Campaigns
FAQ

About OSPIRG

Our great state and nation are facing huge challenges – the unsustainable burden of soaring health care costs, fallout from the abuses in our financial markets, the erosion of our political system by special interest money, the devastating threat of climate change, and the need for a robust and stable education funding system.

On all of these issues and more, narrow special interests spend enormous resources to influence public decisions.

Our University’s public service mission was established in part to help tackle these problems -- to promote ideas to the larger society to improve the State of Oregon, America, and the world.

In turn, OSPIRG was established as a way for UO students to effectively carry out this mission -- by pressing decision-makers to adopt public interest solutions to these challenge.

Over the years, we have won the respect of many of Oregon's opinion-leaders and decision-makers.  We are proud to be a force behind accomplishments such as our land use system, Lemon Law, Citizens Utility Board, toxic chemical disclosure and cleanup programs, recycling standards, Motor Voter, Clean Car standards, protections from predatory lending and privacy invasion, and Oregon's recent landmark effort to control skyrocketing health care costs.    

How have students been able to do this?  Most importantly, by combining the energy of students with the expertise and continuity of a professional staff.  Our staff work in places like Salem, Portland, and Washington, DC and have years and years of experience and expertise.  They can be in Salem every day, all day, even when students can’t be.   

Second, UO students pool our money with students from other schools in Oregon, and often with other PIRGs.  This allows students to have the capacity to have an impact not only locally, but statewide and nationally as well - for just a fraction of the actual cost were the UO to go it alone.    

Finally, OSPIRG gives students power over their own education and community.  OSPIRG is run by an all-student Board of Directors.  The staff are accountable to the Board.  And we work hard to involve the entire campus in what we’re doing to make sure we’re focusing on the right issues.  

Frequently Asked Questions

What is OSPIRG?

OSPIRG is a statewide, student-directed, student-funded, non-profit, non-partisan organization that works to solve problems facing our society. Our environment and public health are threatened, students are being ripped off, poverty is on the rise, and our decision makers aren’t listening to ordinary citizens. OSPIRG combines the idealism of students with the expertise of professional staff who research problems and solution, educate citizens, and organize the grassroots for the public.  OSPIRG is controlled by an all student Board of Directors. 

What does OSPIRG do?

OSPIRG does advocacy, organizing and research for the public interest on campus, statewide and nationally on issues such as lowering health care costs, stopping global warming, making textbooks more affordable, and increasing public transit. 

How is OSPIRG funded?

OSPIRG has traditionally been funded through a Student Government (ASUO) allocation. Students at the University of Oregon have been a part of OSPIRG for almost 40 years, pooling together their resources statewide with other OSPIRG chapters to hire staff, such as researchers and grassroots organizers, to work with them on issues that they care about. Students decide how to spend their resources on the issues that they care about, such lowering health care costs, making textbooks cheaper, and working for more clean energy.  Last year the fee was $1.70 per student per term, and has been $3.00 per student per term in the past.

What are the priorities for the next few years?

There are constantly attacks on laws that protect our environment or consumers; and unfortunately those bringing the attacks have a lot of money and influence.  OSPIRG is working both on a state and federal level to protect good laws that are on the books so that we don’t roll back decades of progress, and working on creating new policy that will make Oregon and America better places for the future.  

We're fighting to lower the cost of textbooks and create a market for Open Textbooks across the country. We’re working to build a high speed train from Eugene to Vancouver, BC.  We're working to make sure that Oregon leads the way on addressing the problem of global warming, both through producing more renewable energy AND by having our college campuses lead the charge through good sustainability policies. We're working to alleviate hunger and homelessness in our community, nationally, and abroad.  And looking ahead to 2010, we’ll be mobilizing thousands of college students all over Oregon to make sure that politicians start paying more attention to young people by turning college students out to vote. 

How do the OSPIRG Student Chapters spend the funding they receive?

OSPIRG spends the largest portion of its money on staff.  Staff like organizers to work on campuses and train students how to run coordinated campaigns on the issues they care about, while organizing the grassroots, getting media attention, and building coalitions to solve these problems; researchers and scientists who do research on problems in our community, find common-sense solutions and write reports or policy proposals; advocates who educate decision makers on what solutions students care about; and of course we use a small portion of our money on administrative costs. 

It is our philosophy that the best way to use our money is whatever will create the largest amount of social change. And most often that is on staff - because staff can institutionalize real changes. Not to mention our opposition is funneling massive amounts of money into ads, lobbyists, and misinformation campaigns. The only way to combat their power is by organizing the public.  

A $2 or $3 fee every term is small change in comparison to what we're up against. That small change makes a big difference - they might spend tens of millions of dollars trying to avoid pollution regulations, but with the help of students here in Oregon, we are able to protect our environment and public health. Student support gives us the opportunity to make a difference at the local and national level.

Where is the money spent?

Off and on campus, but mostly it goes to wherever OSPIRG Student Chapters’ resources will make a difference on the issues that students care about. The whole point of establishing OSPIRG Student Chapters is to be able to have the resources to hire a staff of professionals - attorneys, researchers, organizers, and advocates - to work with students to fight against the special interests wherever they are trying to pollute the environment, rip off consumers, or corrupt the democratic process.

Why does OPIRG Student Chapters hire staff?

The problems that OSPIRG Student Chapters undertakes are large, often national, in scope. Staff are an important part of having an effective organization. They bring expertise to students' ideas and continuity to long-term student campaigns.

Do students in each chapter decide what issues to work on?

Students decide on the campaigns that they want to work on both locally and at the statewide level. All students can bring campaign ideas to the statewide board, where students from different chapters get together, to work on campaigns across the state. The student board then approves these campaigns, and the students run them on their campus.  Each semester, the student board also decides which campaign will be the priority campaign for the following semester which means they will put the most resources - materials development and staff time - into that campaign.  This gives students power in that it is a statewide and often nationally coordinated campaign which will make them more effective.  We also run campaigns that are specific to the area, for example a campaign to clean up the Rogue River at Southern Oregon University.

Why does OSPIRG work statewide and nationally?

The problems that Oregon faces do not only occur on campus. In order to clean up our waterways, protect our national forests or lower textbook prices our staff need to go to the decision makers all across the state and in Washington D.C. With national grassroots support as well as our staff tackling problems from Portland to Ashland, we are able to take on the special interests that create these problems and actually win for students and the public interests.

Why do you get funded with student fee money?

Students who care about solving global warming or fixing health care have made a decision to fund advocates with their own student fee money. It gives them power - the power to hire staff, tell those staff what issues they want to work on, and to inevitably influence the outcome on issues they care about.  By pooling their resources, students can be more effective at taking on the powerful interests that will be working to oppose the good of the public on clean air, clean water, health care reform, global warming and more.