Portland State Vanguard Volume 75 Issue 21

VOLUME 75 • ISSUE 21 • JANUARY 12, 2021

CPSO CHIEF:

"POLICE

WORK

HAS TO CHANGE" P. 8–9

NEWS Murders of journalists in 2020 P. 4

ARTS & CULTURE “Heart in a blender song” creator and Twitter P. 12

OPINION Throw out your New Year’s resolutions P. 14

CONTENTS

COVER BY SAM PERSON

NEWS COVID-19 UPDATE

P. 3

NEW DATA SHOWS INCREASE IN MURDERS OF JOURNALISTS IN 2020

P. 4

TRUMP SUPPORTERS STORM THE CAPITOL

P. 5

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY GOOGLE WORKERS FORM UNION IN HISTORIC MILESTONE FOR THE TECH GIANT

INTERNATIONAL TURKISH-GERMAN “DREAM TEAM” BEHIND FIRST COVID-19 VACCINE

P. 6

ARTS & CULTURE THE HERO WE DESERVE

P. 12

CONTROVERSIAL BILL LEGALIZES ELECTIVE ABORTIONS IN ARGENTINA

P. 7

THE DARK SIDE OF DISNEY+

P. 13

MIGRANTS LEAVE FACING EXTREME WEATHER AFTER CAMP BURNS DOWN

P. 7

COVER CPSO CHIEF HALLIBURTON AND PRESIDENT PERCY DISCUSS REASONS FOR DELAYS IN DISARMAMENT

OPINION IN DEFENSE OF SWEATPANTS

P. 14

P. 8–9

SLEEPING APART TO STAY TOGETHER

P. 15

VIRTUAL EVENTS CALENDAR

P. 16

STAFF

EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Justin Grinnell MANAGING EDITOR Nick Townsend NEWS EDITORS Hanna Anderson Dylan Jefferies INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Karisa Yuasa SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Béla Kurzenhauser ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Morgan Troper OPINION EDITOR Nick Gatlin

ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings COPY CHIEF Sophie Concannon CONTRIBUTORS Conor Carroll Sean Bascom Aineias Engstrom Kat Leon Claire Plaster Mackenzie Streissguth Sierra Still PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Annie Schutz MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Olivia Lee

INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD

PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sam Person

A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood

DESIGNERS Farah Alkayed Sam Garcia Shannon Steed

STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher

DIS T RIBU TION DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Dylan Jefferies T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow Kahela Fickle George Olson John Rojas

STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com

MIS SION S TAT EMEN T Vanguard ’s mission is to serve the Portland State community with timely, accurate, comprehensive and critical content while upholding high journalistic standards. In the process, we aim to enrich our staff with quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills highly valued in today’s job market.

A BOU T Vanguard, established in 1946, is published weekly as an independent student newspaper governed by the PSU Student Media Board. Views and editorial content expressed herein are those of the staff, contributors and readers and do not necessarily represent

P. 10 P. 11

the PSU student body, faculty, staff or administration. Find us in print Tuesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.

COVID-19 UPDATE HANNA ANDERSON

TOTAL AT PSU AS OF JAN. 10: 33 CASES

10 December cases; 0 January cases Following 17 new cases in the month of November, 10 cases related to Portland State were reported in December: six from on-campus residents, three on-campus employees and one non-resident student. From December’s cases, on-campus exposures were identified, tested and quarantined. So far, no additional cases have been reported this month.

TOTAL IN OREGON AS OF JAN. 10: 125,683 CASES, 1,605 DEATHS

Total Vaccinations: 88,720 vaccines in progress, 4,081 fully vaccinated, 92,801 people total Oregon received its first wave of vaccine doses in December. In its first phase, vaccines were distributed to anyone who works in a healthcare setting, and then to residents and personnel of long-term care facilities. However, vaccinations in Oregon are lagging behind both the rest of the country and Oregon’s own goals. According to OPB, the Oregon Health Authority hoped to have 100,000 people vaccinated with at least the first dose before the end of December, a number the state has yet to achieve.

Oregon Governor Kate Brown stated on Jan. 4 her goal is to have 12,000 doses administered per day by the end of two weeks—however, according to OHA in an article by OPB, Oregon has struggled with distributing the vaccine, citing cuts to the amount of doses Oregon receives and inconsistent information from the federal government.

TOTAL IN THE U.S. AS OF JAN. 10: 22,321,995 CASES, 373,352 DEATHS Total vaccinations as of Jan. 8: 6,688,231 first doses administered

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NEWS

3

NEW DATA SHOWS INCREASE IN MURDERS OF JOURNALISTS IN 2020 CONOR CARROLL The number of journalists killed in retribution for their work “more than doubled” in 2020, a year when more reporters in known history were jailed by authoritarian governments, according to new data from the independent watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ).

According to the CPJ, 21 journalists were murdered due to their work—an increase of 11 from the previous year. The watchdog group also stated it is investigating at least 15 other deaths.

Between Jan. 1 and Dec. 15, 2020, at least 30 journalists were murdered around the world, CPJ reported. Organized crime groups were most often suspected, most notably in Mexico.

At least four journalists were targeted for murder in Mexico in 2020 and one more was gunned down while reporting from a crime scene. The CPJ is examining at least four other deaths as of December.

The report also indicates that, for journalists, political reporting has been the most dangerous kind. Only three journalists were killed in war zones. While reporting in Syria, they allegedly died in Russian airstrikes. This was the lowest number of journalists killed in combat locales since 2000.

The CPJ’s report further analyzed the number of journalists arrested around the world. In its annual calculation of incarcerated journalists, CPJ found at least 274 journalists worldwide were imprisoned, which was the highest in the nearly threedecade history of that census.

According to an article by TIME Magazine, in 2020 journalist Roohallah Zam from Iran was both imprisoned, and later, killed. Zam was abducted by Iranian opera-

tives—evidently from neighboring Iraq—imprisoned and then hanged on Dec. 12.

TIME further reported that, “Zam had spread information on demonstrations and otherwise embarrassed the Iranian government.” CPJ’s Executive Director, Joel Simon, said in an interview, “Zam’s killing is nothing but state-sponsored murder.”

Zam’s death was condemned by the Trump administration.

However, Simon notes, Trump and his administration have regularly openly attacked the mainstream media. Since his campaign and inauguration, Trump has routinely assaulted the news media in demonstrations, reactions to reporters’ inquiries and in numerous tweets.

Trump has frequently called the media a number of names, including “fake news,” “the enemy of the people,” “dishonest,” and “corrupt,” according to an article from the CPJ. While there have been no murders against journalists in Portland, the city has not been immune from other attacks on journalists, especially since the George Floyd protests that took place last year.

Stories of law enforcement mistreating reporters emerged from Portland amid Black Lives Matter protests on a consistent basis. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, officers routinely tear gassed and assaulted journalists.

A federal agent, in full military fatigues, knelt on

the back of Rian Dundon, a photojournalist on an assignment for the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

“Two other photojournalists—Jon House, of the Portland Tribune, and Alex Milan Tracy, who works for wire services—were struck by federal officers’ impact munitions,” the article stated.

“Mike Baker, who’s been covering the protests for the New York Times, reported that a federal agent punched him in the head.”

The Daily, a New York Times podcast narrated by Michael Barbaro, featured a report from Baker in which he can be heard choking on tear gas.

According to OPB, in late June of 2020, the Portland Police Bureau had arrested three reporters—Cory Elia and Lesley McLam, podcast hosts at the community radio station KBOO, and Justin Yau, a freelancer—in a single night.

