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Dust in the Wind

The Ol’ Dirty is reporting that OSPIRG has finally been kicked out of the space in the EMU that they’ve been using since being sent packing last year. Not only that, but ASUO Executive Emma Kallaway pointed out that OSPIRG shouldn’t have been there in the first place, since they haven’t been a student group in years:

The Oregon Student Public Interest Research Group was dealt another blow Tuesday when the EMU Board of Directors delivered notice that OSPIRG’s file cabinets have to be cleared from its spot in the east side of the EMU, its professional staff can no longer use incidental fee-funded resources and a recognized student group would soon move in to share quarters with the Survival Center and the Student Insurgent.

The explanation provided was that OSPIRG is no longer a recognized student group and therefore cannot occupy space in the EMU. The inconsistency, as ASUO President Emma Kallaway noted, is that OSPIRG has not been a student group for years. Until July, the ASUO had a contract for membership in the statewide organization. No one ever bothered to mention contracted services should not have been allowed space in the EMU.

Along with OSPIRG’s illegal occupation of the EMU, it seems they’ve been using other University resources such as phone lines and computers that they had no particular right to. That, of course, hasn’t stopped them from being a bunch of ingrates:

The EMU Board says OSPIRG staffers cannot use the phones paid for by the incidental fee. OSPIRG students say they use cell phones because the land line was cut in July. The board says OSPIRG can’t use the computer provided in its former office space; OSPIRG Chair Charles Denson said it was slow anyway.

Sorry the misappropriated computer in question wasn’t up to your standards, Chuck.


  1. Vincent says:

    I think our erstwhile friend’s problems go well beyond the unfortunate inability to properly understand relatively simple sentences.

    And, to be fair, the American education system itself undoubtedly deserves a share of the blame for Katie’s meager reading comprehension skills.

  2. Lyzi says:

    All our problems would be solved if people would read before they commented. Oh well.

  3. Vincent says:

    That just proves everything I said before is true.

    Clearly OSPIRG is still recruiting people who hold to the highest standards of logic.

  4. Katie says:

    What depresses me is that there are people that think like you. So, I guess we have that in common. This is pointless, go out and do something please, instead of wasting all your time blogging. Get a life. Seriously. I only read the first two sentences of your post that says what depresses me is that there are people that think like you. That just proves everything I said before is true. I must have said something that really got to you to get such long responses back. Awesome, mission accomplished. Take care. I am very happy that I am not you; in fact I feel sorry for you, that you have lost hope and have to live your life so cynically. It must really suck to be you. Anyway, I’m not going to waste anymore of my time, the first post was fun now it

  5. nike urbanism duk says:

    OSPIRG’S noble mission ? Drowning Polar Bears ? Saving the well-trained Circus Bears ?

  6. Betz says:

    Wait a minute … is Katie saying that the OC is responsible for getting OSPIRG defunded and kicked off of campus?

    if only they had the power …

    In reality, OSPIRG was defunded last year by the representatives of the ASUO and the ADFC during two – TWO, mind you – budget hearings. During their first hearing, OSPIRG was asked to provide 1) what physical or material goods or services can they directly attribute or claim as a benefit to the University; and, 2) What their line item budget was – in Layman’s terms … ‘all that money you got … what’d you do with it?’ Neither point was addressed.

    After an OSPIRG rep decried “You’re ripping out my larynx, here!” (NOTE: this actually happened), the decision was made not renew OSPIRG’s budget … IF they could not complete a line-item budget for their next hearing. At the 2nd hearing … the budget was not given. Instead, they delivered a bunch of tropes talking about “the greater good”, “students fighting for the environment”, yadda yadda. Apparently, the “greater good” does not include accounting for the multiple thousands of dollars they received from students.

    So OSPIRG’s budget was slashed to $20,000-some dollards – a fraction of what it normally gets every year (but still much, much more than some student groups on campus). However, OSPIRG balked at this amount – apparently it wasn’t enough to “save the world” or whatever (because saving the world costs money, and somebody’s got to foot the bill). In turn, the student-elected representatives of the ASUO UNANIMOUSLY agreed that OSPIRG’s budget should be stripped completely, and their contract as a student organization was up.

    All of this happened … because OSPIRG did not want to account for its spending.

