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Portland State University Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 | vol. 67 no. 39
Salem eyes tuition equity Fire or
rehire? A renegotiation update on controversial aid distributor Higher One Isaac Hotchkiss Vanguard Staff
more likely to go to college,” she said. “It’s just a basic right that should be available to everyone.” Some opponents of the bill have claimed it will use much-needed taxpayer money or reduce access to students who are citizens already, but this is not the case, said PSU Student Senator Tia Gomez Zeller. “We have capacity for everyone,” she said of the Oregon University System. Because the bill would not extend student loan availability to the
Higher One’s Facebook page, despite having almost 65,000 “likes,” is full of vocal criticism. A recent post, in which Higher One asked fans what they considered the best Valentine’s Day gift, prompted a dozen people to respond that they’d like to finally get their refunds. Higher One is the controversial company behind Portland State’s PSUOne debit card/ID and PSU’s default distributor of student financial aid since 2004. It distributes aid to 6.2 million students nationwide. Its contract with PSU expires in October 2014, but the renegotiation process is already underway. Darin Matthews, formerly an adjunct faculty member in PSU’s School of Business Administration, was recently hired to oversee contracts and procurement at PSU and is overseeing the contract negotiation with Higher One. Matthews specializes in government contracting. Matthews provided a rough timeline for the renegotiation, explaining
See tuition on page 4
See Higher one on page 5
© bruce ely/the oregonian
roughly 300 supporters of the tuition equity bill gathered on the Capitol steps to rally on Wednesday morning.
Bill would benefit young, educated immigrants Andrew Lawrence Vanguard Staff
Support is growing in Salem for tuition equity, an idea that would, for the first time in Oregon, grant access to in-state tuition to undocumented high school graduates who meet certain requirements. A House committee was slated to consider House Bill 2787 on Monday,
after several changes were made to the bill last week. At a rally in the capital Wednesday, hundreds of supporters gathered to push for swift passage of the bill. “We feel it’s an educational issue, not an immigration issue,” Associated Students of Portland State University President Tiffany Dollar said. She said more than 300 supporters were in attendance, including about 20 from Portland State. Already law in 13 states, including Washington, California and Texas, the bill would allow access to in-state
tuition rates to students who have attended school in the U.S. for at least five years (three of them at an Oregon high school), graduate from an Oregon high school and demonstrate they have, or will soon, apply for citizenship. Dollar said Oregon is one of a few states with a growing population of young people, the majority of whom are Latino, and that denying them access to these lower tuition rates is counterproductive. “College folks make more, they pay more taxes and their children are
Tea with TED Students meet and discuss TED Talks Kaela O’Brien Vanguard Staff
After meeting in the fall, two ambitious Portland State freshmen put their common passion for TED Talks to use by creating the student group Tea with TED. On Thursday, 20 to 30 students gathered in the Montgomery Court Residence Hall lounge to watch and discuss two TED Talks on water sustainability over snacks and tea. After freshmen Amber Smith and James Lopez met, it didn’t take long for them to realize they shared a love for the Internet videos known as TED Talks, which are filmed lectures on a variety of topics. The collective motto of these videos is, “ideas worth spreading.” The two students created the group, which aims to meet monthly so students can watch and discuss TED Talks on a particular subject. This month’s meeting discussed
water sustainability. Students from Take Back the Tap and EcoReps were also present. During the meeting, students viewed two talks: Capt. Charles Moore speaking on the “seas of plastic” and Anupam Mishra speaking on the “ancient ingenuity of water harvesting.” The first video is a talk by Moore highlighting the massive amounts of plastic that have been gathering for years in the oceans. Largely to blame is the excessive use of plastic packaging, especially in the form of liquid containers such as soda or water bottles, Moore explained. The video was followed by a group discussion focusing on students’ reactions and possible solutions. One student claimed the video made her feel like taking an environmental science class, while another said the video left him hungry for answers. See ted on page 5
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Amber Smith, left, a founder of Tea with TED, and EcoRep Emma Prichard attended the Thursday event.