The CPJ has called on President-elect Joe Biden to rebuild the U.S. practice of championing the freedom of expression by appointing a special envoy for press freedom and by supporting the 1st amendment right of journalists both at home and abroad.

SAM GARCIA

4

NEWS

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TRUMP SUPPORTERS STORM THE CAPITOL PROTESTERS STORM THE CAPITOL IN WASHINGTON, D.C. JOHN MINCHILLO/AP PHOTO

CONOR CARROLL On Wednesday, January 6, thousands of Trump supporters—including the Proud Boys, 3 Percenters and QAnon members—descended upon the Capitol and broke into the Houses of Congress. The attack was the first on the Capitol in over 200 years, and left five people dead.

The last time the United States Capitol was overrun, albeit by a foreign power, was in 1814, during the War of 1812, when British troops nearly burned Washington D.C to the ground.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle have cited U.S. President Donald Trump’s insurrectionist rhetoric the morning of the riots as inciting violence and rioting. Trump stated, “We’re going to have to fight much harder, and Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us,” alluding to Pence’s refusal to invalidate the election during that day’s hearing where congress would make his loss official.

“You’ll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength. You have to be strong,” he added during the speech, where he asserted long debunked lies regarding president-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election being “the product of fraud.”

The Department of Justice, former Attorney General Bill Barr, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) all stated in a joint statement unequivocally that there has been no substantial voter fraud on any level during the 2020 elections. The DHS stated “2020 was the most secure election in American history.”

Despite these assertions, Trump, and the politicians and civilians that support him, have claimed that “the election was

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rigged,” with organizations like Stop the Steal insisting that supporters of the outgoing president must protest the results and halt the process of confirming Joe Biden as President-elect.

There have been four civilian deaths related to the riot so far, including Ashli Babbitt, an air force veteran who was shot in the neck by Capitol police while she and others were trying to force their way into the building. Two Capitol police officers have also died: Brian Sicknick, who died Thursday of injuries sustained at the riot, and Howard Liebengood, who died by suicide Saturday after responding to the rioting at the Capitol.

In addition to the deaths, rioters vandalized Congress. They spread feces on the walls throughout Congress, smeared blood on marble statues and stole and destroyed Congressional members’ personal property.

Several politicians and journalists have noted that pictures and videos have surfaced that show Capitol police opening barriers and gates, waving protesters into the buildings, with some authorities even taking selfies with the rioters.

The Capitol police have maintained they were simply overwhelmed by the sheer number of people rushing the barricades and buildings.

The Pentagon was slow to respond to Wednesday’s events.

According to reports, Trump’s new officials within the Pentagon blocked requests from D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser to utilize the National Guard to contain what had been seen as a potentially dangerous gathering of protesters. They continued blocking it, even as senators and representatives also began requesting support from the federal government.

The Washington Post reported Bowser had made multiple requests for National Guard support to assist in suppressing a crowd that was expected to contain “a large number of white supremacists and armed militia.”

In a pair of memos issued in reaction to the request, the Pentagon obstructed the distribution of weapons or riot gear to the D.C. guard, prohibited them from interacting with protestors, and thwarted the guard’s ability to share equipment with local law enforcement, according to further analysis by The Washington Post.

Regardless of the reasoning behind such refusals by the Pentagon, the lack of personnel clearly contributed to the devastation inflicted by the rioters. Despite this, late into the evening, Congress eventually certified President-elect Joe Biden.

After legislators were able to return to Congress after the riot, one of Trump’s most staunch supporters, former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, addressed the riots on the Senate floor: “The voters, the courts, and the states have all spoken…If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.”

As of Saturday, January 9, the majority of social media and internet platforms have banned Trump, his campaign and farright extremist message boards such as Parler in response to Wednesday’s events at the capitol.

Also in response to Wednesday’s events, House Democrats introduced articles of impeachment against Trump for a second time Monday, accusing the president of “high crimes and misdemeanors” for his role in inciting the riot.

NEWS

5

TURKISH-GERMAN “DREAM TEAM” BEHIND FIRST COVID-19 VACCINE DISTRIBUTION OF THE PFIZER-BIONTECH COVID-19 VACCINE. MORRIS MAC MATZEN/AP PHOTO AINEIAS ENGSTROM In recent weeks, the approval and rollout of several vaccines has raised hopes of mitigating and eventually overcoming the global COVID-19 pandemic, which has cost the lives of nearly 2 million people and changed the world in a profound way throughout the past year.

The rapid development of vaccines designed to protect against the virus has been hailed as “astonishing” by public health experts such as Dr. Barry R. Bloom, former dean of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic “triggered the fastest and most wide-reaching response to a global health emergency in human history,” said World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “Vaccines offer great hope to turn the tide of the pandemic. We must ensure that all people at risk everywhere, not just in countries who can afford vaccines, are immunized.”

At the forefront of what could become the greatest scientific success story of the 21st century are the founders of the German biotechnology company BioNTech, Özlem Türeci and Uğur Şahin. In partnership with the American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, the married couple led the research effort that produced the first COVID-19 vaccine used in the United States and the European Union.

This remarkable feat wasn’t the first time that Türeci and Şahin defied the odds. Long before their quest to defeat COVID-19 turned them into an internationally recognized “dream team” of science, the two trailblazers overcame prejudice and discrimination to build successful careers in the biotechnology sector.

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INTERNATIONAL

The now-billionaires both grew up in the Turkish immigrant community that primarily occupies the bottom rungs of the socioeconomic spectrum in Germany. The German census does not gather data on ethnicity, however according to estimates, somewhere between 4–7 million people with Turkish roots, or 5–9% of the population, live in Germany.

Many of them, including Türeci and Şahin, are the children of guest workers who immigrated to West Germany between 1961–73 as part of a bilateral recruitment agreement with Turkey.

These workers often mitigated labor shortages during the “economic miracle” that spurred Germany’s economic recovery after World War II, yet negative stereotypes about the country’s largest ethnic minority are rampant.

Turkish-German children suffer from discrimination in primary school grading and adults face more difficult prospects in the job market. In the political arena, outright racist mockery by far-right politicians is accompanied by more mainstream debates in the political center about the “loyalty” of people with dual citizenship and the success or failure of immigrants’ “integration” into German culture.

“In Germany, where you come from still plays a major role in determining where you’re going to go,” said Cem Özdemir, the first child of a guest worker elected to the German parliament in 1994, according to The New York Times. “I know from my own experiences that with a Turkish name, you will always have to do better, be watched closer.”

In addition to everyday discrimination, Turkish Germans have also been targeted by neo-Nazi terrorists. Between

2000–2007, an underground terrorist cell committed a series of murders, primarily of ethnically Turkish small business owners. Severe investigative failures by police and intelligence agencies delayed prosecution of the killings until 2013.

Amnesty International cited these failures as evidence for institutional racism in German law enforcement.

In the wake of these hate crimes and the broad landscape of discrimination, Türeci and Şahin’s success is “balm for the battered Turkish soul,” according to columnist Hatice Akyün.

“Many people with Turkish roots not only feel recognition for the work of the scientists, they also feel pride that two Turkish names are now associated with the vaccine.”

“We are incredibly proud to have such researchers in our country,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said in a meeting with Türeci and Şahin. “When we see how many people are currently dying from the coronavirus, then we know how many lives this can save.”

Volkan Agar, a journalist for another German newspaper, wrote he, too, felt “pride” while also criticizing media coverage of the scientists’ feat. Many German outlets had portrayed Türeci and Şahin as poster child migrants and examples of successful integration.

