It's time to wrap up another term. With your help, OSPIRG accomplished a lot this term, and we've got a ton more planned to make sure students have a voice in America's future.

Take a look at what we've done:

• Making Health Care Affordable: National reform is in the spotlight, and OSPIRG's staff and students have helped to craft a landmark health care reform package that makes Oregon a leader in controlling skyrocketing health care costs and makes it impossible for insurance companies to raise rates without justification. OSPIRG's Laura Etherton has been recognized as a leading force in Salem for cutting health care costs and protecting consumers.

• Global Warming Solutions: Thanks in part to the success of Powershift West 2009 - a 500 person global warming conference at UO in November - I was invited to the White House to represent UO at meetings with top Obama Administration officials. We have also been building support for a High Speed Train from Eugene to Vancouver, BC as a way to reduce global warming pollution. This term, we've authored three reports, generated media stories, and are working with Mayor Piercy, Congressman DeFazio, State Representative Nathanson, and small business owners from across the state to support public transit.

• Making Textbooks Affordable: OSPIRG helped spark a congressional investigation into the textbooks industry and later crafted a set of policies passed by Congress that helped stop publishing companies from artificially inflating the price of textbooks. Our campaign has also organized 2000 faculty nationwide to commit to considering switching to free, open textbooks - including 20 from UO. This term, ASUO passed a resolution in support of our campaign, and we used that resolution to persuade 41 additional UO faculty to consider switching to online textbooks.

• Protecting You from Unfair Credit Card Practices: Until recently, it was perfectly legal for credit card companies to profit by tricking people into paying late and then tripling the interest rate on their balances. The Credit Card Act went into effect mid-February and includes protections from abusive practices the banks have used to rip us off. It also offers college students additional special protections.

As a student funded and directed organization, we are only able to do this work because of your support.

We've got big plans for Spring Term and we hope you'll get involved.

Have a great break!