Portland State Vanguard Volume 75, Issue 4

VOLUME 75 • ISSUE 4 • JULY 21, 2020

“We need to reimagine what public safety is and what it looks like” TAI CARPENTER, PRESIDENT OF DON’T SHOOT PORTLAND

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NEWS Criminal justice classes in age of criminal justice reform

INTERNATIONAL Trump reverses decision on international student visas

OPINION Plaza too big an honor for Schrunk

CONTENTS COVER BY SAM PERSON NEWS HILL TO HALL

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MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS ON POLICE BRUTALITY: ‘STOP ASSAULTING OUR PATIENTS’

A CONVERSATION WITH THE PRESIDENT OF DON’T SHOOT PORTLAND

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LEADING CHANGE FROM WITHIN

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STAFF

EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Dylan Jefferies MANAGING EDITOR Justin Grinnell NEWS EDITORS Hanna Anderson Aidan Kennelley INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Isabel Rekow ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Nick Townsend OPINION EDITOR AJ Earl ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings

COPY CHIEF Sophie Concannon CONTRIBUTORS Madison Cecil Nick Gatlin Megan Huddleston PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Annie Schutz PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sam Person DESIGNERS Farah Alkayed Shannon Steed

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INTERNATIONAL INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS WILL NOT BE DEPORTED FOR TAKING ONLINE CLASSES ARTS & CULTURE QUARANTINE CUISINE

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OPINION FIND SOMEONE BETTER

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DIS T RIBU TION DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Dylan Jefferies

To contact Portland State Vanguard, email editor@psuvanguard.com

T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow George Olson John Rojas

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 DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale

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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.

MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS ON POLICE BRUTALITY:

‘STOP ASSAULTING OUR PATIENTS’

JULY 13–19 HANNA ANDERSON

JULY 13: GOVERNOR ANNOUNCES MASKS REQUIRED OUTDOORS

Oregon Governor Kate Brown announced Monday masks will be required outdoors wherever social distancing is not possible. She also banned indoor social gatherings of over 10 people. According to OPB, the new rules took effect Wednesday, and the social gathering limit does not apply to businesses or places of worship. Both phases 1 and 2 of Oregon’s reopening plan allowed for larger social gatherings—25 and 50 people, respectively—but were once again restricted by the new mandate as Oregon continues to see a rise in COVID-19 cases. According to AP News, Oregon saw more new cases in a single week than it did in the entire month of May.

JULY 18: HARDESTY DEMANDS CONTROL OF PPB IN

OPEN LETTER

Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty wrote an open letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler on Thursday, demanding Wheeler either control the Portland Police Bureau and the force they use against protesters, or have her oversee the PPB instead. “I demand action right now,” Hardesty stated in the letter. “If you can’t control the police, give me the Portland Police Bureau.” According to OPB, Hardesty previously insisted she would turn down the opportunity to oversee the PPB if given the chance, but her opinion changed with the arrival of federal officers downtown. Hardesty denounced the federal officers’ actions in Portland, as well as collaboration between them and the PPB.

JULY 19: OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL SUES OVER FEDERAL

OFFICERS IN PORTLAND

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum announced Friday the Oregon Department of Justice will sue federal law enforcement over the actions of federal officers in Portland, as well as launch a criminal investigation into an incident of force. The incident, according to OPB, occurred when federal officers seriously injured a protester by shooting him in the head with a “less-lethal” munition. According to The Oregonian, Rosenblum is seeking a temporary restraining order to prevent federal officers from detaining Portland protesters. The lawsuit, according to Rosenblum, will name the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, U.S. Marshals Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the Federal Protection Service as defendants.

“I share the concerns of our state and local leaders...that the current escalation of fear and violence in downtown Portland is being driven by federal law enforcement tactics that are entirely unnecessary and out of character with the Oregon way,” Rosenblum said in a statement. “These tactics must stop. They not only make it impossible for people to assert their First Amendment rights to protest peacefully. They also create a more volatile situation on our streets.”

PSU Vanguard • JULY 21, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

ISABEL REKOW Portlanders gathered in front of the Justice Center and federal courthouse for the 51st consecutive day of protests against racism and police brutality on July 18.

Portland City Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty published an open letter to Mayor Ted Wheeler on Twitter the morning of July 18, calling on Wheeler to either rein in the police or give her control of the police department.

In her letter, Hardesty described the 50th night of protests on July 17 as nonviolent until law enforcement intervened.