The coverage, according to Agar, “showed that the recognition of these people in Germany is tied to conditions: only a migrant who accomplishes a lot is a good migrant.” He cautioned that “as long as we are not primarily happy about the good deed itself, but happy that it was accomplished by people from migrant and worker families, we have a lot of work to do in this country.”

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CONTROVERSIAL BILL LEGALIZES ELECTIVE ABORTIONS IN ARGENTINA

ABOVE: PEOPLE CELEBRATE CONGRESS PASSING A BILL THAT LEGALIZES ABORTION IN ARGENTINA. NATACHA PISARENKO/AP PHOTO

KARISA YUASA After 12 hours of deliberation, Argentina became the largest Latin American country to legalize elective abortions on December 30.

This came two years after a failed attempt by pro-choice activists to pass a similar law.

Prior to the passing of the bill, abortions were only legal in cases that presented serious harm to the life of the mother and instances of rape.

The new law allows for free and legal abortions up until the 14th week for any reason.

“Safe, legal and free abortion is now the law,” President Alberto Fernández wrote in a tweet following the vote. “Today, we are a better society that expands women’s rights and guarantees public health.”

According to BBC, the bill—referred to as the “1000-Day Plan”—also intends to provide better healthcare for pregnant women and mothers with young children.

In the region, only Uruguay, Cuba, Guyana and parts of Mexico allow women to request an abortion, each with varying degrees of restrictions.

Abortions are completely banned in El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

“Adopting a law that legalizes abortion in a Catholic country as big as Argentina will energize the struggle to ensure women’s rights in Latin America,” said Juan Pappier, a senior researcher on the Americas at Human Rights Watch, according to Reuters.

The passing of the law continues to face backlash as the region is heavily influenced by the Catholic church. The current pope, Pope Francis, himself from Argentina, spoke out against the decision in a tweet prior to the vote, writing “the son of God was born discarded to tell us that every person discarded is a child of God.”

MIGRANTS LEAVE FACING EXTREME WEATHER AFTER CAMP BURNS DOWN KARISA YUASA

The pro-life sentiment was heard from the oppostion within the country and surounding areas.

“The interruption of a pregnancy is a tragedy.

It abruptly ends another developing life,” said Senator Inés Blas, who voted against the law.

“I deeply regret for the lives of Argentinian children, now subject to being ended in the bellies of their mothers with the State’s agreement.

If it depends on me and my administration, abortion will never be approved on our soil,” Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted.

Argentina’s Fernández argued that the decision was based on public health, according to Reuters. Argentina’s health ministry reported that over 3000 have died from illegal and unsafe abortions between 1983–2018.

“I’m Catholic, but I have to legislate for everyone,” Fernández said.

“This has been a struggle for many years, many women died,” said Vilma Ibarra, technical secretary for the president. “Never again will there be a woman killed in a clandestine abortion.”

Some see this change as a starting point to the possibility of moving the country and region as a whole in a more liberal, progressive direction.

“We’re going through a shift in paradigm, and this change is led by the feminist and environmental fights,” said Senator Silvina García Larraburu, who voted against legalization in 2018 but for it in 2021. “Beyond my personal position, of my beliefs, we are faced with a problem that requires a public health approach.”

“Although there will certainly be resistance, I think it’s fair to predict that, as it occurred when Argentina legalized same sex marriage in 2010, this new law could have a domino effect in the region,” Pappier said.”

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Hundreds of migrants started moving into heated tents on Friday after being left stranded in freezing temperatures when the migrant camp in Lipa was closed then mostly destroyed by a fire last month.

The Lipa camp was originally built as temporary shelter for migrants in Bosnia— many of whom are seeking passage to the European Union.

“This camp was built earlier this year in response to over-crowding and unsuitable conditions elsewhere,” said Peter Van der Auweraert, International Organization for Migration’s Chief of Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“For several reasons, mostly political, it never got connected to the main water or electricity supply, and was never winterized. And now, with this fire, it never will be.”

On December 23, the destruction of the camp left 1400 people without shelter in the harsh winter climate.

“Snow has fallen, sub-zero temperatures, no heating, nothing,” Van der Auweraert wrote in a tweet. “This is not how anyone should live.

We need political bravery and action now.”

“What concerns us is that many have said they will go to Sarajevo or Velika Kladuza [further north], but we already know that there is zero additional capacity at any of the shelters for single males,” Van der Auweraert said.

“This is likely to drive people to move closer to the border.”

On Dec. 30, hundreds of migrants loaded busses heading towards former army barracks in Bradina. However, due to protests by residents, 24 hours later, migrants were returned to the campsite.

MIGRANTS WAIT IN LINES FOR FOOD HANDOUTS DURING A SNOWFALL AT THE LIPA CAMP. KEMAL SOFTIC/AP PHOTO Approximately 500 people remained at the old site in makeshift shelters.

“The situation is completely unacceptable,” said EU Special Representative to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Johann Sattler. “Lives and basic human rights of many hundreds of people are seriously jeopardized. Bosnia and Herzegovina is party to international human rights instruments and needs to live up to its obligations, as an aspiring EU member.”

“The structures still existing at the location are unsafe and at risk of collapsing, as snowfalls continue,” the Danish Refugee Council stated. “With no heating at the site, frostbite, hypothermia and other severe health problems are already being reported by those stranded at the location.”

Migrants were forced to create shelter with whatever was available: some put cardboard on the ground and set up small privacy barriers, while others put their feet above an open fire to warm up.

“We are living like animals. Even animals are living better than us!” said a man from Pakistan, Kasim, as reported by Al Jazeera.

“If they [do] not help us, we will die, so please help us.”

Only 20 new heated tents were built by the Bosnian armed forces, but not enough to give shelter to all remaining migrants in the foul weather. The goal was to house 850 migrants in the new tents by Jan. 9.

“Many days go and I didn’t take a shower, and we don’t have electricity,” Mohammad Afsal said, as reported by France 24. “Please stand with us and help us. We are in a very, very bad condition!”

INTERNATIONAL

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CPSO CHIEF HALLIBURTON AND PRESIDENT PERCY DISCUSS REASONS FOR DELAYS IN DISARMAMENT CHIEF WILLIE HALLIBURTON OF PSU CAMPUS PUBLIC SAFETY. / THE PSU POLICE ARM PATCH ON AN OFFICER’S UNIFORM. SEAN BASCOM/PSU VANGUARD

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COVER

DYLAN JEFFERIES According to Chief of Campus Public Safety Willie Halliburton, despite having to delay disarming campus security, officers who hold the rank of lieutenant or higher began patrolling unarmed on Jan. 1, and all other officers will start patrolling firearm-free by the end of the academic year.

“I’d like to confirm my deepest steadfast commitment to unarmed patrols here at PSU,” Halliburton said. “It will happen. It will happen this academic school year.”

In August, the university announced plans to disarm its campus security after years of activism from students and faculty calling on the university to do so, especially after campus security shot and killed Jason Washington, a Black man, at a bar near campus in 2018.

The initial announcement in August stated officers would begin unarmed patrols in the fall. However, due to staffing and administrative challenges, that goal was not met.

The Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) held a virtual town hall with Halliburton, President Stephen Percy, General Counsel Cindy Starke and Associate Vice President of Global Diversity and Inclusion Julie Caron on Dec. 11. The panelists answered questions from PSU community members about the decision to disarm campus security, and why the initial projection that officers would begin patrolling firearm-free in the fall had to be delayed.

