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Oregon Historical Society in jeopardy Local levy would give the OHS financial breathing room Erick Bengel Vanguard Staff
T
he Oregon Historical Society is in financial jeopardy and its fate will be decided by ballot on Nov. 2, when Multnomah County voters will consider a local levy to fund the society for the next five years. The levy—titled Measure 26-118—would impose a 5-cent tax on county property with a value assessed at $1,000 or more, providing $150,000 for each of the five years that the levy is in effect. The average taxpayer would pay $10 per year and, in return, would have free admission to the Oregon Historical Museum and Research Library. The OHS has relied on both private and state funding since its inception in 1898. Although the bulk of this funding has been private—which remains true in both comparative and absolute terms—the OHS has, to varying degrees of dependency, always counted on state funds in order to operate. Within the last decade, however, the state has largely withdrawn these essential funds. More recently, the Oregon legislature, in an increasingly budget-strapped fiscal climate, has all but severed the umbilical cord that is the OHS’s public funding.
aaron leopold/VANGUARD STAFF
OHS needs funding: Due to the lack of state funding, the OHS might close its doors forever.
In recent years, and especially since 2003, the OHS has been fading in increments. It is now more expensive than ever to house and maintain its collection of artifacts and other materials while making it available to the public. According to Kristin Teigen, a Portland State graduate and
campaign associate for the OHS, the society has “cut its staff and services fairly dramatically and rather unfortunately.” “The library used to be open 32 hours a week; it had 15 librarians, [and] there used to be professional historians on staff to serve the public and to conduct additional research,” she said.
The library now has a “bare bones” staff and is open only 12 hours a week, and the organization has had its funding cut by a third, according to Teigen. After seven years of financial depletion, and without enough reserves to sustain itself at its
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OUS campuses visit Oregon high schools Tour familiarizes students with Oregon universities, encourages them to apply Alison Barnwell Vanguard staff
Last Monday, the Oregon University System kicked off its annual high school visitation tour with a stop at Lakeview Senior High School. Representatives from seven OUS campuses set up booths in the cafeteria, and after the audience of juniors and seniors watched the presentation, they
were free to speak with admissions counselors. The mission of the tour is to put the calling card of all of the Oregon universities into the hands of Oregon students. No other state in the nation offers a university visitation system that hits almost every high school in the state, said Kelly Talbert, senior assistant director of admissions and recruitement at the Uni-
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versity of Oregon. The fiveweek tour devotes a week to each region it visits, from Central Oregon to the Oregon Coast. Formerly, the program was paid for by the OUS Chancellor’s Office, but in 2004, major cuts in state funding eliminated its Academic Affairs division. As a result, the universities stepped up, and each campus shoulders an equal portion of the pro-
gram’s $7,500 cost. Before attending the event, Senior Katie Stosoeth already knew she wanted to attend Oregon State and then enroll in a program at Oregon Health and Science University, but she came away from the two-hour event with fresh information. “It was nice to have the costs and everything laid out in front of you,” she said. She
Potential PSU student deported Hector Lopez deported weeks before bill went before Congress Corie Charnley Vanguard staff
As the Senate voted down the DREAM Act last Tuesday—an act which would have provided a path to citizenship for undocumented youth—a room full of M.E.Ch.A members and elected officials, as well as University President Wim Wiewel, gathered to listen to Hector Lopez, a college student who was deported to Mexico last month. Lopez moved to the U.S. illegally with his family when he was just one-and-a-half months old. He grew up in Milwaukie, Ore. and graduated from Rex Putnam High School in Portland, where he served as student body president. Lopez was also a Little League coach and a nominee for the national Alexander Hamilton Leadership Award, and logged 600 community service hours. After finishing high school, Lopez spent two years at Clackamas Community College. He has also taken classes at Portland State and planned to transfer to the university to earn a bachelor’s in marketing, according to a press release. “He was by any measure a stellar student and a classic candidate for the DREAM Act,” said Anne Galisky, co-founder of Graham Street Productions and the director of Papers, a documentary film about undocumented youth. The DREAM Act is intended to provide undocumented immigrants a path to legal residency if they attend college for two years or serve two years in the military. Those who would be eligible must have arrived in the country before the age of 16 and have lived in the U.S. for five years. In addition, eligible people must have graduated from a U.S. high school or have obtained a GED, and have good moral character. Lopez was present via speakerphone from Mexico City during the press conference. “I feel as though I’ve been stripped of my life just because I spent the first month and half of it from another country,” he said. “I would say it is almost inhumane to send someone to a place where they’ve never been, have nowhere to stay and no way to earn an income.” On Aug. 23, Lopez said he left his house at around 7:45 a.m. to go to the gym. However, he was unaware that there was a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer following him. About four blocks from his house, he was pulled over and told there was a warrant for his arrest. According to Lopez’s lawyer, Siovhan Sheridan-Ayala, Lopez’s family was ordered deported when he was nine. However, they never received a notice for a hearing. As a result, Lopez was oblivious to the fact that there had been a warrant out against him for 11 years. The conference coincided with the Senate’s decision on whether to pass the DREAM Act, which was an amendment to a larger defense authorization bill that included the repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. The bill failed in a 56-43 vote. For more information about the status of the DREAM Act and how to lend support, visit www.dreamactivist.org. ■
also met with an OSU admissions counselor. “I got her business card, so now I have her email [address].” Some students were unimpressed by Monday’s kickoff presentation, mandatory for upper-classmen at Lakeview. Senior Mark Smith, who is interested in firefighting, said the event “wasn’t boring, just not exciting.” “I hear there’s a good program at Eastern Oregon,” he said. However, when he passed EOU’s booth, he didn’t get much time to speak to its representatives.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF OUS
Parsam Javedani: Javedani chose PSU because of its diverse atmosphere and programs.