The Beaver Caucus

Beaver Caucus Legislative Update: Week 1, 2020

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Katie Fast, OSU Government Relations
Week 1 – February 7, 2020

On February 3, the Legislature convened and immediately got to work with committees hearing bills on the first day. Oregon State University’s legislative agenda progressed forward with several hearings:

  • HB 4055 – HECC to study and develop recommendations on how community colleges and public universities can best combat food and housing insecurity among their students. Claire McMorris, OSU Government Relations Coordinator, testified with a collation of student and hunger advocates. Scheduled for a work session next week.
  • HB 4051 – Establishes a hemp commission. College of Agriculture faculty, Jeff Steiner, joined hemp farmers in support of the creation of a commission to assist this growing agriculture sector. Scheduled for a work session next week.
  • SB 1501 – Allows collegiate athletes to earn compensation for their name, image and likeness. OSU gymnast, Halli Briscoe, joined UO Athletic Director shared both student and universities perspectives on this high-profile issue. Amendments are agreed upon, and OSU is neutral. Scheduled for a work session next week.
  • SB 1554 – Appropriates funding for several ocean programs including ocean acidification and hypoxia. Faculty from the Marine Studies Institute and the Sea Grant shared with the Senate Environment & Natural Resources Committee some of the work they are doing in these areas.

Discussions around capital continue, but leadership does not yet have agreements on bonding projects. Advocacy for OSU’s three projects continues. Thank you to the Beaver Caucus for all your work in this area. Let’s keep it up!

THE BEAVER CAUCUS LEGISLATIVE PRIORITIES – 2019

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The Beaver Caucus is committed to supporting Oregon State University, our world-class research institution. We do this by providing a platform to communicate directly to Oregon state policymakers who are making critical decisions impacting OSU’s future. During the 2019 legislative session we will make sure that legislators and the Governor are aware of the positive benefits that have resulted from the state’s investment in higher education, and we will work to ensure that this investment continues in 2019.

Here are some of the issues we will be advocating for during the legislative session:

1) Maintaining Operating Funds

The seven public universities have sought at least a $130 million increase in operating funds from $737 million for a total investment of $867 million. This request would ensure that tuition increases would stay below 5% per year each of the next two years. In August, the Higher Education Coordinating Commission (HECC) recommended a $186 million increase in operating funds for a total of $923M. This request is obviously a significant improvement and would enable meaningful investments in student success and access while keeping tuition affordable.

2) Development of the OSU Arts and Education Complex

In April 2017, Oregon State University announced plans for a new arts and education complex. The proposal would renew, expand and enhance the existing LaSells Stewart Center in order to provide the university, the greater Corvallis community, and the entire state, a venue for music, theater, digital communications programs and the visual arts. The university is well into the process of securing $35 million in philanthropic funds and is seeking an additional $35 million in state bonds for a total investment of $70 million.

3) Continued Expansion of the OSU-Cascades Campus – Student Success Center

OSU Cascades continues to face enrollment growth and will need to continue expand its facilities to ensure that it meets the academic, counseling and extracurricular needs of students in the Central Oregon region. The university is seeking $12 million in bonds matched by $5 million in student fees – approved in a campus-wide vote – for the construction of the OSU-Cascades Student Success Center, which will improve learning outcomes while facilitating student engagement.

Oregon State Legislature approves capital request for OSU-Cascades’ next academic building

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BEND, Ore. – Oregon State University’s campus in Bend is a step closer to meeting the needs of its growing student enrollment following the Oregon Legislature on Saturday approving $39 million in state-backed bonds for OSU-Cascades’ second academic building.

The facility will serve STEAM disciplines of science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics.

“We are very grateful for the support of Governor Brown, Speaker Kotek, Senator Knopp, Representative Rayfield and many legislators for the continued expansion of higher education programming in Central Oregon,” said OSU President Ed Ray. “We are also grateful to the many generous donors whose gifts of over $9 million helped match this state funding.”

“Funding for this academic building will allow us to serve our mission in Oregon, and especially in Central Oregon, where there are no other four-year university options closer than three hours,” said Ray.

The legislature approved $9.5 million in state bonding in the 2017 session in part to support site preparation of undeveloped campus property where the new academic building will be constructed.

At the time, OSU officials pledged to seek additional state funding for the building in the 2018 legislative session. Over the past months, Central Oregon community, business and economic leaders, advocates with the Beaver Caucus, and undergraduate students traveled to Salem to support funding for increasing campus capacity in what is the fastest growing region in Oregon.

“We anticipate construction to begin in summer 2019, following remediation of portions of the pumice mine and landfill that adjoin our campus,” said OSU-Cascades Vice President Becky Johnson. “This new academic building will house classrooms and laboratories and be ready for students in fall 2021.”

