OSPIRG still out, decision in question

Some student leaders at Portland State are concerned that the decision declaring that OSPIRG is not a student group could affect other student groups, and was made without consulting any students.

Kento Azegami, the president of the Portland State College Democrats, said he is worried that Student Activities and Leadership Programs (SALP) could make the same decision about the College Democrats, a group similar to OSPIRG because it is associated with the national Democratic Party.

“SALP’s decision with OSPIRG sets a dangerous precedent with groups associated with statewide organizations,” Azegami said.

Erin Devaney, a former student body president at PSU, said she believes it is up to students, not SALP, to decide what organizations should be student groups. Devaney said that student government has an autonomous and explicit process to determine what a student group is, and that SALP’s decision interferes with that process.

“When we have administrators stepping in, they are impeding the process,” she said. “Advisers are there for advice.”

In a memo sent to the PSU chapter of the Oregon Students Public Interest Research Group (OSPIRG) on Monday, SALP adviser Natalee Webb wrote that OSPIRG would no longer be considered a student group because students do not elect or hire leadership for the PSU chapter of OSPIRG, and that OSPIRG’s budget is dispersed like that of a contractor and not a student group, among other reasons.

OSPIRG would be classified as a contractor, which will not prevent the group from accessing its budget, but will prevent OSPIRG from other benefits that student groups receive. OSPIRG would not have access to accounting, copying or priority reservation of rooms like other PSU student groups.

Aimee Shattuck, interim director of SALP, said that it was within SALP’s purview to declare that OSPIRG is not a student group. A set of guidelines was established in 2006 that requires student groups go through a set of training sessions and meet a set of criteria.

SALP has been working with students, staff and its advisory board, which has some student members, to establish these guidelines for the last three years, Shattuck said. She said that OSPIRG failed to go through the training sessions and failed to meet the criteria on many points.

The criteria are questions such as “Is the mission and purpose of the organization determined by PSU students?” and “Are primary leadership roles held only by PSU students?” The six questions were answered with a ‘no’ on Webb’s memo.

Shattuck said that these guidelines gave SALP the purview to make its decision, with or without additional student input.

Katie Kleese, the PSU campus organizer for OSPIRG, said that it is important to be classified as a student group, instead of a contractor, because of the perception.

“Because that’s what we are,” she said.

She said that each year a board of PSU students, between three and seven, determine how OSPIRG’s money will be spent. Shattuck said, however, that they believe OSPIRG does not show that its students determine how the money is spent.

OSPIRG’s entire budget, which is $128,235 for the 2007-08 school year, is sent directly to the organization that runs all of the campus chapters (also named OSPIRG) four times a year, a process that is unlike that of any other student group.

According to 2006-07 PSU financial reports for OSPIRG, the group received four transfers of $30,000. The only other transactions on the two-page financial report, which are often over 100 pages for many student groups, are copy charges, telecommunication charges and the cost of color paper–a total cost of under $400.