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Wu visits Sylvania Campus
Photos and story by James Hill
Oregon Congressman David Wu held a campus forum at PCC’s Sylvania Campus on Tuesday, May 30 in the Little Theatre. Congressman Wu is the Vice Chair of the newly formed Community College Caucus of the U.S. House of Representatives. 
He is an advocate for community colleges, student financial aid and other important issues regarding higher education. Wu promised the gathered audience that the issue of community colleges will be in the minds of Congress in coming years.
“We’re trying to educate our colleagues on the very import role community colleges play in education, training, re-education and enrichment of people’s lives for a lifetime,” Wu said. “We’ll keep apprising our colleagues and keep the issues to the fore like student financial aid.”
The Congressman warned that despite today’s realities, the United States can’t afford to reduce funding for education or student financial aid.
“We live in challenging times,” Wu said. “We are at war. We have a huge deficit. We cannot stop investing in the future.”
When he opened the discussion to questions from the audience, one student asked about tuition and if they could see any relief in the near future of rising tuition.
“What we can hope for is at least a leveling off of tuition,” Wu said.
PCC District Preston Pulliams agreed. “It’s a complicated situation,” he said. “You need to lobby your position with your representatives and we’ll definitely see a leveling off of tuition.”
About James Hill
James G. Hill, an award-winning journalist and public relations writer, is the Director of Public Relations at Portland Community College. A graduate of Portland State University, James has worked as a section editor for the Newberg Graphic... more »