Author: Owen R. Smith

Several of the driving forces in the effort to make Oregon more sustainable met Thursday for the fourth annual Oregon Campus Compact Civic Engagement in Sustainability awards.

For student groups wondering what their final Student Fee Committee allocation for next year will be, look no further. To the right is a complete list of each group’s initial allocation.

When Kenna Warsinske walks through campus carrying an armful of bright-red, fresh tomatoes, the junior international studies major is filled with a special pride—the kind that comes from growing the food you eat.

Sixteen of 28 Student Senate candidates met in Parkway North of Smith Memorial Student Union yesterday to state their case and convince voters to elect them to the 25-member legislative body.

It started with a simple premise: You should be able to sell $1 cups of coffee and still make a living. A year later, Pieter Hilton’s dream of owning a coffee cart and freeing himself from a traditional job has come to fruition.

Standing before an overflow crowd of more than 200 students and faculty packed into the Vanport Room Wednesday afternoon, university President Wim Wiewel reiterated the grim reality the university has been bracing for: a probable 20 percent budget cut in state funding, 13 percent tuition hike and university-wide salary reductions.

Johnnie Ozimkowski said he thinks his experience being raised by a single, blind mother has uniquely prepared him for the job of Student Fee Committee Chair. Since he was about 10 years old growing up in Ashland, Ore., Ozimkowski helped his mother do the bills twice a month.

Just days after coming home from a brutal 15-month stint in Iraq, Jonathan Sanford left his life in the Army behind him and was back in classes at Mt. Hood Community College. “I got deployed in February 2005 and came home in April of 2006,” Sanford said. “I got home on a Saturday and was back in classes that Monday.”

Someone passing the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom Thursday afternoon might have noticed a modest number of people milling around posters detailing the inner workings of electron microscopes or the behavioral patterns of baby elephants.

The first ASPSU presidential debate revealed four slates that have very similar goals, including reforming the Student Fee Committee and working to make education more affordable. Their differences lie mostly in style and execution.

Come meet the candidates in this year’s student government elections tonight at 7 p.m. at Food for Thought Café. City Commissioner Amanda Fritz will be on hand to give a speech about civic leadership and responsibility. Free food will be provided and there will be live music as well.