This is one of those moments that highlights the difference between talking and doing.
“Portland State University is one of the crown jewels of Portland, and it’s an anchor institution for downtown, and so, the budget cuts here are particularly risky for our local economic development” Mitch Green states.
Portland State University has been facing serious financial challenges, and tuition increases became part of the discussion. Many candidates are willing to make comments online or issue statements after the fact. Very few are willing to put in the work before decisions are made.
I showed up.
In the public Tuition Recommendation Advisory Committee (TRAC) meetings, I spent hours each month reviewing budgets, projections, enrollment trends, and the financial realities facing the university with other students. At approximately four and a half hours into this public meeting, you can see me speaking as a student representative and TRAC member.
Tuition Review Advisory Committee PSU
My recommendation was not the easy answer. I supported an 8% tuition increase as a one-time measure, with the clear warning that the university could not continue returning year after year with 5% increases unless there were serious projects and measurable outcomes attached to them. Students deserved honesty about the situation, and they deserved advocates willing to engage with the facts.
This wasn’t a last-minute effort. Students on the committee began raising concerns and working on recommendations months earlier. We started this process in November of the previous year because we recognized the challenges ahead and wanted to help prevent the situation from worsening. These meetings were public. The information was available to anyone willing to participate.
I know neighborhood associations were informed. I know city leaders and elected officials had the same opportunity to attend, observe, and advocate for Portland’s university. Yet when Portland State needed voices in the room, very few showed up.
That is why news clips, social media comments, and campaign talking points do not impress me very much. When there was actual work to be done, when there was a public process that required participation, many of the people now speaking about Portland State were nowhere to be found.
You cannot claim you were too busy when there was so little to show for it.
This is another example of a simple difference between me and many of the people seeking office: when there is work to be done, I show up.
A local news segment once described Portland State University as “the crown jewel of our city.”
If that is true, then it deserves more than one person standing up to defend it.
Leadership is not measured by what you post online. It is measured by where you are when decisions are being made.
Vote for someone who leads by example instead of merely talking about it.
Make Anderson one of your choices in district 4
T.J. Anderson for District 4 
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