by Jil Heimensen on January 15, 2010
Greetings student groups and departments,
Here is our most
recent SFC hearing calendar. If you don’t see your group or department on the schedule please let me know as soon as possible so we can get everything squared away. Just a friendly reminder that if you miss your hearing or do not wish to have a hearing you can submit the general questions via email by January 27th. I have attached the general questions and a PDF containing the SFC calendar. Here is a link to the SFC calendar
http://www.aspsu.pdx.edu/upload/sfc/hearingschedule.pdf
Thanks.
Johnnie Ozimkowski
by Jil Heimensen on January 11, 2010
Hey y’all,
Just wanted everyone to know that this is officially the unofficial SFC site. If you are looking for news from the official source, you should go here. Minutes will hopefully be there, but here is where you will find the behind the scenes action. Not saying that it will be pretty, but it will be real.
Cheerio!
by Jil Heimensen on January 10, 2010
Here is the Agenda for this coming Monday, January 11 a 9am in SMSU 258
The following groups and departments have hearings, we look forward to seeing you then,
Agenda:
9:05 AM Vanguard
9:22 AM Pre-Dental Association
9:39 AM PSU Bicycle Advocacy Collective
9:56 AM Association of African Students
10:13 AM ISSA
10:30 AM Planning Club
10:47 AM SLS
11:04 AM Pathos
11:21 AM Helen Gordon
11:38 AM Children’s Center
11:55 Jim Sells Childcare Assistanc
by Jil Heimensen on January 5, 2010
Greetings student groups and departments.
As you all know, January is initial hearing month for the Student Fee
Committee. For those of you who have not yet scheduled a time and date for
your hearing, please do so immediately. If you need to change your scheduled time, please contact me 48 hours in advance so we can reschedule. It is extremely important that we follow a tight time-line due to the density of
work involved in the hearing process, so understand that if you miss your
hearing you will not be given a second opportunity.
Please arrive at your hearing prepared to begin your presentation with just
one or two sentences outlining your group?s mission and purpose. Due to
time constraints please use the bulk of your hearing to respond to the
following questions. Groups can prepare for their hearing knowing that the
SFC has already reviewed their budget and so there is no need to go over it
line by line. Instead, groups have 10 minutes to present to the committee
therefore they should use the hearing to respond to the following general
questions. You are also invited and encouraged to submit answers in writing
to all the general questions at the time of your hearing, but you will have
up until the last day of hearings to submit a response to the general
questions. The last day the SFC will receive written responses to questions
before making initial allocations will be Wednesday January 27th at 5pm.
Written responses can be emailed directly to the SFC Chair at
johnnieozzy@gmail.com.
Please answer the following general questions.
1. Describe the essential functions in your budget request that allow your
group to fulfill its mission. How would you prioritize your expenses in
order of importance to your group?s mission? Please justify the expenses
associated with Events, Conferences, Travel, Fees, and Honoraria
2. The SFC assumes that each group’s essential budget level (EBL is the
amount of funds you were allocated for 2009-2010) will increase between 1-3%
and for 2010-11 due to uncontrollable factors such as the Indirect Cost Fee
going from 3% to 4% as well as other university rates that may rise, such as
OPE. If your group’s request is above the adjusted essential budget level
please describe the increased funding by listing your groups priorities with
a maximum of three priorities.
3. What measures will you take if your group is awarded a final allocation
for 210-11 that is 15% less than your adjusted essential budget level?
4. Please explain and prioritize food service and how it fits into the SFC
food policy.
5. How does your travel benefit the larger PSU community? This year, the SFC
is strongly considering capping travel expenditures in an attempt to make
the travel expenditures more appropriate, accessible and equitable for the
greater community.
The SFC will be using the parameters below in allocating funds for travel
(this includes flight/vehicle, gas, lodging.. No per diem will be paid in
travel). If for some reason you need something different, please come
prepared to explain your rationale in detail.
*Student Group/Service*
One trip in State: $500 travel
One trip out of State: $1,500 total, no more than 3 members
*Competitive Non-Sport*
Total amount of travel: $8,000
** Departments*
In State: $1,000
Out of State: $4,000
* not to include athletic competition travel.
