6/1/2011: From Rockne Andrew Roll in the ODE:
One of those opponents was Rep. Gene Whisnant (R-Sunriver), who thought more discussion was necessary before moving forward. Though Whisnant described himself as a public safety supporter, he thought the proposal was too expensive. “I thought it was an overkill,” Whisnant said.
Reps. Mary Nolan (D-Portland) and Carolyn Tomei (D-Milwaukie) also voted against moving the bill to the full House. ASUO President Ben Eckstein is one of those concerned students. Eckstein said a number of people were still wary of the bill and looked forward to further discussion on the House floor.
This will likely pass, and stand as the sole legislative accomplishment for President Lariviere and his VP Michael Redding for the 2011 session. Congratulations.
Only $66000 for a police force? Are the representatives of Oregon really this clueless? I hope they’re ready to lose some voters. This bill will cost taxpayers and students millions in the end.
Agreed – do the math – how many Public safety officers will be promoted to real police? Say 20 – how much of a pay bump for this? Say 10k each. There you have $200k. Now let’s add pers – these guys can retire early – so more money (who knows but lets put a nice round number on it, say 50% of the 200K or another 100K- how about guns, tasers, training – say another 100K at least. How about painting cars? another 50-100K. So I think the cost for the first year is at least a half million.
Could we PLEASE take that money and buy a classroom building? Or more faculty to teach the increased number of students? Or to pay for a few more graduate students? Last time I looked this was the reason we are all here, correct? To educate? To research?
Training costs the university nothing, it is provided by the state through DPSST at no cost to the department as it is for all other agencies in Oregon.
It costs the university nothing? So does this dpsst also pay their salaries and benefits while the officers are at training? Anyone foolish enough to believe that this is only going to cost $66,000 is a fool and the financial impact statement provided is nothing less than dishonest.
26 cops? 26???????? For what???? This will cost millions of dollars in the end. How much money will be made by public safety from traffic tickets they will write when they start stopping students and faculty in their cars???? I hope someone in government is smart enough to see through this ridiculous bill. Save money and call the real cops.
Looks like Doug Trip has managed to pull one over on the legislature. I don’t know what scares me more – UO’s ability to pull the wool over or the legislature being stupid enough to buy the financial impact statement. No wonder Oregon’s economy is where it is. We all know the students will pay for UO cops with higher tuition rates. Another low for education at UO. Thanks for screwing students again.