The night commenced with speeches, lighting candles and performances by hip-hop artists.

“This was a united call to end the occupation of our city by federal troops and demanding an end to the aggressive violence being perpetrated on our city by both federal troops and the Portland Police,” Hardesty stated.

“But not long after I closed out the speaking portion of the event...there was another unprovoked brutal attack by our federal government,” Hardesty continued. “Portland Police once again joined in the aggressive clampdown of peaceful protest.”

In the evening of July 18, a group of over 20 whitecoated doctors and healthcare workers spoke on the steps of the Justice Building in front of a banner that read, “Stop assaulting our patients.”

Dr. Bryan Wolf, a radiologist and assistant professor at OHSU, read from his written testimony and described his experiences as a supervisor to OHSU medical students acting as volunteer medics during the protests. Portland police confiscated medical

PROTESTERS CLIMB ON DISMANTLED FENCING THAT BLOCKS ENTRANCES TO THE FEDERAL COURTHOUSE. JUSTIN GRINNELL/PSU VANGUARD equipment and arrested a retreating medical student one month ago, but OHSU volunteer medics continue to provide aid during protests.

The medical professionals ended their speeches around 9 p.m. Protesters began to dismantle the chainlink fence encircling Lownsdale and Chapman Squares and the Terry Schrunk Plaza.

An hour later, protesters threw smoke bombs and took down the fence in front of the federal courthouse. They piled sections of fencing in front of the entrances, which law enforcement had already barricaded.

Around 10:40 p.m., federal agents arrived at the courthouse and unleashed tear gas, scattering the crowd, which retreated several blocks west.

Federal agents stationed in Portland lack training in crowd control, according to The New York Times, and are exempt from a recent Oregon law restricting the use of tear gas by police, according to Willamette Week.

Protesters waited for the gas to disperse, then regrouped in front of Pioneer Courthouse, which has taken the place of the Justice Center as the main site of clashes between protesters and law enforcement.

On Sunday, Oregon sued the federal government over its unlawful detentions of protesters, as federal agents have pulled protesters off the streets and driven them away in unmarked vans. Mayor Ted Wheeler and Governor Kate Brown have both called for federal troops to leave Portland.

Brown said the federal government is “escalating an already challenging situation.”

NEWS

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A conversation with the president of

Don’t Shoot Portland TAI CARPENTER TALKS BLACK LIVES MATTER, PORTLAND PROTESTS

AIDAN KENNELLEY Tai Carpenter is the current president of Don’t Shoot Portland, a Black-led and community driven nonprofit known for its bystander intervention work and community advocacy. Carpenter served as Don’t Shoot’s communications director before recently becoming president.

Portland State Vanguard: For how long have you been involved with Don’t Shoot?

Carpenter: Well, Teressa Raitford is my mom, and she founded Don’t Shoot in 2014. So I’ve been helping out for a long time. I started by writing press releases and social media posts whenever we needed it. I was the communications director for the last year and a half, and about three weeks ago I became the president.

VG: Can you detail some of the key ways that Don’t Shoot has been involved in mutual aid projects since the pandemic started?

Carpenter: We had to stop all of our programming in February and switched most of our work to an online format. But we started to use our space as a distribution space. So, people would come in before protests and we would help them load up their cars with snacks, first-aid kits and cases of water. We even had a couple of restaurants that started to reach out to us who have donated meals. So, we were able to get meals dropped off to people. We fed a lot of houseless camps and we’ve also done a lot of work with jail support during the protests. Mostly, our focus right now is helping people out at the Justice Center. I know a lot of people pull shifts down there, so we’ve been really good about making sure that people who need tarps, sleeping bags, meals or first-aid kits are helped out.

VG: I know Don’t Shoot’s primary objective is disbanding [the Portland Police Bureau], but can you elaborate on what you think that should look like?

Carpenter: I know PPB pledged to slash its budget by a few million dollars, but I think that’s just a drop in the bucket. We need to reimagine what public safety is and what it looks like, and that means slashing the budget and reallocating those resources to other social programs. You know, having specialized units to deal with people that are in crisis. Not everything needs to be dealt with by a bully with a gun. I think we need to put more focus on real community policing and taking care of our homeless communities, because they’re the ones dealing with the blunt end of

all of this. You can see inequities on the street, you can see it in our city audits that they put out every year. The fact that PPB has such an obsession with murdering Black and brown people is sick and we’ve got to do something about it.

