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Dotters-Katz outlines plan to register new voters
ASUO president is confident he can reach his goal of 10,000 registrants without OSA help
by Robert D'Andrea | News Reporter
ASUO President Sam Dotters-Katz elaborated Sunday on his plans to register 10,000 new voters by the fall deadline without a campus organizer traditionally integral to such a campaign, and amid cautious optimism from other student body presidents.
Dotters-Katz announced earlier this month that he would not hire a new Oregon Student Association campus organizer after Tom Hojem left his post at the University to become OSA's legislative director. Dotters-Katz called OSA "a lobbyist organization" and said students would benefit from a wider range of training in a new internship program.
The decision quickly reverberated throughout the Oregon University System, where OSA organizers work closely with every student government to plan campaigns in the state legislature, help manage staff members and map out ways to achieve on-campus policy objectives for the year. In the ASUO office, Hojem's desk was adjacent to the president's.
Dotters-Katz has made an ambitious voter registration goal his first major policy objective. Oregon's deadline for new voter registration is Oct. 4 - or Tuesday of the first week of fall term.
Associated Students of Portland State University President Hannah Fisher said she and Dotters-Katz "are good friends and I respect any decisions that he makes."
"I let him know how hard it's been to not have (a campus organizer) for the last couple of months," she said. "Unfortunately, I spoke to him after his decision was already made."
Former ASUO Chief of Staff Jennifer Lleras will begin Monday as PSU's campus organizer, a spot that has been vacant since Fisher took office in May.
Josh Canaday, president of Associated Students of Lane Community College, said he was recruited into student government by OSA, and the organization continues to recruit and develop new student government leaders.
Fisher said other universities are "concerned" about the ability of all schools to meet voter registration goals because the entire state works as a team.
"If U of O fails then we all fail," she said, noting that OSA has a track record of new voter registration. "If it's not broken you don't fix it."
Dotters-Katz does not seem worried about meeting his goal. He said his administration will provide 4,500 registration cards to residence halls. Locked voter registration drop boxes will be placed around campus, and Building Votes, a non-partisan youth voter registration effort, will provide volunteers, he said.
"There's going to be a huge presence on campus, and we expect that we will met our goal due to the effective planning of my team and the work of a huge corps of volunteers," Dotters-Katz said.
Professors will be contacted to arrange for volunteers to provide in-class pitches in all large lectures for students to register, and the athletic department and club sports will be targeted to reach out to student athletes, he said.
"We're working with Greek Life to have a voter registration contest between fraternities and sororities," Dotters-Katz said. The ASUO is also working to recruit volunteers at IntroDUCKtion orientations.
"We're taking any and all measures that we can to reach out to every single student at the University of Oregon," Dotters-Katz said before adding, "within the realm of reason and good practice."
PSU's Fisher is not giving up on Dotters-Katz.
"I think that Sam is a great guy and he knows that not having a vote organizer on campus is going to make it a lot harder to meet his voter registration goal. That is something that he is going to take on to accomplish himself, and hopefully he can," Fisher said.
rdandrea@dailyemerald.com
Dotters-Katz announced earlier this month that he would not hire a new Oregon Student Association campus organizer after Tom Hojem left his post at the University to become OSA's legislative director. Dotters-Katz called OSA "a lobbyist organization" and said students would benefit from a wider range of training in a new internship program.
The decision quickly reverberated throughout the Oregon University System, where OSA organizers work closely with every student government to plan campaigns in the state legislature, help manage staff members and map out ways to achieve on-campus policy objectives for the year. In the ASUO office, Hojem's desk was adjacent to the president's.
Dotters-Katz has made an ambitious voter registration goal his first major policy objective. Oregon's deadline for new voter registration is Oct. 4 - or Tuesday of the first week of fall term.
Associated Students of Portland State University President Hannah Fisher said she and Dotters-Katz "are good friends and I respect any decisions that he makes."
"I let him know how hard it's been to not have (a campus organizer) for the last couple of months," she said. "Unfortunately, I spoke to him after his decision was already made."
Former ASUO Chief of Staff Jennifer Lleras will begin Monday as PSU's campus organizer, a spot that has been vacant since Fisher took office in May.
Josh Canaday, president of Associated Students of Lane Community College, said he was recruited into student government by OSA, and the organization continues to recruit and develop new student government leaders.
Fisher said other universities are "concerned" about the ability of all schools to meet voter registration goals because the entire state works as a team.
"If U of O fails then we all fail," she said, noting that OSA has a track record of new voter registration. "If it's not broken you don't fix it."
Dotters-Katz does not seem worried about meeting his goal. He said his administration will provide 4,500 registration cards to residence halls. Locked voter registration drop boxes will be placed around campus, and Building Votes, a non-partisan youth voter registration effort, will provide volunteers, he said.
"There's going to be a huge presence on campus, and we expect that we will met our goal due to the effective planning of my team and the work of a huge corps of volunteers," Dotters-Katz said.
Professors will be contacted to arrange for volunteers to provide in-class pitches in all large lectures for students to register, and the athletic department and club sports will be targeted to reach out to student athletes, he said.
"We're working with Greek Life to have a voter registration contest between fraternities and sororities," Dotters-Katz said. The ASUO is also working to recruit volunteers at IntroDUCKtion orientations.
"We're taking any and all measures that we can to reach out to every single student at the University of Oregon," Dotters-Katz said before adding, "within the realm of reason and good practice."
PSU's Fisher is not giving up on Dotters-Katz.
"I think that Sam is a great guy and he knows that not having a vote organizer on campus is going to make it a lot harder to meet his voter registration goal. That is something that he is going to take on to accomplish himself, and hopefully he can," Fisher said.
rdandrea@dailyemerald.com
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 16
Ken
posted 7/15/08 @ 7:02 AM PST
Learn more about sleep apnea and treatment options at http://www.obstructednose.com
John
posted 7/15/08 @ 9:29 AM PST
Sam, you seem to like the idea that you are the sole optimist in this case. You have to be very confident to make that kind of public stance. Either that or you are just setting yourself up to lose. (Continued…)
orwellduk
posted 7/16/08 @ 1:36 PM PST
O.S.A. should be stomped out like ospiggy was. Let us have a ospiggy's grave disco dance party this summer also-with free beer and student fees for all! Also does anyone know if you get a free sudsy t-shirt if you get thrown off the Commentator blog? Is that just a rumor?
orwellduck
posted 7/17/08 @ 7:09 AM PST
Go President DK. He probably will reach his goal, he may not. Regardless, at least he's out there doing what he thinks is right & not hiding in the closet like the Axelrod and Walsh cowards!!!
the original orwellduk
posted 7/19/08 @ 3:10 PM PST
Hey fake orwellduk you can not even spell orwellduk now get out of here!
Sudsy
posted 7/21/08 @ 9:45 AM PST
Zach - You aren't getting shit
orwellduk
posted 7/22/08 @ 6:51 PM PST
That must be how you got your name sudsy boy-you got your mouth washed out with soap so much eh?
Programs
posted 8/19/08 @ 2:03 AM PST
Nate Gulley and Oscar Guerra told us not to help Sam or this administration with anything. We are supposed to make our senators vote against him, even when he is doing good things. (Continued…)
Where's the Beef
posted 8/24/08 @ 5:54 PM PST
This is impossible
Educated on race relations
posted 8/26/08 @ 12:00 PM PST
yea, actually that is impossible. Oscar stood up for underrepresented students by pointing out problematic things said or done within senate that normalized whiteness and sustained heternormativity. (Continued…)
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