    That is the real matter with this group. I don’t think a whole lot of people would disagree that OSPIRG’s mission isn’t a noble one. The problem is that their accounting homework isn’t so hot. Don’t you think its dishonest for an institution, when simply asked what they did with the money they were given, to not give an answer? Nobody knows if that money went to lobbyists as it was intended, or if it was spent on Pizza, or sent to the Salem capitol building, or was used to buy pure Columbian cocaine. None of this is known, because OSPIRG never accounted for it. That is an abuse of trust in my mind, and the minds of many readers of this blog.

  7. Miles Rost says:

    Katie is someone who likes organizations that support things like racketeering and fraud, especially in the area of voting and stealing students’ money.

    Who also get exposed by organizations like that which Andrew Breitbart has put forth. Expect the PIRGs to be next once ACORN’s head has been chopped off.

  8. Vincent says:

    Katie:

    What depresses me is not that there are people who think like you — smug, naive, and starry-eyed undergraduates are a dime a dozen on every campus in the world — but rather that you show not the slightest interest in your own circumstances.

    You excoriate the Commentator for our purported “propaganda” and “harsh tactics” (whatever that’s supposed to mean) all the while lauding an organization like OSPIRG whose entire existence is predicated on the sad fact that it’s trivially simple to manipulate college students by appealing to some vague notion of “social justice” and promising them that they can change the world — if only they’ll pony up the cash.

    The sooner you figure out that you’re nothing but a mark as far as they’re concerned, the better off you’ll be.

    As for posting identical comments in multiple threads, it’s just bad etiquette, isn’t it? Or, to put it more bluntly, I’ll just delete them and ban you.

    While I’m sure that would only serve to confirm your perception of the Commentator as some intolerant fascist machine lumbering along with the single-minded purpose of plowing under all that is right and good in the world, suppressing those who would dare speak truth to power, and crushing those few brave dissidents carrying on their twilight struggle against inequity (yes, we’ve heard it all before), I assure you that such a decision would be made purely out of a sense of mild annoyance of having to constantly bother keeping in line some petulant child who’s been warned once and really ought to know better in any case.

  9. Gsim says:

    Of course you won’t stop believing. At this point only the most stalwart zealot would continue to support an organization shown to have repeatedly lied and waste huge amounts of valuable student resources.

    No point in trying to change a true believers mind.

    Mark Twain once wrote, “Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.”

    p.s. oink oink oink piggy.

  10. Katie says:

    “And by that I mean

  11. whatOCmeanstome says:

    OC “journalism” = bukake in print.

  12. Vincent says:

    You might also think about not duplicating the exact same comment across different threads on this blog. And by that I mean “stop posting duplicate comments across multiple threads.”

    The notion OSPIRG is some sort of victim that’s been “bullied” and “beaten to the ground” is a bit ludicrous, as is the contention that an organization that relies on ill-gotten student money, occupies offices and uses technology resources that it has no actual right to somehow qualifies as “pulling itself up by its boot straps.”

    But whatever… We’re evil and cynical, you’re pure and righteous and changing the world… yadda yadda yadda.

    Keep on believin’ there, kiddo.

  13. Katie says:

    No problem, anytime.

  14. Vincent says:

    Gee, thanks for that insightful comment.

  15. Katie says:

    I don’t know why you want OSPIRG to be done away with so bad. Your paper would have nothing interesting to write about. Everything else I have read from you is an insult to journalism, based on manipulation and propaganda. The OSPIRG articles are the only thing I can stand to read, and that is only because I find it inspiring that this group has been bullied, shaken, pretty much beat to the ground, and they continue to pull themselves up by their boot straps and work for what they believe in. That is what the OSPIRG articles I read in your paper say to me. So, please continue to write them, they are the only thing your paper has going for it.

  16. Betz says:

    Isn’t there a “master plan” for the EMU slated to be delivered around 2020, for just exactly that kind of thing?

    Too bad it will all get destroyed in 2012 by Quetzelcoatl / Roland Emmerich.

  17. nike urbanism duk says:

    Tear down the EMU and start over.

  18. C.T. Behemoth says:

    I want a refund.

  19. Vincent says:

    I say put the College Republicans in there. You know… to start “dialogue.”

