Christopher Proudfoot resigned as ASPSU’s legislative affairs director on Nov. 1, 2009, after one-and-a-half years in the position.
“I’m leaving to spend some time working outside of ASPSU,” Proudfoot said.
He is working on finishing up ASPSU’s voter registration campaign and planning for a voter education drive, Get Out the Vote, and the upcoming special election.
“Not all students realize the benefits of student government and the work that they do. There’s a huge commitment to that job,” Proudfoot said.
This work includes weekly task reports, one-on-one meetings, staff meetings, working with two interns and more.
The impact
Proudfoot’s work yielded significant results for Portland State students, and those contributions have not gone unnoticed by his coworkers in ASPSU.
“He was instrumental in organizing countless volunteers, phone banks, ‘class raps’, and ‘dorm storms,’ and was very inspirational about the importance of civic engagement,” said Christian Aniciete, communications director for ASPSU.
Proudfoot’s unfaltering commitment to the political process was particularly critical this past summer, when tuition at Portland State was at risk.
“Last summer, when we went to tuition hearings, we had to get students down there,” Proudfoot said. “We kept tuition down to an 8.5 percent increase as opposed to the proposed 14.5 percent increase. We had statistics showing that anything over 8 percent and students drop out.”
Proudfoot did not achieve this success alone. Portland State students sent 600 fake checks to their representatives with the amount of money that they feel they could invest in Oregon if Oregon’s education system invested in them, according to Proudfoot.
“If someone had been quiet, tuition would have gone up significantly more,” Proudfoot said.
Rallying students around a cause and being a grassroots organizer is only one part of what Proudfoot describes as a two-pronged job.
“If you’re working in this job, you need to have dual personalities. For the vote campaign, you need massive organizing skills for something like a ‘dorm storm.’ But you also have to be able to schmooze and lobby,” Proudfoot said.
Despite keeping Portland State’s tuition from increasing by over 14 percent, Proudfoot believes his crowning moment came in late September when, at the final hour, he was able to get $2 million more into the Oregon Opportunity Grant.
The Oregon Opportunity Grant, Oregon’s largest need-based and state-funded grant, supported the education of over 38,000 students in 2008¬–09.
The Oregon Senate Education and General Governance Committee were discussing the budget for this program when Proudfoot made his mark on the funds.
“I pulled Representative [Peter] Buckley off the floor and started asking him for more money for students. I asked him for $100 million, then $99 million, until we got to $97 million. The initial allotment had been for $95 million; that additional $2 million just helped hundreds of students,” Proudfoot said.
The future
Ability and willingness to be ASPSU’s primary field operative and grassroots strategist is a trait that our student government is looking for in Proudfoot’s replacement, but they are also traits that Proudfoot is looking for from Portland State students.
“A giant myth is that you can’t lobby for students unless you’re the legislative affairs director, but that just isn’t true,” Proudfoot said. “I’ve seen the people we’re lobbying down at bars, and they’re regular people.”
Proudfoot’s role as legislative affairs director allowed him the opportunity to lobby these regular people, but also to make a professional network that could carry him into his career.
“Being in this position at Portland State, the largest university in the state, means that people will want to know you,” Proudfoot said.
Proudfoot’s involvement in the tuition hearings at Portland State and as a testifier in front of the Senate Education and General Governance Committee last year won him recognition.
“I’m a familiar face down there,” Proudfoot said. Having achieved recognition with politicians statewide, Proudfoot’s departure from ASPSU is being prolonged so as to not lose that connection right away.
“Proudfoot continues to visit the ASPSU office to help with what he can and so to me, Christopher never really left,” Aniciete said.
Proudfoot may not be leaving anytime soon because of an agreement that was made between Proudfoot and ASPSU President Jonathan Sanford to maintain some of Proudfoot’s involvement with ASPSU.
“I’m not going to just leave. I will be an advisor to the next legislative affairs director and I’ll help with the transition process,” Proudfoot said.