The town hall was held in an effort to increase transparency between PSU administration and the campus community around the issue of campus safety.

“There’s probably been no issue that has been more challenging than campus public safety over the last six years,” Percy said in his opening remarks.

“Transparency on this issue of public safety, I believe, is vitally important.”

According to Percy, the university is still committed to working towards unarmed patrols, despite experiencing unexpected delays.

“For centuries, American policing has disproportionately targeted and perpetuated violence against people of color, particularly Black people,” Percy said.

“We have an opportunity and an obligation to change these patterns at PSU.” In his opening remarks, Halliburton also emphasized his ongoing commitment to disarming CPSO. “I know that you can operate an effective and compassionate police force without weapons; in fact, I think it is the best way to go, especially here at PSU,” Halliburton said. “I also believe that PSU should have its own police force, with officers who understand our culture and the uniqueness of our culture.”

After their opening remarks, the panelists answered various questions from PSU community members.

Who are the campus safety stakeholders regarding the decision to disarm campus safety officers, and how are they connected?

According to Percy, two committees play an important role regarding campus safety: The University Public Safety Oversight Committee (UPSOC), and the Rei-

magining Campus Public Safety Committee.

UPSOC, which was created along with PSU’s sworn police department in 2014, is responsible for overseeing CPSO’s processes and for making recommendations to CPSO to help them best serve the community.

The Reimagining Campus Public Safety Committee, a newly created ad hoc committee, is responsible for making recommendations to CPSO as it moves towards unarmed patrols. Both committees are composed of students, faculty and community members.

According to Caron, who serves as the chair of UPSOC, UPSOC is committed to diversity and equity, and is responsible for reviewing changes to policies and procedures, vetting new officers and for giving recommendations to CPSO, among other things.

“We take the oversight really seriously,” Caron said.

“We will be vetting copies of the policy for the changes that will be made to patrolling, but we have been evaluating policies and procedures in the past as well, and we always use an equity lens when we’re looking at the policies to see how is this impacting people in a disproportionate manner, and to find ways that we can improve the policy so that they won’t be impacting individuals or groups of people disproportionately.”

According to Percy, the Reimagining Campus Public Safety Committee is responsible for conducting research throughout the year, and for ultimately bringing a set of recommendations to CPSO to help them best serve the needs of PSU. “The Reimagining Campus Public Safety Committee

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[is] a special committee appointed with the express purpose of creating a plan to reimagine how we will deliver campus public safety at PSU,” Percy said.

Additionally, Percy said he is working with the Board of Trustees in order to “keep them informed of every step...towards the goal of building an approach to public safety at PSU that does several things, including addresses systemic racism, recognizes the diversity of our community, and honors our dedication to human dignity.”

After new officers are hired and trained, policies and procedures updated, as well as everything else that led to the delay in disarmament, the Reimagining Campus Safety Committee will review all of the changes, make necessary recommendations, and then disband. UPSOC will continue to provide training and oversight for CPSO indefinitely.

What specifically has led to delays in the disarmament of CPSO? Staff turnover caused significant delays, according to Halliburton.

Shortly after the decision to disarm was announced, two sworn officers retired, and a third resigned.

“I did not expect for my officers to depart immediately after that decision was made,” Haliburton said. “It just goes to show that even though we had officers leave, it did not deter our goal.”

Despite the setback, Halliburton also saw this as an opportunity.

“The change in personnel may have set us back in terms of our timeline, but it also created an opportunity to recruit those special individuals who want to do this kind of police work,” Halliburton said. “When we have completed this process, we will have a police agency composed of officers who believe in the concept of unarmed patrols, and will be working with policies and training that supports this groundbreaking shift in police work.”

In addition to staffing issues, hundreds of pages of policies and procedures need to be updated to account for unarmed officers, a process that the panelists said they were hoping to have accomplished by the end of January. CPSO is also in the process of establishing new procedures with the Portland Police Bureau, whose relationship with CPSO will change when CPSO begins patrolling unarmed. Additionally, an external legal review needs to be conducted, and the Reimagining Campus Public Safety Committee and UPSOC will need to approve any new changes.

“We embarked on this process with a great deal of optimism and excitement about starting a new chapter in campus public safety,” Percy said. “We frankly underestimated all of the hurdles.”

“We were all ambitious at first because we thought it could happen by the end of fall, but then when we actually started to create this work, we realized there’s no one we can look to,” said ASPSU President Motu Sipelii. “We’re creating something from scratch. Moving forward, we are being very intentional, and we want to get the right team. We want to do this right.”

According to Halliburton, despite the delays, he believes the decision was made at the right time.

“When we made the decision back in August of this year, I think it needed to be made at that time, because I didn’t want

our community to hurt any longer,” Halliburton said. “We did not anticipate these roadblocks, but they’re here, and we’re focusing on them first and foremost.”

Why can’t CPSO immediately disarm?

According to Starke, a statute was passed in 2019 called Kaylee’s Law that altered the landscape of campus security in Oregon.

Because of that law, there is no legal route for PSU to remove its sworn police officers.

According to Starke, PSU is one of the first universities, if not the only one in the country, that has decided to disarm its campus security. Because of this, there is no legal playbook to turn to, and so extra precautions are being taken to protect both the safety of officers and the university from lawsuits.

“We’re really creating something completely new here, and we’re going to be a model for others to follow,” Starke said. “As a result of that, we’re developing policies and practices from scratch. We don’t have somebody else to look to to see how they’ve done it. That’s an enormous task, and we’re working hard on it. We’re working with outside experts to help us get it right, because it’s very critical to get it right.”

Halliburton underscored Starke’s point, saying, “There’s no playbook I can pick up and say, oh, this is how you do this. This is new.” He continued, “All I can rely on is talking to people out there who trust in my guidance, first of all, who believe in police work, who believe that police work can be different. It has to be different for our future. It has to change.”

How was the decision to disarm campus security made? Can the decision be reversed?

According to Percy, the decision to disarm campus security was mostly up to Halliburton and CPSO. During the summer, as Black Lives Matter protests swept the country advocating for police reform—including at the doorstep of CPSO—Halliburton went to Percy with his decision to disarm, “and I supported it very strongly and I thought it definitely something we ought to be doing,” Percy said.

“When we made the announcement back in August, you’ve got to remember where we were as a country, and most importantly as a city,” Halliburton said. “We were hurting. People were hurting. We made the decision based on our environment.

People wanted change. Portland State wanted change. This decision was made not only to show the city of Portland, but to show our country, that law enforcement is willing to make the change. We want a better community relationship with law enforcement within the community. So we made that announcement a bit early in some people’s judgement. But the reality is it was the perfect timing to make that announcement to start that healing process, not only for PSU, not only for the city of Portland, but for this country.”

But as to whether or not the decision can be reversed? Percy said that new laws and policies can change anything, and so the decision could theoretically be reversed. However, Percy said that there is no consideration of reversing the decision at this time.

TWO PSU POLICE OFFICERS POSE IN FRONT OF THE CAMPUS PUBLIC SAFETY OFFICE. SEAN BASCOM/PSU VANGUARD

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

Why didn’t PSU check HR and other legal policies before announcing the decision to disarm?

“At the time we decided to disarm, we thought the feelings and concerns on campus were very deep, and we felt it was important to begin to move forward as quickly as possible on this pathway and announce that to people so they knew we were listening and that we were trying to create change,” Percy said. “So rather than do a lot of legal research and other kinds of analysis to do that, we announced it and said we would work as quickly as possible as we can to make sure that the unarmed patrols can actually work for the force.”

