Portland State Vanguard Volume 75 Issue 28

VOLUME 75 • ISSUE 28 • MARCH 2, 2021

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The state of PSU’s budget 8

NEWS Education leaders call for P-20 investment FEATURE P. 4–5

ARTS & CULTURE Persona 5 is the perfect game for the moment P. 12–13

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P. 8–9

OPINION Rethinking Oregon’s state song

PSU Vanguard • SEPTEMBER 1, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

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CONTENTS

COVER BY SHANNON STEED

NEWS HILL TO HALL

P. 3

COVID-19 UPDATE

P. 3

OREGON EDUCATION LEADERS CALL ON LAWMAKERS TO “FULLY INVEST IN PUBLIC EDUCATION”

P. 4–5

INTERNATIONAL DELAYED ELECTIONS PROVOKE ANGER IN SOMALIA

P. 6

NEW LAW ON UNIVERSITY POLICE LEADS TO PROTEST IN GREECE

P. 7

COVER PSU TOWN HALL ADDRESSES THE CURRENT AND FUTURE STATE OF ITS BUDGET

P. 8–9

STAFF

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

INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD

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SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY HOW BITCOIN MINING AFFECTS CLIMATE CHANGE

P. 11

ARTS & CULTURE PERSONA 5 STRIKERS MAKES ME WANT TO REPLAY THE ORIGINAL PERSONA 5 OPINION WHERE ARE THE $2000 CHECKS, JOE?

P. 14

OREGON’S STATE SONG NEEDS TO CHANGE

P. 15

BACK COVER VIRTUAL EVENTS CALENDAR

P. 16

OPINION EDITOR Nick Gatlin

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Olivia Lee

STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher

ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings

PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sam Person

TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale

COPY CHIEF Sophie Concannon CONTRIBUTORS Conor Carroll Pandora DeSpain Analisa Landeros Mackenzie Streissguth Sierra Still PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Annie Schutz

DESIGNERS Farah Alkayed Sam Garcia Shannon Steed T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow Kahela Fickle George Olson A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood

P. 12–13

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.

FEBRUARY 21–25 HANNA ANDERSON

FEBRUARY 21: FACING EXPULSION, OREGON DEMOCRATIC LAWMAKER REP. DIEGO HERNANDEZ RESIGNS

State Rep. Diego Hernandez announced his resignation to OPB on Feb. 21, facing an upcoming vote that could have made him the first state lawmaker in Oregon’s history to be expelled from the Legislature. After monthslong allegations of harassment, the Oregon House Conduct Committee concluded Hernandez created a hostile work environment for women, and decided unanimously to bring a vote to expel Hernandez to the full House. Hernandez filed a lawsuit to prevent the vote to expel—however, the effort failed after United States District Court Judge Ann Aiken refused to intervene in the case, insisting the Oregon Legislature has the power to police its own members. Hernandez’s resignation will take effect March 15.

FEBRUARY 24: P ORTLAND NO LONGER CONSIDERED AN ANARCHIST JURISDICTION UNDER BIDEN ADMINISTRATION

President Joe Biden signed an executive order Wednesday, which included rescinding a memo by the Trump administration labeling three Democrat lead cities as “anarchist jurisdictions,” including Portland. According to The Oregonian, Portland, New York City and Seattle had earned the label in September—from the Justice Department under former President Donald Trump—for meeting certain criteria, including that each city “disempowers or defunds police departments.” The Trump administration also used the designation as a threat to withhold federal funding, leading the cities to file a lawsuit against the administration.

FEBRUARY 25: STATE REPUBLICANS WALK OUT ONCE AGAIN

Republicans staged another boycott against the Oregon Legislature Thursday, denying the State Senate a quorum over Governor Kate Brown’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

11 Republicans and one independent senator skipped the senate’s weekly floor session, demanding Legislation to reopen schools, make speedier efforts towards economic recovery and a have stronger focus on vaccinating seniors, according to OPB. According to Willamette Week, the boycott has yet to have as major of an impact as Republicans’ previous walkouts, which shut down the Legislature in 2019 and 2020 to prevent the passing of climate change Legislation from Democrats—but it could be an indicator for more disruptive disappearances later in the session.

FEBRUARY 25: JUDGE DISMISSES LAWSUIT AGAINST PAGEANT FOR BANNING TRANSGENDER COMPETITORS

A federal judge in Portland threw out a lawsuit by a transgender woman against the Miss United States of America pageant corporation, ruling that the company was not breaking any laws by excluding transgender women from its pageants. Anita Noelle Green of Clackamas filed a lawsuit against the organization in 2019, accusing the pageant group of discrimination after being denied the right to compete, according to Willamette Week. However, U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman ruled that, because the pageant group resembled more of an expressive association than a commercial business, they are allowed to exclude participants that don’t align with the message they aim to express. According to AP News, the attorney for Miss United States, John T. Kaempf, insisted his client was not transphobic, but only wanted to restrict pageant eligibility to cisgender women.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

COVID-19 UPDATE CONOR CARROLL AND HANNA ANDERSON

TOTAL AT PSU AS OF FEB. 22: 43 CASES

Two February cases No new COVID-19 cases have been reported at Portland State between Feb. 22–28, leaving case numbers at two for the month of February, and 43 cases since May 2020.

PSU relies heavily on a self reporting system for people who have tested positive or inconclusive, and have been on campus within two weeks of a positive test. The self reporting form can be found on PSU’s Coronavirus Response website.

TOTAL IN OREGON AS OF FEB. 28: 155,597 CASES; 2,208 DEATHS

Total Vaccinations: 276,119 vaccines in progress, 345,648 fully vaccinated, 621,767 people total Oregon reached a somber milestone Sunday, with Feb. 28 marking the one year anniversary of the first COVID-19 case in the state, according to the Oregon Health Authority.

The U.S. passed its one-year anniversary on January 21, the first national case coming from Washington in 2020, according to the CDC. Governor Kate Brown extended Oregon’s state of emergency related to COVID-19 Thursday. The emergency declaration, which is reviewed every 60 days, is the legal foundation for Brown’s COVID-19 related executive orders, and allows those orders to stay in effect, according to AP News.

Brown also released a new vaccine eligibility timeline Friday promising, if supplies are received from the federal government as planned, that all Oregonians will be eligible to receive the vaccine no later than July 1. Frontline workers defined by the CDC—which include workers in the community and four-year colleges—will be eligible for the vaccine no later than May 1.

TOTAL IN U.S. AS OF FEB. 28: 28,355,420 CASES; 510,777 DEATHS

Total vaccinations in U.S. as of Feb. 27: 49.8 million received at least one dose; 24.7 million fully vaccinated The House approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic relief bill early Saturday, according to AP News, despite Democrats facing internal conflicts over certain provisions in the bill.

The new president’s vision for providing stimulus checks—$1,400 for individuals—and other support to businesses, states and cities battered by COVID-19 passed on a near partyline 219-212 vote. The passing vote sends the measure to the Senate, where Democrats seem bent on resuscitating their minimum wage push and fights could erupt over state aid and other issues.

