MASSPIRG FAQ

What is MASSPIRG?

MASSPIRG is a statewide, student-directed, student funded organization that works to solve problems facing our society. Our environment and public health are threatened, students are being ripped off, poverty is on the rise, and our decision makers aren’t listening to ordinary citizens.  MASSPIRG combines the idealism of students with the expertise of professional staff who conduct research, education, and grassroots organizing for the public.

What does MASSPIRG do?

We get results. This year alone, MASSPIRG staff and students convinced Congress to pass the College Access and Affordability Act, which cuts student loan interest rates in half and increases federal Pell grants.  We also were one of the key players in convincing the State Senate to pass a bill that will cut global warming pollution 80% by 2050!

Last year across the state, MASSPIRG raised over $12,000 to fight hunger and homelessness. Right here at UMass Dartmouth students raised nearly $1000 through spare change drives, our Hoops for Hunger basketball tournament and the Hunger Clean Up.  We also collected over 50 toys for children staying in the Conway House.

Currently we are working to pass the Global Warming Solutions Act out of the House.  We are bringing a solar panel to campus to make smoothies in a blender powered by the sun, and a bike that charges a light bulb to demonstrate energy efficiency. We are also helping to organize a Green Week to increase environmental awareness on campus.  We are also continuing our hunger and homelessness campaign  - we are hitting the dorms to collect food and clothes for the United Way of Greater New Bedford.  We are also continuing to volunteer at the Dartmouth farm – all the food grown there is donated to local food banks and soup kitchens.  

How is MASSPIRG funded?

Students at Worcester State vote to fund MASSPIRG through a $9 per student per semester waive-able fee that appears on their tuition bill. Students at UMass Dartmouth have been a part of MASSPIRG for nearly 30 years, pooling together their resources statewide with other MASSPIRG chapters to hire staff, such as researchers and grassroots organizers, to work with them on issues that they care about. Students decide how best to spend their resources on the issues that they care about, such as fighting homelessness, making textbooks more affordable, and working to stop global warming.

Why go to the ballot?

We've been going to the ballot every few years since MASSPIRG started at UMass Dartmouth as a way to reaffirm student support for the work that we do. The mandate from the student community that says that UMass Dartmouth students want affordable tuition, clean air, clean water, and an end to poverty gives us the ammunition it takes to get our work done. By having students vote to fund MASSPIRG with a per student waive-able fee, we can count on those resources to keep doing our work in the future.  

What are the priorities for the next few years?

To protect and enforce the consumer and environmental laws we already have and to work to create laws that will America a better place. Our federal government has done very little to address important issues that college students care about.  It seems as if there is a new environmental rollback everyday - everything from clean air, to endangered species, to pristine wilderness is in trouble, not to mention the increase of global warming pollution.  MASSPIRG will save these laws, and keep pushing for environmental policies that will actually start cleaning up our waterways, solving global warming, reducing air pollution, and fixing our current energy problems. And then there are all of the cuts that Congress made to federal higher education programs, and programs that help the poorest people in our country - things like food stamps and Medicaid.  We will work to increase federal grant aid, put more money into state higher education funding, and work to increase the food stamps and affordable housing programs.

But we're not just playing defense. We're working on new ways to make higher education affordable through new grants and even lower interest rates. We're fighting to lower the cost of textbooks. We're looking to ban some of the most dangerous toxins from entering our waterways. We're working to get college campuses to start leading the way in terms of addressing global warming and being leaders in clean energy. We’re working to make Massachusetts a national leader in the fight against global warming.  And we're working to alleviate hunger and homelessness in our community. 

How does MASSPIRG spend the funding it receives?

We use it all to tackle Massachusetts' biggest problems and win positive reform for the state. When you look at the things we've done- protect 58.5 million acres of forests, ban the most dangerous pesticides from daycares and schools, clean up the air all across the country - it's pretty clear that it's money well spent. The staff we hire and the campaigns we run do take resources, and with the challenges facing Massachusetts and the rest of the country over the next few years, you can be sure that our staff and students will use these resources to stand up to the special interests and win. Our clean water, our land use protections, consumer and student rights - they all rely on our ability to hire a crack team of experts and professionals to fight for students. 

Besides, polluting industries spend millions of dollars each year just on campaign contributions to elected officials (that doesn't include their lobbyists, their propaganda, their campaign ads, etc.).  A $9 fee every term is small change in comparison to what we're up against. 

That small change makes a big difference - they might spend tens of millions of dollars trying to avoid pollution regulations, but with the help of students here at UMass Dartmouth, we are able to protect our environment and public health. Student support gives us the opportunity to make a difference at the local, state and even national level. 

Where is the money spent?

Off and on campus, but mostly it goes to wherever MASSPIRG's resources will make a difference on the issues that students care about. The whole point of establishing MASSPIRG is to be able to have the resources to hire a staff of professionals - attorneys, researchers, organizers, and advocates - to work with students to fight against the special interests wherever they are trying to pollute the environment, rip-off consumers, or corrupt the democratic process. 

Why does MASSPIRG hire staff?

The problems that MASSPIRG undertakes are large, statewide, often national in scope. Staff are an important part of having an effective statewide organization. They bring expertise to students’ ideas and continuity to long-term student campaigns. 

Do students in each chapter decide what issues to work on?

Students decide on the campaigns that they want to work on both locally and at the statewide level.   Student can bring campaign ideas to the statewide board, where students from different chapters get together, to work on across the state. The problems that we face aren’t just local – everyone is fighting poverty, environmental destruction, and for affordable education across the state and the country.

Why does MASSPIRG work statewide?

The problems that Massachusetts faces do not only occur on campus. In order to clean up our waterways, protect our national forests or lower textbook prices our staff need to go to the decision makers all across the state and in Washington D.C. With statewide grassroots support as well as our staff tackling problems from Boston to the Berkshires, we are able to take on the special interests that create these problems and actually win for students and the public interest.