Portland State Vanguard, Volume 74, Issue 18

VOLUME 74 • ISSUE 18 • FEBRUARY 4, 2020

FACULTY RAISES CONCERN OVER

STUDENT ADVISING

NEWS 14 ASPSU RESIGNATIONS SINCE SFC CONTROVERSY • OPINION PAY ATTENTION TO THE IMPEACHMENT HEARINGS ARTS & CULTURE ‘PICARD’ SHOWRUNNER VISITS CAMPUS

CRIME BLOTTER

Jan. 27–Feb. 1

TERI WALTERS JAN. 27 Theft Five different reports of theft were filed between the times of 11:50 a.m.–10:30 p.m. Four reports came from Karl Miller Center and one from the corner of SW 5th and Montgomery. The cases stemming from KMC were all reported by PSU employees, the last was reported by a Portland State student. All had property taken.

Harassment At 1 p.m., a non-student was arrested for harassment of a PSU student on a MAX off campus.

Indecent Exposure At 9:20 a.m., a PSU student reported a male masturbating on the first floor of Lincoln Hall.

JAN. 28 Theft Two reports of theft from the Karl Miller Center, with both reports

by PSU employees who had property taken.

Trespass Warning At 4:45 p.m., a trespass warning was issued to a non-student in Lincoln Hall for suspected drug use.

JAN. 30 Trespass Warning At 8:30 p.m., two non-students were issued trespass warnings for using the bathroom in Blumel Residence Hall.

Vandalism Two reports of vandalism were reported, one occurring in Peter W Stott Center and the second at Fariborz Maseeh Hall. Both were reported by PSU employees, and in both cases vending machines were vandalized.

JAN. 31 Use of Force Campus Public Safety officers responded to a known resistive and combative non-student who was sleeping in the Smith Memorial Student Union at 3:30 p.m. The non-student threatened violence, to which CPSO pointed a taser at them to gain compliance.

FEB. 1 Vehicle Break-ins Two reports of vehicle break-ins by PSU students with property taken between the times of 1:20–4:10 p.m. One occured at SW 4th and SW Lincoln, the second at Parking Structure 3.

Warrant Arrest At 6:45 p.m., a non-student was found sleeping in the bathroom of the Art Building. The non-student was arrested for an outstanding arrest warrant and issued a trespass warning.

Fraud by Deception At 3:40 p.m., a PSU student reported being a victim of a scam in/ around Ondine Residence Hall.

JAN. 29 Vehicle Break-in Two reports of vehicle break-ins between 9–11:30 a.m. One report was placed by a non-student, occuring at University Place Hotel Parking. The second report was placed by a PSU student, occuring at Parking structure 3.

CONTENTS COVER BY JOHN ROJAS

NEWS TWO WOMEN KIDNAPPED NEAR PSU CAMPUS

P. 3

A NECESSARY IRRITANT

P. 11

MEMBER VACANCY CREATES OBSTACLES FOR ASPSU

P. 4

HIDDEN STORIES OF THE YIDDISH PRESS

P. 12

EXTINCTION REBELLION FORMS AT PSU

P. 5

OREGON SYMPHONY PERFORMS GAME SOUNDTRACKS FROM PAST DECADE

P. 12

INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD

P. 6

OPINION SALEM INTERIM LIBRARY OWNED BY LGBTQ-UNFRIENDLY CHURCH

P. 13

UN RULES MYANMAR REQUIRED TO PREVENT GENOCIDE

P. 7

HAVE YOU HEARD?

P. 14

CORONAVIRUS DECLARED GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY

P. 7

CENTER FACULTY RAISES CONCERN OVER STUDENT ADVISING

THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL CONTINUES ON, AND YES, YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION

P. 14

P. 8–9

ARTS & CULTURE LIVING LONG AND PROSPERING

SPORTS PORTLAND STATE CLUB LACROSSE SEASONS UNDERWAY

P. 15

P. 10

EVENTS CALENDAR

P. 16

STAFF

EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Dylan Jefferies MANAGING EDITOR Anthony Montes NEWS EDITORS Hanna Anderson Justin Grinnell INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Chloe Dysart ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Nick Townsend OPINION EDITOR AJ Earl SPORTS EDITOR Rich Rigney

ONLINE EDITOR Annie Schutz

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Owen Demetre

COPY CHIEF Hannah Welbourn

PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR John Rojas

CONTRIBUTORS Kathryn Bravo Madison Cecil Ida Ayu Karina Dwijayanti Spencer Garfield Anna Leclerc Emily Price Quinn Stoddard Ian Storey Teri Walters Emma Wallace PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Alex Wittwer

T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale

LEAD DESIGNER Dana Townsend

TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow George Olson John Rojas

DESIGNERS Sam Person Brandon Pahnish

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

DIS T RIBU TION & M A R K E TING DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING MANAGER Dylan Jefferies

STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher 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 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.

NEWS

TWO WOMEN KIDNAPPED NEAR PSU CAMPUS JAN. 27–FEB. 2 HANNA ANDERSON

JAN. 27: OREGON DEMOCRATS AIM TO CHANGE QUORUM RULES TO PREVENT A POSSIBLE REPUBLICAN WALKOUT

Oregon Democrats filed a joint resolution in the state Senate in order to change the quorum required for a vote on legislation. The resolution proposes a constitutional amendment which would change the requirement to reach a quorum from two thirds of the lawmakers to a simple majority. If passed by the legislature, the amendment would move to voters in the 2020 election. Senate Majority Leader Ginny Burdick is expected to introduce the legislation in order to prevent another walkout

by Republican lawmakers, according to AP News.

JAN. 28: GOVERNOR BROWN SEEKS NEW AFFORDABLE HOUSING TAX TO BE DECIDED BY VOTERS

Oregon Governor Kate Brown’s office filed a resolution in the state House of Representatives in order to impose a new tax, with the funds going towards affordable housing in the state. The resolution, would impose a tax on real estate that changes ownership, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Voters previously voted in a constitutional amendment in 2012 to prevent such a tax with Measure 79, which was heavily backed by realtors and business groups following the recession and passed with 59% of the vote. Brown’s resolution would similarly be a constitutional amendment, which would require another vote from voters if it passes in the legislature.

FEB. 2: LEGISLATION TO BAN VAPING PRODUCTS COMES TO THE LEGISLATURE AFTER PREVIOUS FAILURES

Oregon State Senator Laurie Monnes Anderson filed a bill in the Oregon Senate in order to ban flavored nicotine vaping products. The bill comes after the Governor Kate Brown’s ban on flavored vaping products failed in October after opposition from the vaping industry, according to The Oregonian. Monnes Anderson has previously attempted to push similar legislation in 2015, which died in committee. She also drafted an attempt in early 2019, which she abandoned after lobbyists from the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society said they would not support it, according to Willamette Week. If passed, those found in violation of the ban could be fined up to $5,000.

ALEX WITTWER/PSU VANGUARD

JUSTIN GRINNELL Two women were kidnapped near Portland State’s campus but were rescued by Washington County deputies after the alleged kidnapper crashed his car, according to an article by KOIN 6 News. It‘s unclear if the women were injured in the accident.

Early in the morning on Jan. 29, Edgar Allen Hernandez allegedly offered a ride home to the women after a party near campus. Hernandez refused to take the women home after they accepted his offer, speeding through stop lights before crashing his vehicle at SW Barnes Rd and SW 118th Ave and fleeing from the wreck. “[Responding deputies] found a gun under the passenger seat but didn’t find Hernandez,” stated KOIN 6.

“It’s kind of troubling,” said PSU graduate student Eve Ashkar in an interview with KOIN 6.

“I think that it shows that more effort should be put into the safety of not just women but students in general.”

Two days prior to the kidnapping, PSU Interim President Stephen Percy sent a campus-wide email about the “Safer Together” initiative—

“a new campaign to promote a safe and secure campus for students, faculty, staff and visitors.”

As part of the campus safety plan Percy announced in Oct. 2019, “Safer Together is about fulfilling our shared responsibility to promote a better experience for everyone in our community,” according to Percy’s email.

In an interview, Christopher Broderick, associate vice president for university communications, said: “That’s part of the Safer Together idea.

