 "Photo: Carlos Restrepo")
STLCC-Meramec students will vote on March 10 and 11 to reaffirm the presence of MoPIRG (Missouri Public Interest Research Group), an organization on campus comprised of students and interns who address issues like hunger and homelessness, public transit and global warming. The organization is reaffirmed or denied on campus every two years.
“The reaffirmation is really a cool thing for students to come together through a democratic process and make an impact,” said Sarah Clader, the campus organizer for MoPIRG which has existed at Meramec for 25 years. Clader said she is confident that MoPIRG will be reaffirmed next month. “I think the majority of students support MoPIRG because it continues to be reaffirmed, and it helps make a difference,” Clader said.
However, MoPIRG may meet opposition in the upcoming election with the emergence of NO-pirg, a group that is committed to removing MoPIRG from the Meramec campus. “As in every election, it is necessary to have opposition, and NO-pirg is the voice for unrepresented students,” said Steven Vollenweider, president of NO-pirg, also stating that less than one percent of students took part in the last election.
Vollenweider said that the organization does not disagree with the causes MoPIRG claims to support, but with the methods that MoPIRG uses to embed fees into the registration forms of uninformed students.
NO-pirg would like to see the optional $7 fee from student tuition payments abolished. Vollenweider says that this is a “sneaky way to steal money from unsuspecting students who think this money goes to student activities on campus.”
MoPIRG funds are not associated with Meramec. “The reality of the matter is that none of this money that Meramec students have paid has made its way back our campus,” Vollenweider said. “This money sponsors an alleged ‘grassroots research’ and ‘political action’ organization that, for some reason offers no financial report to the public without a fight.”
Both MoPIRG and NO-pirg will conduct campaigns before the election to inform students of the ballot initiatives which vote for either the fee to remain on tuition payments unless students do not wish to pay it, for the fee to remain as a voluntary charge, or for the fee to be completely dissolved.
Two forums will be held on March 3 at 12 p.m. and 6 p.m. in the student center to address the opposition from each group. Student Governance Council asks students to submit questions for answer and debate for both organizations before the forum. Attendees will receive a $5 voucher that can be spent towards cafeteria food.
For more information about MoPIRG or NO-pirg, students can contact Sarah Clader (MoPIRG) at sarahc@njpirgstudents.org or Steve Vallenwieder (No-pirg) at svollenweider@my.stlcc.edu.
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