According to Starke, at the time the decision was announced, PSU lacked the legal expertise to adequately assess the legal hurdles.

“We’re higher-ed lawyers in our office,” Starke said. “We don’t have the expertise to really feel confident that we can do this without help from outside experts, and it was a lot more challenging than we expected to find outside experts who were willing to help with a change like this because it’s so groundbreaking, and who had the willingness, the interest and the expertise to be able to do it.”

Since then, according to Starke, PSU has begun working with extra legal counsel concerning disarmament. “We have someone on board now who we have great confidence in,” she said.

What are CPSO’s plans in case of an active shooter situation, or other firearm-related emergencies?

According to Halliburton, despite being disarmed, campus security officers will still be able to do everything a sworn officer can do, such as making arrests and investigating crimes. Officers will also carry non-lethal weapons, such as tasers. Additionally, weapons will be available in the CPSO office for certain situations.

Halliburton also stressed CPSO’s relationship with other law enforcement agencies. “The policies we’re creating, they’re policies meant to protect this campus, meaning that, if there’s a call with weapons involved, or something more than we can handle being unarmed, PPB is ready to respond to those calls,” Halliburton said. “Right now, PPB does the same thing.”

As far as an active shooter situation, Halliburton said, “Every agency in this area is trained active shooter-wise. If something were to happen here at PSU, I can guarantee you there would be agencies as far as Salem, Oregon responding to our location.”

In what ways can CPSO seek partners and guidance outside of law enforcement?

Halliburton is eager to work with other schools at PSU to provide comprehensive training for CPSO officers in a variety of fields, including the Schools of Social Work, Psychology and others.

“We intend to reach out within our university here to receive more training. The Center for Student Health Counseling, they do it on a weekly basis already. So yes, we want to do it and we look forward to it, and it’s one of the criteria we want to have here at PSU to have our community involved in our training as well.”

Caron added, “That’s what UPSOC is reviewing, is what kind of evidence based training we recommend to CPSO that are outside of the standard training that is happening that are not necessarily coming from other police forces.”

Percy also brought up PSU’s new safety ambassadors, a group of graduate and undergraduate students who patrol campus in groups of two who talk to community members and report suspicious behavior.

Halliburton also discussed PSU’s new physical security manager, who is responsible for assessing PSU’s campus and reporting to CPSO where new lights and cameras should be installed to increase safety. Money has been allocated to install both items in the parking garages, where a majority of thefts on campus occur, according to Percy.

Closing Statements Halliburton remarked towards the end of the event about the officers at CPSO who he said made the decision to disarm possible.

“I’d like to congratulate our officers, the men and women of this department who agreed to work in this fashion,” Halliburton said. “We made the decision to do something a little different, and the officers who are here now are a big part of that decision because they decided to do it as well. I commend those officers, and I commend the families of those officers. That’s a huge step.

I just want people to understand that they are a major part of this decision and a major part of how we move forward with this decision.”

Further updates about CPSO will be provided by the PSU administration as changes are made, according to Percy.

COVER

9

THIS WEEK 2

around the

WORLD

Jan. 3–9

4 1 3

5

1 January 3

PAKISTAN

11 ethnic Hazaras were killed in a targeted attack in Mach, Pakistan, according to security officials. Following the attack, protests and demonstrations occurred across the country.

According to Reuters, hundreds of Hazara have been killed in the country over the last decade in attacks by Pakistani Sunni Muslim militant groups and Islamic State militants. In Quetta, demonstrators held a multi-day vigil alongside the coffins of the victims, blocking a highway. Protesters have asked Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit the site, dissolve the provincial government there and find and punish the people responsible.

“These people were slaughtered simply for being Hazara,” said Zainab Akbary, a student in Quetta who took part in the protests against the recent killings, as reported by Al Jazeera.

2

January 6

GREECE

Despite government restrictions and warnings from health experts about the spread of COVID-19, Orthodox churches drew large crowds to celebrate Epiphany. Although churches have been supportive of restrictions due to the pandemic, Synod leaders wrote to the government prior to the services saying there was no justification for preventing Epiphany services. “State orders are one thing and

10

INTERNATIONAL

faith is another,” said an Epiphany service attendee outside of Athens as reported by Al Jazeera. “No law can order us what to do.”

3

January 6

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

President Luis Abinader signed a bill that outlawed childhood marriages on Jan. 7. “The president promulgates law number 1-21, which eliminates child marriage in the Dominican territory and decree 1-21 that declares of high national interest the articulation of a State policy to combat violence against women, adolescents and girls,” a statement from the office of the president stated. Government data shows over one third of women in the Dominican Republic aged 20–24 were married or in an informal union before they were 18. “Our girls and adolescents will be protected...and cannot be forced into marriage in their childhood or adolescence, which in the past was often carried out by parents and legally allowed,” said Sonia Hernandez, an associate director at the International Justice mission, as reported by Reuters.

4

January 8

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

A South Korean court ordered Japan to compensate 12 surviving comfort women—a term used to describe women forced to provide sex to Japanese troops during their colonial rule. According to Reuters, the lower court ordered Japan to pay each of the women

100 million won ($91,000). “They said it’s never enough even if Japan pays tens of times more, but they don’t put much meaning on compensation,” said Kim Dae-wol, a shelter official, about the plaintiffs who were still healthy enough to follow the case. “They just want Japan to apologise and let more of its people know, so that there will no longer be such war crimes.” Japanese officials have rejected the validity of the ruling. “This lawsuit should be rejected,” Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said. “The comfort women issue between Japan and South Korea…has already been resolved completely and definitely. Our country will never accept this ruling.”

5

January 9

WEST JAVA, INDONESIA

Landslides in the Cihanjuang village have killed at least 11 people and have left at least 18 others injured, according to officials. “The first landslide was triggered by high rainfall and unstable soil conditions,” said Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management spokesman, Raditya Jati.

“The subsequent landslide occurred while officers were still evacuating victims around the first landslide area.” The list of victims includes the head of a local disaster relief agency and an Indonesian army captain working to rescue people from the first landslide when the second hit, according to The New York Times.

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

GOOGLE HEADQUARTERS. COURTESY OF FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

GOOGLE WORKERS LEAD HISTORIC TECH UNION THE MOVE REPRESENTS A FIRST FOR THE GLOBAL TECH GIANT

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

BÉLA KURZENHAUSER Hundreds of employees and workers at Google announced Monday, Jan. 4 that they had launched a union for the first time in the company’s history. After years of criticism leveled against the tech giant regarding government contracts, employee diversity and treatment of sexual misconduct cases, both salaried employees and contractors have kickstarted the Alphabet Workers Union (AWU) to ask for better ethical decisions at the company. CBS reported 226 employees of Google, its parent company Alphabet and Alphabet’s other subsidiaries were signed with the union as of Jan. 4.

Employee discontent has simmered at Google for the last few years. A November 2018 New York Times article reported Google left several senior executives accused of sexual misconduct with hefty severance packages, culminating in a walkout that had 20,000 Alphabet employees from around the globe protesting Google’s role in silencing allegations within the company.

Two weeks later, 740 Google employees signed and published a Medium article asking for the company to drop Project Dragonfly, a search engine designed for the Chinese market that would be compatible with state security and censorship measures. Eight months later, Google executive Karan Bhatia announced the project had been terminated.