The most contentious provision in the bill would raise the federal minimum wage to $15 by June 2025, which has Democrats divided and is unlikely to remain in the final bill.

Democrats and Republicans currently have a 50-50 split in the senate, with Vice President Kamala Harris’ tie-breaking vote narrowing giving Democrats the majority. A small amount of Democrats voting against their party could doom the legislation and the first major initiative of Joe Biden’s presidency.

NEWS

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OREGON E CALL CA LL ON L

“FULLY EDUCAT DYLAN JEFFERIES Following the release of Oregon’s quarterly economic forecast on Feb. 24, education leaders and advocates released a statement calling on lawmakers to “fully invest in public education from pre-school through post-secondary education. ” P-20 investment, in other words.

The statement argues such investment would bolster Oregon’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and improve the state’s overall economic health. Multiple groups, including Oregon’s Public Universities and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) were behind the statement.

The statement also calls for “full funding for investments in the education sector that create opportunity and promote racial, social and economic equity for Oregon students.” “[Portland State is] joining with the state’s other public universities in advocating for funding for the P-20 system,” stated Vice President for University Relations Kevin Neely in an email.

“Each component of the system operates independently, but they build on each other. We want our class of 2037, which is starting Pre-K now, to be college ready in 13 years. That is the main thread of the effort—don’t defund or underfund one part of the education system to shift it into another part. Oregon must fund the full range of our public education system if we are to close historic income disparities and imagine a more

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NEWS

equitable economy.”

“The education advocates at the pre-school, K-12, and postsecondary education levels came together as a sector to advocate for our budgets in an expression of solidarity and unity,” stated PSU-AAUP Vice President for Legislative and Political Action Ramin Farahmandpur in an email. “We are not advocating for a structural reformatting; we simply understand that our shared interest in full funding across the various levels is based in our commitment to serving our students well throughout their lives.”

According to the statement, a study by ECONorthwest in 2002 found a “fundamental relationship” between education and the economy.

“Education dollars continually flow through local communities, generating additional spending and job creation,” the statement reads. “That study, which was reaffirmed in 2009, noted that K-12 public education alone is the state’s largest employer.”

According to the statement, Oregon was expected to experience a $1.8 billion shortfall for the 2021–23 biennium, and “education advocates note that the state can close this gap with a blend of federal, state, and local resources, bolstered by judicious use of reserves, federal dollars, and common-sense revenue adjustments.”

The economic forecast, however, noted there is not a $1.8 billion shortfall. According to the executive summary of the forecast: “Immediately following the start of the pandemic, the revenue outlook was revised down by around $2 billion. As of the current forecast, this hole has completely been filled. The new outlook calls for a bit more revenue than was expected before the recession began.”

Because of this, P-20 investment is expected to be even more feasible.

According to President of the Oregon School Employees Association Lisa Gourley in the statement, “the willingness of policymakers to commit resources to protect the state’s fragile cradle-to-career public education system may determine whether the impact of COVID-19 is measured in years or in generations.”

Oregon State University President F. King Alexander stated: “A proven strategy to stimulate sustained equitable economic recovery and personal prosperity following an economic downturn is to make critical investments in a state’s education sector.

Economists nationally have demonstrated that investments in public education from Pre-K-12 through higher education provide short-term economic stimulus while also contributing to lifelong benefits for learners and society, including career success and earnings, wellness, increased community engagement and less poverty.”

PSU is in the market for innovation. Due to the pandemic, the university—along with many public universities across the country—is facing sinking enrollment and other budgetary challenges. P-20 investment could help PSU mediate these challenges.

According to Farahmandpur, “PSU’s particular mission, to equitably serve its diverse student body, is well-served by our joint efforts to pursue funding that accounts for increased costs, holds the line on tuition for greater access, and ensures educational program quality. Fully funding our request for Oregon’s colleges and universities will help us achieve those goals.”

According to PSU President Stephen Percy at the Executive and Audit Committee meeting on Feb. 25, the presidents from Oregon’s seven public universities met with Oregon Governor

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

EDUCATION LEADERS LAWMAKERS TO

Y INVEST IN PUBLIC ATION” Kate Brown on Feb. 24 to discuss “strategies to create more innovation in higher education.”

“I think this is a helpful sign from the Governor suggesting that this is the time to be innovative,” Percy said. “It was a general sense of, it would be a good time to work together to create innovations that will help support the state and support higher education. Our hope would be to create a comprehensive plan that we work together with the governor, with legislatures, so that we have a common vision for higher education in the state.”

At this time, Oregon education leaders and advocates have requested that Brown provide $900 million in total investment for higher education. The 2019 Student Success Act invested $2 billion into K-12 education. The act did not invest in higher education, and since then, according to Percy, Oregon’s public universities have been trying to figure out how to secure more investment.

At the Executive and Audit Committee meeting, Percy said he feels optimistic that Brown will honor the request for $900 million in higher education. Additionally, Farahmandpur stated that, after the release of the economic forecast, the coalition of education advocates were “pleasantly surprised to learn that the revenue picture had changed, and that the State Legislature now seems to have the resources it needs to honor our funding request of $900 million.”

However, Farahmandpur went on to say this is just a “snapshot in time.”

“The final decisions depend upon the May 15 quarterly forecast,” he said. “If, between now and then, a variant strain of the virus or some other emergency besets the state, this good news could be fleeting. We fervently hope that the news continues to be positive, and that the vaccine, combined with Oregonians’ continued safe practices, will keep the good news coming.”

“If the latter is the case, we believe that enrollments will increase by next fall, and that the state’s financial commitment to higher education will help to compensate for any enrollment gaps that may remain, so that our universities are able to stabilize tuition and other costs and to deliver the educational opportunities our students expect and deserve,” he concluded.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

SHANNON STEED

NEWS

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DELAYED ELECTIONS PROVOKE ANGER IN SOMALIA

KARISA YUASA Gunfire was exchanged between government troops and opposition supporters on Feb. 19 in the Somali capital of Mogadishu during a government protest, according to Reuters.

Protests have emerged following disputes over the presidential election that was supposed to be held by Feb. 8. The president and leaders of the country’s federal states failed to agree on how elections could take place.

“For quite some time now we’ve been back and forth around finding political solutions around the pending elections.

Unfortunately, until today we don’t have a consensus on a political election model that all stakeholders are happy with,” said Hodan Ali, co-founder of LeadNow, a Somali women’s political pressure group.

Opposition groups and supporters blame current Somali president Mohamed Abdullahi Farmaajo for the inability to come to a consensus.

“The president is solely responsible for the delay to the election,” said opposition Senator Ilyas Ali, according to Al Jazeera.

“He had four years to organise an election but he didn’t do that.

Now, his term has ended. We don’t recognise him—and he only has himself to blame.”