VG: When you talk about disbanding PPB, reallocating funds to social safety net programs and working towards real community policing solutions, do you think that there should still be a specialized armed force that is prepared to respond to violent crisis situations?

Carpenter: Absolutely. I’m in no way advocating for the amnesty of violent criminals. It’s just that [armed police officers] are the only force we have right now. I would love to know that if I’m in danger or if people can’t protect themselves that there is going to be a unit for that. I just don’t think armed officers need to be the only unit.

VG: Polling from 538 shows that an average of 31% of Americans support police abolition while 58% oppose it. Those aren’t winning numbers. What kind of efforts do you think need to be made to garner widespread support for the cause? How do you go about changing people’s minds?

Carpenter: I don’t know if it’s up to the activists. People have their demands and have spelled them out clearly, I just think people are afraid to actually take those steps. We have city leaders that are leaning towards reform, but no one will come out and say it. That’s the problem because I think too many people, including community partners, may be benefiting from having policing ties, and having these relationships with the police. I’m actually surprised that 31% of people support police abolition, I thought the number would be a lot lower. I know abolition is a scary word, but a lot of people didn’t want to abolish slavery. So, it’s not as scary as you think.

VG: On June 9, the judge in the lawsuit against PPB using tear gas granted the motion for a temporary restraining order against them using tear gas. The order was recently extended to last until July 24. I know tear gas is now regularly being used by federal law enforcement. Is Don’t Shoot making any efforts to stop federal law enforcement from using these weapons?

Carpenter: The thing is, even though they extended the order through July 24, I feel like there’s probably only been one night

or two where tear gas hasn’t been used at these protests. With Trump sending Homeland Security here, it’s been brutal. And so now there’s a way for them to work around using munition and the tear gas. They’ve been trying to make it seem like PPB has been abiding by the ban, but now federal agents are using it so it’s gotten much worse. And yes, we’re currently working on [court] filings on this issue.

VG: I’ve seen a lot of rhetoric by organizers online around calling for peaceful protesting being a red flag of sorts for the objectives of the movement. In fact, I saw a comment from Don’t Shoot on Instagram that said, “Peaceful protests are an exercise in #alllivesmatter co-opting.” Can you elaborate on what you mean by this?

Carpenter: That was when an article was put out a few weeks ago where Black community leaders were interviewed and expressed their outrage at the protests. The piece was trying to create division among protesters. And I just thought it was funny because the people they quoted in the article had never actually been to a true Black Lives Matter protest. However you decide to protest is a protest. If you’ve ever been to a protest, you know it’s peaceful until the cops show up. Whenever I see someone crying for peaceful protests, that’s trying to walk someone into a category instead of addressing the real violence that we all face from the police. It feels like the argument is being made in conjunction with the city to make the city look good. You can’t tell people how to protest.

You can’t condemn one group for how they react to 400 years of oppression and then salute these other kids just because they’re behaving a certain way. I think that further divides the movement.

You can’t co-opt liberation. We’re all angry, and whatever we decide to do is going to happen.

VG: There have been many instances where established Black leaders have called for peaceful protests. How do you strike the balance of critiquing these calls for peaceful protests while also not splintering the solidarity of your coalition?

Carpenter: I think we need to take a hard look at whose voices we elevate. There are plenty of people who are just now saying “Black Lives Matter,” including Black leaders in our community.

Just because the media says they’re leaders or just because they were invited to Ted Wheeler’s barbecue doesn’t mean they represent us. So, you should always respect and listen to Black voices.

“Not everything needs to be dealt with by a bully with a gun. I think we need to put more focus on real community policing and taking care of our homeless communities, because they’re the ones dealing with the blunt end of all of this.”

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NEWS

PSU Vanguard • JULY 21, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

TAI CARPENTER, PRESIDENT OF DON'T SHOOT PORTLAND. COURTESY OF TAI CARPENTER.

But you should also know and acknowledge their track records.

And you need to know if that’s someone that you feel comfortable speaking for you.

VG: There are, and have been, a variety of groups in town organizing protests right now, and there are protests occurring in various places at any given time in Portland. Going forward, do you think there needs to be a centralized voice that can unify these groups?

Carpenter: I feel like this is a process that can’t be controlled.

