My Fellow Students
Do you want your elected officials to possess a sincere passion for leadership, to work diligently within their position to ensure egalitarian decision-making and fight for the student voice? I know I do, and that is why I have decided to run for Student Fee Committee Chair. This is the third year that I have run in the ASPSU elections, and I just can’t seem to get enough. I refuse to sit by and let decisions be made on this campus without student involvement.
First and foremost I am an activist here on campus. I work diligently every day to bring justice to social and economic corruption within our community. I’m a coordinator for Students for Unity, running campaigns to stop oppression, war, police violence and holding corporations accountable (such as our very own campus food provider Sodexho and our beloved Higher One). It is from these experiences as a coordinator for my own student group that I draw my appreciation of the process that student groups go through to receive funding. Within the two years of my tenure on the Student Fee Committee I have fought for the leftist voice and successfully aided programs that needed support. I am a huge supporter of multiculturalism and increased student involvement on campus and in the community.
I have decided to run for SFC Chair because I believe that I have the experience, the dedication and the knowledge of the inner-workings to not only make a positive impact but to be an effective leader as well. I know that I have made an impact in my time spent on the SFC, but now I want to take it up a step and make an even larger impact. I believe that student groups are the key to what makes Portland State a dynamic university. Without student involvement outside of the classroom it is very difficult to build a strong community within our college, and I believe that community is something that needs to be sustained at PSU.
As the only returning member, I bring the essential knowledge of how the committee functions, which is pertinent to running meetings. The SFC chair needs to have the wisdom that you gain from being a member on the committee. This is why I waited until I had those two years of experience to run for chair. If I were to get the position of SFC chair I would ensure that the committee would be held accountable and be supportive of all student groups. I would ensure that our meetings and hearings are run in accordance with Oregon Public Meeting Law to promote equal and full access to our services by all. It’s our money and we all deserve to express our opinion. I bring an honest and outspoken personality to the table, which is necessary when attempting to provide a strong voice for student representation.
I don’t want to use this article just to talk about how awesome I am. I must mention that I am running alongside six other amazing Student Fee Committee candidates. They come from all different sectors of this university’s wide spectrum of students and student involvement (including multicultural groups, academic, service and advocacy, political, student leadership and campus recreation). I believe that having a diverse array of viewpoints is highly beneficial to the progression of the SFC. We need to have many backgrounds represented, because PSU is not black or white, right or left, it encompasses all sorts of people and opinions. I do believe that the candidates for the Klute/Johns SFC embody exactly this.
If I get this position I will do all that I can to keep the fees low while still allowing student services and organizations to expand. I want to leave Portland State knowing that I helped our campus life grow.
Kayla Goldfarb, not just a face on a poster.
-Kayla Goldfarb
Dear Students-
My name is Madeline Enos, and I am running for SFC Chair on the Morse/Bufton progressive slate. Currently, I am coordinator for the Student Organization Council, where I facilitate the registration and budgeting process for over 100 student groups on campus. I have also been an active volunteer with the Women’s Resource Center for the past two years. I truly enjoy working with student groups, and would love the opportunity to facilitate the funding of integral services and organizations on campus. The engaged students who choose to involve themselves with student run organizations are crucial to the development of a sense of community at this university, and as SFC Chair I will actively work to make the SFC allocations process supportive to the growth of student-led groups (such as multicultural groups and athletics) and other organizations and services that support the needs of PSU students. I am running for SFC Chair because I want to make SFC processes more accessible and approachable for all students. All PSU students are stakeholders in the budget decisions made by the Student Fee Committee because many services and programs for PSU students are directly funded by student fees. With that in mind, I would advocate for the needs of students by working to ensure that there is more transparency in SFC processes, and offer educational opportunities for students to learn how to navigate the formal systems of university funding. I plan on achieving those ends by organizing campaigns to educate students about why they pay student fees, how they are allocated and how that process affects their experience as students here. Through that process, forums would be created for students to give input on how the SFC can better serve necessities through funding decisions. In addition, I believe that an effective way to make SFC processes more accessible to students would be to offer workshops that would educated students about the formal language and practices of university decision making, so that students can articulate their concerns and requests in the formal language of university processes. In addition, I believe that the SFC Committee members themselves should go through training to develop skills and methods for promoting an inclusive, fair and supportive atmosphere during SFC proceedings.
I am running with the Morse/Bufton slate because of their commitment to serving the students of PSU by working to make our school more affordable, sustainable and creating an academic environment that supports the diverse needs of its students and offers a high quality of education. It has been a pleasure to work with Courtney Morse, Jesse Bufton and the entire slate in coming up with ideas on how to best serve the needs of students at PSU. I encourage everyone to check out our web site, www.morsebufton.org, to look at some of our platforms in more detail.
When I came to Portland two years ago, I fell in love with the vibrant campus of PSU partly because of its location in the very heart of the city. My favorite thing about PSU is the ever-intertwined relationship between the institution and the city of Portland, and the dynamic and complex lives lived out by its students. In one of my favorite books, a guide to Portland titled “Fugitives and Refugees” by Chuck Palahniuk, the author acknowledges the multifaceted existence of Portlanders by describing all of us as “leading at least three lives.” I lead the life of a student, yet I am also a poet and an activist. I also work to support myself financially. Everyone I have met at this school shares an intricate and unique collection of passions, values and jobs. In that respect, PSU is an extremely diverse campus community, and its students all have unique needs for their education. Many people I have met at PSU are working to pay for their education, balance their schoolwork while raising children, or have circumstances that are different than that of the “traditional” college student. In that regard, I think it is crucial for students to vote for representatives who will advocate for the things that will support the balance of education and the rest of life. As SFC Chair, I will fight for the rights of the majority of PSU students who commute to campus and balance school with work and/or their families.
The Morse/Bufton slate is dedicated to using evaluative tools to determine the needs of students and work to provide necessary services. One of our initial observations was that many students are burdened by the high cost of tuition here, and so we have written letters to legislators to encourage them to fully fund the Oregon Opportunity Grant, which provides students with much-needed scholarships and helps keep tuition affordable. We have been on the Park Blocks this past week encouraging students who are concerned about the high cost of tuition to sign these letters, and if you see us in the future, we would love to speak with you further on the matter. In the future we will continue to reach out to the student body to get feedback in identifying issues, and ultimately before making any large decision affecting the PSU campus. I hope all students take the time to consider the importance of voting, and then make the decision to let Morse/Bufton move PSU forward into a better future.
-Madeline Enos
