WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2010 • PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY • VOLUME 64, ISSUE 83
Event of the night Interested in helping the environment? Attend today’s Earth Day volunteer recruitment meeting. When: 3 p.m. Where: SMSU, room 294
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INSIDE NEWS Health is good for your financial aid With health care bill comes an increase in student aid PAGE 2
ARTS
Excitement in the familiar JohnnyX and the Groadies bring an all-ages experience to Berbati’s Pan PAGE 4
Finding your place What We Are asks important questions about multi-cultural co-existence PAGE 4
Springtime and the cooking is easy A modern take on colorful pasta primavera PAGE 5
OPINION
Debate team budget woes SFC travel caps render the team unable to compete, the future is uncertain Vihn Tran Vanguard staff
Shortly after Portland State’s internationally competitive debate team brought home its third consecutive victory at the 79th annual Mahaffey Memorial Debate Tournament, it faced a major setback when the Student Fee Committee released its 2010-11 budget for student groups. Noticeably absent from the group’s budget: $10,000 in traveling expenses requested to go compete in local and regional tournaments, as well as $14,000 in entry fees to participate in those tournaments. Members of the debate team are frustrated, particularly because they have gained a significant amount of momentum over the past year. In 2009-10, the team won five out of eight tournaments, but the cap on travel will severely limit their ability to compete in the future. “It’s hard to be an intercollegiate competitive team without the intercollegiate and competitive part,” said debate member Aaron Baker, who won first place with his partner Lindsay Bing at the Mahaffey Tournament. “It’s like telling the director of athletics that their team can’t go anywhere and compete.” According to several members, travel is an integral part of the debate team. Chris Richter, the debate team’s coach, said not being able to travel and compete takes away much of the team’s drive to improve because members don’t have an opportunity to prove their abilities.
Carrie Johnston Vanguard staff
Guest Opinion Internet freedom more critical than business PAGE 6
DEBATE continued on page two
Sexual assault victims have recourse It’s sexual assault awareness month—what are PSU’s policies?
A city made in Oregon Don’t change the “Made in Oregon” PAGE 6
Kelly Welch, student coordinator and debate team member said, “All other benefits we provide to our members and to the school fundamentally collapse without the foundation experience that competition affords us.” However, the debate team is unique amongst other SFC-funded groups because of its competitive aspect. While it competes regularly in tournaments held at regional and out-of-state schools, the team has no foundation of support from an academic department or athletic division. The debate team relies solely on student fees for its funding. According to Richter, the debate team was housed under the Department of Communication when it first began in the 1960s, and therefore received its funding through that department. However, when Richter became involved with the team in 2005, it was an SFC funded group. Though they acknowledge the financial benefits of being supported by an academic department, Hawthorne and others are concerned about the team’s autonomy. “As a student group, the students make the decision on where we go to compete with the advice from our coach, how many teams are going to tournament, who gets to go,” Hawthorne said. “Under a department, we cannot make that decision to go to any tournament we want.” According to Hawthorne, the Communication Department has not expressed any interest in supporting the debate team. SFC Chair Johnnie Ozimkowski said PSU is different from other
April is sexual assault awareness month and the Women’s Resource Center wants Portland State students to know that there are three ways to report sexual assault incidents on campus, aside from calling 911. The Campus Public Safety Office crime log lists one incident of reported forcible rape on campus in calendar year 2009, one in 2008 and four in 2007. But, according to the National Institute of Justice Web site, “Reports of dating and sexual violence made to campus safety officials do not represent the incidence of sexual assault on college campuses.” Sexual violence remains a vastly underreported crime and these incidents do not necessarily reflect the full scope of the problem.
Information from the WRC describes sexual assault as a nonconsensual sexual act, existing when there is no interest in mutuality, consent or concern by one person for the other. “When the word ‘no’ is said, the game is over,” said CPSO Director Michael Soto. “The Residence Life judicial system works under the student conduct code which says that if alcohol is involved, there is no consent, whereas the law says you have to be drunk for it to mean ‘no.’” Colleges across the country, such as Indiana University, are under fire for not taking proper action against those accused of sexual assault. In February, National Public Radio announced that its investigative team collaborated with journalists at the Center for Public Integrity to examine “why colleges and universities fail to protect women from assault.” The story focused on a woman from Indiana University who reported being raped in her dorm
ASSAULT continued on page two
Adam Wickham/Portland State Vanguard
Good forum: A Q-and-A time was held today for uncontested presidential candidate Katherine
Markey and vice presidential candidate Selina Paulsen.
ASPSU candidates announced Public forum held yesterday for uncontested pres and VP on campus issues Corie Charnley Vanguard staff
Students gathered in Parkway North yesterday for a Q-and-A session with the ASPSU presidential candidate Katherine Markey, and vice presidential candidate Selina Paulsen. Yesterday’s forum was the first in a series of candidate forums that will take place over the coming weeks to introduce the student body to the 2010 ASPSU candidates. The talks will also give PSU students an opportunity to voice their opinions about issues. “[The purpose of] the candidate forum is to make sure that the people running to represent you know who you are, and know what’s important to you,” said Elections Board Chair Deborah Porta. The candidates were asked numerous questions on an array of issues, including what they believe their role as ASPSU president and vice president would be. “To be president is to represent the students of Portland State…not only at Portland State but outside to all of the agencies [PSU] works with, even if that means going down to the capitol in Salem,” Markey said. “We need to make sure that students are heard, that they know what’s going on at the state level and that they know what’s going on at PSU.” Both candidates are currently running unopposed. The original due date for candidacy applications was March 19, but was pushed back to March 22. Students who wish to run for an ASPSU office may still join the race using write-in ballots, which are due by 5 p.m. on Thursday, April 1. In order to become a write-in candidate, one must gather 50 signatures from students. However, according to Porta, the E-board by-laws, dictated
by ASPSU’s constitution, prohibit late-registration candidates from campaigning on campus. In regards to the legitimacy of the campaign, the two candidates expressed their concerns about running without opposition. “There will be no difference for Selina and I. We’re going to run it just as if we had opposition,” Markey said. “We want students to vote the way they feel best, and to vote for us because they actually think we’re going to do the best job, not just because we’re the only ones running.” Paulsen admitted her own fears about the lack of opposition. “How do I have a system of accountability when I don’t have an opponent watching my every move?” Paulsen said. “I think as long as students are involved, and students watch us…I think it will help that system and it will help make [the campaign] more legitimate.” Markey stated her main concerns for PSU, which include university restructuring and the potential privatization of PSU and the Oregon University System. “There’s still a lot of discussion [about restructuring], but I’m a firm believer and advocate that students need to be part of that discussion,” Markey said. She also plans to focus on student fee issues, primarily giving students control of their student fees and access to the resources paid for by the fees. If elected, Paulsen hopes to implement more student outreach programs, such as an affordable textbook exchange and the recently established ASPSU food pantry.
The next forum, comprised of Student Senate candidates, will take place today at 4 p.m. in 236 Smith Memorial Student Union. For more candidate forum dates, as well as a list of the current 2010 ASPSU candidates, visit ASPSU’s Web site at www.aspsu.pdx.edu.