WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7, 2010 • PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY • VOLUME 64, ISSUE 87
Event of the night Don’t miss today’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” open forum, hosted by the Queer Resource Center and the Student Veterans Association When: 7 p.m. Where: SMSU, room 327
WWW.DAILYVANGUARD.COM • FREE
INSIDE NEWS FOOD PANTRY FOR ALL ASPSU offers free food for hungry students PAGE 2
ARTS
Forum for senate hopefuls Few differences between candidates; all are expected to win Virginia Vickery Vanguard staff
Riding on the wings of a horse Pegasus Dream sets up camp tonight at Rotture PAGE 4
The sociopath and the demon Dan Wells will frighten you with the reality of a twisted mind and supernatural force PAGE 4
Just over half of those running for Student Senate were present at a public forum yesterday, at which all candidates essentially agreed with one another on nearly every issue. As in past years, fewer candidates are running than there are vacant senate seats. “Basically, if all [of] the positions don’t have enough people running for [them], each candidate only needs one vote to win,” said Elections Board Chair Debra Porta. Last year’s election was the first in several in which more candidates ran than there were positions. During the forum, candidates answered questions regarding potential restructuring of the university’s budget, how to
Safety on Broadway Finding space for bikers and students with disabilities Tamara K. Kennedy
Once more into the rain The Taxidermist DLC expands the world of the Origami Killer PAGE 5
OPINION
effectively time-manage while serving in a leadership role and understanding the processes of the university and student government. The candidates each expressed a desire to ensure that the needs of as many students as possible are recognized and addressed by ASPSU. The event was filmed by PSU-TV and will air next tuesday on MetroEast Community Media stations. Only a handful of student-media representatives and current ASPSU-affiliated students were present at the forum. A contributing factor to the low turnout may have been a last-minute change of venue. The university scheduling office mistakenly overbooked Parkway North in the Smith Memorial Student Union and a musical performance pushed the forum to a room on the second floor, according to Porta. From the “Viking Strong!” slate—composed of only senate candidates—Makoto Matt Blasa,
Vanguard staff
Since the new bike path opened on Southwest Broadway in the summer of 2009, safety issues have emerged for students, bikers and community members because of its interference with TriMet’s LIFT Paratransit stop at Portland State. The LIFT program provides an accessible van, designed to provide
door-to-door transportation for those with mobility issues. Scott Davis, a service supervisor for LIFT, wrote in a letter to the PSU Disability Resource Center, “We used to stop right there on Broadway, just south of Montgomery. With the new bike lane/parking configuration, we got squeezed out.” Though Davis said he walked the area several times to find a location where the LIFT van could get to the
LIFT continued on page three
Society needs history The Oregon Historical Society needs our support PAGE 6 From the Web’s heart, I stab at thee Cyberbullying is a growing problem PAGE 6
Adam Wickham/Portland State Vanguard
Too crowded: The LIFT van currently must drop riders off into the bike lane.
Drew Martig/Portland State Vanguard
Candidate forum: (left to right) Makoto Matt Blasa, Alejandro Hoyer, Armenia Sarabia, Sephinesh
A. Guild are all part of “Viking Strong! Slate” Karen Ulbright, Cathy Symes and Matt Fleskes are part of Students First Slate.
Sephinesh A. Guild, Alejandro Hoyer and Armenia Sarabia were present at the forum. Patricia Binder was not in attendance. Senate candidates from the “Students First” slate at the forum include: James Au, Matt Fleskes, Cathy Symes and Karen Ulbright. Lucius Shields was not present. Commenting on why there are so few senate candidates in the running, Porta said, “There are systematic [structural] things that need to be addressed with the senate. That’s why I asked all the candidates ‘what are you going to
do to engage students’ participation in this year’s election?’ because we need student participation to enable us to do what we’ve set out to do from the beginning.” A question asked by the moderator, E-Board member Amina Ali, concerned potential budget restructuring of PSU. Every candidate echoed the same sentiment: Students should be involved in the process to ensure their interests and voices are taken into account. Both slates contain
FORUM continued on page three
PSU and PGE plan partnership Sustainability and urban mobility focuses will lead to academic opportunites Catrice Stanley Vanguard staff
A simple request for long-term support turned into a partnership between Portland State and PGE. According to Kevin Reynolds, professor and chair of the chemistry department, when Portland State President Wim Wiewel asked for assistance from Portland General Electric with the renovation of Science Building 2, he was probably just hoping for a donation. “But PGE came back and wanted to talk about something bigger,” he said. It turned out to be a memorandum of understanding between the university and PGE, which was signed during a ceremony last Tuesday by Wiewel and Jim Piro, president and CEO of PGE. “To meet the challenges of Oregon’s energy future and serve our customers in the most sustainable, cost-effective way possible, strategic alliances with forward-thinking institutions like PSU are more critical than ever,” Piro said in a press release. “Working together with Portland State, we will train tomorrow’s energy leaders and develop smart, sustainable solutions for powering our region,” he said. According to David Santen,
director of communications for sustainability initiatives at PSU, the memorandum is essentially a document acknowledging that the two institutions share a common vision of creating a sustainable regional economy for the Portland metro region. “PSU and PGE, as the largest urban university and the largest urban utility, respectively, bring complementary skills and interests to the partnership in service of that vision,” Santen said. “The [memorandum of understanding] means that we’re going to work together to address those challenges.” Along with the memorandum, the PGE Foundation has awarded $50,000 to PSU in support of the partnership. The money is intended to establish the PGE Foundation Renewable Energy Research Laboratory. According to Reynolds, this lab will be located on the third floor of Science Building 2, which is currently under construction. Next fall, Erik Johansson will take a position as a chemistry faculty member and manager of the lab. “Johansson is currently a postdoctoral research fellow at [the] California Institute of Technology and a member of Nathan Lewis’ research team. Nate Lewis is highly regarded in the field of artificial photosynthesis,” Santen said.
PGE continued on page three