6. What is your plan for meeting revenue goals?
7. Is there anything additional you would like explain to the Committee?
Keep in mind that this year?s SFC will be investigating Budget to Actual
Data regarding whether funds that have been allocated in past budget cycles
have actually been used for the purpose for which they were requested. Use
this question as your opportunity to present any inconsistencies, erratic
activity, un-reconciled differences and any historical over (overages) or
underspending (requested rollovers) trends.
Thanks for your thoughtful consideration of these questions; we look forward
to seeing you soon.
Johnnie Ozimkowski
by Jil Heimensen on January 4, 2010
The following groups and departments are signed up for Wednesdays meeting.
9:00am PSU-TV
9:15am SETC Tutorial Center
9:30am Pubs Operations
9:45am Biology Assn Grad Students
10:00am Portland Spectator
10:15am Women?s Resource Center
10:30am Students for Unity
10:45am AAA
by Jil Heimensen on December 24, 2009
I hope all of you are having a wonderful holiday! The initial allocation schedule so far is below. We might have to make some minor changes and additions along the way which will be made on the SFC google calendar here. If you haven’t signed up for a hearing yet, please so so here asap!
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
SMU 326
9:00am PSU-TV
9:15am SETC Tutorial Center
9:45am Biology Assn Grad Students
10:00am Portland Spectator
10:15am Women’s Resource Center
10:30am Students for Unity
11:15am
11:30am
11:45am
Friday, January 8, 2010
3:45pm American Marketing Assn
Monday, January 11, 2010
SMU 258
9:30am Student Legal and Mediation
9:45am PSU Bicycle Advocacy Collective
10:00am Assn of African Students
10:45am Student Leaders for Service
11:15am Helen Gordon Child Development Center
11:30am
11:45am
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
SMU 326
9:30am Athletics
10:15am
10:30am
10:45am
11:00am
11:15am
11:30am
11:45am
Friday, January 22, 2010
3:30pm
3:45pm
4:00pm
4:15pm
4:30pm
4:45pm
Monday, January 25, 2010
SMU 258
10:00am Friends of Graphic Design
10:15am APSO/Multicultural
10:30am
10:45am
11:00am
11:15am
11:30am
11:45am
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
SMU 326
9:00am Graphic Design Center
9:15am Las Mujeres
9:30am
9:45am
10:00am
10:15am
10:30am
10:45am
11:00am
11:15am
11:30am
11:45am
by Jil Heimensen on December 19, 2009
Penn State that is, our initials sister institution. (Penn State is also PSU)
I heard part of this story on This American Life today on 91.5, and actually set my alarm on a Sunday morning for 10 a.m. to hear it the rest of it. You can also listen to it for up to a week after it airs online.
This year, The Princeton Review named Penn State the #1 Party School in America. It’s a rotating crown—last year it was University of Florida, before that it was West Virginia University. So we wondered: What is it like to be at the country’s top party school? This American Life producers spent a recent football weekend at Penn State to figure this out. There, we learned the definition of “fracket” (think frat plus jacket); the best way to clean up beer cans after a big party (snow shovel); and how hard it is to get college kids to drink less (really hard).
by Jil Heimensen on December 8, 2009
Read it HERE.
Talk is cheap. Show me the spreadsheet.
by Jil Heimensen on December 8, 2009
The White House this morning released a long-awaited Open Government Directive that follows up on the President’s promise – memorialized on his first full day of office – to usher in a new era of transparent, participatory governance.
The Directive, issued over the signature of OMB Director Peter Orszag, explains: “Transparency promotes accountability by providing the public with information about what the Government is doing. Participation allows members of the public to contribute ideas and expertise so that their government can make policies with the benefit of information that is widely dispersed in society. Collaboration improves the effectiveness of Government by encouraging partnerships and cooperation within the Federal Government, across levels of government, and between the Government and private institutions.”
Why not start at student government here at Portland State? Transparency Lab, remember!? Take a look at the White House document and throw some ideas at me. Let’s do this!
by Jil Heimensen on December 2, 2009
Here is the Agenda for this coming Wednesday at 12:30 in Smith 258.
Campus Rec has a rollover under old business, followed by a discussion regarding the new groups applying for SFC direct funding.
The following groups are under consideration for direct funding:
The Planning club
The Philosophy club
Growing Roots
Bicycle Advocacy co-op
The Spectrum
Biology Association of Graduate Students
SFC Endorsement Letters
New groups do not need to attend this meeting; we will be using this time to go over the preliminary requirements for funding.