It’s everybody’s responsibility.”

In the same interview, Percy said regarding the recent kidnapping and its effect on campus safety policy: “One of the things we’re trying to do is learn all the time. I don’t have the full circumstances but my thing is what do we learn from [this] incident.”

Percy also mentioned a potential public information campaign about who students should accept rides from to help keep students safer on campus.

The Safer Together initiative introduces safety escorts who will walk anyone to their car or a location on campus upon request. Should anyone need the service, they can make a request by calling CPSO at 503-725-4407.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

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NEWS

MEMBER VACANCY CREATES OBSTACLES FOR ASPSU IDA AYU KARINA DWIJAYANTI

EMPTY CHAIRS LINE THE TABLE AFTER HOURS AT THE ASPSU OFFICE IN SMITH MEMORIAL STUDENT UNION. ALEX WITTWER/PSU VANGUARD

Associated Students of Portland State University is struggling with multiple member resignations in the wake of Philip Arola’s impeachment trial—the former student fee committee member allegedly tied to the alt-right group the Proud Boys.

Since Arola’s resignation, 13 other members of ASPSU have resigned, according to Student Government Advisor Candace Avalos. With so many members resigning or graduating over the last two terms, current members are facing obstacles in catering to a diverse student community.

Grace Hagemann, former equal rights advocacy director, resigned in January of this year in part to a scheduling conflict with a new job but also due to disagreements internal to ASPSU regarding Arola’s impeachment trial. For Hagemann, there was a lack of accountability within ASPSU and—at the time of the impeachment trial—PSU students were represented by members who did not actually represent them.

“We had an entire summer filled just trying to get two members of the SFC kicked out of the student government who were threatening to the student body and the...well-being of our students,” Hagemann said.

On Dec. 13, after much debate, ASPSU sent out an apology for Arola’s and another SFC member’s actions because, in Hagemann’s words, “so many people were hurt by the situation.”

“The apology took a senate vote just for the president to do anything about it,” Hagemann said. “Even then it was a fight and it was not considered by everyone as a bare minimum...it was clear to me that I wasn’t working with people with the same goal.”

“Our leadership spoke so adamantly against [the apology], it made ASPSU an organization I could no longer stand with in good conscience,” said India Wynne, former ASPSU senator and academic affairs committee member who also resigned in January.

“In some topics, the disagreements turn too personal,” Wynne said. “Rather than just saying we disagree at the end of the vote [and] we could walk away from it.”

According to Wynne, their resignation also allowed them to pursue other passions: “I’m very passionate about activism, so I feel like my energy is better suited for volunteering and working for veterans and LGBTQ, on those projects.”

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PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

“One director left because of the tension last term,” said Violet Gibson, president of ASPSU, in reference to Hagemann. Gibson continued on to highlight the passion and dedication of the former equal rights advocacy director.

Nolan Bylenga, senator of international and legislative affairs, joined ASPSU last fall. In an interview, he emphasized the importance of focusing on getting the job done instead of differentiating each other through contrasting political viewpoints: “I try to get along with everyone, no matter if they’re a Democrat or a Republican because at the end of the day, we’re all here trying to serve the student body better.”

“The student government is not for everyone,” said Motutama Sipelli, current student life director. “Some people flourish in it, and some people just don’t like the general vibe in it.”

According to Sipelii, students outside of ASPSU might assume being part of the student government is an easy task, but for him: “What we do is hard; there is more to it than just shouting our accomplishments we did. We’re not like that.

We’re humble. We serve the needs of the students and I encourage everyone who has concerns to reach out to us.”

Sipelli had four senators, but two have resigned following the impeachment trial. He was assigned two more senators to replace them, however, one resigned and the other was promoted to legislative affairs director. With so many vacancies, Sipelii emphasized the challenges he faces.

“I don’t have enough people for quorum [the minimum number of members present to make a meeting valid] and I was planning to do a lot of projects with the people who left,” Sipelli said. “That leaves me with no one to partner with.”

In its current state, ASPSU directors, Vice President Kyle Leslie-Christy and Gibson have had to take other roles in lieu of vacancies, according to Gibson.

On the other hand, Gibson believes empty spots could be beneficial for ASPSU as it proves the adequacy and hard work of current members who are willing to multi-task.

According to the ASPSU homepage, PSU’s student government represents 27,000 students and lobbies “for lower tuition, lower fees, cultural competency and a safe campus for all.”

NEWS

EXTINCTION REBELLION F OR M S AT P S U HANNA ANDERSON & JUSTIN GRINNELL Seeking a club on campus for the end of the world? A new group on campus is forming to stop it from happening in the first place.

Enter Extinction Rebellion PSU, a campuswide sector of the global Extinction Rebellion movement for environmental change. Founded in Nov. 2019, the goal of the group is to bring the larger movement to Portland State students and advocate for governmental action to avoid biodiversity loss, climate change and eventually the extinction of the human race.

The greater Extinction Rebellion has become known for its acts of civil disobedience which—despite their goal of being non-violent—aim to be disruptive to people’s daily lives in order to draw attention to the issue of climate change. Created in the United Kingdom in 2018, the group is defined by the demands it makes of global governments: to tell the truth about the current climate crisis, to halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse emissions to net zero by 2025 and to be led by a “citizen’s assembly” on decisions regarding climate, according to its website.

While it is a global movement, however, there is no central body, according to Will Regan, the lead organizer for Extinction Rebellion PSU. This allows anyone to start their own branch, including groups in Portland and on campus.

“There’s a lot of different ways you can organizeanextinction rebellion,” Regan said. “It’s decentralized.

Anybody can act as an extinction rebellion, if they abide by the principles. That’s really what makes extinction rebellion run, is this decentralization.

There’s no higher authority.”

“Nobody told me, ‘Hey Will, go start this club at [PSU].’ I did that on my own.”

Regan first started with Extinction Rebellion PDX in June, where the group held one of its largest demonstrations: shutting down 4th Ave in front of City Hall, along with a bright yellow fire truck to draw attention to wildfires as one of the biggest threats to climate change.

“Portland was one of the cities that jumped onto it, and then they did several actions in 2019, culminating in a really big action where they blocked the street in front of City Hall with a giant fire engine.” Regan explained, “I was kind of nervous at that point.”

Members of the group also hold smaller events in between the biggest ones, including swarms, where 10-20 Extinction Rebellion advocates gather with banners to stop traffic, blocking the street for a couple of traffic light cycles before leaving and eventually doing the same again.

For any of their events, Regan stressed both the importance of remaining non-violent, but also, what group’s responsibilities are.

“We take responsibility for our actions. So, if we deface property or break a window—which is not our normal thing, right, normally we don’t do stuff like that—but if we do, we take responsibility for it, and we might even fix it ourselves.”

For the group on campus, however, they are more focused on outreach, education and being the introduction into the Extinction Rebellion for students. The club has already hosted multiple climate talks on campus with more planned for next month.

The next climate talk event will be at 4:30 p.m. on Feb. 13 in FMH 230.

BRANDON PAHNISH

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

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INTERNATIONAL

THIS WEEK

around the

WORLD

Jan. 28–Feb. 1

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Jan. 28

BENI, CONGO

An overnight attack in Beni left dozens dead. Officials first reported 15 casualties, but that number has since gone up. “They were all hacked to death,” Beni Governor Donat Kibwana said in a television statement, according to Al Jazeera. “This brings [the death toll] to 36 bodies.” France 24 reported two people were admitted to the local hospital and underwent surgery for skull fractures caused by machetes. Authorities believe the attack was orchestrated by the Allied Democratic Forces, a rebel militia group which has killed at least 250 people since November 2019.

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Jan. 29

CARIBBEAN SEA

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake centered between Jamaica, the Cayman Islands and Cuba left no casualties on Jan. 29. While no people were killed, there was significant damage to drainage pipes in some countries, and several sinkholes were created in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Thousands were evacuated from buildings in fear of potential aftershocks or tsunamis. No tsunami ever came, but several aftershocks, including one with a magnitude of 6.1, did shake the same area overnight.

“Our nerves are on edge not knowing if we’re

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going to be safe or not,” Canadian tourist Andrew Walsh, who was in Jamaica at the time, told TeleSUR. “It is still causing us some anxiety.”

