ASPSU prepares to address education reform

The push for restructuring of the Oregon University System has been steadily gaining momentum since the release of the Frohnmayer Report in 2009, an investigation into the condition of Oregon’s higher education. Now, ASPSU is preparing itself to lobby in Salem to support some aspects of the OUS restructuring bill.

“However big you think it is, it’s bigger than that,” ASPSU President Katie Markey said of restructuring in an unofficial senate meeting on Jan. 4.

Recently, a 400-page document landed on the desk of the Oregon State Legislature. This new proposal states that OUS would no longer be a state agency, but a public university system. This would grant the university system more autonomy and would free up its tuition revenues.

Currently, the legislature is considering three separate proposals: one from OUS, one from the University of Oregon and an overarching bill from the legislature’s task force. The latter, however, may potentially merge with OUS’ bill.

“Oregon is one of the most regulated states when it comes to higher education,” Markey said. “What the OUS wants to do is get rid of some of those regulations.”

According to Casey Dreher, the campus representative for the Oregon Student Association (OSA), OSA has created a brief set of “principles.” ASPSU, along with the student government bodies at the other state-funded Oregon universities—with the exception of U of O—have adopted these tenets by which to abide while navigating the restructuring process.

Presently, all the proposals being considered are subject to change as the Legislature may add, drop or amend any aspect of the document, according to Markey. OUS’ proposal does, however, call for a greater student input in tuition-setting, which Markey said has been something that ASPSU has been striving to achieve in the past.

“We’ve always been involved in tuition-setting on an unofficial level…either through a meeting with the dean or with a committee where they hear student input,” Markey said.

Restructuring calls for a tuition-setting process that involves students who would be appointed by the ASPSU president and approved by the dean. However, this area of the proposal is still very uncertain, Markey said. The amount of students on the board and the extent of their involvement have not yet been decided.

Another serious issue that PSU is preparing to combat is the potential implementation of a performance-based financial distribution system. This would factor in student graduation rates and letter grades attained within the university, according to Markey.

“This system fails to take into account the quality of the education,” she said. “Essentially, it promotes becoming a degree factory.”

PSU’s graduation rate hovers steadily around 35 percent, while Oregon’s statewide average consistently remains above 50 percent. These statistics can be misleading, however, as many students attend PSU with the intent of transferring.

OUS’ proposal also suggests putting an end to fund sweeps. This process essentially allows the state legislature to utilize each university’s revenues and use the money for other state agencies. This practice, Markey said, is not beneficial to students who attend universities where state budget cuts are already deeply affecting their education.

Presently, the executive staff of ASPSU is preparing a presentation in order to create an open dialogue and promote discourse among the student senators. This will allow them time to understand the issue and form opinions before lobbying.

According to Legislative Affairs Director Marcus Sis, OSA will be holding a “day of action” rally on April 29 at the steps of the capitol building in Salem. PSU, along with all other schools facing restructuring, will be distributing to state legislators the personal accounts of students who will be affected by restructuring.

“In the next few weeks we’re going to be coming around campus collecting stories. We want state legislators to see the diverse population we have here; we want them see that these decisions are affecting people, and we want to attach human faces to the issue,” Sis said. “Most importantly, we want them to know it’s not fair to allow students to be priced out of an education.”?