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VOL. CXVIII, NO. 108
DAILYBAROMETER.COM
FRIDAY, APRIL 1, 2016
OREGON STATE UNIVERSITY
Increase approved 2.1% 4% 4.7% Resident undergraduate tuition and mandatory fee increase for 2016/2017
Non-resident graduate tuition and mandatory fee increase for 2016/2017
Resident Honors College undergraduate tuition increase for 2016/2017
Oregon State University Board of Trustees votes 11-1 for tuition increase By Sarah Weaver News Reporter
A tuition increase for the 2016-2017 academic year has been approved by the Oregon State University Board of Trustees. The increase was voted in an 11-1 vote. Mark Baldwin, who voted telephonically was the only member of the board to vote against the increase. Baldwin couldn’t be reached for comment. After being introduced in mid-February, the increase effects several fees, including a 2.1 percent increase to resident undergraduate students. Resident students in the Honors College will see an increase of 4.7 percent for their Honors College fee while non-resident Honors college students will see an increase of 1 percent. Non-resident graduate students tuition will increase by 4 percent while tuitions for students in the veterinary medicine and pharmacy doctorate programs will increase by 2 and 3 percent respectively. Vice President of University Relations and Marketing Steve Clark stated that the Board of Trustees took the concerns of OSU students, faculty, staff and Corvallis community into account when voting. “I think every member of the Board took very seriously the comments of the students and the
faculty and the community members and their opposition to the tuition increase,” Clark said. Clark stated that the Board acknowledged the comments from concerned parties and was mindful of the impact that the increase would have on them and their families. Clark noted there was interest from the Board to increase student engagement in the budgeting process. “There was a strong interest to expand students’ interest in budgeting. As one board member put it, greater creativity,” Clark said. At around 9 a.m. Thursday prior to the vote, students and Corvallis community members began to congregate in front of the Memorial Union holding signs and writing messages in chalk demanding lower tuition rates and condemning OSU for its ties to corporations. Some messages included statistics detailing how tuition has doubled since 2008 and others argued that OSU is becoming more of a corporation than an institution of higher learning. “Welcome to OSU.CORP,” was written by one protester in bright orange chalk on the pavement in from the Memorial Union. The rally was organized by Allied Students for Another Politics (ASAP), an activist group whose mission is to fight against institutionalized oppres-
sion in various forms including student debt, according to the ASAP website. ASAP also protested the Board of Trustees meeting that was held on Wednesday. “Education is not an economic product,” former OSU anthropology student and ASAP member, Sam Christensen said. Christensen addressed the Board of Trustees at the meeting and told them how the tuition increase could affect students by telling her own personal story about trying to pay for college. Christensen had to leave OSU due to being unable to work multiple jobs, go to school full time, and take time for her well-being. Some professors are also displeased with the increase, and raised their concerns at the meeting alongside the students. OSU philosophy professor Joseph Orosco addressed the Board of Trustees and discussed how some of his students are having trouble completing their assignments due to financial issues. “It’s really hard for me as an educator. Two students came into my office hours saying they cannot complete their assignments because they’re homeless,” Orosco said. Orosco went on to mention that professors often do not see the struggles that students are facing.
Linda Richards, a history professor at OSU participated in the protest and discussed how tuition increases have affected her students. “I’ve seen the intensity raise in students. They can’t do their (school) work because they have to work,” Richards said, discussing how students often juggle full-time work to pay for their fulltime schooling. According to Richards, this increase goes against OSU President Ed Ray’s promises for reform within the university. “At the Martin Luther King breakfast, Ed Ray promised to change the university from the inside out. This is the opposite of what he promised,” Richards said. According to associate computer science professor Cara Borradaille, the costs students pay have nearly doubled compared to when she started teaching at OSU in 2009. In 2009, students paid roughly $6,000 per year in fees, Borradaille said. She continued by saying sudents pay roughly $10,000 in fees annually how. Borradaille stated that the only other financial increase of that magnitude she has seen throughout her time at OSU was the increase of the salaries of athletic coaches. The tuition increase for the Honors College,
See Tuition, Page 3
SEAN BASSINGER (LEFT, RIGHT) HEATHER MARCH (CENTER) | THE DAILY BAROMETER
Luciana Leite, a second year PhD student in the College of Forestry, and Michelle Charrete, a community member along with the activist group Allied Students for Another Politics (ASAP) protested the proposed tuition increases at the Board of Trustees meeting Thursday in the Memorial Union. The board voted to increase tuition for various student demographics at the Corvallis and Cascades campuses.
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OSU printers compromised, NEWS, PAGE 2 Honoring 2006 baseball team, SPORTS, PAGE 5 Staff Editorial, Tuition increase, FORUM, PAGE 7