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Jan. 28–30

JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu withdrew his request for immunity from the Knesset on Jan. 28. Netanyahu later said the immunity trial would take too long and he had decided against it, according to Al Jazeera.

While Netanyahu was in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 30 to discuss a possible agreement between Israel and Palestine, the Knesset issued an indictment against the prime minister. According to The New York Times, Netanyahu faces bribery, fraud and breach of trust charges. Experts say the trial could last a few months or a few years. “The public interest requires that we live in a country where no one is above the law,” Israeli attorney-general Aichai Mandelblit said in a televised press conference, according to The New York Times.

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Jan. 30

TOKYO, JAPAN

Japanese prosecutors issued a new arrest warrant for former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn, and three American citizens the

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

government believes assisted Ghosn in fleeing the country prior to his trial. The three American citizens—Michael Taylor, Peter Maxwell Taylor and George Antoine Zayek— are believed to have assisted Ghosn pass immigration checks and board a private plane from Japan to Turkey before he continued into Lebanon. Airport security footage confirmed that the three were at the airport at the same time as Ghosn. Authorities believe Michael Taylor likely met with the former Nissan chairman multiple times in the weeks prior to his escape to Lebanon. The Japanese government has not revealed if it has asked the United States for assistance in the arrest of the three.

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Jan. 30

BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI

A court convicted four journalists of attempting to undermine state security and sentenced them to two-and-a-half years in prison. They were also fined approximately $525, according to Reuters. The journalists were employed

by IWACU, one of few privately owned media organizations in Burundi. Al Jazeera reported at the time of their arrest in October 2019, the four journalists were working on a story regarding the ADF rebels located in neighboring Congo. According to the prosecution,

the journalists were working with the rebels to undermine state security in Burundi. “[The convictions mark] a sad day for the right to freedom of expression and press freedom in Burundi,” human rights organization Amnesty International said in a statement, according to Reuters. “The authorities must quash the conviction and sentences.”

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Feb. 1

MOSHI, TANZANIA

Hundreds of church-goers were involved in a stampede after preacher Boniface Mwamposa poured what he called “holy oil” on the ground. Worshippers rushed to touch the oil, believing it would cure sickness. The stampede resulted in at least 20 dead, including five children. Authorities fear the death toll could rise in coming days and have reported at least 16 more individuals were injured in the incident. Leader of the Arise and Shine Ministry of Tanzania, Mwamposa is a preacher of the “prosperity gospel,” a rising phenomenon throughout many African countries which is believed to cure illness and eradicate poverty, according to The New York Times. Mwamposa was arrested hours after the stampede on Feb. 1, but authorities have not yet released the charges against the preacher.

INTERNATIONAL

UN RULES MYANMAR CORONAVIRUS REQUIRED TO DECLARED GLOBAL PREVENT GENOCIDE HEALTH EMERGENCY A DRIVER WHO WAS SENT TO TRANSFER ROHINGYAN MUSLIMS TO A MYANMAR REFUGEE CAMP RESTS IN HIS BUS. MAHMUD HOSSAIN OPU/AP IMAGES MARSHALL SCHEIDER The United Nations International Court of Justice unanimously ordered Myanmar’s government to prevent genocide against ethnic minority Rohingya Muslims in the country on Jan. 23.

Since Aug. 2017, Myanmar’s military has drawn sharp criticism from the international community, including charges of genocide and other violations of international human rights law for attacks on Rohingya communities along the western coast.

The military crackdown began in Oct. 2016 after militia members from the persecuted minority group attacked border posts, killing nine police officers, according to Myanmar official reports. Following more attacks in Aug. 2017, Myanmar stepped up military operations. In what one UN official has described as a “scorched-earth campaign,” Myanmar’s military began burning Rohingya villages, precipitating a mass-exodus of Rohingya from the country.

Since 1982, the Rohingya have been a stateless group—unrecognized as citizens by the Burmese government—and have been barred from participating in Myanmar’s political process.

The ICJ’s ruling is intended as a temporary stop-gap measure to prevent more violence against the Rohingya. The ICJ needs time to investigate the genocide charges, brought before the court by The Gambia under the provenance of the 1984 UN Genocide Convention.

“It is important to note that the ICJ has not ruled on the merits of The Gambia’s complaint,” said Dr. David Kinsella, a professor of political science at Portland State, “but only on provisional measures that the Gambia has sought in order to safeguard the Rohingya Muslims.”

“The case is interesting because the Gambia really has no connection to the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.”

Although technically unaffected, the Gambia has argued that “any party to the Genocide Convention is, in a sense, harmed by genocide no matter where in the world occurs, and therefore

[any] party to the Convention, such as Myanmar, has an obligation toward all, even the Gambia, whose population and territory are not directly affected,” according to Kinsella.

By accepting the merits of the case, the ICJ has set an important precedent regarding genocide cases, which the court rarely hears, according to Foreign Policy.

But some commentators noted that the court does not have the power to enforce its injunction.

“Although the ICJ ruling is binding, the World Court does not have an enforcement mechanism, and Myanmar has not to date abided by any other international law or international humanitarian law (IHL) frameworks to prevent atrocities,” said Julie Norman, opinion contributor for The Hill.

Following the court’s ruling, Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs immediately issued a statement disputing key evidence presented in the case and denying genocide had occured.

This follows the widely criticized denial of genocide by Myanmar’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, last December.

Kinsella noted that the court retains certain powers to ensure violence towards the Rohingya ceases. “Although it rarely happens, the UN Security Council may take measures to enforce rulings by the ICJ,” he explained via email. “If Myanmar does not implement the provisional measures ordered by the Court, the Gambia could request Security Council action, which may include military or non-military coercion.”

Still, some experts expressed reservations about whether or not the Security Council would actually make its presence felt in Myanmar.

China and Russia retain the ability to veto Security Council operations, and both countries are broadly opposed to UN interventionism.

While geopolitical forces beyond Myanmar’s borders may limit the court’s ability to act unilaterally to defend the Rohingya, Kinsella said, “[Myanmar’s] government is on notice that the ICJ, and the world, is watching, and I can’t help but think that that’s progress.”

A FAMILY IN SOUTH KOREA WEARS PROTECTIVE RESPIRATORY MASKS AMID GROWING CONCERNS OVER EXPOSURE TO THE CORONAVIRUS IN SOUTHEAST ASIA. AHN YOUNG-JOON/AP IMAGES EMILY PRICE The World Health Organization declared a global health emergency in response to the increasing outbreak of the coronavirus.

The virus has now spread to all regions of mainland China, stretching from Shanghai to Tibet. In just the past month, at least 20 countries have been in contact with the virus, including the United States.

According to the Chinese Center of Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 82,000 people are under medical observation in China, and officials are concerned that the subjects may be infected with the virus. 9,700 cases of the coronavirus so far have been confirmed in China, and the death toll has risen to 213.

Symptoms of the coronavirus include fever, cough and shortness of breath, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. How the virus originally spread is currently unconfirmed.

Ben Crowling, a professor of infectious disease epidemiology at the University of Hong Kong, said to NPR that the virus “is just getting started, and expects to see increased levels of transmission globally, including in the United States.”

“I think it’s quite likely that you will see human-to-human transmission in U.S. cities,” Crowling said.

With the expectation that the disease will spread further, countries are advising their citizens to return as soon as possible. Russia has recently closed its borders with China.

World Health Organization DirectorGeneral Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters in Geneva that the first confirmed human-to-human spread in the U.S. had occurred in Illinois, along with at least three other countries outside of China, Japan, Vietnam and Germany.

Three Japanese citizens recently tested positive just after returning from a Wuhan flight to Tokyo. In order to take precautions, countries are calling citizens to return and holding them in testing centers before release. New Zealand, South Korea, Turkey, Indonesia, Philippines and the U.S. are all pulling citizens from Hubei and Wuhan, Al Jazeera reported.

The U.S. State Department issued a “do not travel” advisory for China, warning U.S. citizens of the risks and suspending some commercial travel to and from China.

In an interview with NPR, Diana Adama, a Wuhan resident said, “Right now, everybody is on quarantine in their homes. Everybody at the hospitals are stuck there. Wherever you’re getting stuck right now, you’re there. You cannot leave.”