It’s difficult to have a specific structure with all of this going on. I don’t know if creating a central voice is going to ensure that everyone’s voices are heard. But I think the community has shown that it is dedicated to this. So, at this point the responsibility is on our local government to make these changes.

VG: In the past few weeks we’ve seen a lot of attention around the tragic deaths of Dominique Dunn and Shai’India Harris. Do you have any updates on how Don’t Shoot is helping seek justice for those victims?

Carpenter: We’ve been in touch with Dominique’s family and we published a press release on that. And we’re trying to get in touch with the Harris family. You can find information on how to help those families on our social media accounts and our website.

VG: There seems to be a good deal of momentum around writing in Teressa Raiford for mayor in the upcoming election.

After she lost in the primary, did she intend to pursue a writein campaign?

Carpenter: After the primary, the plan was to take a break.

But a few days later, George Floyd was murdered and we started to get contacted about a write-in campaign and how to make that happen. So, Teressa got on board with it and we’re excited.

Outside of Don’t Shoot, I’m helping with the campaign a little bit. I feel really good about the momentum we’re seeing from people finally standing up. Right now, I think a lot of people are waking up. This is what democracy is about. Write-in campaigns are successful and people need to get this notion out of their minds that they have to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Don’t Shoot Portland continues to do mutual aid work during the ongoing protests. They have an intake form on their website for anyone who has been harmed by law enforcement officials.

PSU Vanguard • JULY 21, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

NEWS

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LEADING CHANGE FROM WITHIN IN AN AGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM, CRIMINAL JUSTICE CLASSES ARE CHANGING, TOO MEGAN HUDDLESTON In response to national protests condemning police brutality and demanding criminal justice reform, Portland State’s Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJ) department intends to implement a more holistic approach to criminal justice studies.

“We’ll be exploring the addition of a track or specialization, perhaps a certificate, on the intersection of social justice and criminal justice,” stated Dr. Brian Renauer, professor and chair of the CCJ department. The new specialization will use current CCJ courses as well as courses from other departments with a focus on social justice issues.

“Our goal is to make a concerted effort to highlight our existing social justice course offerings and efforts and enhance new offerings around social justice perspectives on criminal justice for students to engage with,” Renauer stated.

However, “This idea is in the preliminary thinking stage, as most departments are shut down for the summer for this type of curriculum planning,” according to Renauer.

Criminology and criminal justice is one of PSU’s most popular majors. “Part of the reason the degree is so popular is there are so many career options,” said Rhiannon Whitlatch, a PSU senior majoring in CCJ. The department’s website lists more than 50 organizations in which program graduates can find jobs, from the FBI to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

“There’s always been a mindset [in the CCJ department] of needing new blood going into

the system to help lead these reform efforts,” Renauer said. “At the same time, I’m concerned because of the systemic racism within our society...that will scare away good people—the good people we want and need to be [working in] the criminal justice system at this time and leading these reforms.”

Whitlatch knew she wanted to become a detective when she was in middle school, after she read Sherlock Holmes for the first time. “I want to help people. I want to bring justice and closure to victims’ families if I can,” Whitlatch said.

“And as flawed as the criminal justice system is, it’s still the most appealing direction for me.”

She says the system, especially law enforcement, doesn’t work equitably.

“The system, as is, is set up to fail,” Whitlatch said. One reason for this, according to Whitlatch, is decision-makers within the criminal justice system don’t listen to, or aren’t aware of, the research being done. “If we want change, we must listen to the people doing the research. Reading the research is always a good idea.”

One example of a policy implemented without supporting research is Scared Straight, a program for juveniles

who have committed, or who are deemed to be at risk of committing, a crime. These juveniles visit adult prisons, where prisoners attempt to scare them in hopes of preventing them from ending up in an adult prison themselves.

“It turned out that, compared to the control group, the group of juveniles that went through Scared Straight actually had higher rates of recidivism,” Whitlatch said. “Things like this get put into place, because they make sense, right? But common-sense solutions actually make things worse. And [the people designing and implementing these programs] would have known that if they’d done the research first.”

Like Whitlatch, Thomas Yates, a graduate student in the CCJ program, called attention to the issue that policy and decision-makers aren’t using research when creating and implementing new programs.

“There’s mountains of data that have been compiled by social scientists,” Yates said. “The justice system is broken, and for decades policies really weren’t based on any empiricism.”

Yates originally planned to major in political science, until he took a CCJ class for elective credit.

