered foods pose as a health hazard because they are not safety-tested.
“We wanted to educate people and make them more aware of what they are actually eating,” Ternus said.
But the group has always made the environment its biggest focus. This year is no exception: OSPIRG has focused attention on educating students about the National Heritage Forests Campaign.
“The goal [of the campaign] is to get [President] Clinton to protect the forests from logging, mining, road building, drilling and to have a strong roadless policy,” Ternus said.
Research is currently underway on the environment and endangered species at the Fall Creek site in the Willamette National Forest. The site is known for tree-sitters who protest the cutting down of old growth trees.
Brad Schallert, a forest media intern with OSPIRG, said this research is occurring because no studies were done to determine the biodiversity of Fall Creek the first time the area was marked for logging.
Schallert said Clinton has written a plan to protect the forests. He is expected to announce the plan before he leaves office.
“Basically during the public comment period we have been encouraging students to sign postcards and express their views [about the campaign],” Schallert said.
Many of their campaigns include grass roots activism through informational pamphlets, speakers, and, occasionally, more direct techniques.
OSPIRG members joined a successful national mission to tie up White House phone lines in October and make the Clinton administration aware that PIRG members want full protection of all forests under the plan. They spent a day outside the EMU with cell phones and encouraged passing students to place a call to the switchboard.
Alysa Castro, project coordinator for Youth Vote 2000, is working with OSPIRG volunteers, the ASUO and the Black Student Union to strengthen the voice of youth in the polls. Castro said the University is the first in the nation in terms of the amount of registered student voters.
The group also networked with other PIRGs last weekend at Portland State University. Students from the west coast participated in workshops and training.
“I [was] interested in seeing what other campuses have been doing and using them as a resource,” Ternus said.