Currently, the city of Wuhan remains on lockdown. The city has had to close its borders and build two new hospitals to treat victims.

Hong Kong has also decreased the number of inbound buses from the mainland, along with trains and passenger services have been temporarily shut down, according to CNN. The CDC recommends that people wash their hands and to avoid close contact with anyone who is sick and that travelers avoid all non-essential travel to all of China.

A statement from Portland State University Communications released this past week ensured students are at minimal risk and should contact Health Services if they recently traveled to China or came in contact with someone who has.

“PSU will continue to monitor the outbreak closely in partnership with our local and state public health officials and others and will report significant developments as needed,” according to the statement.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

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COVER

FACULT Y RAISES

CONCERN OVER ST U D EN T

ADVISING BRANDON PAHNISH

SOME CHANGES TO ADVISING COULD HAVE NEGATIVE IMPACT ON STUDENTS

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PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

COVER

QUINN STODDARD Portland State department chairs are concerned the quality of student advising could diminish under changes to the pathway system.

Department chairs from the language, culture and meaning student advising pathway have expressed concerns over issues with advising changes regarding the lack of input the faculty feels they were given, additional faculty duties and how these changes will negatively affect students by limiting the information advisors have.

THE NEW MODEL

In 2015, the Academic Leadership Team—a combination of deans and provosts—gave a redesign team the task of changing the advising model at PSU. Over the last 10 months, the redesign team worked out a model for what they thought an advising system should look like.

One recommendation took the form of academic pathways. Seven total pathways group together similar majors to help students keep the same advisor instead of having to move to someone new if they choose a new major.

Another recommendation assigned advisors based on a pathway’s enrollment numbers to try and create equity in the number of caseloads advisors will have, but the real benefit was aimed at allowing students to stay with their same advisor, according to Danny Ryel, a member of the redesign team and the executive assistant for advising and career services.

The redesign team presented their recommendations after multiple sessions of student and faculty questions. “Those recommendations were then approved in December 2016 by then PSU Provost Sona Andrews after being presented to the public as well as discussed, but not voted on by the faculty senate,” said Carla Harcleroad, associate vice president for advising and career services.

The implementation phase of this new advising model started in January 2017.

“One of the things we needed to do was to figure out how to assign case loads on each of the [advising pathway] teams,” Harcleroad said. “Many teams in 2017– 2018 chose to have models where all advisors on a team were able to advise for all majors in that pathway.”

Harcleroad said the reasoning behind this was to ensure equitable caseloads and to prevent students from facing the issue of an advisor being away when they were needed.

“Spotting the enrollment changes and other things coming, I knew it was neces-

sary to broaden [the advisors’] knowledge base and create additional capacity to serve students,” Harcleroad said.

Harcleroad also noted that while these changes will expand the breadth of knowledge required for advisors to be familiar with their responsibilities their positions will not change.

According to Ryel, previous systems would require students to change their advisor based on the curriculum they were taking. If an environmental science major switched to biology, the student also needed to switch advisors. In the academic pathway system, a student can maintain the same advisor or connect with another as long as they are in the same academic pathway.

Ryel also noted on the wide array of backgrounds students bring to advising meetings: “If I am veteran and I have this very particular situation where I need to finish my courses within this amount of time in a certain way and I have to re-explain that every time, it can be aggravating.”

THE CONCERNS

Faculty concerns over these proposed changes came in multiple forms.

In an email correspondence, Bishupal Limbu, associate professor of English, shared a few of the English department’s concerns with Harcleroad about the proposed changes to the language, culture and meaning pathway. According to Limbu, the department worries these changes “will be less effective in delivering the advising that our students need.”

“The pathway that our majors are in [is] being changed to a generalist model where all the advisors in that pathway will advise for every major in that pathway,” said Paul Collins, English department chair. “So [the advisors] are going to have to familiarize themselves with all of them because they’re likely to get students from any of those [majors].”

The language, culture and meaning pathway contains 18 curriculum majors in total.

“The concerns the department has about this are two-fold,” Collins said. “One is that it does water down the expertise. It makes it less likely that any one advisor that the student is talking to is going to be particularly familiar with the departments curriculum, its course offerings, the field itself. The other is the presumption...that faculty will therefore pick up a lot of this kind of advising.”

Collins said specialized functions of advisors include: “evaluating transfer credit, evaluating study abroad [credit], giving

more specific information regarding the major itself.”

“It’s dispersing a certain amount of expertise when you push it out to faculty in that way,” Collins said. “Faculty are not trained to be advisors on undergrad, which is not to say they can’t do it. Expertise in explicating Chaucer is not the same thing as expertise in understanding veterans’ benefits and issues around transfers.”

Collins also noted that department faculty and department chairs were not consulted in regards to these changes. “The chairs, as far as I understand and as with the case of feedback that various chairs were given, were not apprised beforehand.

That has not been my experience in the past. I was surprised by both the decision itself and the way it was rolled out.”

Alongside concerns, Collins also acknowledged some of the benefits to expanding advisors capacity as well.

“Part of the argument given for [the advising model] was this was already used elsewhere in the university and that it would create less dependence on any one advisor. If your particular specialist in a field was out it would cause an issue. It also would reduce wait times for students. You would not have to wait for that one person to get an opening in their schedule, you could just go to whoever is available next.”

Collins was not the only department chair to voice their concern. Dr. Gina Greco, chair of the world languages and literature department, also spoke to the issues that could arise from this change.

“The changes that are coming about right now, to which I object, are just in my pathway,” Greco said. “I believe our pathway has been asked to do it now because there was a change [happening] anyway.”

Greco mentioned this change was to fix an imbalance in caseload between different pathway advisors.

With Greco being in the same pathway as Collins, the concerns were raised again that specialty advisors will lose their ability to help students effectively with the increased breadth of majors they advise for.

“I absolutely agree with equity for the advisors,” Greco said. “I think it is important that they have similar caseloads and sometimes that can mean shifting people around and I understand that.”

While equitable distribution of caseloads are the goal, Greco still wants the department to have specialty advisors saying that the advice they provide is helpful to students.

Tyler Matievich, a veteran and senior at PSU, also commented on his advising ex-

perience. “I transferred to PSU as a communications major and really liked my [advisor]. She helped me a lot. I switched my major to social science but kept my [advisor] and she has helped me just the same through this whole process.”

Matievich said he has maintained the same advisor for all five terms he has attended PSU. “Building rapport with one person helped me way more than maybe bouncing around to other counselors to handle specific subjects. I would prefer the one [advisor].

WHAT’S TO COME

Originally meant to be implemented this February, the changes to advising in the language, culture and meaning pathway were pushed back to spring. When asked about why the date for the proposed changes were pushed back from February, Harcleroad was unable to give an exact reason.

“In any kind of administrative role there are going to be certain pieces of information you are privileged to have because people have shared that information with you about their plans, intentions or needs that I can’t share,” Harcleroad said. “It’s confidential based on the needs of teams. I thought it was important to move towards [the change] as quickly as possible in order to make sure we meet student needs no matter what happens.”

Harcleroad went on to discuss some of the pathway team’s other motivations, saying the feedback was centered around students and how to best aid them but also saying she was surprised by the concerns. “[With] the decision-making process about how advising is going to function, there was so much engagement and opportunities to engage back in 2015–2016 about how [the advising system] was going to work and move forward.”

Steps have been made to find a compromise between pathway team members and the proposed advisor changes.

“The [college of liberal arts and science], dean's office and I, as well as the implementation team, we’re meeting with departments in [the language, culture and meaning pathway] and tackling through their questions, their concerns and trying to find how we can best address those,” Harcleroad said. “We’ve had a couple meetings already and we have four additional meetings coming up.”

Harcleroad also noted that these discussions will be ongoing to try and find equilibrium and according to Harcleroad “to figure out how to work together so things get done and done well.”

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ARTS & CULTURE

LIVING LONG AND PROSPERING KATHRYN BRAVO

MICHAEL CHABON SPEAKS ABOUT HIS EXPERIENCES AS A WRITER AND SHARES HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT THE UPCOMING SERIES STAR TREK: PICARD. EMMA WALLACE/PSU VANGUARD

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Star Trek fans, fiction writers and book lovers united over the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to talk to nationally recognized author Michael Chabon.

