Filling all the seats in 142 Straub Hall, students showed up to learn about the Oregon Student Interest Public Research Group’s University chapter and its plans for the new year at its kickoff meeting Wednesday evening.
The OSPIRG chapter at the University is one of three in the state, along with Lane Community College and Southern Oregon University. OSPIRG’s mission is to press decision-makers to adopt public interest solutions to society’s biggest challenges.
University chapter chair Charles Denson said OSPIRG is designed to get students engaged in society.
The students do this by running different campaigns every term.
OSPIRG treasurer Katie Taylor said the kickoff meeting was to “get students that care about the issues that we work on get plugged into the different campaigns that we do.”
This term, OSPIRG has three major campaigns planned: Safe Food, Healthy Kids; Hunger and Homelessness; and High Speed Rail. The Safe Food, Healthy Kids campaign intends to address food safety in local public schools. The Hunger and Homelessness campaign aims to provide adequate food and shelter for the homeless in Lane County. High Speed Rail is a 21st-century transportation campaign to promote environmentally friendly transportation by creating a “lighter” railroad that spans from Eugene to Vancouver, B.C.
OSPIRG stopped receiving funding from the ASUO two years ago, and has been actively working to resume its funding since. In the meantime, OSPIRG has received its funding from its state officers, enabling it to have an organizer and enough money to operate. However, this is the last year the group will be able to get funding from the state officers, making this upcoming petition all the more crucial.
OSPIRG plans on acquiring 4,000 student petition signatures to present to the ASUO, and attend their ACFC hearing with public testimonies and student supporters.
Taylor said obtaining 4,000 signatures will show the ASUO that University students agree that the incidental fee should fund the organization.
“It’s their money, they decide,” Taylor said.
Arianna Koudounas, OSPIRG campus organizer, is also optimistic about the chapter being refunded by the student incidental fee.
“Even though there is no ballot this year, we still have a petition,” Koudounas said, adding that the amount of students that showed up at the kickoff is “a huge statement of support.”
In the past, there has been controversy on whether OSPIRG should be receive funding out of the $200 student incidental fee. Arguments against using student fees to fund OSPIRG say funding off-campus causes doesn’t help create a cultural marketplace on campus. OSPIRG is on a mission to disprove that this year by showing that it benefits students by getting them involved in the community.
“The mission of OSPIRG aligns with the mission of both the University and ASUO, in that its purpose is to serve the students and the people of Oregon,” Denson said.
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