“The class was Perspectives on Terrorism,

and it blew my mind. One of the textbooks was written by a former FBI undercover agent who also has a [Juris Doctor degree]. His specialty was infiltrating white supremacist organizations. The course was so cool. It changed my entire trajectory.”

Yates plans to take the LSAT this summer in hopes of attending law school and later working in a district attorney’s office. He thought the department’s social justice track was an exciting idea.

“There will be classes taught by sociologists, Black studies professors, gender and women’s Studies professors and economists,” Yates said.

Since the new specialization won’t be available right away, Yates offered advice to students who are inspired by the recent protests and Black Lives Matter movement.

“Look through the course catalog. Several criminology classes are tied to university studies.”

Based on his own experiences, Yates said he “wouldn’t be surprised if some people change their majors.”

“I’m excited about drawing in some new people who want to lead social justice reform from within,” Renauer said. “It’s an exciting time to be at the forefront of social justice reform for the criminal justice system.”

But just as it will take time for the CCJ department to create and implement a new social justice specialization, change within the criminal justice system won’t happen overnight.

“I do think these [recent protests] are going to light some fires around reform and change and maybe speed up some things and create some more positive outcomes for communities,” Renauer said. “I want students to be excited to be a part of these reforms.

The system isn’t going to go away. It’s going to need people to work in it.”

SHANNON STEED

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NEWS

PSU Vanguard • JULY 21, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS WILL NOT BE DEPORTED FOR TAKING ONLINE CLASSES U.S. PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP AT DREAM CITY CHURCH IN PHOENIX, ARIZONA. GAGE SKIDMORE/FLICKR CREATIVE COMMONS

TRUMP ADMINISTRATION RESCINDS POLICY TO REVOKE STUDENT VISAS ISABEL REKOW Faced with growing opposition, the Trump administration abruptly reversed its July 6 decision to revoke international college students’ visas—and thus deport them—if they do not take at least one in-person course in the fall.

20 states, as well as Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, sued the federal government over the policy. Over 200 colleges and universities signed in support of the lawsuit. They argued the policy was a political means to pressure schools to reopen in the fall and that it disregarded the safety risks posed by COVID-19.

“The abrupt change ignores the realities of the global pandemic and is yet another ill-timed and ill-conceived attack on our international students,” stated Portland State President Stephen Percy and Provost Susan Jeffords in a statement released July 8.

15 congressional Republicans and large corporations such as Google and Twitter also supported withdrawing the policy.

The administration dropped the new policy nine days after creating it. The announcement came minutes before court hearings were set to start on the case brought by Harvard.

International students may remain in the United States even if their fall courses are entirely online. This follows an earlier ruling from March which allows international students to pursue more online coursework than had been allowed before the onset of COVID-19 in the U.S. Over one million international students study in the U.S., including nearly 1,200 at PSU. International students contributed over $40 billion to the economy in 2019, according to an announcement by PSU in support of PSU’s international students.

According to Nya Mbock, the international affairs direc-

PSU Vanguard • JULY 21, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

tor of the Associated Students of PSU, international students are vital to financing PSU. “They are the backbone of a lot of different departments,” Mbock said. “We can’t afford to lose international students’ trust. We can’t afford to make them feel like they’re not a priority because they’re an utmost priority.”

Colleges and universities rushed not only to sue and petition the government to revoke its decision, but also to provide options to international students in case the plan went into effect in the fall.

The Office of International Student and Scholar Services put together a webpage to provide students with updates regarding the changing situation. It includes information on which courses count as in-person credits—not only classes, but also student leadership and graduate research and thesis work.

PSU also planned to issue new I-20 student visas affirming international students studying at the university were taking in-person credits.

ASPSU created an ad-hoc committee to plan ways in which PSU could keep its international students in the U.S., according to Mbock. ASPSU worked to create student-taught classes to provide more options for in-person credits.

PSU students experienced significant emotional distress as they scrambled to change their academic plans for fall.

Suddenly, they needed to determine whether they would be able to remain in the U.S., or if they would have to leave the country at the height of a pandemic.

“It was heartbreaking,” Mbock said, “thinking [international students] might have to leave on such a whim.”

“That loss of control in a time when everything is uncertain and there’s so many things happening with COVID-19

and with racial tensions—it’s just another thing on an already overflowing plate,” Mbock said. “The amount of emotional duress this ruling put international students under, and they’re just supposed to recover from that?”