Somalia currently has clan elders indirectly elect the country’s upper house members while the members of the five federal states elect the upper house. Both houses work to pick a president who then selects a prime minister.

“It’s not the first time actually that election is delayed from its date, but this time what is happening is this delay is coming [at] a time where there’s no agreement on a model,” said Hussein Sheikh Ali, founder and chairman of the Hiraal Institute think tank.

“Somalia—although known as a failed fragile country—has had some success in terms of power exchanging hands peacefully,” Ali said. “This is the first time that is under threat.”

The current presidential administration has been vowing to hold direct one-person, one-vote elections for over three years. This has only occurred once in Somalia since it gained independence in 1960.

“The government was over-ambitious when it made this assertion, with regards to context on the ground and prevailing political conditions including the push and pull between the centre and periphery,” analyst Abdimalik Abdullah said, according to Al Jazeera. “It was clear right from the onset that one-person, one-vote was largely not viable.”

On Feb. 19, hundreds of people protesting the election delay faced gunfire from Somali security forces.

“Some have died and others were wounded,” said former prime minister and presidential candidate, Hassan Ali Khaire, according to AP News.

A health care worker in Mogadishu said at least five soldiers were killed and more than 12 people, mostly civilians, were wounded during protests.

“Today security forces opened fire against us as we held a peace rally in Mogadishu,” Khaire said. “This happened as the event has been widely watched in the media here and in the world.”

The current administration claims that a protester fired first.

“Armed militia attacked government forces. We repulsed and overpowered the militias,” Security Minister Hassan Hundubey Jimale said in a statement.

“Every citizen has the right to demonstrate peacefully and for the security forces to be the ones to guard demonstrators and ensure their safety,” said current Prime Minister Mohamed Hossein Robley. “But we will not accept demonstrations guarded by forces outside the state apparatus which is unacceptable.”

Before the demonstrations occurred on Feb. 19, former government leaders accused government troops of attacking a hotel where they were staying.

“Farmaajo attacked us with armored vehicles. That is dictatorship,” former president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed said, according to Reuters. “He attacked us and residents at Maida hotel. We ask all citizens to come out and respond.”

The United Nations has declined to assert whether Farmaajo has the right to remain in power until elections can be decided on.

“It is not for the United Nations in any setting to anoint a government declared legitimate or non-legitimate [sic],” said UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. “There are institutions that are in place that have been agreed to, that have been negotiated,”We believe that Somali political leaders need to come together.”

Opposition argues that Farmaajo’s authority has become invalid after the Feb. 8 election deadline.

“Having had four years to prepare the ground for elections, Farmajo really hasn’t presented any kind of plan or proposal or done any work, which is what led us to this very dangerous political and constitutional crisis at the moment,” said Horn of Africa expert Matthew Bryden. “I’m afraid the balance sheet weighs heavily against President Farmajo. There’s very little in his favor.”

SOMALIS MARCH AND PROTEST AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT AND THE DELAY OF THE COUNTRY'S ELECTION. COURTESY OF AP PHOTO

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INTERNATIONAL

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NEW LAW ON UNIVERSITY POLICE LEADS TO PROTEST IN GREECE POLICE DETAIN A PROTESTER AT THE UNIVERSITY OF THESSALONIKI IN NORTHERN GREECE, ON MONDAY, FEB. 22, 2021. GIANNIS PAPANIKOS/AP PHOTO

KARISA YUASA On Feb. 22, 31 people were arrested in Thessaloniki, Greece’s second largest city, while protesting a new campus security law, according to AP News.

The new measure approved by parliament earlier in February allows police to patrol and make arrests on university grounds, something that has been banned for decades. Although police on campuses are unable to carry firearms, they have authority to call in riot police at their discretion who are able to.

The legislation also plans for the creation of a special university police force that has the power to arrest and detain those deemed troublemakers and a “disciplinary council” that has the authority to suspend or expel students.

“I’m afraid that a militaristic culture will be heading to campus,” said Fotini Tsibiridou, a professor at the University of Macedonia, according to Deutsche Welle. “This doesn’t fit with an environment based on liberal freedoms, open dialogue and critical thinking. When people think about police, they think about oppression and not about freedom.”

On Nov. 17, 1973, when Greece was ruled by a military government, tanks were used to end a student occupation at the Athens Polytechnic University and at least 26 were killed.

“Because of the civil war and the military junta that was in place between 1967 and 1974, people have many ugly memories when it comes to the police,” Tsibiridou said.

After the military government was brought down, a law was enacted in 1982 that made university campuses places of asylum. It was designed to protect protesting students and the freedom of ideas. Police were unable to enter campuses, except for particularly serious crimes.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

On Aug. 8, 2019 the newly elected center-right New Democracy government repealed the academic sanctuary law, saying it was used as a cover for lawlessness, according to Al Jazeera.

At the Feb. 22 demonstration, 32 people in total were fined 300 euros each for breaking the country’s lockdown rules after the protest turned violent.

On Feb. 23, over 5000 people gathered outside a courthouse in Thessaloniki in support of those arrested.

Proponents of the law argue the role of police presence is to increase safety on campuses.

“The job of the Greek police is to support the universities by making them safer for both students and professors,” said Theodoros Kallitsis, chairman of the New Democracy Party in Thessaloniki.

“The problem of violence in Greek universities is timeless,” said a spokesperson for the Ministry for Citizen Protection.

“The police will drive out extremist political groups and guard infrastructure, finally making the university a safe place.”

In October 2020, eight masked and gloved assailants entered the Athens University of Economics and Business rector’s office and threatened him while vandalising his office, as reported by Al Jazeera.

“The main problem is people coming from outside, not university students,” said Deputy Education Minister and Professor of International Law Angelos Syrigos, according to Al Jazeera. “I strongly believe that 90% of the problem is going to be solved with the introduction of the checking of the people entering the university buildings. Police forces are needed for the remaining 10%.”

Last year, approximately $200,000 worth of equipment was stolen from Athens Polytechnic University.

“It happens that groups of self-styled anarchists occupy university classrooms or damage equipment,” Maria Kalkoni, a student protester, said. “However, these episodes do not hinder university activities as the government would have us believe.”

“Since Kyriakos Mitsotakis was elected in 2019, he has kept hiring new policemen in response to every alleged problem,” student protester Alekos Akridas said. “This policy has brought nothing but more riots and a climate of fear,” The legislation would also include improvements to lighting and the introduction of surveillance cameras, gates with card readers and on campus security guards.

“Security is not what it should be … [It] has been scaled back a great deal in recent years for financial reasons,” said Evangelos Sapountzakis, assistant rector at the Athens Polytechnic. “The result is acts of violence, thefts and so on.

We need state money to boost security.”

The New Democracy Party cut funding to universities by more than 22% this year and provided no aid to them for the COVID-19 crisis, according to Deutsche Welle.

“The problem of the Greek universities is not about police, but about the lack of funding,” said Dimitris Kaltsonis, professor of state theory and law at Panteion University. “According to surveys, the crime rate in Greek universities is in line with that of other countries. Moreover, the police can already enter if a crime is committed—there is no need for special police to control the campuses.”

