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Archive for February, 2011

On Governing For The Masses

February 5th, 2011 by Stephen Murphy

I know somebody commented on this under Rockne’s post, but I feel that it deserves a little front page space. From yesterday’s Emerald, page 4, the continuation of the OSPIRG article:

ASUO President Amelie Rousseau told the Emerald, in response to the events of the Wednesday hearing, that she would veto any ACFC budget that did not include at least some funding for OSPIRG.

I can understand voicing one’s opinions on a matter and stating that one would be unlikely to vote in favor of a budget with no OSPIRG funding, but isn’t strict “we do things my way or else” behavior the sort of thing people tried to stamp out in, like, kindergarten? No room for compromise, no contingencies, just “if there’s no OSPIRG funding then I’m telling?”

The theory behind government is that it represents the interests of the governed, and we have Rousseau kissing OSPIRG’s boo-boos after a fairly obvious display of opinion from some senators. I’m not saying she has to mindlessly cow-tow to the majority opinion, but to completely disregard a 4-1 ruling of your peers is a little… yeah.

Is Yakima in the Middle East?

February 5th, 2011 by Melissa Haskin

The killjoys in Yakima, Washington don’t like scantily clad women apparently. Perhaps what’s more entertaining is that the barista charged with indecent exposure was let off the hook, while her boss took the fall. All of this was responsibly decided on by a jury with no hard evidence. But I digress, those of you thinking about spring-breaking at this particularly popular destination might want to consider wearing more than a G-string in public and putting a sweater over anything remotely see-through.

Emerald back in the black, interim publisher says, as his successor is appointed

February 4th, 2011 by Alex Tomchak Scott

The University of Oregon’s student newspaper is financially solvent again, two professional staff members at the Oregon Daily Emerald said, after years of running in the red.

The news comes on the heels of the paper’s announcing the hire of a new publisher, Ryan Frank, to take over from Mike Thoele, who has held the job in an interim capacity since being hired in August.

Thoele was a former Register-Guard reporter and editor who also spent nine years as owner of weekly newspapers in Junction City and Veneta. Measures he has taken to ensure the paper’s solvency include cutting the number of professional staff it pays and hiring more advertising executives.

The most notable measure, though, is the production of a coffee table book to commemorate the UO football team’s season. Emerald business manager Kathy Carbone said the book is nearly sold out.

The Emerald’s financial straits have led to concern over its long-term future, and were even at the root of a strike by the paper’s editorial staff during the 2008–09 school year.

The new publisher is Ryan Frank, currently an investigative reporter for the Oregonian, and he will begin to take the reins at the UO’s campus paper on Feb. 28, according to a press release sent to Emerald alumni. Frank was Emerald editor while he was a UO student.

The Emerald publisher is in charge of administering the paper’s financial affairs and creating a business plan for its operations.

I realize I shouldn’t be writing this, since I am a former Emerald reporter and editor, and that affiliation overrides my ability to report it to my own standard of independence. But nobody else had written anything here about it as of my logging on, so I had no choice.

ACFC Denies OSPIRG Funding for 2011-2012

February 3rd, 2011 by Rockne Andrew Roll

ASUO Vice President Maneesh Arora listens to the proceedings during OSPIRG's hearing before the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee Wednesday, February 2. ACFC did not vote on a contract, leaving the group with no fee funding for the 2011-2012 academic year. Photo by Ross Coyle.

Sen. Evan Thomas criticizes OSPIRG's funding model and accountability process during the group's hearing before the Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee Wednesday, February 2. The meeting ended without a contract being approved. Photo by Ross Coyle.

EUGENE – The Athletics and Contracts Finance Committee adjourned its scheduled hearing for OSPIRG without a vote on the activism group’s proposed $117,000 contract Wednesday evening. Without further action by OSPIRG, the Senate, or the Executive, ACFC’s refusal to vote on a contract means OSPIRG will not receive funding from the ASUO for the third year running in 2011-2012.

During OSPIRG’s presentation, Charles Denson, state board chair for OSPIRG, described the group’s student-driven mission by saying “When we’re looking at what we’re working on, we have to be accountable to you all.” Other presenters detailed the group’s work with legislators of both parties on issues such as health care reform.

Following the group’s presentation, ASUO Chief of Staff Ben Eckstein submitted the Executive’s recommendation of a $117,000 contract, a recommendation which was backed up by ASUO President Amelie Rousseau, who stated that “students really do want [OSPIRG].” Others who spoke in favor of approving the contract included Sen. Zachary Stark-MacMillan and ASUO Vice President Maneesh Arora, who cited a referendum on OSPIRG funding which passed with 51% in favor last year.

Not everyone in the room was supportive of OSPIRG, however. Sen. Evan Thomas stated his opposition to the group came not from their mission, but from their funding model. “The idea of having a mandatory fee for a public interest group is just hypocritical,” Thomas said. Thomas continued to say that the current accountability model was “not good enough.”

Other senators, the only ones allowed on the speakers list besides OSPIRG representatives, committee members and Executive staff, heaped on the concerns. Sen. Kristina Harding asked to see the group’s budget, Sen. Brian Powell inquired as to the group’s size and Sen. Janet Brooks pointed out that the majority of students did not vote on the ballot measure Arora mentioned.  Summing up her colleague’s points, Sen. Kaitlyn Lange quipped that “There’s a reason we’re not the only [institution] that’s defunded them.”

