The Frauds of Neutral Flags
In accordance with the post I published on Feb. 1st, it seems more and more OSPIRG representatives (many of them non-students) are milling around campus, collecting signatures for their upcoming ballot measure, handing out stickers etc. I’ve stood by and heard the pitch to unassuming students and it goes something like this, “Are you a student? Do you want to help get lower textbook prices and tuition? I’m from OSPIRG and we’re trying to get our funding back so we can send students to work on issues important to students here at the UO.”
What they do not volunteer, however, is how their funding is appropriated from our students. That is, unless you’re like our distribution manager, Nicholas Ekblad, who had a conversation with one of the signature gatherers in which the OSPIRG employee gave up asking for his signature once it was evident Ekblad was aware of how their funding worked.
If you want a primer on the OSPIRG situation in general, CJ Ciaramella wrote a great article about it last year. If you want to see how and where OSPIRG is suggesting appropriating their budget, you can read my post from this Summer.
What is concerning about the signature gatherers, however, is their lack of explanation regarding the appropriation of would-be OSPIRG funds. To be honest, the fact that OSPIRG isn’t telling students that $103,000 would go directly off campus seems pretty predatory. Under the premise of “saving students money” OSPIRG wants to recklessly spend over $100k off campus. Of course, there are still some people who believe that the money–for some astounding reason–should go off campus.
Rarely do I ever take note of such comments, but one response to my earlier blog post was absolutely baffling:
Zoe says:I’m happy for my student fees to go off-campus. Most of the decisions that affect me as a student and as a citizen are made in places like the state legislature and Washington, D.C., so I’m glad OSPIRG staff can represent me there. I’ll definitely be voting YES for OSPIRG.
We already have district and state representatives to represent us on a state and national level–it’s called the Senate and the House (the basic core of our republic). This causes me to back up, quite a bit, and explain the basic premise of the Incidental Fee to students. According to the ASUO website, the Incidental Fee
“The Incidental Fee is a fee paid by every student through their tuition, and helps fund various student programs [emphasis added]. The incidental fee funds programs that promote students cultural and physical development, from student unions to intercollegiate athletics to childcare.”
The emphasis, there, was on student programs. And yes, some students do take part in OSPIRG. That’s why, when they were defunded last year, they were given an option for funding in the $20k range so that students could still participate in OSPIRG activities on campus. OSPIRG declined, and instead submitted a budget request for $117,000.
I made a joke this October that OSPIRG is a Reaganite organization–that their policy of using student funds to send lobbyists that will “help lower textbook prices” is a prime example of trickle-down economics. Unfortunately, just like Reagan’s plan, OSPIRG’s plan is one that is not financially viable.
As for our commenter, “Zoe”, this person–along with, I assume, most people who support OSPIRG–has missed the entire point of the Incidental Fee. It is not to merely support things that may or may not be beneficial to students. It is to support things that are immediately beneficial to students on this campus. When $103,000 goes to pay non-student employees who do not work on this campus, that is a direct violation of the purpose of the Incidental Fee.
Let me put it for students in simple terms. Tuition in this state goes up between 14 and 17 percent every year. In addition to that, every dollar you take out in loans from banks triples if you pay it off according to your payment plan. That means you should be saving every single dollar you can while still maximizing your educational experience. The economy is in dry dock, and the unemployment rate is skyrocketing. You, as a student, should be concerned about every single dollar you borrow.
The contention here is not that lobbying for “lower textbook prices” is a bad thing. It’s strictly a matter of the proper usage of the Incidental Fee, and that OSPIRG’s current request for funds doesn’t meet the necessary requirements for Incidental Fee allocation. For students, I would urge them not to let OSPIRG borrow any of your money. They won’t be paying you back.