Students got the chance to talk to Chabon in a one-onone Q&A session in the Smith Memorial Student Union on Jan. 27. Later that evening, the Smith Ballroom filled with students, faculty and community members to hear him speak at the main event.

At the Q&A, students were able to talk to Chabon about topics ranging from his experience as a Pulitzer Prize winning novelist, to being the showrunner for CBS’s TV series Star Trek: Picard, starring Patrick Stewart.

“Being a showrunner is a really strange job,” Chabon said. “It’s like being a chef of a restaurant—a really, really busy and successful restaurant.”

Chabon is widely known for his books like The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonderboys, and most notably The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay.

When asked about what it was like to shift from working alone to having to collaborate with others on the hectic set of Picard, he said, “Well, I don’t think anyone becomes a writer because they like being around people,” as everyone erupted in laughter. “It was a change for me to start collaborating, at the time I was turning 50, I decided to start saying yes to things,” he said.

He went on to explain that it’s important for writers to take that first step, and that though it may be intimidating, confidence and discipline is key. Chabon continued, “I’ve had plenty of setbacks and failures, but even if you just experience some kind of low or slight, or whatever it may be, I sit down at 10 o’clock and it’s just time to work.”

The Q&A ended with the question every writer wants the answer to: “What’s the key to winning a Pulitzer prize?”

Chabon laughed and concluded that unfortunately, there isn’t one. “I was definitely not expecting it when it happened, and it probably won’t happen again,” he said. “The time of white, male, Jewish authors winning ended with me, but what they really look for is something that is defining the American experience in a way it hasn’t before and there are many ways to do that, and I guess Kavalier and Clay does it.”

Garret Rucker, a PSU student and a fan of Star Trek said he was intrigued by the opportunity because “[Chabon] knows his craft, he’s good at his craft. I have respect for someone who, at that level, is willing to come to a college like this and share their experience and knowledge, and I wanted to be a part of that.”

Similarly, fellow PSU student and poet Andrew Richman had an especially important reason to attend.

“I found a copy of his book [The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay] at Goodwill and I read it during a

pretty important time in my life and it was incredible.

Then I saw this and I’m like well I have to go because he’s kind of the reason I’m writing today.”

For a lot of new writers, the industry can be just as difficult to navigate as the writing process. “I learned to not be afraid of the craft,” Rucker said. “I think it can be very intimidating especially when you have a new idea.

The hardest part is the first step and I think [Chabon] kind of demystified the whole experience and kind of enlightened the idea of just enjoying the process.”

“People usually think it’s a pretty serious business; I’ve been to other events where there are Q&A’s and the author is standing in front of the audience very formal,” Richman said to the opposing contrast of the circle the attendees sat in with Chabon. “But I learned that he’s just a very down-to-earth, chill dude who likes to write.”

Paying tribute to his father, who passed away in 2019, Chabon read a piece that he recently published about his father and their love of Star Trek and the beloved character Mr. Spock. Having always been a lifelong lover of the series, he was brought onto the show at first as a writer and producer, eventually stepping in as showrunner.

It was obvious his words were moving. Attendants held onto their loved ones as Chabon described his father unconscious in the ICU surrounded by “tubes and wires in his starship of a bed” at 3 a.m. as “his abdomen rose up like a telescope dome of an observatory.”

Tony and Sandra Vegas were two of the attendants at Chabon’s lecture. Familiar with Chabon’s work, the two decided to attend, recalling the essays they had read by him as “captivating.”

Vegas further explained that he liked the stories about Chabon’s sons. “As a father, I felt compelled to hear about his path.” Happy that Chabon decided to read his most recent piece about his father, Vegas said he admired how Chabon “was modeling the grace of his mourning for his father and that behavior to his kids.”

After finishing his reading, Chabon answered more questions from the audience, saying they “don’t have to be about writing, or books or Star Trek, they could be about hairstyling advice, dating or relationship advice,” Chabon joked.

John Hackney, who heard about the event from his partner who works at PSU, said, “I know his writing is funny, but he’s a lot funnier than I expected him to be in person,” and that he was impressed at how he was “really personal and engaging,” when reading and answering questions.

Chabon later said that he and his wife will be working on trying to make a TV series for Kavalier and Clay, so it looks like he will have to learn how to be around people a lot more.

ARTS & CULTURE

A NECESSARY IRRITANT GARTH CLARK REVEALS SEVEN GENERATIONS OF ARTISTS IGNORED BY HISTORY IAN STOREY What if, in the throes of his depression, Van Gogh had burned all of his paintings and history never knew “Starry Night?”

That is sort of what is happening to ceramics, according to Garth Clark. In art history courses on Portland State’s campus and across the western world, the history of ceramics are missing from the curriculum as well as textbooks, journals and other records of history.

Art enthusiasts might recognize the name “Garth Clark” from his popular treatise on the state of craft, “How Envy Killed the Crafts Movement: an Autopsy in Two Parts.” The work went viral and since then, the art historian is widely recognized as an advocate for ceramics as a worthy part of art education and history. The Portland Art Museum is Clark’s last stop on his “Necessary Irritant Tour,” a world tour of talks that represents the culmination of his work.

The presentation “begins with an exorcism” in Clark’s words. A video of President Donald Trump poorly throwing pottery as a part of a surreal commercial for a defunct business from the dot com boom. Trump pulls out a pot from the kiln too early and, hot to the touch, drops the aborted pot, shattering it to pieces. “He has no skills, makes bad deals and breaks everything he touches.” Applause. Clark has a sense of humor about things.

“Ceramics feared the movement into art as much as it lusted for it,” Clark said, exploring the history through the ceramicists that colored his life. Interestingly, the usual figures in art history are present: Jackson Pollock, Judy Chicago, Andy Warhol and many others attempted ceramics.

Clark’s history starts where traditionalism and modernism meet and is told through seven generations to today, where the world’s most famous artists like Dan Flavin and Ai WeiWei are implicated in ceramics and its hidden history. “The crossover has been healthy indeed!” he said.

He noted that critical writing and examination of the art is very important but that “ceramics has no academy.” Though that is beginning to change, contemporary critics don’t know the history of ceramics to write about it well, “but they’ll get better” he assures the audience.

Oregon recently lost a crafts institution—the Oregon College of Art and Craft—and Clark noted this as part of a troubling trend. “It’s unlikely that we will get new ones. I think if you’re waiting for craft to return, that might be a long way away…The paradigm changes, and now, faster than ever, and artists must rethink everything about how they work.”

Clark was brought to Portland through a collaborative effort by the Northwest Art Council and University of Oregon’s Center for Art Research (CFAR). Brian Gillis, one of the event’s organizers and faculty at CFAR, described the event as “a really important movement...To see the evolution of ceramics, something with centuries of history, that was invisible, to see all of that in one short talk is powerful.” Gillis went on to describe Clark’s unique position as an art critic. “Craft has no legacy, so you have to see it where it is. It’s like a nexus point. It seems to come from the people rather than the palace.”

Clark is atypical for an art critic. Born in South Africa, he wrote his first work of criticism—a scathing rebuttal that revealed a magazine editor’s critique of the Queen of the South African Monarchy as sexist rather than legitimate—at age 10. Clark could write, but unlike his elite contemporaries, he dropped out of high school at age 17 to work and help support his family. While not as decorated as the usual critic, Clark instead gained an education through experience and relationships.

Looked down on as merely craft, ceramics were not taken seriously in the arts until very recently. Invisible to critics and historians, Clark makes this history visible.

His journey has taken him all over the world and with each step he was writing, creating and documenting. The presentation is part biography, part history, part criticism and part stand-up comedy.

Throughout however, he has some serious concerns.

At the end of his history Clark left the audience with three emphatic points, holding his fingers up for each: One: “Power and money! Every

top gallery has ceramic artists now…The art world is now an art market, scholarship is a vanity press and almost every artistic institution is owned by collectors.” Two: “I is a lie! I am a film director, artists are my actors. I couldn’t do anything without all of them making me seem smart.” Three: “Gratitude! An art critic is unwelcome in a lot of places.

