News briefs

Bill to add new spot to higher ed board

The House of Representatives passed a bill that would add a faculty member position to the State Board of Higher Education. The faculty member would be appointed from one of Oregon’s regional universities.

The Senate Education and General Government Committee held a hearing about the bill, HB 2579, on May 1. The House approved the bill on April 16 by a vote of 51-7.

The State Board of Higher Education has 11 members. The board currently has only one faculty member, along with two student members.

Firearm bill still in hearings

House Bill 3118, which would let campus security officers carry firearms, could cost the Oregon University System (OUS) $2 million, OUS administrators said.

Jay Kenton, OUS vice chancellor for finance and administration, opposed the bill during testimony, while many campus security officers have shown support of the bill. The bill would change the classification of the officers to public safety officers, allowing the officers to carry a firearm and giving them much of the same authority as other police officers.

If the bill is passed, any university in the Oregon University System would be allowed to reclassify the campus security officers.

SOU pays a little more for renewable energy

Southern Oregon University students voted to make their school the first in the state to purchase renewable energy credits equal to its entire electricity consumption and natural gas emissions.

In a campus election last week, students approved a $15 per term fee to pay for renewable power credits–also known as green tags–to offset the university’s use of energy from sources that contribute to global warming.

SOU Students for a Sustainable Future, largely environmental studies students, gathered about 650 signatures to put the measure on the student ballot. Less than 10 percent of the university’s 5,000 students turned out for the vote. An overwhelming majority of them favored the fee, which will be effective next fall.

“It’s a little hippie-ish for my taste, but it seems like a good idea,” junior Tyler Soward said. “I’m so much in debt, what’s another 15 bucks?”

The revenue from the fees will be used to buy solar or wind power from a nonprofit vendor that obtains the energy from production sites across North America. The renewable energy would be added to an electrical grid in the United States or Canada for general energy consumption.

“When you purchase green tags, it doesn’t necessarily mean the electrons are going to your home; the electrons get mixed,” said Michelle Hirschhorn, communications director at the Portland-based Bonneville Environmental Foundation, a nonprofit renewable energy vendor.

Southern Oregon University will use a bid process to select its renewable energy vendor.

Oregon State University’s student body has also approved the purchase of green tags to offset 100 percent of electricity use. Unlike Southern Oregon, natural gas emissions were excluded.

The Southern Oregon group modeled its program after those at Western Washington University and Evergreen State College in Washington state.

“I think it’s a great step SOU is taking toward bettering our future,” sophomore Jessica Eriksen said. “Hopefully other campuses will follow. Hopefully, we’ll eventually have solar panels on the roofs.”