WEDNESDAY, MAY 26, 2010 • PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY • VOLUME 64, ISSUE 115
Event of the day A free showing of the film Made in LA will be shown as part of the Roots Festival. The documentary follows the story of three Latina immigrants working in Los Angeles garment sweatshops while struggling to win basic labor protections from a trendy clothing retailer. The film will be followed by a discussion.
When: 5:30 p.m. Where: SMSU Multicultural Center
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INSIDE NEWS
Agents for a day
Are fountains folly? Portland State fountains rarely run and are expensive to maintain PAGE 2
ARTS
Mixing art and life Free Life Center emphasizes creativity in art PAGE 4 Robert Britt/Portland State Vanguard
Knock, knock: From left to right (in the vests) are accounting students Matthew Prentice, Catherine Willey, Patrick Mok and Carla Ikehara.
Accounting students play the part of IRS special agents in Adrian Project Tearin’ it up Laurelwood NW Public House reopens after renovations PAGE 5
OPINION
Operation goes too far Explicit material given to elementary students PAGE 6
Robert Britt Vanguard staff
“Police with a warrant—open up,” Matthew Prentice shouted outside of a classroom door in the School of Business Administration last Friday afternoon. Moments later, the door with a sign that read “Cheaters Bar ‘N Grill” opened and Prentice pushed past the man opening the door.
ASPSU changes hiring method to mirror professional practice
Prentice led a team of “federal agents” in body armor inside to serve a search warrant on the bar’s owner, who was accused of hiding earnings from the IRS. Prentice, a senior majoring in accounting, and the rest of the team were very familiar with the man who opened the door. They had been following him all day—building a mock case against him through investigation and surveillance. The team even used undercover work, complete with hidden cameras and microwave transmitters. The scenario was just one of several that about 30 Portland State
accounting students ran through that day as part of an IRS outreach program dubbed the “Adrian Project.” Led by IRS Special Agent Debra Meyer, the event immersed students in the life of agents working for the IRS Criminal Investigation unit, a specialized arm of the IRS that investigates white-collar crimes. “We make the students agents for a day,” Meyer said. “Today we have five ongoing investigations: a drug dealer, a bar owner that’s skimming, a questionable refund, a fraudulent tax preparer and a gambler not reporting winnings.”
Meyer, a Portland State alumna and IRS agent since 1987, said the program is designed to spread the word about what IRS criminal investigators do and also lets students know that working for the IRS doesn’t necessarily mean sitting behind a desk all day. About 150 accounting majors graduate from the School of Business Administration each year, many of whom want to become certified public accountants, but not all of them. In a city the size of Portland, there are not enough entry-level jobs to absorb all of the school’s graduates anyway, said Dr. Elizabeth Almer, accounting area director with the School of Business Administration. “So increasingly we are trying to open up doors to government jobs for our students. This is a terrific avenue,” she said. When Meyer first approached Almer about bringing the project to PSU, Almer said she was immediately on board and that the event was an “incredibly positive student experience.” In an evaluation, students unanimously rated their experience with the program as being a five out of five. “It not only showed them these alternative careers they may not have thought about, but it provided them with a day of skills enhancement in areas that can benefit them in their careers going forward,” said Almer, who is also the adviser for the accounting student group Beta Alpha Psi. Through the program, students learned about interviewing techniques, background checks and various tax laws. “Even if they don’t go into the IRS, those types of skills are things they would be using in their accounting careers,” Almer said. Catherine Willey, senior, enjoyed playing the part of a federal agent for the day.
AGENTS continued on page three
Hiring by committee
Amy Staples Vanguard staff
In a departure from recent years, ASPSU President-elect Katie Markey and Vice President-elect Selina Poulsen, have decided to hire their administration by committee. According to Markey, hiring committees were formed for each position. Currently, a committee is working on hiring for the chief of staff position. Once an individual is chosen for the position, he or she will be on subsequent hiring committees to help fill the remaining positions. Poulsen is chairing the hiring committees, though Markey makes the final decisions based on the input provided by the committees. After exploring different hiring options, Markey said they decided on hiringby-committee since professional organizations and universities follow a similar process. “I’m really relying on Selina and the hiring committee to use their expertise and their perspective to give me good feedback,” she said.
In the past, the president- and vice president-elect would hire the chief of staff, possibly with input from others close to student government, according to Markey. From there, the president, vice president and chief of staff would form the group responsible for filling the remaining cabinet positions. Markey and Poulsen wanted to do the process differently this year in order to open ASPSU up to the whole campus, Markey said. “Over the past few years, ASPSU has been—and this has been said by a lot of people—very much the same people,” she said. According to Poulsen, she and Markey did not want the “process to take place behind closed doors where the [it] could not be fully explained.” “Starting off our administration by asking for participation from a variety of communities on campus allows for a true representation of
ASPSU continued on page three
Liana Shewey/Portland State Vanguard
It takes a school: ASPSU President-elect Katie Markey is forming hiring committees
for the executive staff.