My need to write was quite annoying. My friends gave me their careers to work with and for that I am very grateful.”

Clark closed the event by saying, “an irritant is a wonderful thing!

Because an irritant is what begins the pearl in the oyster.”

DANA TOWNSEND

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ARTS & CULTURE

HIDDEN STORIES OF THE YIDDISH PRESS SCHOLAR EDDY PORTNOY COMES TO CAMPUS

COURTESY OF JEWISH BOOK COUNCIL

ANNA LECLERC How do cultural myths homogenize individuals within that culture? How do we express the variance within American Jewish culture? If you’re Eddy Portnoy, the solution lies within existing and unheard histories of Jewish identity.

On Jan. 30 in the Smith Memorial Ballroom at Portland State, the Harold Schnitzer Family Program in Judaic Studies held the 15th annual Solomon Memorial Lecture. The guest lecturer this year was Eddy Portnoy, senior researcher and director of exhibitions at the YIVO Institute of Jewish Research. Portnoy has several published works, but his most recent endeavor is his book Bad Rabbi: And Other Strange but True Stories from the Yiddish Press.

Portnoy began his graduate research at Columbia University, where he found copies of an old publication from the 1920s called The Yiddish Press. It was there that he discovered how many stories went untold in Jewish popular culture. Portnoy realized that many traditional Jewish narratives are based on a very repetitive story of Jewish immigrants coming to America, starting their businesses from nothing and eventually making their way to a successful and assimilated American life.

According to Portnoy, there were no stories representative of “stupid jews,” meaning there were only stories of objective success, a hard and somewhat unattainable idea.

What was found by Portnoy in The Yiddish Press, however, was a multitude of stories

that deviated from traditional Jewish narratives. The title “Bad Rabbi” is actually a chapter in Portnoy’s book about a Hasidic rabbi who comes to America and marries a woman for money, despite already being married, then having to go through a very long and begrudging trial to try to not end up in prison.

Other stories in the book include a Jewish drag queen, a wrestler, several murderers and a tattoo artist.

The intent of publishing all of these stories in Portnoy’s book was to try to represent instances of Jewish cultural diversity. Portnoy stated, “a lot of Jewish-American historiography within the last century is full of Jewish immigrant success stories.” Portnoy’s book highlights what he calls “Jewish immigrant failures” where a long series of trial and errors is brought to the forefront of each story.

Portnoy brings up a very valid point—that becoming a success story is a very constraining pressure that is put onto many immigrants, not just Jewish immigrants. It is a pressure that can cause a single homogenous story, one that not everyone can identify with. The pressure to be considered a “success” or “successful” can also create cultural stereotypes, and not accurately represent a culture and the people who identify with that specific culture. What Portnoy’s book shows the public is that it is okay to create your own narratives in a culture that you identify with. Nobody is perfect, and that’s not a bad thing.

OREGON SYMPHONY PERFORMS GAME SOUNDTRACKS FROM PAST DECADE OWEN DEMETRE AND NICK TOWNSEND Video games have long been considered a nerdy and geeky hobby, but until very recently they have not caught mainstream attention.

That is starting to change now due to the wide variety of games available in many different genres and varying platforms to play. Because of this, recognition of the artistic merits of video games is beginning to grow.

One instance of this recognition came on the evening of Feb. 1 at the Arlene Schnitzer Concert hall. Game On!—a concert by the Oregon Symphony conducted by Andy Brick and featuring the Portland State University Chamber Choir—paid tribute to some of the largest games from the past decade.

The music came from a selection of games including Assassin’s Creed, Bioshock, World of Warcraft, The Witcher 3 and more. Changing up the traditional symphony concert format, the conductor structured the event to group

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DANA TOWNSEND the music according to the video game genre, allowing him to discuss each game and its cultural impact.

The concert was a technically impressive feat. As the symphony played, a selection of in-game footage and concept art was shown to the crowd on a large projector screen. The orchestra’s timing and melodies were incredibly precise and at times matched the music up with the scene on the projector. The chamber choir was also very effective, hitting deep lows and bright highs that matched the intensity of the gameplay on screen.

An especially engaging moment was the a cappella performance of the song “Leave Her, Johnny,” featured in Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag. At different parts of the song, male members got up and sang solo parts, with the remainder of male members backing them up.

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Something noticeably missing from the whole performance was music from truly iconic video games soundtracks such as Super Mario, the Legend of Zelda, and the Halo franchises. Most likely an intentional choice—or a decision forced by copyright issues—the omission of such “standard” selections gave the audience a different experience than many had expected.

Additionally, the mixed-genre format made it more difficult for the audience to emotionally engage in the music. Had the symphony focused on a couple of games instead of picking and choosing one or two songs from a lot of games, it would have built a more fluid program for the evening.

The highlight of the night was the Witcher 3 soundtrack. It had many touching moments in it, and the soundtrack is considered one of the best ever made by many

game critics. But just as the music made an emotional connection, the symphony switched genres and stopped the flow.

Despite these structural issues with the event, the concert was a musically rich and visually pleasing experience. Hopefully, the symphony will produce another video game concert in their next season. Until then, symphony-goers will have to enjoy more traditional symphony programming such as the music of John Williams, Lyle Lovett in Concert, and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire in Concert, all running later this February.

Stay tuned for the upcoming Oregon Symphony season announcement being released next week. It will be the last season to feature acclaimed conductor Carlos Kalmar.

OPINION

SALEM INTERIM LIBRARY OWNED

BY LGBTQ-UNFRIENDLY CHURCH SPENCER GARFIELD The Salem Public Library was built in 1904 to serve the community by providing equal access to information—however, citizens who pay taxes in Oregon unknowingly support Salem Alliance Church as well.

Over the past 116 years, the public library has grown into a place with free internet connection with computers and printing available, a Discovery Room available for kids who want a tangible learning experience, the Summer Reading Program— which instills reading habits in children while they are not in school—and so much more.

Now, the library is going through some changes. On the wall leading downstairs, staff posted up a paper tree inviting patrons to write down memories onto leaves. Down the carpeted stairs, the once computer lab is filled with boxes of storage, and the popular Teen Scene is closed, the only available room being a restroom and the empty Anderson Room(s).

Due to the growing concerns surrounding the megaquake that will eventually happen from the Cascadia Subduction Zone, the Salem Public Library was approved for a $18.6 million bond, paid for by Oregon taxpayers, to undergo a seismic retrofitting of the building. A Salem Library Improvement Project board was assembled in 2017 and have met monthly to discuss the progress in the renovation and relocation for the Salem Public Library.

The Library Renovation Council Subcommittee meets monthly to go over budget information and general inquiries from the public. The library will temporarily be relocated to a Broadway building currently owned by Salem Alliance Church, which was not known when the bond passed in 2017. The former Capital Press building which will hold the interim library is going to cost $19,000 a month, a controversial lease agreement which nearly 300 people have signed a petition against.

Putting a public library, even if it is temporarily, in a space owned by a church is problematic. Point blank. Even if the Broadway building “met city criteria,” it raises questions about whether it is ethical for Salem Alliance Church to own, and therefore lease the building to the City of Salem. Will Salem Alliance Church be exempt from paying taxes on the building, since they are a church? And, consequently, will the $19,000 monthly rent go straight into the pocket of Salem Alliance?

In December of 2019, a whistleblower accused the Mormon Church of stockpiling $100 billion, skipping out on taxes and misleading members of the congregation. The numbers are obviously not as high in this situation, however the relation stays the same—how is it ethical for taxpayers to give their money to a church without their consent? The Oregon State Bar says it is legal for religiously affiliated businesses to engage in

discrimination against LGBTQ+ people, however that does not make it right. And it certainly does not mean that a public library can allow jurisdiction to follow through.

This is not the first time Oregon taxpayers have been dealt a shorthand and paid the consequences later. The City of Salem has experienced budget shortfalls increasing by the hundred thousands since 2017, with a city savings account to run dry by the year 2023. Salem’s elected leaders spent millions of dollars getting two fire stations restored, as well as opening a homeless rental assistance program. Neither of these expenditures were responsible for the long term, putting the extra taxes and fees on taxpayers.

