The Oregon Commentator has been made aware of a new student group on campus. Ducks 4 Liberty, which is not affiliated with the ASUO, is a small group of student leaders who are concerned with creating a real voice for real students. From their website:

Ducks 4 Liberty is an independent student organization with the desire to increase the student voice, fight apathy, and promote cooperation. Through several events and contests, we hope to reach out to the community and shine light on the many issues facing university attendees, such as sparse parking spaces and increasing tuition rates. D4L would like to boost collaboration amongst students while supporting the responsible growth of programs. Lastly, it’s important to protect student rights on campus and our investments in the University. Ducks 4 Liberty is working with the administration, ASUO, and student leaders, to better communicate student desires and increase accountability.

The description of Ducks 4 Liberty seems to me to be what the description of the ASUO should be. The ASUO should be protecting student rights, bringing student issues to light, and supporting the responsible growth of programs. The roadblocks exist in process, bureaucracy and the us-versus-them mentality to which so many insiders subscribe.

Oh, and, you know, making students care.

I think the most powerful thing Ducks 4 Liberty could do would be to succeed in making student issues real for students. It’s the biggest struggle every year for the ASUO, and I don’t see it getting any easier, especially considering that the newest UO students are likely more lazy and apathetic than any generation before (thank you, high speed internet). They’re off to a quick start though, with lots of events on their Facebook page, including a writing contest about how you would improve the ASUO.

My first thought? Slip-N-Slides in every dorm hallway. That definitely would have enhanced my freshman experience.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 26th, 2010 at 17:14 by Lyzi Diamond and is filed under ASUO, Politics, University. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.