On
Tuesday, January 20, OSPIRG won its campaign to provide permanent
funding for an on campus composting program at the University of Oregon. The
campaign was started last year by chapter senior Joel Durr. The funding
committee reversed its initial decision to cut the program after OSPIRG
and its coalition partners gathered over 1,300 student signatures, 14
coalition partners (all told representing over 3000 students), an
OSPIRG report, and a veto threat from the student government President
if the committee opted not to fund the program. They jam
packed a hearing built for 25 with over 60 students and supporters
dawning all their campaign props and t-shirts. The decision was
unanimous after initial opponents stated that "this clearly is a
mandate from the students."
With a joint-coalition between the U of Oregon recycling program and OSPIRG we were able to make this pilot program a fully funded campus-wide success.
From the Oregon Daily Emerald, U of Oregon’s daily campus
newspaper, “Campus Recycling created the compost program in spring 2008 after
the ASUO Senate granted funding for one year of the service. Since then, it has
collected one ton of compostable material every month, according to statistics
compiled by Campus Recycling. However, because composting was not part of the
Campus Recycling's regular budget, it would not have been included this year
without a substantial increase for the department.
Campus Recycling employs roughly 40 students, making it one of the largest
student employers on campus. However, Kaplan said that without the increases
she was asking for, the program would have to cut five to 10 student jobs
because of increases in the state's minimum wage and decreases in the amount of
money available from the federal government to work study students.”
Clearly this is a huge victory for Oregon PIRG students, student volunteers, and all of OSPIRG. From the sheer volume of interest to keeping crucial student jobs, OSPIRG continues to work hard both on campus and on a national scale.
