Priorities:Oregon Institute of Technology Student Priorities

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Overview of Current Priorities

The students of Oregon Tech have identified four priorities to pursue. The first priority is to found a Business and Innovation club on campus to promote student business ventures. The second priority is to break down and explain the school's budget to students in an effort to alleviate tensions between students and the administration. The third priority is to make the Klamath Falls campus a more environmentally friendly campus. The fourth priority is to have the Klamath lake be used by the community.

2022 Cohort Priorities

Priority One: Business and Innovation Club

During their research, the 2022 cohort of Fellows found that there was not an organization on campus that could be accessed year round to help students with their business ventures; there is a regional competition that helps to promote innovation, but it only happens once a year. Therefore, they have prioritized the founding of a Business and Innovation club on campus. The goal of this club will be to promote the business of activities and nourish innovative solutions to problems on the campus.

Priority Two: Budget Breakdown

In Spring of 2020, the faculty at Oregon Tech went on a strike because of a failure to reach an agreeable contract with the administration. Nearly all of the students felt that the administration was being unfair to the faculty, and that the student tuition money was not being spent well. Ever since this incident, there have been continually high tensions between students and the administration. The 2022 cohort wants to reduce this by obtaining current financial records, analyzing them, and presenting their findings to students. The goal is that if students know exactly where money is going, they will feel more comfortable about how the administration runs the school.

Priority Three: A Sustainable Campus

The Klamath Falls campus of Oregon Tech is painted as a very environmentally friendly campus; it has solar panels, geothermal wells, and an excellent renewable energy engineering program. However, the wells are inefficient and cost more than original estimates. The newest building on campus, the Center for Excellence in Engineering and Technology, is not certified as a sustainable building, even though it could have been done easily at the time of construction. The goal is to obtain information on how much energy the school is actually creating, and whether or not new sources of renewable energy can be created for help sustainably power the rest of the community.

Priority Four: The Klamath Lake

The Klamath Lake is a large lake located at the north end of Klamath Falls. It does not see much use however, due to a lack of infrastructure, algae bloom, and poisonous plants in the lake. The goal is to work with local businesses to turn this lake into a center for tourist activity and bring people to Klamath Falls.