INTERNATIONAL

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SHANNON STEED

8

COVER

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

PSU TOWN HALL ADDRESSES THE CURRENT AND FUTURE STATE OF THE BUDGET HANNA ANDERSON Portland State held a Budget Town Hall on Feb. 22 to address what the future holds for its precarious finances—including PSU President Stephen Percy’s new strategy for approaching the budget going forward.

Among the challenges PSU is facing is a steady decline in new students and subsequent tuition dollars, exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic that’s slashing enrollment and revenue numbers.

“I’m committed to working for this process to be transparent and inclusive, I think it’s really fundamentally important,” Percy said. “I want to be able to have discussions with all of the faculty, staff and students. We need to be collaborative and our work, but it starts with a common understanding of our challenges and our opportunities. And this is one of many opportunities meant to ensure transparency.”

Percy named three new strategic priorities for the President’s office to strengthen PSU: centering the school’s effort to improve racial justice and equity to combat structural racism, focusing on student success to improve retention and graduation rates and engaging with the community to strengthen Portland as a whole.

PSU has struggled with losses of revenue. Enrollment numbers are falling, and by extension, PSU is losing potential tuition dollars. Fall enrollment decreased by 7.8% from the previous year, and currently the most significant losses are in first time students. However, according to Vice President of Enrollment Management Chuck Knepfle, PSU is still in the early cycle of transfer recruitment, but initial numbers are indicating a more significant decline in transfer students.

Overall, PSU is currently projecting a 4.8% enrollment decline for the 2020–21 year and a 6.8% decline specifically in first-time and transfer students.

Auxiliary services—which include housing, parking and athletics, among other departments—have suffered the hardest financial impact since the beginning of the pandemic, according to University Budget Director Andria Johnson.

The forecasted revenue for auxiliary services for fiscal year 2021—fall 2020 to summer 2021—is currently $8 million lower than the adopted budget, but is being covered by reserves. However, expenses have also declined.

After explaining the state of the budget and its obstacles, the presentation moved to Percy’s plan to address them. Students will see the effects of his strategy next year, starting in fall 2021. Next year’s budget—including tuition prices—has yet to be set, but is likely to include rising tuition and budget cuts.

PSU is anticipating a 1.5% budget cut from the 2021 year, which could include 3–4% cuts for different units across campus, according to Percy.

Those cuts could come with workforce reductions.

“Unfortunately, there may be a limited number of workforce reductions,” he said. “Some that will be handled through attrition and program changes as we try to work for a budget this next year that balances. We’ll be transparent in this work, and adhere strictly to the practices and procedures required for such changes.”

Percy didn’t give a number for tuition increases, but insisted they would be limited, while budget forecasts presented by Vice President of Finance & Administration Kevin Reynolds used a 2.5% increase.

PSU will also use one-time federal relief funds and advocate for state funding. To best make up for lost revenue at the same time as reimagining the budget, PSU is relying on its financial reserves.

“We want to use our reserves cautiously,” Percy said. “That allows us more time to provide a balanced and sustained approach to our budget work.

They do allow us some time to avoid having to make major cuts immediately to find our way forward.”

This won’t be the first time PSU has relied on its reserves. From 2012–14, PSU used reserves to make up for the lost revenue after the recession, according to Reynolds. From there, PSU held expenses at nearly the same level for two years, to

give revenue a chance to outgrow expenses again.

Between increased state support, increased number of non-resident students, and tuition increases, it did—despite 1–2% losses in student enrollment. Expenses could rise without rising above revenue again, until this year.

Even less is set in stone for years going forward, except that PSU will continue to rely on reserves while the budget is improved. Percy’s approach will also include new plans to increase enrollment, more advocacy for state and other external resources, finding new opportunities for revenue growth and reducing expenditures.

According to Percy, a more definite multi-year plan will be presented in a year, after multiple budget reviews begin and end around campus.

Two major processes will start in the Office of Academic Affairs (OAA) in particular: One to develop a budget model for OAA that, by extension, will review how resources are distributed across academic departments, and one to review PSU’s academic programs—and reductions.

OAA will host its own town hall events in the near future to address its budget. The first, on March 9, will address the budget in general, while the second, on March 11, will specifically focus on academic programs.

“In partnership with the Faculty Senate, I’ve set up a working group that is outlining metrics for how we may begin to consider possible program reductions,” Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Susan Jeffords said. “That is such a [big] conversation that I didn’t want to try to squeeze it into the first town hall, so we are going to have a town hall specifically looking at matter. It will be an opportunity for the working group to share their recommended metrics so that we can get feedback from all of you as we engage in this process.”

Finance & Administration will also lead reviews of support services at PSU, as well as PSU’s physical footprint—analyzing if PSU is using its spaces effectively and if leases can be reduced.

The town hall concluded with an hour long question and answer segment, with one asking if PSU should refrain from making years-long plans in the middle of a global pandemic. According to Percy, PSU can’t.

“Our fiscal situation is such that we cannot postpone those decisions,” Percy explained. “We cannot postpone those decisions with the declining enrollment, declining tuition revenue, and therefore tremendous fiscal pressure on the budget...we can’t wait on that.”

“Wouldn’t it be great if we weren’t in the pandemic, absolutely, but many of these issues are not pandemic-specific. The pandemic may have exacerbated for the longer-term financial issues and challenges to our campus.”

Another questioned why PSU’s new student enrollment was struggling, while other Oregon schools, University of Oregon and Oregon State University in particular, saw spikes in new student applications. Knepfle had two main theories, one being that an increasing number of selective colleges are eliminating their requirement for SAT and ACT scores, attracting new students who otherwise would write those schools off.

His second theory is because PSU is a school that makes itself more accessible and appealing for low-income students—during a global pandemic that has been especially difficult for low-income wage earners.

“These trends, as well as drop in admission applications for next year...are being seen across the country at schools like PSU, that serve predominantly low income and diverse students,” Knepfle said. “Our colleagues, it’s selective, wealthy institutions are seeing the opposite trend.”

The Budget Town Hall was the first step in a process that may take a long time, but hopefully will improve PSU for even longer. For next year, tuition prices will be proposed to the Board of Trustees in April, and the full budget will be finalized in June or July 2021 for state appropriations.

Tuition’s probably rising, budgets are probably being cut—but plans are still works in progress PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

COVER

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THIS WEEK

around the

WORLD

Feb. 22–27

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KARISA YUASA 1

February 22

DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF THE CONGO

The Italian ambassador to the DRC was killed along with two others when a U.N. convoy was attacked, according to AP News. Luca Attanasio, who had been working at the Italian embassy in Congo since 2017, Carabinieri paramilitary officer Vittorio Lacovacci and their Congolese driver Moustapha Milambo were killed while on their way to visit a school as part of the World Food Program. “Yesterday I couldn’t express to his family the deep sorrow of the entire Foreign Ministry and our sincere closeness,” wrote Elisabetta Belloni, the ministry’s secretary general, according to The New York Times. “He believed that Italy—with the European Union and the United Nations—could play an important role to promote development and peace,” Belloni stated. “To this goal he devoted himself with humbleness, but also with absolute commitment and preparedness.” Prosecutors in Rome have started an investigation and sent a team to Goma, near where the incident occured.

