More On The School For The Blind

The Catholic Sentinel has run a good article on the struggle to keep the School for the Blind running. Carlene Benson has a strong letter in The Oregonian. An article has also appeared in the Peoples Weekly World.

The politics surrounding the possible closing or maintaining of the school have grown much more complicated. Western Oregon University is interested in taking over the school and using it as part of WOU and Peter Courtney, who has an obvious bias in favor of WOU, supports that plan. It was not so long ago that WOU was facing possible closure itself and just squeaked by. The state higher ed system continues to risk implosion and dissolution, so WOU taking on expansion and new facilities now is a risky move at best. Margaret Carter has taken a position--and I may be mistaken here--which could be read as either supporting the closing of the school or maintaining it. If her push to close the school without the so-called "trust fund" in place seems to be making headway, it seems likely that Sara Gelser will drop her effort to close the school. If both measures then fail, perhaps the school would survive. Progressive politicians like Brian Clem, who have opposed closing the school, seem frustrated and even many of these people are now talking about "co-locating" the school--not because they want to, but because the bipartisan push to cut public services at the expense of the most vulnerable people has a manufactured speed all of its own. We believe that the entire process needs to slow down for careful examination and inquiry, but the political and economic forces who favor closure are very much on the fast track and have managed to wear down or frustrate the opposition.