In recent weeks, an increasing amount of coverage has been devoted to the upcoming ASUO election. While most of the coverage has dealt with campus profiles, I feel that there is a greater issue that exists in this campaign. An alarming number of students have expressed frustration with the Programs Finance Committee, and I agree with them. Due to the budget surplus this fiscal year, the ASUO is faced with a unique opportunity to apply the surplus budget toward improving the campus. Instead, this money seems to be tied up in policy arguments: whether to fund the Recreation Center and various other instances.
However, I would like to propose an alternate solution: that the ASUO allocate funds to the campus recycling program. The state of Oregon is becoming the vanguard of renewable energy sources in the United States. The allocated funds would be used for the purchase of environmentally friendly bio-diesel vans. As a member of the Campus Recycling crew, I have witnessed firsthand the hypocrisy of our actions, which results from collecting recyclables in 40-year-old vans that hardly pass the DEQ emissions test. Most of the students that I have spoken with would like to see their incidental fees go toward something that would make a difference. If this proposal were adopted, the University of Oregon would become one of the most environmentally aware and protective campuses in the nation.
Nicholas B. Schultz
University student