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February 24

INDIA

A study found that hundreds of millions of people in India face a serious threat of food insecurity due to the country’s over-

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INTERNATIONAL

exploitation of water supplies, according to CNN. The team of international researchers used satellite imagery to analyze the impact on winter harvest—approximately 44% of the country’s annual crop—that relies heavily on groundwater. India is one of the world’s biggest crop producers. The study, published in Science Advances, concluded winter harvests in some regions could fall by two-thirds by 2025. “Many studies have shown that India has large groundwater depletion, but to date it has been unclear what the impacts of this depletion could have on agricultural production,” said lead author Meha Jain, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability.

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February 25

PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI

At least 400 inmates escaped and 25 people died during a prison breakout from Haiti’s Croix-des-Bouquets Civil Prison, according to AP News. The deaths included the prison director, Paul Hector Joseph, and Haiti’s previously most-wanted gang leader, Arnel Joseph, according to BBC. The high security prison, known for a 2014 breakout when over 300 inmates escaped, was inaugurated in 2012. “I encourage the police to speed up investigations on the circumstances surrounding this incident,

redouble its efforts to re-apprehend the escapees, and strengthen security around prisons throughout the country,” said Helen La Lime, Haiti’s special representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations. “This prison break further highlights the problem of prolonged preventive detention and prison overcrowding which remains [sic] matter of concern that must be urgently addressed by Haitian authorities.”

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February 27

BARCELONA, SPAIN

At least 10 people were arrested as protests returned to the streets of Barcelona in support of jailed rap artist, Pablo Hasél, according to AP News. Several thousand people took part in the demonstrations before smaller groups split off and vandalism occurred. Hasél was arrested on Feb. 16 and was set to serve a nine-month prison sentence for glorifying domestic terrorist groups and insulting the monarch. Hasél and his supporters argue that his charges are an example of repressing the freedom of speech. “No one should face criminal prosecution only for expressing themselves on social media or for singing something that may be distasteful or shocking,” said Esteban Beltrán, Director of Amnesty International Spain. More than 110 protesters have been arrested so far since Hasél’s arrest.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

HOW BITCOIN MINING AFFECTS CLIMATE CHANGE

PANDORA DESPAIN Bitcoin’s value reached an all-time high of over $58,000 on February 21, following Tesla’s acquisition of $1.5 billion of the cryptocurrency. Despite Bitcoin’s growth, many are concerned about the effects cryptocurrency has on the environment. Bitcoin is extremely energy consuming, with the carbon footprint of a single bitcoin transaction totaling the same as 685,656 Visa transactions, according to a report by Digiconomist.

When you buy an item from a store, a bank must verify that transaction and record in its ledger that the money was transferred from your account to the store. With Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency like it, there is no middleman to verify the transaction and record it in its ledger. Instead, all of this is done in the Blockchain database. This allows people to trade money directly to each other through peer-topeer transactions regardless of where they are in the world or whether they have a bank account.

Other benefits of cryptocurrency include low transaction fees and strong security measures.

In blockchain technology, data—or in Bitcoin’s case a ledger for transactions—is stored in “blocks,” and these blocks are chronologically organized into “chains.” The process of “mining” bitcoin consists of computers validating recent transactions by combining data and solving an equation. Once a computer achieves this, a new block is added to the blockchain

and the miner is rewarded with new bitcoin plus the transaction fees of the transactions they validated.

The nature of bitcoin mining is competitive.

The faster a miner’s computers are and the more of them the miner has, the more likely they will be the winner for the most recent block’s bitcoin. This has resulted in companies creating and investing in specialized bitcoin mining hardware and setting up enormous warehouses in areas where electricity is cheap to maximize their bitcoin mining production.

All of this computing power consumes a large amount of electricity. Sources vary as to how much electricity Bitcoin consumes each year, but estimates include 45.8 TWh (terawatt hours) per year from a study published in Joule, which is roughly the amount of electricity that Kansas City consumes annually. In a report, the University of Cambridge concluded bitcoin uses 130.66 TWh per year, which is more electricity than Argentina consumes each year.

Cryptocurrency supporters argue that most of the electricity bitcoin miners use is from renewable sources. A study done in 2018 by the University of Cambridge found the majority of bitcoin mining facilities use renewables in their energy mix and tend to be located in places with unused excess energy, consuming electricity that would otherwise be wasted. However, the reliance on fossil fuels isn’t zero. The study

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

identifies the Xinjiang province in China as being especially reliant on fossil fuels, which also happens to be the province that most bitcoin mining takes place in.

A Nov. 2020 study entitled “Bitcoin’s Future Carbon Footprint’’ proposes some solutions to Bitcoin’s energy problem. The study, which was a collaboration between researchers from the Technical University of Munich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Institute of Energy, Environment and Economy from the Tsinghua University, hypothesizes different outcomes for what the long-term effect Bitcoin will have on the environment.

They theorize if the electricity sector achieves carbon neutrality by the mid-century then “Bitcoin’s carbon footprint has peaked already” and will gradually decline, leading to cumulative CO2 emissions of around 200 megatons by 2100. They say that the number isn’t negligible but it is “not decisive for climate goals.” This hypothesis depends on the world achieving carbon neutrality at a faster rate than it is already.

“My understanding is that the technologies are there and the prices of the technologies are dropping rapidly,” said Randy Bluffstone, professor of economics and director of the Institute for Economics and the Environment at Portland State. “In that regard, it’s a very hopeful sign.”

However, in a “business-as-usual” scenario where decarbonization rates happen at the

SHANNON STEED world’s current speed, the cumulative CO2 emissions would be around two gigatons by 2100, or around 10 times more than the previous scenario. These estimates could be even higher if the price of bitcoin continues to grow.

The study suggests a variety of policies that may help reduce Bitcoin’s carbon footprint.

Raising the price of electricity, for example, will encourage miners to find ways to limit their electricity usage. An example of this is moving mining facilities to colder climates, since some mining facilities spend 30–40% of their electricity on just cooling their mining computers. R&D subsidies could also result in technological advances in energy efficiency. The study also suggests economy-wide carbon pricing—creating a standard price for CO2 emissions—as a way to incentivize decarbonization. Additionally, they claim that “taxing mining activities or restricting the use of bitcoin” could also lower Bitcoin’s carbon footprint.

“That’s the essence of so-called internalizing externality—getting the market itself to feel the cost that we’re feeling,” Bluffstone said.

“Without those types of policies of some sort, then why would there be change?”

