The Student Senate formed a two-year task force at its meeting Tuesday night to address the recommendation to financially restructure Portland State. The recommendation was made in a report to the Oregon University System last fall, in which former University of Oregon President David Frohnmayer suggests that Oregon’s largest universities become public corporations.
Senate takes OUS report to task
The Student Senate formed a two-year task force at its meeting Tuesday night to address the recommendation to financially restructure Portland State. The recommendation was made in a report to the Oregon University System last fall, in which former University of Oregon President David Frohnmayer suggests that Oregon’s largest universities become public corporations.
On Nov. 16, President Wim Wiewel informed the Student Senate that the report would be released the next day. In response, the ASPSU executive staff immediately created an ad hoc committee to further investigate the report.
Wiewel recently informed ASPSU about a Jan. 29 presentation to a higher education subcommittee referred to as the “reset” committee.
“We want to have written responses from ASPSU that are clearly defined and researched,” ASPSU President Jonathan Sanford said, as a reason for forming both the task force and ad hoc committees.
On Friday, Jan. 29, Wiewel and presidents of other Oregon University System schools will address the subcommittee, which was appointed by Gov. Ted Kulongoski to look at the performance of postsecondary education. The idea behind the formation of the committee is that if the current funding model for schools isn’t working, legislators should consider figuratively pushing a ‘reset’ button.
The committee’s members come from state organizations, such as the Oregon Department of Human Services, the Oregon State Board of Higher Education and the Northwest Regional Education Service District.
In the Student Senate meeting, ten senators voted to approve the formation of the task force¬—none opposed and three abstained. The resolution lays out a two-year timeline for the completion of the task forces’ goals, which include making a recommendation on behalf of ASPSU before the 76th Oregon Legislative Assembly in 2011 as to how it should proceed on Frohnmayer’s suggested restructure.
“I’ve spoken with Wiewel and he said that nothing will be presented (about the restructure) during this special session,” said Daniel Lyons, Student Senate president pro tempore.
The committee will most likely be up and running by the end of next week’s senate meeting.
“I already have about three or four senators that are wanting to be on this,” Lyons said. “And then I already have three students that want to be on this task force.”
Task Force makeup:
7 appointed members, 3 senators and 4 students at-large
4 additional ex officio members from PSU faculty or staff
Ex officio members: ASPSU President or designee, ASPSU Student Fee Committee Chair or designee, ASPSU Constitutional and Judicial Review Board Chief Justice or designee
Goals of task force
- Research issues and concerns of a PSU restructure
- Conduct student surveys to measure attitude and understanding
- Hold public meetings to engage and educate the student body
- Gather comprehensive data and create a final report
- Develop recommendations for key leaders at PSU
