Portland State has until Nov. 21 to collect 2,500 student responses to a statewide survey aimed at gathering student opinion on issues such as increased university funding, access to health care and easier ways to pay off loans.
The survey, which the seven student governments in the state are collecting for the Oregon Student Association (OSA), might be presented to the state legislature later this year.
The surveys ask students to prioritize the top five issues they want to see the OSA present to the state legislature this session. OSA is a statewide organization that lobbies for improved access to college on behalf of community college and university students in Oregon.
The survey is being given to students in order to create a reasonably sized list of statewide legislative issues regarding higher education, said Ryan Klute, legislative affairs director of Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU).
Klute is heading the survey distribution at Portland State and is vice-chair of the OSA board.
Klute said the board met over the summer and narrowed a list of 160 different issues down to a list of about 24 issues, and then finally to the 11 issues presented on the survey.
While the OSA board was able to significantly reduce the list of issues, it still includes too many issues to bring before the state legislature, Klute said.
“We just need to prioritize,” Klute said. “It’s not a realistic legislative goal to lobby for 11 different issues.”
Klute said the goal of the survey is to get an actual idea of what the average student cares about-as a result, each OUS school is attempting to collect survey results from at least 10 percent of their respective student populations.
Both majority and regional preferences are factors in deciding which issues will make up the top five, Klute said, since rural and urban schools may have different priorities.
“This is a pretty unique tactic of OSA,” he said. “We really, truly are a representative organization.”
After all the results are in from all the schools, the OSA staff will compile comprehensive reports detailing what has been done in the past, as well as what can be done in the future regarding the five issues that were selected as most important, Klute said. The reports will give the OSA a good idea of how to proceed, he said.
Klute has three ASPSU interns working on the project, visiting classes and talking to students in the South Park Blocks to get the word out.
“I enjoy this work a lot,” said ASPSU intern Wil Smith. “I get to talk to people and see what they think about PSU in general and about state affairs. I get really wonderful opinions from everyone.”
ASPSU President Rudy Soto said that so far, student response to the survey has been overwhelmingly positive.
“When we’ve had students fill these out, they’ve been extremely receptive,” Soto said. “I look forward to the results.”
Soto said it is very important for the state legislature to take the survey results very seriously.
“This isn’t what a group of student leaders say,” he said. “This is direct information from students statewide. I hope that they [the legislature] will recognize the gravity of this-of mobilizing and gauging direct input from their constituents.”
Students who wish to fill out a survey can visit the ASPSU office in room 117 of Smith Memorial Student Union, or fill one out online at aspsu.pdx.edu.