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

11

PERSONA 5. COURTESY OF GAMEIDEAS

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ARTS & CULTURE

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

PERSONA 5 STRIKERS MAKES ME WANT TO REPLAY THE ORIGINAL PERSONA 5 MORGAN TROPER The original Persona 5 was released in April 2017 for the Playstation 3 and 4, during one of the most tense moments of the contemporary American culture wars. A few months prior, Donald Trump was elected president, and a few months later, a bunch of white supremacists marched through Charlottesville shouting, “Jews will not replace us.” For perhaps the first time since its inception, a tremendous ideological rift opened in the internet, separating it into two similarly contemptible—and contemptuous—social spheres: scary message boards dominated by fledgling fascists and, well, Twitter, which was and will always be dominated by the indestructible ouroboros of moralizing, hand-wringing liberals. You were better off just deleting social media and playing video games.

In this midst of all this, we got Persona 5, and I realize this already sounds hyperbolic, like it was Woodstock or something. I should be honest about the fact that Persona 5 is a game about bartering with demons and its deuteragonist is a talking cat. The series’ big selling point is that it allows you—the nameable protagonist—to date any of the female leads. You are in high school.

Like plenty of other games, it is overflowing with regressive motifs and is primarily geared toward precocious children and emotionally stunted, frighteningly horny adults.

Still, it was the first time that a video game seemed to accurately reflect the American social and political zeitgeist, which is rare within the frustratingly mealy-mouthed medium. The studio behind the game’s development even admitted that one of Persona 5’s main antagonists—a bloviating, populist political candidate with a heart of dog shit—was inspired by Trump.

The main character—whose code name is Joker, and who is a semi-recent addition to the Super Smash Bros. Ultimate roster—is sent to board in Tokyo with a surly cafe owner after he punches the aforementioned politician in the face for assaulting a woman on the street. Under duress, the woman testifies against Joker, framing his righteous anger as random abuse.

Everyone in Tokyo whispers behind Joker’s back and assumes he is an asshole because of his criminal record, which is funny, because he’s a lanky and modish, unassuming dude with Buddy Holly glasses. He forms a picaresque gang of “gentlemen thieves” with some other social outcasts he meets at school called the Phantom Thieves and—thanks to some inexplicable video game black magic—discovers a way to rehabilitate bad people by infiltrating their psyches and “stealing their hearts.”

There is something really empowering about blasting through Persona 5—it’s a game about taking matters into your own hands, it frequently reminds you that you can’t depend on politicians or the police to deliver justice, and it depicts adulthood as, essentially, a massive farce. Its antagonists aren’t Marvel villains and their evil intentions are clearly demarcated. This somehow makes them seem both worse and more human than your average archetypal media bogeyman. Persona 5’s rogues gallery includes a P.E. teacher who is sexually and physically abusing students, a celebrity serial plagiarist who grooms his young idolaters in order to get closer to them and steal their artistic ideas, a corrupt public prosecutor being manipulated by an inherently rotten system and the CEO of an in-game fast food chain called

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

ALTHOUGH I WON’T BECAUSE I DON’T WANT MY GIRLFRIEND TO BREAK UP WITH ME

Big Bang Burger who considers his employees automatons and skirts labor regulations.

Persona 5 is filled with dialogue and its cutscenes can last upwards of half an hour, and the villains get a lot of screen time, talking and cackling to themselves, privately relishing their wickedness. When you finally fight them, you really do want to incapacitate them—but once you win, these characters almost always repent, and your party always finds they’re able to empathize.

For a game that is at least 30% about boobs, this is incredibly nuanced stuff; these big moments cool the player’s retributive impulses and point to the edifying value of rehabilitative justice.

This was especially refreshing when I first played the game in 2017, an era when everyone on either side of the aisle was drawing from the same punitive playbook. Persona 5 doesn’t ask for mindless, Biden-esque unity—but it does advocate mercy and a morsel of compassion for your enemy when they’re on the ropes.

I’ll argue that Persona 5 is a legitimate literary and artistic achievement, even if it’s not able to sustain this level of emotional depth for its whole 100+ hour duration. Persona 5 technically belongs to a spinoff series of the Shin Megami Tensei games, a storied role-playing game series that is massively popular in Japan but has had a difficult time finding its footing in the West outside of a small, fevered cult fandom.

The mainline Megami Tensei games are dark, traditional and quintessentially Japanese, and a lot of elements from those games carry over to the Persona games, including Persona 5. The juxtaposition of socially-conscious high school simulator with macabre demons plucked from arcane mythology can make it hard for a less patient person to appreciate the subtext, and for every deeply profound, character-driven moment in Persona 5 there is one that is proportionally stupid. For example, one of the main protagonists is a hermetic hoarder whose room is littered with garbage bags and various Otaku paraphernalia—it is one of the greatest and most realistic portrayals of mental illness in any video game I’ve ever played. The final boss is also God, who you shoot in the head with a massive gun.

And while some of these criticisms leveled against the Persona series are a little too puritanical for my tastes, the sex stuff can admittedly be pretty distracting. Some of the romance options in the game—particularly Makoto, the school student body president and an aspiring attorney—are tender and honest portrayals of innocent, young love, but there is also some deliberately creepy shit. You can court and sleep with a number of adult women, including your frumpy homeroom teacher, Ms. Kawakami, who moonlights as a maid. And the inappropriate age difference here probably wasn’t an afterthought, since all Kawakami does is talk to you about how inappropriate your relationship with her is.

Additionally, the game’s only openly gay characters are a recurring duo who speak exaggeratedly and make unwanted sexual advances toward Ryuji, one of your teammates. For a game that’s all about repairing askew mental compasses the inclusion of these ethically dubious scenes make the whole “justice” conceit seem a little hypocritical.

Last year, developer Atlus released Persona 5 Royal for the PS4, an enhanced version of the original game that streamlined some

of its more tedious aspects and made some notable changes to the turn-based battle system. Royal also introduced a couple of new characters, including a new playable, barely memorable party member named Kasumi Yoshizawa. She has red hair, I think?

Most significantly, however, Royal greatly expanded the character arc for Goro Akechi, a self-proclaimed “detective prince” who betrays Joker and his teammates in the original version of the game. Akechi is Joker’s photo negative, and their relationship is an allusion to the rivalry between Arséne Lupin and Sherlock Holmes. In Royal, Akechi is revealed to be something of a triple agent who joins forces with Joker a second time during the game’s climax.

In most Persona games there is a “canon romance” between the main character and one of the female protagonists, usually verified in some accompanying manga or anime spinoff. This is left intentionally obscure in Persona 5, however, and each romance is fleshed-out as if it were canonical. You don’t have the option of dating him, but it is strongly suggested that Akechi is the canon romance in Persona 5 Royal, which would make it the series’ first gay romance. There are a number of little moments hinting at this—Joker and Akechi lay together side-by-side smiling with their eyes closed in a McDonald’s playroom style ball pit of tiny, sparkling jewels in the game’s opening cinematic, for example—but the real proof comes toward the end of the game right before the final battle, when Akechi sacrifices his life to save the world. “Are you really so spineless that you’d fold over some bullshit, trivial threat on my life?” Akechi asks.