  20. Miles Rost says:

    Regardless of what other factors are involved, at least OSPIRG is getting kicked out of it’s space. Maybe one of the groups in that area next to the copy center can move into that space or something…

    Oregon Voice, anyone?

  21. Ossie says:

    Is anyone taking the intern class – Building Student Power: Applied Topics in Student Activism Syllabus – ???? Any chance of the OC challenging that class to a battle of the wits?

    Also, how much is the Ol’ Dirty’s rent? They get $150,000+ from students for a subscription fee. I’m sure a good chunk of that goes right back to the EMU budget. Of course, the ODE provides an actual service to the University, but, nonetheless, a nice little runaround to give the EMU some extra cash. (Is the EMU budget posted online anywhere? I can’t find it.)

  22. Slade says:

    I’m not sure where you’re getting the distinction between student spaces and other spaces. There are just spaces; some of them are allocated to students currently, but it’s not as though they’re student spaces on the floor plan or something.

    I doubt the EMU would look entirely favorably on a student group renting out it’s own office space, but that’s not what’s happening here either.

    Also, it’s nice to see that the emerald is still terrible.

  23. Common Sense says:

    For permanent usage, yes, but they must sell a service or good. The ODE space is not designated student office space (like the survival center). Other non-student office space = restaurant areas, post office, etc. Bottom line, student space cannot be rented.

  24. Gsim says:

    Common Sense:

    EMU space can be rented out to groups that are not student programs. The Emerald (a contract group) rents the space it uses. Various groups rent rooms in the EMU all the time for all sorts of reasons.

  25. Orev says:

    Politics makes strange bedfellows. OSPIGGY vs. more unions who might actually do something for the campus.

  26. Common Sense says:

    Timothy, where did you read that EMU student space can be rented out? Additionally, OSPIRG is not a contracted service anymore, so they are in violation of the EMU Allocation policies.

  27. Your Name says:

    I know for a fact that Carina just wants more space for Unions. That’s why she opposes OSPIRG being in this space.

  28. Dane says:

    Subject: RE: EMU Office Space
    From: “Dusty Miller” Add to address book…
    Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:38:53 -0700

    Timothy,
    The process of notifying OSPIRG of their status has begun. The EMU Board
    House Committee has the responsibility of recommending to the full board
    the allocation of that space for student organization or contracted
    organization use. OSPIRG’s contract is expired and the House Committee
    will begin the process of re allocation. I would expect the process to
    continue through November with the anticipated recommendation for the
    new occupant to occupy the space be brought to the Board before the end
    of the term or sooner.
    Regards
    Dusty Miller

  29. nike urbanism duk says:

    PIGs took over the Survival Center long ago and moved in multiple rat infested couches. Nothing useful has taken place in that office since the PIGmafia made it into a slummy lounge for global whiners. Dustbunny Miller should round up some work-study stormtroopers and finish off hauling away the remains of the OSPIGG encampment. If the PIG still has work to do let it camp on the lawn of Johnson Hall and change the climate of the planet from that location.

  30. Betz says:

    The PIG is not dead yet; you may cut its head off, but the body still writhes and spasms. You can see this in OSPIRG’s unrelenting maneuvers about the EMU to try and re-submit a budget to the ACFC, manipulate student resources, and fight EMU bylaws tooth and nail to try and maintain an active presence on campus.

    The part I am confused about … why are they getting moved to the Survival Center at all? Kallaway decried them as a non-student organization, of which it hasn’t been an organization for years. There are, on the other hand, legitimate student groups that want / need office space. Shouldn’t all student groups gain immediate priority over a non-recognized group? Preventing the OSPIRG cronies from organizing in the EMU or Suite 1 for that matter would be in violation of the 1st amendment … but can they really be allowed to occupy office space which could otherwise be given to a student group? Couldn’t they just congregate outside of Suite 1, on the EMU floor (or outside, for Chrissakes … they have cell phones, apparently, after all …)

  31. Orev says:

    Doesn’t matter much to me, the PIG is dead. Let’s keep kicking, just in case.

  32. Timothy says:

    The ODE & Kallaway got it wrong on contract groups. They can have space in the EMU, but are required to pay rent for it. It’s funny that the ODE would miss that, as they’re a contract group.

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