Sam Dotters-Katz — a student in the UO School of Law — on May 25 began his second term as president for the Associated Students of the University of Oregon.
In 2008, during his junior year as an undergraduate political science and history major, Dotters-Katz was elected to the highest student position at the university for the first time. A friend's suggestion that they partner as running mates spurred his first run for the ASUO presidency; however, this year was a different story.
"We started working on this year's campaign in November — a six-month campaign — fully aware of what we were getting ourselves into,” Dotters-Katz said. “As opposed to the first time around where we were woefully ignorant about what it was going to take and what we were getting ourselves into.”
During his first term as ASUO president, Dotters-Katz set out to make the ASUO relevant and important to the everyday UO student. He focused on initiatives that impacted a wide variety of students, such as keeping the library open for 24 hours and extending the hours of the 79x bus route, which travels from campus to the student housing nearAutzen Stadium.
After starting his studies at the law school, Dotters-Katz didn’t plan on returning to ASUO politics until the controversial non-renewal of former UO President Richard Lariviere's contract in 2011. He saw that there was a need to have students’ voices heard at the highest levels, so he created a political action committee to get students to Salem to lobby for higher-education reform.
"When you really become involved in the ASUO, you come to care about the well-being of the organization and the effect that it can have on campus,” Dotters-Katz said. "It's difficult to watch what I believed was a real degradation of the potential of what the ASUO could be — the use of the office for personal and political gain. It made me want to get involved again."
Dotters-Katz grew up caring immensely about national politics and social issues, yet had never previously become involved in student government or campus student groups.
During his second term as ASUO president, his primary goal is to depoliticize the student government. Dotters-Katz aims to reduce partisan politics through structural reform and increased power for the legislative branch.
He said he also wants to create an ASUO culture and environment that promotes people who are there in a good-faith desire to help other students.
Now, coming into his second term as ASUO president, Dotters-Katz feels that attending the law school has empowered him to effect change on a larger level because he has a deeper understanding of how the law works and how laws are enacted.
"The student community and the UO mean a lot to me. I've benefited so much from growing up here,” Dotters-Katz said. “The opportunity and connections were here for me, and Oregon Law just seemed like a great fit.”
- from the UO School of Law