The dialogue in Persona 5 and Royal interactive, and you can choose from multiple responses to any question or invocation— these choices have an immediate effect on the course of the conversation, but they can also have lasting effects on how the main events of the game pan out. One of the possible responses to this rhetorical query from Akechi is, “This isn’t small potatoes.” Tumblr user uwukechi deduced that this is a reference to a popular Russian proverb which states, “Love isn’t potatoes; you can’t throw it out the window.” This original reference is likely mediated through a second reference to a piece of dialogue in Chekov’s My Wife, in which a character says, “Death is not a potato.” Curiously, Atlus would later release a patch for this specific scene, changing the “small potatoes’’ dialogue option to the less poetic—and much less satisfying—“This isn’t trivial!”

This piece was supposed to be about Persona 5 Strikers, a brand-new spinoff and sequel to Persona 5 that just released on the PS4 and Nintendo Switch. But there’s not a whole lot to say about it—it ditches the turn-based gameplay of the original and replaces it with a Frankenstein monster of Megami Tensei mechanics and hack-and-slash combat from the Dynasty Warriors games. Persona 5 Strikers is being advertised as a “high school reunion”—get it?—and much like a real high school reunion, it lacks the original’s magnetism and I can’t stop checking my watch.

The story seems fine so far, although Makoto is, unfortunately, working to become a cop now, and Goro Akechi is still dead. If anything, it just makes me want to replay Persona 5, although I won’t because I’ve already played it twice within the last year and I don’t want my girlfriend to break up with me.

ARTS & CULTURE

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WHERE ARE THE $2,000 CHECKS, JOE?

PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN. COURTESY OF FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

NICK GATLIN After decisively winning elections in November and January, Democrats have control of both houses of Congress and the White House. Joe Biden won the presidency with 306 electoral votes and 51.3% of the popular vote, a clear popular mandate. In early January, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock secured two Senate seats in Georgia, giving Democrats the majority in the Senate; both candidates won after making promises to send out $2,000 relief checks and raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. There is a public mandate to send out a robust COVID-19 relief package—so why are Democrats backing off ?

Ossoff and Warnock ran their Senate campaigns in Georgia with an explicit promise: vote for us, and we’ll send you a $2,000 check. By the time the Georgia election came around, the $600 checks sent out under the Trump administration had already been deposited in peoples’ bank accounts, and both candidates enthusiastically backed a new $2,000 payment; Rev. Warnock even tweeted a campaign ad asking, “Want a $2,000 check?” with a picture of a Treasury check written out for $2,000. In his closing pitch, Biden said to a rally of supporters, “If you send Jon [Ossoff ] and the reverend [Raphael Warnock] to Washington, those $2,000 checks will go out the door, restoring hope and decency for so many people who are struggling right now.” “[T]hose $2,000 dollar checks will go out the door.” That was not an ambiguous statement, especially after the previous $600 checks had already “gone out the door.” The new Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters after the Georgia election, “One of the first things that I want to do when our new senators are seated is deliver

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OPINION

the $2,000 checks to the American families.” So when Democrats swept into power with full control of the legislative and executive branches of the federal government, did they fulfill their promise?

The answer, of course, is no. Some have said that Biden, Ossoff and Warnock did not really mislead the public, because $600 plus the $1,400 they’re proposing in the new relief bill equals $2,000, right? Beyond being bad politics, this is simply false. Biden explicitly promised $2,000 checks after the previous payment had already gone out. Voters in Georgia swung control of the Senate on that promise, reasonably assuming they would see a return on that vote. Simply put, Biden lied.

And yes, politicians lie all the time—that’s why it’s so important to call them out when they do.

Secondly, and more importantly, Democrats had the choice to either push for $2,000 or for $1,400. They chose the smaller number, despite the fact that they control Congress and the presidency. What could account for this? Even if they were “technically correct” about 600+1,400=2,000—which, again, they weren’t—there is absolutely no reason why they wouldn’t just push for a larger relief check to the people who need it.

Now let’s talk about the minimum wage. Raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour has been a Democratic priority for years, and it’s incredibly popular; in Florida, a state Biden lost in November, a ballot measure raising the minimum wage to $15 passed by just over 61%.

Recently, however, the Senate parliamentarian ruled that the minimum wage increase could not be included in the new COVID-19 relief package. This is because the bill is being

passed through the complex process of budget reconciliation to bypass the filibuster and its 60-vote requirement.

So what is there to be done? Well, a lot, actually. In 2001, then-Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott fired the Senate parliamentarian after a disagreement with his rulings. And the Vice President, as President of the Senate, has the power to overrule the parliamentarian’s decision; though Vice President Kamala Harris has reportedly ruled this out. Democrats, who have all the tools at their disposal to provide meaningful relief to millions of Americans, have instead chosen to allow arcane Senate rules and an unelected, advisory parliamentarian to restrain them. Make no mistake—if they wanted to raise the minimum wage and send out $2,000 checks in the next relief package, they could. They have simply chosen not to.

Why are Democrats perpetually caught flat-footed by the simplest problems to solve? How come they can’t effectively use power once they have it? When Republicans passed a tax cut in 2017 that disproportionately benefited the rich, only about 25% of the public approved of the plan. Republicans still passed the bill. In contrast, about two-thirds of Americans want a $15 minimum wage, and a Business Insider poll found that the vast majority of Americans agreed that $600 payments were far too small. On other issues, like student debt relief, 67% of voters and a majority of Republicans would support some form of widespread student loan forgiveness. Going hard on these issues would not lose Democrats political capital—it would probably make them more popular. So with the House, the Senate, the White House and the weight of the public behind them, why don’t Democrats actually fight for something?

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com

OREGON’S STATE SONG NEEDS TO CHANGE WE CAN DO BETTER THAN A CELEBRATION OF SETTLER COLONIALISM PORTLAND, OREGON. COURTESY OF FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS NICK GATLIN Did you know Oregon has a state song? I had no idea until I read an article from OPB about the song and its origins. The song, “Oregon, My Oregon,” was written by songwriters Henry B. Murtagh and John A. Buchanan for a contest sponsored by the Society of Oregon Composers in 1920, and the state legislature adopted it as the official state song in 1927, which it has remained ever since. Its lyrics praise the settlers of Oregon, the beauty of the Pacific Ocean and the fair weather of the state.

It’s also incredibly racist.

Our state song needs a rewrite. There’s really no way around it. For anyone who’s never heard the song before—which I’m assuming is most people—these are the lyrics: Land of the Empire Builders, Land of the Golden West; Conquered and held by free men, Fairest and the best.

On-ward and upward ever, Forward and on, and on; Hail to thee, Land of the Heroes, My Oregon.

Land of the rose and sunshine, Land of the summer’s breeze; Laden with health and vigor, Fresh from the western seas.