Few were quite as direct in their criticisms of OSPIRG as the committee’s two senators. Sen. Ian Fielding read from an opinion column recently printed in the Oregon Daily Emerald and pointed out that OSPIRG has been the only contract to actively lobby ACFC members. Sen. Brianna Woodside-Gomez said she had felt intimidated by the group’s lobbying efforts.

Woodside-Gomez described receiving text messages, emails to her personal account and being “cornered” during her office hours. Woodside-Gomez also expressed displeasure with some of OSPIRG’s other campaign tactics, referencing petitioners who were recently working to get another referendum on the ballot for this year’s ASUO elections. “They can’t even tell me what OSPIRG is,” she said of some of the petitioners she talked to.

At the conclusion of her remarks, Woodside-Gomez moved to adjourn the meeting, a motion supported by every member of the committee except Clark Kissiah, the Executive’s appointee. Baring an appeal, ACFC’s budget will be without an OSPIRG contract for its final hearing before the Senate on March 2, 2011. Woodside-Gomez told the Commentator that unless the group appealed the decision, another hearing would not be schedueled. “Four people decided to adjourn; that’s basically saying that ‘no, we do not agree with funding for OSPIRG,’” Woodside-Gomez said.

Passin’ Out Cash and Work: ASUO Senate Recap, 2 February 2011

February 3rd, 2011 by Rockne Andrew Roll

News:

EUGENE – The ASUO Senate dealt mainly with a flurry of sizable special requests at its meeting Wednesday night in the EMU Walnut room. By the close of business, $5,400 had been distributed to the Arab Student Union, the Oregon Daily Emerald, and Permias, along with a line item transfer for Swing Club and the filling of vacancies on various committees.

After unanimously approving the transfer of all funds into “campus events” for Swing Club, the Senate heard the request from Permias, an Indonesian student group, for $800 from Surplus and a $60 line item transfer to make up a budget shortfall. Both were approved without any opposition, with Sen. James Dos Santos abstaining from the vote on the request from surplus.

There was some contention as to how much money to allocate to the Arab Student Union, which requested $3,000 for event funding. A reduced amount of $2,500 was proposed by Sen. Emma Newman, but this was rejected by a vote of two to 14. Eventually the Senate unanimously settled on $2,000.

Last on the special request agenda, the Oregon Daily Emerald requested $3,000 to upgrade their delivery bicycle fleet. Though the Emerald has a custom built tricycle at its disposal, the three bicycles and trailers which supplement this vehicle were described as “insufficient” to the task of distribution by Kathy Carbone, the Emerald’s business manager, in the request submitted to the Senate. The Senate unanimously approved $2,600 for three new custom built bicycles and cargo boxes.

After a brief explanation of the various committees, the Senate doled out appointments to new and veteran members alike. By the time the dust settled, Sens. Blake Sedgley and Lamar Wise had been appointed to the Over Realized Committee, Wise and Sen. Kerry Snodgrass joined the Ethics and Efficiency Committee, Snodgrass was detailed to the Finance Committee, Rep. Christian Erichsen joined the Outreach Committee, and Sen. Kristina Harding became the Senate’s representative on the Programs Recognition and Review Committee. Following a brief discussion on the Programs Finance Committee process, the Senate then adjourned for the night.

Senate Stats and Opinion after the jump.

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Senate 2 February 2011

February 2nd, 2011 by Rockne Andrew Roll

Sorry I’m running late, OSPIRG hearing screwed up my schedule. Click here to play at home

A Thought

February 1st, 2011 by Lyzi Diamond

Was doing some light reading today, and I stumbled upon this gem in the ASUO Senate rules regarding fee allocations [12.5(a)(M)]:

At no time may incidental fee monies be donated to a charitable cause.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, how has OSPIRG gotten around this rule? I am honestly curious, because as it seems to me, this rule would make OSPIRG exempt from receiving money.

Peanut gallery?

Goldschmidt (I apologize for the language in this headline)

February 1st, 2011 by Alex Tomchak Scott

I am at a loss to expand on the nauseating quality of the following passage, from an obituary about a woman molested by ex-Oregon governor and ex-ASUO President Neil Goldschmidt as a teenager, which appeared in the Oregonian today:

Word of the rape eventually reached Goldschmidt. “I subsequently learned she was just brutally assaulted,” Neil Goldschmidt told The Oregonian in May 2004, “and bad things happened up there for which she’s probably blameless, in the sense that she didn’t invite it — I mean literally ask for it. But she was always putting herself in circumstances like that.”

That was in reference not to Goldschmidt’s molesting her, but to this:

But just three months after she began her job at the law firm, a man named Jeffrey L. Jacobsen kidnapped and brutally raped her. He was convicted and is now in prison.

Thanks to UO Matters for the link.

Bocchicchio resigns.

February 1st, 2011 by Alex Tomchak Scott

(Originally published Jan. 31, 2011 at 6:27 p.m.)

Another ASUO Senator has bitten the dust — the business school representative Chris Bocchicchio, one of the longer-serving members. The Senate President Zachary Stark-MacMillan said Bocchicchio did not cite a reason in a brief e-mail.

That’s seven this year.

Update: After this post first appeared on the blog, Stark-MacMillan sent me a text message that said “Needed to focus on school work and other parts of his life.” What he had said originally when asked if there was a reason Bocchicchio cited was, “Not much.” A comment appearing to be from Stark-MacMillan explaining his reasons appears below.

I also called Bocchicchio when I heard the rumor, reporting on the ASUO for Heaven-knows-what-reason, and got no response before my radio show went on-air either to the call or to a text message I sent him. He has subsequently gotten in contact with me and I intend to speak with him on the morrow.

The image is also a late addition for the sake of adding visual interest to the site.