Ida Ayu Karina Dwijayanti, an international student from Indonesia, was devastated when she first heard about the federal government’s decision to revoke student visas.

“In the beginning of [the COVID-19 outbreak in the U.S.], when all of my friends went back home, to their home states or their own countries, I specifically chose to stay in the U.S. despite being completely alone, just so I could still be here by the fall term,” Dwijayanti stated. “So, when I found out I should either take a class that I don’t really need or get deported, I was really sad and disappointed because I could’ve gone home earlier.”

For those who are particularly at risk for COVID-19, inperson classes are simply not an option.

Some international students felt themselves forced to decide between their education and their safety.

“A few students were telling me they wouldn’t want to leave,” Mbock said. “If this was going to happen they would want to stay, even if it was illegally.” According to Mbock, these students were willing to put themselves in dangerous situations in order to continue their education, which they had worked so hard and paid so much to obtain.

Dwijayanti worried what would happen to international students if the borders to their home countries remained closed. “If they got deported, where would they stay?”

“Now students feel so uncertain. Now they’re worried they could do this again,” Mbock said.

“There’s this loss of trust in American education...that’s not something we’ll get back in a day.”

INTERNATIONAL

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Quarantine Cuisine

HOW TO MAKE VEGETABLES ACTUALLY TASTE GOOD THE BEST BRUSSELS SPROUTS YOU’VE EVER HAD, GUARANTEED. NICK GATLIN/PSU VANGUARD NICK GATLIN Many people, for some reason, hate vegetables. Maybe they think they’re bitter, or too grassy, too fibrous or just gross. Maybe they’ve never had vegetables cooked right. It’s no wonder, with the plethora of disgusting vegetable options we see in homes and at restaurants, many people say they just don’t like vegetables.

I’m here to prove them wrong. I’m here to show you that you can make any vegetable taste incredible with four simple ingredients: salt, fat, acid and heat.

I highly encourage you to read Samin Nosrat’s foundational cookbook, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat, or watch the Netflix series based on it. The techniques she describes are at once incredibly simple and fundamental to any kind of refined cooking.

Brussels Sprouts That Actually Taste Good INGREDIENTS

Brussels sprouts Lemon pepper (if unavailable, regular pepper and lemon juice) Olive oil Garlic I know what you’re thinking—brussels sprouts are disgusting. They’re bitter and acrid, and every children’s show known to humankind depicts them as the epitome of gross adult vegetables.

Let me tell you a secret. They’re delicious.

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ARTS & CULTURE

Start by cutting the root end off your sprouts, then slicing them in half lengthwise. You should end up with each sprout in two roughly equal pieces. The leaves will start to flake away from the inside—that’s fine. Generously coat the cores and leaves with olive oil and season with salt, pepper and garlic to taste. Using lemon pepper, or pepper and lemon juice, is what pushes this dish over the edge. It’s the acid that brightens the flavor and gives a much-needed contrast to the vegetable sprouts..

Preheat your oven to 400°F, and place your sprouts cut side down on a baking sheet. Sprinkle any stray leaves over the top.

Bake for 20-30 minutes or until crispy on top.

The salt nullifies any potential bitter flavors in the sprouts; the olive oil provides the fat to tie everything together; the acid perks everything up; and roasting them in the oven provides a much better texture and flavor than mushy, soggy, 300°F sprouts that your grandma made. These same techniques can be used in basically the same way to make any vegetable taste great. Take broccoli, for example.

Garlic Roasted Broccoli Ingredients

Broccoli florets Lemon pepper Olive oil Garlic This recipe is essentially the same as the last one, and it also tastes amazing. Coat your broccoli florets with olive oil and seasonings like before. Preheat your oven to 400°F, and place your florets in a single layer on your baking sheet. Bake for

about 20-30 minutes or until done, and serve. See? Dead easy.

Broccoli holds up especially well with this style of roasting, because the little flowery bits and the end of the florets almost char under the heat, making them crunchy and umami and delicious. I could genuinely eat this five times a week. It’s that good.

Cauliflower Steaks Ingredients

Large head of cauliflower Lemon pepper (if unavailable, regular pepper and lemon juice) Olive oil Garlic Cut the cauliflower head into four large lengthwise pieces, in the shape of steaks. Coat them in olive oil, garlic, lemon pepper, salt and your spices to taste. Are you sensing a pattern?

Reheat your oven to 400°F. Roast the cauliflower for 15 minutes on each side, or until soft, golden and cooked through.