Thanks and good luck with finals.
–
Johnnie Oz
by Jil Heimensen on December 1, 2009
by Jil Heimensen on November 30, 2009
The University of Michigan belongs to an enviable class of nationally prestigious public universities; many of its undergraduates picked it over the Ivy League.
Thirty years ago, the university began going through the convulsions other public universities are now experiencing. Today, it is largely protected from Michigan’s plummeting economy. Only 7 percent of its budget is provided by the state.
The transformation of the University of Michigan’s finances began with Harold T. Shapiro. In the mid-1970s, Mr. Shapiro, then a professor of economics and public policy at the university, studied Michigan’s economy and predicted that the state would lose tax income compared with the rest of the country in coming decades. He was right. Read full article in the NY Times.
by Jil Heimensen on November 24, 2009
Hi everybody,
Welcome to the second installment of my weekly report designed to keep you all in the loop of developments and issues as they affect the Smith Memorial Student Union and its inhabitants.
First of all, thanks to everybody who sent me e-mails notifying me of the latest graffiti outbreak in the stairwells. Your quick e-mails helped our response time greatly. If the graffiti bandit returns, or if you notice any other maintenance disasters, please don’t hesitate to contact me. Also, if you stumble upon somebody who is in the process of tagging or spray-painting the walls, please call Campus Public Safety immediately at 503 725-4404. Your help goes a long way in keeping the student union looking good and saving the students money in doing so.
Also, I just wanted to update everyone on our policy on posting flyers inside the building. Flyers are only allowed inside the glass cases or on bulletin boards. Feel free to use these resources as much as you like, but please don’t tape flyers on the walls and doors, or leave them lying on tables and chairs. All those flyers really add up and they make it a lot harder to keep the building clean. So please, save a tree and help keep the student union nice at the same time by only putting flyers up in the approved places. I am currently looking into putting up more strategically located bulletin boards and glass cases to help with event promotion. Also, if you have an upcoming event and want me to help promote it by mentioning it in my weekly report, I’d be only too happy to do so.
Speaking of events, the Smith ballroom is hosting both Japan Night next Monday night and the Hijabi Monologues on Tuesday. Tickets available at the door at the PSU Box Office located at the Broadway entrance of the Smith Union.
In less happy news, there have recently been some security issues in and around the SMSU. A student was recently found shooting up in the 4th floor women’s restroom. The subject was transported to Student Health & Counseling for medical treatment. Also, on Wednesday, a man tried entering the building through the north entrance after the SMSU was closed. He grabbed a PSU employee in the process of trying to force his way into the locked building. Please keep a look out as you exit the building, especially late at night. If you feel unsafe and would like an escort to your class, please contact Campus Public Safety at 503 725-4407. If you witness a physical attack or attempted break-in, please contact Campus Public Safety’s emergency line immediately at 503 725-4404. Let’s do what we can to keep each other safe.
Thanks, everybody. That’s all for now.
Your ever-watchful student union manager,
Mark Russell
by Jil Heimensen on November 21, 2009
The Coming Crisis in College Completion: Oregon’s Challenge and a Proposal for First Steps
by David Frohnmayer
Oregonians rightly celebrate the heritage of a sesquicentennial year. But the hardships of the economic recession have tempered the enthusiasm of our celebration, giving us sobering perspectives on the opportunities and crises of our 150 years of history as a state. We take pride in Oregon — “Eden’s Gate”— as an ultimate destination for livability. Native born, or recent migrant, we all appreciate the opportunity for a quality of life here that in many respects is unique in the world.
Yet we also are a state that too quietly allowed crises to develop in institutions that are vital for the creation of an abundant future. This paper focuses on serious dangers in Oregon’s struggle to provide adequate higher education opportunities for our deserving citizenry. We are currently on course to lose that struggle. The threat is more insidious
because its consequences largely will be experienced not by those of us living in Oregon today, but by the next, and succeeding generations.
(Click the link above to read the full report)
by Jil Heimensen on November 20, 2009
by Jil Heimensen on November 20, 2009
by Jil Heimensen on November 19, 2009
by William C. Symonds
Business Week
Ever since Thomas Jefferson founded the University of Virginia in 1825, it has been a leader among the nation’s public universities. But in recent years, Richmond’s contribution to one of its best-known institutions has been steadily shrinking. Today, the state provides just 8% of UVA’s $1.7 billion annual operating budget, down from 28% two decades ago.