In an interview after the meeting adjourned, Sarah Strahl, library administrator for the board, said, “People’s main concern with the interim library’s landlord is that the message of inclusiveness will change. That is not the case. We are still Salem Public Library in any space that we go to.” Strahl mentioned the subcommittee’s meeting with the Salem Human Rights Committee in a good light, however the statement from the SHRC on the library’s relocation tells a different story:

“

“The Salem Human Rights Commission is deeply concerned about the proposed lease of the property owned by the Salem Alliance Church for the temporary location of the Salem Public Library. The Commission respectfully requests that the City review the available properties for other potential options, and select another location, even if that location is not as ideal in cost or operations,”

”

—Danielle Meyer, Chair, on behalf of the Human Rights Commission.

Despite public concern, the Broadway building was pushed through as the only viable option, with the construction of the new library beginning March 23. The subcommittee prepared for the opening of the interim Broadway library on March 14, which was jovially repeated in accordance to “Pi Day,” with party planning including pie for earnest library-goers.

When Lois Stark, Library Advisory Board member was asked about the importance of acceptance, she said, “We are here for the whole community, no matter what. I think this whole discussion has been good for the community because it makes us ask ourselves if we are inclusive. And I think those questions are important, being self aware.”

DANA TOWNSEND

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OPINION

HAVE YOU

HEARD? THE DISABILITY EDITION AJ EARL This week I got a neuroradiology report assessing imagery since my bus accident that confirmed a lot of what I already knew but gave me some bad news.

The good thing is that the specialist I need to see is in Vegas. The bad news, obviously, is the range of injuries: from a twisted brainstem to a Chiari Malformation. My ventricles are enlarged to an extreme degree, the prognosis for that being rated as “poor.” The fact that I finally have a name for my injuries is somewhat comforting, but the results of these injuries are still painful, no less so just because I know what they are.

Good times.

As a result of my brain injury I’ve moved from troublesome cognitive disabilities to profound, life-changing physical disabilities.

I have been acutely aware of the limitations presented by society, from buildings without ramps to uncaptioned videos. A lot of you, in some communities up to a third of you, have some type of disability, both visible and invisible. According to the American Community Survey, 12.8% of Americans are disabled, and 39% of those identifying as LGBTQ+ also identify as disabled.

Having the best in terms of accommodation, attention and respect should be a given.

My first question to you is, have you heard about the Disability Resource Center? To help meet the diverse needs of the campus disabled community, the DRC at Portland State is active in ensuring students receive accommodations and having a safe space to decompress or finding advocates on campus.

Are you aware, by the way, that there are a range of routes and access points for disabled students with mobility issues? These routes, often secured and removed from hightraffic areas, are also great for students who experience sensory overload. For example, underground passages between Cramer Hall, Smith Memorial Student Union and Fariborz Maseeh Hall provide a quiet and evenly lit route under the city and away from car horns and construction.

Abled students, did you know that sometimes people with mobility problems will alternate between modes, sometimes using no mobility device or aid at all and sometimes using a

powered device like a chair or scooter? The idea that you gotta stay in your chair or you’re faking is pernicious. Also, if you see someone with a mobility device or aid walking toward you on the sidewalk, please, please recognize that it’s better for us to go in a straight line and just slide to the left or right so we can keep moving.

Finally, have you heard that if you have issues with accessibility that need prompt resolution, there’s no reason to not ask either the DRC or file a Barrier to Physical Access form.

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THE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL CONTINUES ON, AND YES, YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION KATHRYN BRAVO

Unless someone has been living under a rock for the past two months, Americans are well aware that Donald Trump has become the third president to be impeached. Moving forward, the Senate impeachment trial could be one of the most important events in United States history.

And yes, you should be paying attention.

The House of Representatives voted on Dec. 18, 2019 in favor of both articles of impeachment—the first article for abuse of power and the second article for obstruction of congress. Only three Democrats voted against the articles, while Republicans remained in alliance with each other and loyal to Trump.

The senate impeachment trial officially began on Jan. 16, 2020 and is currently ongoing. Democrats have accused Trump of withholding federal aid to Ukraine in order to start an investigation into his political opponent Joe Biden and his son, Hunter Biden.

The latest issue to arise from the trial has to do with former Security Advisor John Bolton and a leaked manuscript of a book he is currently writing about the president, which was made public by The New York Times. In the manuscript, Bolton asserts that “Trump wanted to keep the hold on the aid to Ukraine until there was an investigation of his political rivals.”

The Senate voted on Feb. 3 to block any new witnesses or documents related to the impeachment inquiry from appearing before the house, effectively blocking Democrats push to hear from Bolton. From here on out, Trump’s chances of acquittal are all but certain, making him the first

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president in history to run for reelection after being impeached by the house.

If you want to keep up with the trial as it continues on in the coming days—and possibly weeks—it is important to know what sources are out there that have the facts without bias, and others that are geared more towards one party or the other, especially during an election year.

Here are some good sources to keep up to with the impeachment trial:

3. THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Similarly to NPR, The Wall Street Journal occasionally veers in the opposite direction to the right, but is right next to NPR in the content of its articles.

1. ASSOCIATED PRESS

If you’re looking for straight facts with the least amount of bias in general, Associated Press is the news outlet you’re looking for. Established in 1846, AP has won 54 Pulitzer Prizes as it has earned itself the reputation of being the most unbiased source for the most important current events. Journalists and reporters look to AP for research purposes as well as finding new stories to write about. In the case of the trial, you will get the most straightforward facts of what is currently being said, by who, when and why, without the conservative or liberal interpretation by the reporter.

2. NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO

While it occasionally skews left, NPR is one of the best American-based sources you can get. Often times, their journalists are reporting back almost immediately from whatever press event they have attended.

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DANA TOWNSEND

SPORTS

PORTLAND STATE CLUB LACROSSE SEASONS UNDERWAY MEN’S AND WOMEN’S LACROSSE TEAMS ENTER THE SEASON UNDER DIFFERING CIRCUMSTANCES

RICH RIGNEY As Portland State’s men’s and women’s lacrosse teams enter the 2020 season, they do so under differing circumstances.

For the women’s lacrosse team, coming off back-to-back trips to Nationals has them locked in on defending their conference title and returning to the national stage. Success for men’s lacrosse will be measured differently; the team currently does not have enough players for a full team and as a result will be meeting only for practices, without any official games scheduled.

For third-year women’s head coach Megan McGinnis, developing her players off the field is just as important as the team’s improvement in between the lines. “A big piece of it is being able to mentor these kids and see them really as a full family,” McGinnis said. “That’s really been my model, this whole player mentality of work hard on the field because that will reflect in school, work hard in school because that will reflect you as a person.”

With the team’s recent success in conference play, McGinnis is focused on keeping her players engaged and ensuring no opponent is overlooked. “If you’re winning all the time, it’s hard to keep that motivation,” McGinnis said. “We’re the ones with a target on our backs.”

First-year men’s head coach Sean Gunn faces a different challenge. “We’re just trying to keep the program going,” Gunn said. “We don’t have enough guys to play league games against other teams.”

Gunn said the team is looking into the possibility of combining rosters with the University of Portland, a school also struggling with player enrollment.

While the season outcome may be different for both the men’s and women’s teams, the goal for both squads remains the same.

“I just want to see us get better, individually and also collectively,” Gunn said.

Dani La Fleche, a senior at PSU in her third year with the women’s team, shared Gunn’s perception of success. “We just want to get better as an individual team,” La Fleche said.

MEMBERS OF THE PSU LACROSSE TEAM POSE IN FRONT OF THE NET DURING PRACTICE ON JAN. 30, 2020.

ALEX WITTWER/PSU VANGUARD “Since we’ve gone to Nationals two years in a row now, the expectation coming in is: let’s do it again,” said Ellen Carpenter, a senior at PSU in her second year with women’s lacrosse.

Whether they have games on the schedule or not, players from both teams cited personal and collective growth as the primary objective.

“We measure success just like any other team would—getting better each day and improving from the beginning of the season to the middle of the season to the end,” said Tony Hay, a senior in his third year for the men’s team.

A desire to improve is just one of the things that keeps players showing up to practice each day.