Google announced in March 2018 it was working with the United States Pentagon on Project Maven, an artificial intelligence research project designed to assist the U.S. with reviewing drone footage and increasing the effectiveness of military drones. Over 3,000 Google employees published an open letter stating that “Google should not be in the business of war,” and “Project Maven should be cancelled.” Two months later. the BBC reported Google had decided not to renew its contract with the Pentagon on Project Maven.

In the years since Google’s historic walkout, employees at other major tech companies have pushed for better working conditions and company ethics. In October 2020, employees at video game developer Blizzard Entertainment called for a strike following the closure of the company’s studio located in Versailles, France, resulting in the loss of 285 jobs. Last month, Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier reported disgruntled developers at the Poland-based video game development studio CD Projekt Red aired frustrations at management following the floun-

dered launch of their new game Cyberpunk 2077 and years of “crunch” or unpaid overtime.

As tech companies grow larger and play a more prevalent part in not only daily life but in politics and society, concerns regarding the power such companies have continue to grow. Alphabet Workers Union Executive Chair Parul Koul and Vice Chair Chewy Shaw published an open letter on AWU’s mission to The New York Times on Jan. 4, in which they stated “we’d had enough.”

“For a handful of wealthy executives, this discrimination and unethical working environment are working as intended, at the cost of workers with less institutional power, especially Black, brown, queer, trans, disabled, and female workers,” Koul and Shaw wrote. “We are the workers who built Alphabet. We want Alphabet to be a company where workers have a meaningful say in decisions that affect us and the societies we live in.”

AWU’s formation comes just a month after Google’s firing of Timnit Gebru, co-leader of Google’s Ethical A.I. team. “I was fired by [Google executive Jeff Dean] for my email to Brain women and Allies,” Gebru wrote in a tweet on Dec. 2. In their letter, Koul and Shaw stated Gebru’s firing resulted from her research that was “critical of large-scale A.I. models and...critical of existing diversity and inclusion efforts.”

As stated in the mission statement on their website, AWU is dedicated to representing all employees of Google, not just salaried full-time employees, but also vendors, contractors and temp employees. “This is historic—the first union at a major tech company by and for all tech workers,” said Alphabet software engineer Dylan Baker in an AWU press release on Jan. 4.

“We’ve seen first-hand that Alphabet responds when we act collectively,” said Program Manager Nicki Anselmo in the same press release. “Our new union provides a sustainable structure to ensure that our shared values as Alphabet employees are respected even after the headlines fade.”

Although AWU only has 226 employees of Alphabet’s 130,000 total, its foundation represents an important milestone in the fight for workers rights and ethical development in a field otherwise awash with the glitz and glam of Silicon Valley.

“When Google went public in 2004, it said it would be a company that ‘does good things for the world even if we forgo some short-term gains.’ Its motto used to be ‘Don’t be evil’,” Koul and Shaw said. “We will live by that motto.”

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

11

THE DARK SIDE OF DISNEY+

THE REALLY BAD MOVIES ON EVERYONE’S NEW FAVORITE STREAMING PLATFORM

MORGAN TROPER Disney+ quickly established itself as the preeminent video streaming platform for children, parents and childless adults with an affinity for children’s entertainment. Though it initially gained swaths of subscribers through its exclusive airing of The Mandalorian—the Star Wars spin-off serial that we’ve previously rattled on about in breathless, extremely nerdy detail—Disney+ is also home to some of the biggest blockbusters and blockbuster franchises of the last several decades. That includes all the Marvel Cinematic Universe films, all of the Star Wars films, every Pixar feature film, every Simpsons season and all of Disney’s animated features from virtually every Disney epoch. It will also be the first digital distributor to premiere Peter Jackson’s upcoming Beatles documentary-slash-treatise on adult male social dysfunction, Get Back. Perhaps the only obvious blind spot in the service’s huge catalog are the Miyazaki movies, which are supposedly migrating to rival service HBO Max instead. Either way, Netflix—with its phoned-in documentaries and revolving door of comedy specials and ‘90s action films—can hardly keep up.

But not everything available for stream on Disney+ is excellent. In fact, there are some real clunkers on there. Over the winter break, I made a point to explore the clammy, uncharted recesses of everyone’s new favorite streaming platform, much to the chagrin of my partner and possibly neighbors (Thin walls.) Here’s some of the garbage I found!

pentalogy. 1997’s Home Alone 3 was the last film in the series to receive a theatrical release, and it’s the last entry that is in any way associated with John Hughes. But don’t for a second assume that means this film is at all worthwhile. Macaulay Culkin’s iconic portrayal of little wise-ass Kevin McCallister has been swapped for new protagonist Alex Pruitt, a wunderkind with even less natural charisma than Young Anakin.

John Hughes’ early drafts for the film supposedly focused on the misadventures of a teenaged Kevin McCallister, which sounds like a really awesome premise. Unfortunately, when production on the film began, Culkin wasn’t picking up acting work and knowing full well that another actor couldn’t credibly play the role of Kevin, Hughes sketched up this shoddy reboot disguised as a sequel instead.

Does it have any redeeming qualities?

Home Alone 3 was, fittingly, the directorial debut from careerist family-friendly filmmaker Raja Gosnell, who would go on to tackle hits like The Smurfs and Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

For fans of strange and somewhat obscure ‘90s pop culture ephemera, I’d recommend at least skimming this film or adding it to your B-movie Zoom night queue. There’s something quintessentially late ‘90s about Home Alone 3 and some people aren’t even aware it exists. Just don’t expect a particularly good film.

THE HAUNTED MANSION (2003)

I haven’t seen all of these, but I’ve seen enough to know how pointless Disney’s new obsession with remaking all of their golden age animated classics is. It’s impossible to tell if these films are intended for millennial nostalgists or young children who aren’t familiar with the original versions; either way, they pale in comparison.

Do they have any redeeming qualities?

At best, these films will just want to make you rewatch the animated originals. Jon Favreau’s VFX tech demo-y interpretation of The Lion King is maybe the most watchable of the bunch, but it’s still way less kinetic and colorful than the gorgeous, hand-drawn 1994 original. Plus, it’s bizarre watching these realistic-looking animals sing Elton John songs.

After Disney successfully extended the events from a Disney theme park ride into a full-length film with Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003, it cockily attempted to repeat that winning formula with The Haunted Mansion later that same year. Unfortunately, this movie is terrible, but some of that might have to do with the source material. It’s easy to see how the Pirates of the Caribbean ride could stoke a screenwriter’s imagination and serve as a springboard for a sprawling narrative—the claustrophobic Haunted Mansion ride, not so much.

Haunted Mansion mainly suffers from a dull, plodding pace and an uncharacteristically conservative performance from star Eddie Murphy. Moreover, it has this weird, hyper-reverence for the ride itself, which suggests the filmmakers were more interested in being self-referential than creating an atmosphere that is at all scary or convincing—it starts to feel like the movie was literally shot on location at Disneyland.

The equivalent would be if every character in Pirates of the Caribbean who wasn’t Will Turner or Captain Jack Sparrow was portrayed by a mechatronic puppet.

Does it have any redeeming qualities?

Not really—this movie is pretty thoroughly bad, barring some neat cameos from Wallace Shawn and Terence Stamp. It’s neither scary nor funny, and it’s not even endearing in a kitschy way. Additionally, it marks the point where Eddie Murphy began his slow drift towards B-star territory. Recommended for insatiable Eddie-heads only.