No wonder UVA — along with the College of William & Mary and Virginia Polytechnic Institute — wants to cut some of the strings that bind it to the state. Virginia’s three flagship universities have asked the General Assembly to make them “chartered” universities. If Richmond agrees, they would get more freedom to set tuition and run themselves, making them more like Harvard, Princeton, or other private colleges.
America’s public institutions still educate some 80% of the nation’s 14 million undergraduate students. But increasingly, the crown jewels in this system, the state flagship universities such as UVA, Pennsylvania State, and the University of Colorado, are aiming to break out of the mold that traditionally has differentiated them from private universities.
Click to keep reading
by Jil Heimensen on November 19, 2009
From
US News and World Report
Posted August 19, 2009
In a trend that parallels the “charter school” movement among public elementary schools, a number of colleges are seeking to semiprivatize.
These schools say they are tired of getting less money from state legislators. They want to seek additional revenues by setting, and keeping, their own tuition. They also want the freedom to enter into business arrangements without obeying many state rules.
But critics warn that semiprivatization could turn into a debacle for taxpayers and possibly the schools themselves. Privatized colleges tend to charge comparatively high tuition, which can price out low- and middle-income students. Still, the comparatively painless budget cuts imposed so far on the University of Virginia, the University of Michigan, and a few other big flagship universities that have been at least partly deregulated are attracting growing attention.
The University at Buffalo-SUNY is lobbying the New York legislature to let it raise its tuition and, unlike other State University of New York campuses, keep the money instead of sending some of it back to the state general fund. Without more funding, “pretty soon, quality goes out the window,” Buffalo President John Simpson says.
But privatization’s critics say the high tuitions charged by semiprivatized schools undermine access. “State-related” Penn State is ranked as one of the least affordable public universities in the country. At the University of Virginia, only about 8 percent of the students come from low-income families. At other fully public universities in Virginia, more than 20 percent of the students come from low-income families.
Some attempts to “privatize” have flopped. Miami University of Ohio raised its tuition to about $23,000 in 2004 and then tried to attract in-state students with “scholarships” that brought prices back down to below $11,000. But students were so frightened by the big numbers that enrollment fell. Miami abandoned its experiment in 2008. “We offered a lot of things to justify” that price, says Chuck Knepfle, Miami’s head of financial aid. But “people are making very strict financial decisions.”
by Jil Heimensen on November 19, 2009
by Amy Sulllivan
In just a few weeks, nearly ten thousand students will rise en masse inside Michigan Stadium and join the ranks of the alumni of one of the nation’s premier universities. They’ll walk away from the University of Michigan with a top notch education, but also the distinction of possibly being one of the last graduating classes of a genuinely public institution.
The cash-strapped state of Michigan is looking to save money any way it can, and some political leaders have suggested essentially privatizing the state’s flagship university. While formally turning the school into a private university would be tricky — requiring legislative approval, a constitutional amendment, and the support of the university’s Board of Regents — legislators have proposed eliminating the $327 million in funding that the state provides to the university each year. Making up the state’s contribution, however, would require an endowment on the order of $16 billion, a nearly impossible task even in flush times. (Just a few years ago, the school’s endowment was around $7.5 billion, but it has taken a significant hit with the fall of the stock market.) Which means that in order to survive, the university may have to make dramatic changes that could threaten its character. (See pictures of the college dorm’s evolution.)
Michigan’s long-serving 19th-century president James Angell used to say that the school provided “an uncommon education for the common man.” But many are starting to wonder if that mission is still possible. And Michigan is not the only public university in crisis. As states across the country face budget shortfalls, leading schools like the universities of Wisconsin, North Carolina and Virginia increasingly depend on support from outside their home states, either in the form of philanthropy or in top tuition rates paid by a growing number of wealthy out-of-state students. The result has already been a quasi-privatization of some of the nation’s top research institutions and the economic stratification of their student bodies. Click to keep reading
by Jil Heimensen on November 19, 2009
While we are awaiting the OSA report on the financial restructure of Oregon Higher Ed, I thought it would be beneficial to find examples of how other institutions have evolved from a state-supported institution to what could be called a “privately supported public institution.” The following summary is from James J. Duderstadt, President Emeritus University Professor of Science and Engineering, The University of Michigan, and you can read the full article here.