“It definitely helps my mental health,” La Fleche said. “Once I am on the field, I tend to just focus only on lacrosse and don’t really think about all the issues that are going on in my life outside of lacrosse. It’s really just an outlet physically and mentally.”

“Part of it is our coach,” Carpenter said. “I respect her too much to skip out on practice.”

For a men’s team practicing without games, passion for the sport was the unanimous motivator.

“This year is definitely an interesting year,” Hay said. “It can definitely be challenging to find motivation to come out here every single night and play at a high level, but I think it just comes down to the love of the sport.”

“Guys are here because they want to be here and they love lacrosse,” Gunn said.

Love for the game is just as much a factor for the women’s team, but recent success and a growing roster has led to even more ambitious goals for the future.

“I always talk about making this a varsity Division I team. I think we can,” McGinnis said. “Going from DII to DI is our next big step.”

While the men’s team continues the process of rebuilding, the focus remains on keeping the program afloat and continuing to give players the opportunity to compete.

Perhaps the greatest commonality between these two teams is the community of inclusivity and support they’ve created. Both

teams have players of all skill levels, some who are playing lacrosse for the first time.

“One of the things I’m looking forward to the most is seeing the improvement of some new players,” Carpenter said. “Something I love a lot about this team is that it doesn’t matter your skill level; you’re welcome here.”

The support these players show each other goes much deeper than the game.

“I love this team,” McGinnis said. “I went through loss last year and the thing that kind of kept me going every day was this team. I realized after that, these are my people. This is where I get my passion.”

This season may not have the same implications for both teams, but they share a similar outlook: personal improvement and community outweighing wins and losses.

“The better we get throughout the season, it doesn’t matter the outcome, but if we play better together as a team at the end, that’s what really matters,” Carpenter said.

“They don’t just do this to win,” McGinnis said. “These are their friends. This is the people they go to when they’re frustrated. They just see each other as family.”

Whether it’s a conference championship game to decide who’s heading to Nationals or a heated competition during practice on Stott field, what these teams share is an intense love for the game and a desire to continue being around it.

“I think that’s the great thing about this sport,” Hay said. “You don’t have to be playing for a high caliber school, you don’t even have to be playing for a program. You can go out with your friends, play summer leagues, play indoor leagues, as long as you’re out here with people you like and you’ve got a stick in your hands then the fun’s there.”

For those interested in joining the lacrosse teams or getting more information, contact psu.wlax@gmail.com for women’s lacrosse and portlandstatemenslacrosse@gmail.com for men’s lacrosse.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 4, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

15

Jordan Cagle

FEB 4–10 ART

MUSIC

FILM & THEATRE

COMMUNITY

MATTIEL, CALVIN LOVE DOUG FIR LOUNGE 9 P.M. $13–15 • 21+ Southern blues-rock with an old school sound.

FIRST RUN: ANIMATED OSCARNOMINATED SHORT FILMS HOLLYWOOD THEATRE 6:30 P.M. $9, $7 W/ STUDENT ID Get a peek at what is passing for the best of the best in terms of animated short films.

A SLUMBER PARTY TO DISMANTLE THE PATRIARCHY HAND2MOUTH/SHOUT HOUSE 6:30 P.M. PAY WHAT YOU CAN A classic slumber party including snacks, guest interviews, music, face masks, pranks calls and a short work-in-progress performance.

Bring a sleeping bag.

A GENEROUS KINGDOM IV: ART THAT EXPLORES SYMBOLISM, STORY AND BEYOND VERUM ULTIMUM ART GALLERY 6–8 P.M. FREE 43 pieces from 43 different artists.

CHASITY BELT, LOOSE TOOTH WONDER BALLROOM 8:30 P.M. $15–18 Seattle-based feminist punk/indie rock group comes to Portland.

‘SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY’ PORTLAND CENTER STAGE AT THE ARMORY 7:30 P.M. $25–87 A coming-of-age story set at an allgirls boarding school in Ghana.

CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY HALL 9:30 A.M. FREE 9:30 a.m. in the middle of the week is as good a time to get involved as any.

SOUTHERN RITES OREGON JEWISH MUSEUM 11 A.M.–5 P.M. $8, $5 W/ STUDENT ID A visual study of racism in rural Georgia organized by the International Center of Photography.

YOUNG DOLPH, KEY GLOCK ROSELAND THEATER 8 P.M. $22 Memphis rappers coming to Portland.

SYNCOPATION DEEP END THEATER 7:30 P.M. $16 A senior couple has their relationship interrupted by the lives and experiences of their grown children.

BROWN BAG LUNCH & LEARN: PLANT YOURSELF WHERE YOU WILL BLOOM CENTRAL LIBRARY - U.S. BANK ROOM NOON–1:00 P.M. FREE Develop your professional skills and learn how to overcome challenges when transitioning into a new job.

FRI FEB 7

SARA BENNET, NATAN DVIR BLUE SKY GALLERY NOON–5 P.M. FREE Bennet’s “Life After Life in Prison: The Bedroom Project” features imagery of 21 women after being paroled from maximum-security prison.

TAHIRAH MEMORY JACK LONDON REVUE 9 P.M. $20–25 • 21+ Portland jazz vocalist Tahirah Memory performs her first show of 2020.

CASCADE FESTIVAL OF AFRICAN FILMS THE MERCY OF THE JUNGLE PCC CASCADE CAMPUS 7 P.M. FREE Two Rwandan soldiers sent to hunt perpetrators of genocide are left behind in thick eastern Congo jungle and must fight for survival.

PORTLAND COMMUNITY TAI CHI NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF NATURAL MEDICINE 5–6:30 P.M. FREE A class including an introduction to Tai Chi and Walking Meditation Practice.

SAT FEB 8

SEEING IT THROUGH: A VISUAL MANIFESTATION OF THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY’S LEGACY IN PORTLAND MULTNOMAH COUNTY CENTRAL LIBRARY 10 A.M.–6 P.M. FREE Explore the legacy of the Black Panther Party in Portland.

PHORA HAWTHORNE THEATRE 8 P.M. $25–30 Future mogul comes to the Hawthorne Theatre.

BLACK HISTORY MONTH FILM FEST ST. JOHNS MEETING ROOM 3–5 P.M. FREE, FIRST COME FIRST SERVE St. Johns Library will be screening four movies that highlight and uplift the Black experience in America.

This week is the movie Moonlight.

CUPID’S UNDIE RUN BARREL ROOM NOON $40 Run around in your underwear to help raise funds for neurofibromatosis.

SUN FEB 9

PINK SHEETS CARNATION CONTEMPORARY NOON–5 P.M. FREE A special exhibit where the gallery collaborated with Tropical Contemporary to bring you works from the Eugene-based collective’s members.

TEVIS HODGE JR. THE SPARE ROOM 9 P.M. • 21+ FREE Powerful blues from this Virginia native.

‘FADE TO BLACK’ FIFTH AVENUE CINEMA 3 P.M. $5, FREE W/ STUDENT ID Part documentary and part concert film following Jay-Z after his eighth and self-proclaimed third-best album, The Black Album.

HOW TO HAVE FUN IN A CIVIL WAR PCC CASCADE 5:15 P.M. $30 SLIDING SCALE A one-woman show by Somali multimedia artist Ifrah Mansour.

LADY SAINTS GALLERY @ THE JUPITER HOTEL 6 P.M.–8 P.M. FREE Asher Rose displays portraits of women who he feels should be up for modern sainthood.

BLACK ACID THE LOVECRAFT 10 P.M. FREE • 21+ Throwback rave coming to you on the second Monday of every month.

OREGONMADE - THE SHINING ON 35MM THE HOLLYWOOD THEATRE 7:30 P.M. GENERAL ADMISSION $9 / STUDENTS $7 The classic Kubrick film on 35mm.

KARAOKE NIGHT AT VALENTINES VALENTINES 9 P.M. FREE Weekly karaoke night with Atlas.

TUE FEB 4

RE / EMERGENCE WATERSTONE GALLERY 11 A.M.–5:30 P.M. FREE Opening day of an exhibition featuring works from wood and metal sculptors Michael de Forest and Greg Wilbur.

WED FEB 5 THU FEB 6 MON FEB 10