This Week in the Mercury
Friday, February 5, 2010
News / Schools Why Vancouver's College Walkout Matters
Posted by Stefan Kamph on Fri, Feb 5, 2010 at 2:35 PM
Yesterday around 300 students walked out of afternoon classes at Washington State University in Vancouver, as part of a statewide protest against higher tuition. Their actions could serve as a warning to administrators at Portland State University (PSU), where students are speaking out against a plan to give individual universities more control over tuition and fundraising—which some students are branding an effort to "turn PSU into a corporation."
In a meeting with PSU President Wim Wiewel today, PSU Student Government President Jonathan Sanford referenced the awareness raised at WSU, saying "we're working as best we can to do the same."
- PSU Student Government President Jonathan Sanford addresses a student protest on Friday, January 29
Wiewel dismissed the effectiveness of a recent PSU student protest. "Slogans painted on a sign are not information," he told a group of seven student representatives. "Using the 'corporate' word plants a [wrong] idea in people's heads. People are clueless about what the word even means."
But the fact that PSU students are sitting in a room with Wiewel could avert fallout like yesterday's walkout in Washington. Sanford expressed the students' desire to "co-create a public campaign" to inform people about the process. Wiewel appeared to agree to the idea. "We're all looking at 2011," said Sanford, referring to when a plan could hit the Oregon legislature.
Max Ault, a WSU student who organized the walkout in Vancouver, says that Washington officials had "already proposed legislature" before students got involved.
"There's been a relatively large disconnect" between students and administrators, says Ault. "We want to work together with them."
That's something PSU students are able to do, even though they want more input. "Things are moving on way too fast of a timeline," PSU student representative Rowen Griffith told Wiewel.
"I do not control the pace," Wiewel responded. "We can either play, or stand by the sidelines."
Does he think a walkout is possible at PSU? "If somebody is paying for classes, I don't see why they wouldn't want to go," Wiewel says.
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[insert laugh track]
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