Today in the face of limited resources and more pressing social priorities, the century-long expansion of public support of higher education has slowed. While the needs of our society for advanced education can only intensify as we evolve into a knowledge-driven world culture, it is not evident that these needs will be met by further growth of our existing system of public universities.
The terms of the social contract that led to these institutions are changing rapidly. The principle of general tax support for public higher education as a public good and the partnership between the federal government and the universities for the conduct of research are both at risk. These changes are being driven in part by increasingly limited tax resources and the declining priority given higher education in the face of other social needs.[i] Click to keep reading
by Jil Heimensen on November 9, 2009
UC Berkeley is slashing their athletics department, and they are not alone. With limited funds available, difficult choices must be made.
But there is another side of the story. I spent several years of my undergraduate education at University of Iowa, and my ex was a walk-on punter for the football team. This article discusses the success of the Hawkeyes and the powerful effect having a great team has on the prestige of the University, which results in the recruitment of a high quality student body.
So, here we all are at Portland State with roughly $13 million in student incidental fee money sloshing around. As a community, what do you want to do with it? Do you want to be a football power house, or would you rather take the Cal Berkeley approach and be an academic powerhouse? Would you rather have the money spent on student group activities and events? Or are you looking for basic services, such as food, housing, and health insurance. . .? Or…?
Please. We want your feedback. Student fees were initially established in the 1800s to fund “things” that students want that were not otherwise funded. You (or your parents) are paying for this out of your pocket, and in the life of your student loans, many of your payments will be directly related to student incidental fees.
While I am on the SFC, I will post information from other institutions so we can be educated consumers and decision makers. We are looking for solutions that will most effectively benefit students at Portland State.
C’mon now. Don’t be shy. Speak your mind!!
by Jil Heimensen on November 9, 2009
From SFGate.com
UC Berkeley professors voted Thursday night to urge the school to stop subsidizing its money-losing athletics department as soon as it legally can.
The university is facing a $150 million deficit this year, but plans to pay $7.7 million to help the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics make ends meet, in addition to loaning the department an additional $5.8 million.
The university Faculty Senate voted 91-68 in favor of a resolution that calls for an immediate end to the loans and subsidies. But those payments are unlikely to stop any time soon, said Chancellor Robert Birgeneau.
Contracts with the athletics department won’t expire for several more years, and that means the university will continue to help the department stay afloat, Birgeneau told reporters at the Faculty Senate meeting.
“Obviously the faculty in this current economic crisis is very upset and they have asked us to reduce our subsidy,” Birgeneau said. “It’s not possible to do so by spring because of existing contracts.”
However, Birgeneau said he and other university leaders would work to develop a plan toward self-sufficiency of the department. Indicating that this could include cuts to athletic teams, Birgeneau said “everything is on the table.”
Many professors have said that they were frustrated by academic cutbacks – including faculty pay cuts, instructor layoffs and course reductions – even as the athletics department continues to be funded.
“The university is about values of scholarship, teaching and the arts, not swimming, running and haute cuisine,” said Michael O’Hare, a professor at Cal’s Goldman School of Public Policy. “Our classrooms are a disgrace. They’re the worst I’ve ever taught in.”
by Jil Heimensen on November 5, 2009
Here is an example of how travel is funded through student fees at Stanford:
“We have explicit funding policies with regard to travel expenses,” said Appropriations Committee Chair Anton Zietsman ‘12. “We have been applying these policies since spring quarter last year.”
According to the policy, special fees groups can fund travel expenses up to $400 or 75 percent of the cost, whichever is lower. Although listed on the Appropriations Web site, the policy regarding reserve budget modifications was inaccessible for groups who searched policy guidelines on the special fees Web site, whose links were no longer active.
by Jil Heimensen on November 5, 2009
This from the Oregon Daily Emerald at Oregon State:
The incidental fee is a source of student power. Student leaders will need to think hard before offering a rebate. Student government leaders are working to ensure that any future temporary decreases in the incidental fee will be decided by ASUO consensus, and that a process will be in place to prevent losing half a million dollars, as happened last spring because of a University administrator’s accounting error. Though the details are not finalized, it seems rhetorical support for fee reductions will not result in any policies that bind future generations to rebating student power. Read full article.