Guest column: Make the commitment to OSU Cascades

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November 27, 2017
The Bend Bulletin
By Amy Tykeson & Jane E. Teater

As long-time advocates for the creation and expansion of Oregon State University-Cascades and Co-Chairs of NOW4 OSU-Cascades, a recent Bulletin editorial regarding funding for the campus gave us pause. As readers may recall, Oregon’s 2017 Legislature awarded OSU-Cascades only $9.5 million of the $69.5 million requested for campus expansion, leaving many scratching their heads.

In today’s political climate, it is tempting to bemoan partisan politics as the reason why things don’t get done. However, as volunteers who have been working with the leadership of Oregon State University, the governor, legislators from both parties, students, and the broader regional community, we look back on 2017 as a learning experience. The path forward requires us to build upon past efforts, focus on the future, and do so in earnest.

We are tremendously proud of how Central Oregonians stepped up in 2017 to put the region’s higher education needs on the map in Salem. Supporters made a positive impression telling the OSU-Cascades story every time they traveled over the mountains — which was often. Do we have more work to do? You bet.

The facts supporting campus expansion are compelling. Central Oregon is remarkably underserved in terms of higher education. Until the creation of OSU-Cascades, the Bend-Redmond metropolitan area was the largest in the country without a four-year university. Central Oregon’s population growth rate far surpasses the rest of the state, and the rate of increase of the student body at Bend-La Pine Schools exceeds that of any other district in Oregon. This growth is the primary driver of OSU-Cascades’ enrollment, with 70 percent of its students coming from Crook, Deschutes and Jefferson counties.

Over the past three years, OSU-Cascades has been one of only three universities in the state with increasing enrollment. By 2020, this growth is expected to push enrollment past its capacity, leading to overcrowding and possibly turning students away.

We were disappointed that the campus received only $9.5 million in bonds in 2017. However, as OSU-Cascades is the first new university in Oregon in 50 years, we realize this is a long race, not a short sprint. Our success will require continuous regional engagement and broad collaboration — not only during the upcoming 2018 session, but also in sessions to follow. In the months since the 2017 session ended and with the support of OSU President Ed Ray and Vice President Becky Johnson, we have been working with the governor, state treasurer, legislators and a broad coalition of supporters from around the region and across the state. Our interest is in advancing opportunities for Central Oregon students and for employers who rely on an educated workforce. Economic growth in Central Oregon, which is enhanced by the expansion of OSU-Cascades, is creating new revenues for the entire state. Simply put, the growth of OSU-Cascades benefits all of Oregon.

Earlier this month, a group of campus and business leaders, students, and our own state Sen. Tim Knopp provided an update to the Senate Committee On Education outlining a $39 million request for a second academic building in 2018. It was an excellent representation of the need for, and the passion behind, expanding OSU-Cascades. Earlier in the hearing, outgoing Sen. and former Ways and Means Co-Chair Richard Devlin,D-Tualatin — unsolicited and while speaking on another matter — reminded the committee of the Legislature’s long-standing commitment to a four-year campus in Central Oregon and urged funding in 2018. “That was a decision that was made a long time ago,” he told the committee, “and I’m just hoping that the Legislature keeps its commitment.”

OSU-Cascades is a game-changer for our region. Please join us in support of the campus expansion by writing to your state representatives, the governor and legislative leadership and urging them to follow through with the state’s commitment to higher education in Central Oregon.

— Amy Tykeson and Jane E. Teater are co-chairs of NOW4 OSU-Cascades, a community outreach group focused on campus expansion.

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$8.9 million grant to aid OSU alliance

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By James Day — Corvallis Gazette Times

An educational alliance involving Oregon State University has received an $8.9 million federal grant to continue its work.

The University Innovation Alliance, a consortium of OSU and 10 other colleges, received the “First in the World” grant as part of a competition to encourage innovation in higher education.

The alliance will use the money to study the effectiveness of advising in increasing retention, progression and graduation rates for low income and first-generation students. Assisting such students is a key goal of the alliance.

“This grant will significantly aid Oregon State University’s effort to foster far greater student success,” said OSU President Ed Ray. “Along with other University Innovation Alliance partners, Oregon State will learn how to effectively use predictive analytics to improve student retention and graduation rates through individual advising and academic counseling.

“My intent is to share all that we learn throughout the higher education community.”

The grant will be administered by Georgia State University on behalf of the alliance. George State will conduct a four-year research study on all 11 alliance campuses. Students at each campus, who will be selected at random, will receive:

  • Intensive, proactive advising to help them establish individualized academic maps
  • Real-time alerts prompted by a system of analytics-based tracking when they may be struggling
  • “The … grant will enable us to study the work already taking place at our 11 institutions,” said Bridget Burns, executive director of the alliance, “and test best practices using data analytics that we can share with an beyond the alliance.”
  • Other universities in the alliance, which was launched last September, are Arizona State, Iowa State, Michigan State, Purdue, Ohio State, UC Riverside, Central Florida, Kansas and Texas.