HOME ALONE 3 (1997)

Unbeknownst to many who didn’t live through the madefor-television era, the Home Alone movies actually form a

12

ARTS & CULTURE

DISNEY’S SUITE OF LIVE ACTION AND CG REMAKES

STAR WARS: THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (2019)

This one is by no means obscure, but a list of the worst films on Disney+ wouldn’t be complete without a mention of The Rise of Skywalker, the worst film in the entire franchise by far and one of the worst sequels in cinematic history. What more is there to be said?

Does it have any redeeming qualities?

In the context of the broader Star Wars narrative, The Rise of Skywalker’s existence is barely even justifiable—it does a pitiful job of tying up loose ends and its conclusion is a piss-poor retread of Return of the Jedi. Basically, there is nothing you will learn from this film that you couldn’t already glean from the first eight. The pacing is manic and literally nauseating and feels like accidentally taking 60mg of Adderall; not even the lightsaber or spaceship stuff is cool. Just pretend the Star Wars sequel trilogy never came out and read the Thrawn trilogy instead.

SAM GARCIA

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

THE HERO WE DESERVE HOW AN AGING ROCKER BECAME A TWITTER SUPERSTAR

EVE 6 COURTESY OF GUESTOFAGUEST

MORGAN TROPER Towards the end of 2020, multiple COVID-19 vaccines with efficacy ratings of up to 95% were approved for emergency use rollout. This was unexpected, and from a medical and scientific standpoint, completely unprecedented.

But something else incredible and unexpected happened towards the end of last year. Eve 6—the post-grunge band and erstwhile fixtures of ‘90s and early ‘00s “modern rock” FM radio programming—reentered the public consciousness by way of Twitter shitposts.

This is unusual for a couple of reasons. First of all, most bands from this era have negligible—or at least very impersonal—social media presences. To quote Max Collins, Eve 6’s 42-year-old frontman and lead Twitter operator, social media users are accustomed to ‘90s bands being “dull” on the internet. Secondly, the Eve 6 Twitter phenomenon marks one of the first times an artist’s actual art feels explicitly subordinate to their tweeting.

You can now be an Eve 6 fan even if you think their biggest hit, “Inside Out,” is one of the most cringingly overwrought alt-rock hits in existence. I know because I’m one of them; I ordered an Eve 6 t-shirt last week.

So who is Eve 6? If you’re a zoomer or at that precarious millennial cut-off point, you might not even associate their Twitter with any music in the first place. Eve 6 was formed in Los Angeles in 1995, a year after Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. (Or, if you’re a gullible toddler, you believe he was the victim of a murder conspiracy orchestrated by Courtney Love.) During this era, record label executives were still searching for an act to quietly fill the

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

crater left by their flannel-clad martyr. This resulted in a lot of goofy major label signings: Silverchair was one such band, an Australian trio of teenaged Nirvana cosplayers whose hilariously contrived major label debut Frogstomp was issued in 1995. And then there is, of course, Creed, an implicitly Christian band of adult Nirvana cosplayers whose 1997 major label debut My Own Prison is its own punchline.

Roughly speaking, it was in this cultural environment that Eve 6 scored their 1998 mega-hit—the aforementioned “Inside Out,” a funky, grunge-flecked pop-rock ditty that Collins now self-deprecatingly refers to online as the “heart in a blender song.” Unfortunately, Eve 6 weren’t quite able to maintain that momentum—their sophomore album from 2000, the deafeningly compressed Horrorscope, earned them the rare, two-outof-ten rating from SPIN, that era’s premiere arbiter of musical taste. By their third release, 2003’s It’s All In Your Head, Eve 6 were off the charts and more or less out of the music-buying public’s purview.

It has been argued that Generation X musicians had the toughest time acclimating to the industry’s rapid technological transformation at the dawn of the new millennium. Bands like Eve 6 hail from the final era of multi-thousand dollar advances and flippant major label signings—by the time MySpace and Bandcamp came around, they were strangers in a strange land.

This is probably somewhat true, and it’s likely why so many once-reputed rock bands from this era have devolved into staples of the C-tier casino circuit—or, even worse, flagship performers on the Mark McGrath and Friends cruise. That could

be an entire article in itself, but this cruise—which was poised to launch in 2013 and would have featured performances from Smash Mouth, Sugar Ray, Spin Doctors and others—was cancelled after an engine fire resulted in the entire cabin overflowing with human waste.

Thanks to Max Collins’ snarky, diaristic Twitter presence, Eve 6 has fared better than most. He jokes that he feels like Eve 6 is “gonna be huge again”—and he’s probably right. Interspersed between anecdotes involving Third Eye Blind and spicy takes about how Fountains of Wayne is the greatest American rock band are nuggets of insightful social and political commentary.

One Eve 6 tweet from six hours ago reads: “I just feel that if you have a progressive populist platform that could have actual material effect, maybe just maybe you can get racist MAGA morons to vote for policies that help POC and indigenous people if those policies help them too.” And another from yesterday: “The yoga brain to QAnon pipeline is real.”

Like everything that reaches left-of-center Twitter, Collins’ novel social media persona has become an unnecessarily divisive issue among people who fundamentally agree with him and each other. Around Christmas, there was a trend of terminally humorless music writers and tastemakers complaining about the popularity of the account and posting weird, bumptious screenshots of themselves muting or blocking Eve 6. Of course, you’re entitled to mute whoever you want—that’s what makes Twitter better than socializing in the real world—but I fail to see how a gnarled rocker using his platform to advocate social change is anything but noble.

ARTS & CULTURE

13

IN DEFENSE OF SWEATPANTS

WHY YOU SHOULDN’T WORRY ABOUT YOUR NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS NICK GATLIN Another year has come and gone. 2020 is dead; long live 2021. With a new year, many of you may be considering some New Year’s resolutions. Maybe you want to work out three days a week, cook half of your meals with healthy ingredients or cut back on caffeine. Those are all perfectly reasonable, healthy goals to have going into 2021.

Forget all of them.

Here’s what I mean by that—you’re going to fail at all of your resolutions. Wait, that doesn’t sound any better.

Here’s the real takeaway you should have going into 2021: it’s okay for things to suck. We’ve all been ground down so much by the pandemic, racial justice protests and the general political and social upheaval of the last year that I’d bet most of you are at the end of your rope. We literally started off the new year

with a mob storming the United States Capitol.

Classes have been mostly or fully online since March, Zoom meetings have sucked the collective life out of us and whichever four walls you’ve lived in for the last year are probably getting pretty old—at least, that’s my experience. In short, 2020 was an absolutely exhausting year.

If you really want to go gung-ho into New Year’s resolutions—if you’re a real type A personality that wants to start the year with a burst of self-improvement—go right ahead. But, if you’re like me, you probably don’t feel that energy going into the new year. Personally, my 10 pairs of sweatpants have seen a lot of use lately.

And you know what? That’s completely fine.

If you’ve survived the pandemic so far, count that as a blessing. You may have gained or lost weight, spent too much time on your phone, skipped “class,” eaten nothing but ramen and cereal or formed any number of habits deemed unhealthy during this endless quasi-quarantine/ lockdown period. I definitely have.

Granted, that’s not a great way to live in normal times—but these aren’t normal times.

Loneliness is a diagnosable psychological condition, and this is one of the loneliest times in modern history. Most of us are at home most of the time, cut off from friends and family and only able to communicate via the internet. Loneliness is a major risk factor for chronic health conditions like inflammation and heart disease; It can compromise your immune system and send your cortisol, or stress hormone, levels much higher than normal—stress levels which are likely already raised due to the fear of catching a deadly disease. Loneliness can impair cognitive performance. (Having trouble concentrating lately?) Additionally, loneliness can be a serious contributor to mental health conditions like depression and anxiety.

