In a move that guarantees funding for Oberlin’s Ohio Public Interest Research Group for the next two years, Student Senate voted Sunday to ratify the reaffirmation of the group’s $8 fee, which is assessed on student term bills as part of the student activity fee. The $8 per student per semester goes toward the organization’s activities and the wage of a campus organizer. The measure, which passed with one “no” vote and three abstentions, was a formal recognition of OPIRG’s reaffirmation petition last semester, but also became an opportunity for senators to voice displeasure about the fee and the scarcity of information concerning how students can opt out of it.

Senator and College sophomore Ben Klebanoff, who cast the sole vote against the measure, told the Review in an e-mail that, while he supports OPIRG, he does not support the way it is financed.  “OPIRG is a great organization...the only thing that concerns me about OPIRG is the method of funding their organization employs,” he wrote.

Klebanoff added that he believes there is little reason for OPIRG to be funded in a different way than most other student organizations, which all receive funding from the Student Finance Committee.

OPIRG is funded by an $8 fee added to students’ term bills each semester, and the ability for OPIRG to assess this fee must be reaffirmed by over 50 percent of students every two years through a petition process. In addition, individual students may opt out of the fee by completing a form available in the OPIRG office. This funding process has been used by OPIRG since it was formed in 1974.

At the Sunday meeting, some senators also raised issue with the lack of information available to students about the fee and claimed that it is not clear whether the fee can be waived. For the most part, however, senators avoided blaming OPIRG for the limited information and instead attributed the problem to the way the fee is collected by the College.

According to OPIRG campus organizer Deborah Slosberg, her organization is working with the College to make sure students are aware of the fee. Slosberg suggested that in the future, the College may place a notice on Blackboard or on the Registrar’s website about the fee.

“This is really important to us,” Slosberg said. “We want everyone to know about where [OPIRG is] funded.”