Because the cauliflower is in the shape of a steak, you can even bread it if you want to, or coat it with a dry rub.

Speaking from experience, barbeque rub tastes amazing with cauliflower.

The formula to making almost any cruciferous vegetable (see: broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, similar green vegetables) taste good essentially comes down to the same techniques: salt, fat, acid and heat. Every one of these recipes involves a generous amount of olive oil, lemon pepper and roasting the veggies at 400°F. Vegetables can taste good if you want them to. All you have to do is cook them right.

PSU Vanguard • JULY 21, 2020 • psuvanguard.com

FIND SOMEONE BETTER

AJ EARL I can appreciate the fact that former Portland Mayor Terry Schrunk’s descendants remember him fondly. But that doesn’t mean we should honor him and his legacy.

I am no monster; I am in no way someone who would try to force the memory of someone I am not fond of from the minds of their family. Yet, on that same token, I believe in the fairness of an accurate historical picture. In this picture, Schrunk holds an infamous place in the queer history of Portland; in his multiple-term tenure, Schrunk harassed and oppressed queer Portlanders constantly, all in the name of restricting free expres-

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TERRY SCHRUNK PLAZA IN PORTLAND, OREGON. ANNIE SCHUTZ/PSU VANGUARD sion, free association and the very fundamentals of life for anyone his office deemed a pervert.

To make matters far worse, Schrunk sat idly by as his police force terrorized Portland’s beleaguered Black population throughout his term.

As such, a plaza in his memory shortly after his death, wedged between a courthouse and city hall, two supposed defenders of civil liberties, is not the honor its original naming might suggest.

To heighten the contradictions still further, the plaza rests on top of what used to be several businesses and rooming houses.

Why Terry Schrunk Plaza should be renamed

Among these businesses, there was once a bathhouse, but now it is simply a green park increasingly famous for the hostility of law enforcement towards the supposed degenerates within its confines.

It does not make sense for Portland to continue to allow the federal government to hold on to this name, especially now that the history of Schrunk is a lot more accessible and its impact on marginalized people more understood. An honest and fair appraisal of Schrunk would not justify the naming honor.

Schrunk’s entry into public service came via the county sheriff’s office and ended at City Hall by the time of his death. During his tenure, Schrunk targeted not only the common scourge of gambling rooms, but also turned his attention to the vigilantly watched LGBTQ+ community, arming himself with legal implements meant to target LGBTQ+ bars and giving his police tools of violence to target the Black community. His clear zeal for the job meant he was extremely efficient in what he’d done, and by the time it was in full fledge, His efforts included a campaign against printed “obscene” materials and attempts with Councilmember Frank Ivancie to yank tavern and bar licenses in order to unsubtly push LGBTQ+ bars out of business while bulldozers were humming at the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center site and riots shook Albina.

Why is it, then, that Schrunk still gets this honor?

Were we talking about another mayor, one with a bit more restraint, then perhaps Schrunk might have been less about public safety and more about the trying times of his administration.

Instead, we are left to ponder the impacts of a terribly effective homophobe who is now permanently enshrined with a large tract of land named in his honor. This kind of veneration is not mandatory, however, and considerations must be made for a different direction for the plaza.

Among the possibilities are renaming the spot after famous LGBTQ+ heroes in Portland—for example, Kathleen Sadaat, an activist with roots running back decades. Another possibility would be to not name the plaza after a person at all. One possible name of the sort is the 1926 Plaza, so-named because that was the year that the Oregon Constitution was finally rid of its overt clauses barring Black emigration to the state, a reminder of the original sins of Oregon.

The renaming of Schrunk Plaza shouldn’t be the end of this kind of reckoning with history, but should instead spawn a steady reassessment of the nature of Portland’s built environment and how it favors people who championed the very systems that have created the marked inequalities of the current city. With federal overstep undermining the health and safety of marginalized Portlanders, it is only right that this process begins with the fullthroated support of the mayor and the Portland City Council.

Here, in this important moment, it is necessary we begin to see the good work of the consciences of those in power as they have this opportunity before them to begin to unmake the sins of Portland’s past. While ceremonial in nature, this kind of readdressing of an honor such as that given to Schrunk can serve as a soul-building exercise. The worry of erasing history is not valid here, as it is not in general, since there is plenty to know about Schrunk that is available in history texts. The resulting recognition he received by having a plaza named after him should thus be revoked.

OPINION

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