Simply put, we all feel like shit right now.

It’s a biological condition.

Add the uncertainty and instability of our society today, and it’s a miracle so many of us have made it this far. I tried to form some healthy habits at the beginning of the pandemic. I

baked bread, I cooked, I worked out. I made a sourdough starter, for God’s sake. That lasted for about a month. I’ll be honest—I’ve worn pretty much nothing but sweatpants and fuzzy sweaters since March. I’ve mostly eaten comfort food. I’ve watched trash TV and campy movies and played way too many video games. I’ve listened to far too many podcasts for my own good.

At a certain point in the pandemic, I came to realize none of that was bad. In fact, it’s good— it’s good that I can find pleasure in things I would otherwise consider stupid, unhealthy or both. So many of the pleasures of the before times, like meeting with friends or going to new places, are cut off from us indefinitely. Travel seems like a distant memory. Now more than ever, we have to grab the things that we can find in this strange new world and hold on to them until we can ride out of this storm. For me, that’s playing hundreds of hours of Fallout 4 and downing a pint of Ben & Jerry’s in 30 minutes. (Okay, maybe that is a little unhealthy.)

For this new year, try to adapt your resolutions for the pandemic. Find a way to virtually connect with friends and family in a meaningful way. Take a faux-vacation to a new country from the comfort of your home. Challenge yourself to watch even more Netflix shows. Put together a virtual gaming group with your friends. And, if you really want, do the traditional resolutions: work out more or cook healthier meals. Just don’t feel too bad when you fall short. Just surviving this new year is a worthy New Year’s resolution.

My advice for 2021? Embrace the sweatpants.

Don’t be afraid of failure. And, most of all, recognize that even if you might not meet all of your goals this year, surviving is enough. We can worry about thriving later.

SHANNON STEED

14

OPINION

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

SLEEPING TO STAY APART TOGETHER KAT LEON Growing up having sleepovers with my best friend, I often noticed her parents fighting. They would often refuse to sleep in the same bed together, seemingly to punish each other. Several years later, this couple ended up divorcing. While I did not ever discover the actual reason for their divorce, I remember my father condescendingly saying, “those that sleep together, stay together,” as if the sum of all marital problems comes down to one’s sleeping arrangements.

As my view of the world has expanded, I started to question the notion that couples should and must sleep in the same room for a relationship to be healthy. The expectation that couples sleep in the same room is a social norm, an unspoken rule of relationships. If you sleep in a different room, the norm states, then your relationship must be broken to the point that seeing your partner causes distress. Maybe they cheated or racked up a bunch of debt behind their partner’s back; whatever the reason, it is usually not a good thing that causes couples to sleep in separate spaces.

What if there is a better way to look at it? What if instead of couples sleeping separately because their relationship has reached a breaking point, they take that space so they don’t reach that breaking point as intensely or at all?

Sleeping in separate bedrooms has been a great thing for my relationship, and I firmly believe it should become less stigmatized. There are many benefits to separate rooms. While it might be considered by society as the kiss of death to a relationship for partners to sleep in different spaces, if it’s done in a way that fulfills the needs of those in the relationship it can protect a relationship from failure.

My partner and I sleep better when we sleep alone or apart.

I remember my mother talking about the many hours she spent lying awake because my father snored like a locomotive; I got this wonderful genetic gift of snoring loudly and would no doubt also keep my partner from sleeping. Furthermore, my current partner has this almost creepy habit of bolting straight up in bed and screaming in her sleep, and I, as a light sleeper, would never be able to sleep through something like that on a nightly basis. Both my partner and I are insomniacs, so sleeping is already hard. Why make it harder by attempting to sleep in the same room?

A lack of sleep can cause relationship problems all by itself. I am sure everyone has experienced irritability that comes from a lack of sleep. When one knows that the cause of this is someone else, it makes it that much harder to not lash out at that person. The Cleveland Clinic even recognizes how a lack of sleep can lead to relationship problems, saying that it can lead to conflict due to the moodiness that comes from a lack of sleep.

Sleeping in separate rooms allows each individual in the relationship to have their own space. Not every minute of a healthy relationship should be spent with a partner. With COVID-19 forcing us to be inside and at home for a majority of the past year, being able to just go to my room and be alone has been incredibly beneficial for my sanity. Some couples have had to find places to hide to be alone; I can’t imagine that has been the best thing for any relationship. Having your own space has to be incredibly alluring, considering that many of us have only left the house for essentials for the past year, and going to a bar to unwind is no longer an option.

Communication is vital in any relationship. If one can not effectively communicate, it will destroy a relationship. Ineffective communication is the key factor in many divorces. A study led by researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Denver reported the “most often cited reasons for divorce at the individual level were lack of commitment (75.0%), infidelity (59.6%), and too much conflict and arguing (57.7%).” A lack of good communication is the common thread in all these difficulties.

When we have a separate room from our partners, it can help create better communication habits. If my girlfriend and I get into an argument, we can go to our perspective rooms to calm down and think before we speak. We can write out our thoughts, scream into a pillow or do whatever it takes to regain our composure and then communicate without taking those extreme emotions out on each other. As relationship expert Sarah Jones says, “remember that when you take the time you need, you are happier, less stressed and more engaged with your partner.”

In the end, every relationship is different and how you choose to navigate that relationship is entirely up to you. However, recognizing that you don’t have to conform to societal norms provides you with the ability to explore options that you might not have identified as a possibility. Normalizing the things we do in our relationships that make them stronger might help others to find the same power in their own relationships. Sleeping in separate spaces should not be viewed negatively; instead, we should recognize, for some people, sleeping apart makes their relationship stronger for the times they’re together. ‌

SAM GARCIA

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

OPINION

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VIRTUAL

EVENTS CALENDAR OCEANATOR AND MANEKA VIRTUAL TOUR Online event 7 p.m. PST $10 Ongoing through Jan. 17

TUE JAN

Oceanator, the moniker of New York City-based multi-instrumentalist Elise Okusami, released one of 2020’s best punk records with their LP, Things I Never Said. Okusami is teaming up with fellow New York artist Maneka for a week-long “virtual tour,” with performances occurring in a variety of different time zones.

12 MORGAN WALLEN Via Ryman Auditorium in Nashville 6 p.m. PST Free

FRI

Country music superstar Morgan Wallen presents a free livestream in celebration of his new double LP, Dangerous.

THE 1964–65 NY WORLD’S FAIR AND THE GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW WEBINAR Online event 2:30 p.m. PST $10

Licensed NYC tour guide Lloyd Trufelman offers a presentation on the 1964 New York World’s Fair.

This particular event marked the premiere of Disney’s audio-animatronics and General Motors’ infamous Futurama ride.

THE MADS OF MYSTERY SCIENCE THEATER 3000 RIFF: A NIGHT OF SHORTS 2 Online event 5 p.m. PST $10

Trace Beaulieu and Frank Conniff—The Mads from cult show Mystery Science Theater 3000—“live riff” on a series of vintage short films and cartoons. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Friends In Need Food Shelf in Minneapolis.

CLAP YOUR HANDS SAY YEAH Via Bandcamp Live 5 p.m. PST $10

Legendary indie band Clap Your Hands Say Yeah plays one of the first high-profile Bandcamp Live events to celebrate the release of their new album, New Fragility.

JAN

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EVENTS

PSU Vanguard • JANUARY 12, 2021 • psuvanguard.com