Blest by the blood of martyrs, Land of the setting sun; Hail to thee, Land of Promise, My Oregon.

Hoo boy, there’s a lot to unpack there. After the murder of George Floyd and the protests for racial justice over the summer, many cultural institutions (statues, TV shows, etc.) were reexamined in order to root out racial bias. In October of last year, executive director of the Oregon Historical Society Kerry Tymchuk did the same thing with “Oregon, My Oregon.”

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In an interview with Portland Monthly, Tymchuk broke down some of the most problematic lyrics in the song, including “conquered and held by free men,” which refers to white settlers who “conquered” the indigenous people of Oregon; it could also be referring to racist laws that forbade Black people from living in the state, as Oregon was “held” by white, “free” men. And of course, the word “empire” conjures up images of colonization and subjugation, which is likely what the songwriters were going for.

The song calls the men who “conquered” Oregon the “fairest and the best;” does that mean “fair and just, or fair as in light-skinned?” Tymchuk asks. The same goes for “blest by the blood of martyrs,” which is almost certainly not referring to the Native people who were killed by settlers, but instead to those settlers themselves.

Finally, the song calls Oregon a land of “rose and sunshine, land of the summer’s breeze.” One of Oregon’s most well known qualities is the deluge of rain and dreary weather we get every year. How did the songwriters completely ignore that?

Oh, and also, the song lyrics rhyme “Oregon” with “gone,” like “Or-ee-gon.” Unforgivable.

So why does any of this matter? Because our state song is steeped in Oregon’s racist history, and every time it’s played, it resurfaces white supremacist rhetoric from a century ago. In the 1920s, when the song was written, the Ku Klux Klan’s biggest chapter west of the Mississippi was right here in Oregon; with a population that was 95% white and majority Protestant, Oregon was the perfect place for the Klan to seek influence.

The Klan quickly recruited new members for its “Invisible Empire” in Medford, and from there expanded into the rest of Oregon. The KKK had considerable influence on state and local politics, and the successful passage of the 1922 Oregon School Bill after lobbying from the Klan showed their true might. And because of Klan influence, Democratic candidate Walter Pierce was able to win the governorship in 1922.

The Klan, eager to distance itself from overtly racist rhetoric that might alienate the public, instead adopted a platform of “patriotism, social conservatism and social order.”

This is the environment “Oregon, My Oregon” was written in. Its lyrics referencing the “Empire Builders,” “the blood of martyrs” and “fairest and the best” hew to Klan talking points a little too close for comfort. I have no reason to believe that Messrs. Murtagh and Buchanan were Klan members themselves; but as should have become clear after this year’s protests, one does not have to be racist to uphold a racist system.

It’s time to change Oregon’s state song. I don’t know what a good replacement would look like, but I suppose that’s not really up to me. The songwriting contest they held in 1920 was certainly not inclusive by any stretch, so why don’t we redo it? Let’s have a competition where anyone from Oregon can volunteer to write a new song. And before it’s approved, let’s make sure to get approval from everyone, not just white Protestants. Because honestly, at this point, almost anything would be better than “Oregon, My Oregon.”

OPINION

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VIRTUAL

EVENTS CALENDAR EXTRA CREDIT: DEBORAH KAPLAN & HARRY ELFONT

TUE MAR

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WED MAR

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THU MAR

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EVENTS

Hollywood Theatre 7 p.m. $5 suggested donation A Q&A with the directorial debut from classics Can’t Hardly Wait and Josie and the Pussycats. From the press release: “1998’s all-star teen comedy Can’t Hardly Wait captured the spirit of a generation at the edge of the millennium while establishing the voices of filmmakers Deborah Kaplan & Harry Elfont; in 2001, their adaptation of Josie and the Pussycats—and a villainous Parker Posey in braces—offered a prophetic satire of the music and film industries and went on to become a cult legend. For this special ‘Extra Credit’ offering from Movie Madness University Online, join Hollywood

Theatre Community Programmer Anthony Hudson for an interview with the writing/directing duo, covering everything from their iconic films and ensemble casts to collaborative filmmaking, The Flintstones, and the cultural impact of introducing Jan Brady to George Glass in their script for A Very Brady Sequel.”

FREE FLU SHOTS AND COVID TESTING PCC Cascade Campus 11 a.m.–6 p.m.

Free Ongoing through March 31

Uninsured and BIPOC folks are prioritized for free flu shots and COVID-19 testing. You have to call in

advance to schedule. Walking, driving and biking are all permitted.

THE 31st ANNUAL CASCADE FESTIVAL OF AFRICAN FILMS Online event, via PCC Different showings; free Ongoing through March 10

The Annual Cascade Festival of African Films— which, naturally, will be migrating entirely to the internet this year—features African films by African filmmakers. Among the films showcased this year are Sam Soko’s Softie and You Will Die at Twenty, Sudan’s first Oscar nomination.

JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH

MINARI

“FBI informant William O’Neal (LaKeith Stanfield) infiltrates the Illinois Black Panther Party and is tasked with keeping tabs on their charismatic leader, Chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya). A career thief, O’Neal revels in the danger of manipulating both his comrades and his handler, Special Agent Roy Mitchell (Jesse Plemons). Hampton’s political prowess grows just as he’s falling in love with fellow revolutionary Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback). Meanwhile, a battle wages for O’Neal’s soul. Will he align with the forces of good? Or subdue Hampton and The Panthers by any means, as FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover (Martin Sheen) commands?”

“A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, MINARI follows a KoreanAmerican family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, MINARI shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.”

Living Room Theaters 2:20 p.m.; 4:20 p.m.; 7 p.m. $13.75 Ongoing through Thursday March 4

ISHIMOTO YASUHIRO

Portland Japanese Garden 9 a.m.–3 p.m.

Included with general admission pricing Thursday–Monday; ongoing through April 11 In honor of his 100th birthday, the Portland Japanese Garden will be offering a limited exhibit showcasing famed Japanese-American photographer Ishimoto Yasuhiro’s work.

JORYU HANGA KYOKAI, 1956–65

Portland Art Museum 10 a.m.–5 p.m. $20 Thursday–Sunday; ongoing through April 11 The Portland Art Museum presents an exhibit on Japan’s famous printmaking society, Joryū Hanga Kyōkai—or the Women’s Print Association—with a series of etchings and lithographs from 1956–65.

Living Room Theaters 2:10 p.m.; 4:40 p.m.; 7:15 p.m. $13.75 Ongoing through Thursday March 4

DEATH OF NINTENDO

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Northwest Film Center’s Whitsell Auditorium 12 midnight $9 Ongoing through March 15 “Mimaw and her friends Paolo, Kachi and Gilligan go on a journey of self-discovery together as they play games and wrestle with new dilemmas—puppy love, circumcision, and other horror stories. Set in ’90s Manila, Philippines, the story takes us into the colorful pop-culture world of these four 13-year old friends, back in the days when video games were still a novelty.”

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 2, 2021 • psuvanguard.com