Portland State Vanguard Volume 77 Issue 27

Page 1

: PPB NEEDS TO HOLD ITS OFFICERS ACCOUNTABLE OPINION PSU Professors need to set fairer deadlines P. 9 NEWS Idaho Representatives vote on absorbing Oregon counties P. 4 NEWS Lloyd Center finds new life as arts hub P. 6-7 VOLUME 77 • ISSUE 27 • MARCH 1, 2023

OPEN OPINION PLATFORM COLUMN FOR ALL AT PSU

• STATE NAME AND AFFILIATION W/PSU

• SUBMISSIONS ARE UNPAID, NOT GUARANTEED AND CHOSEN BY THE EDITOR

• SEND THOUGHTS, STORIES AND OPINIONS TO EDITOR@PSUVANGUARD.COM

CONTENTS

STAFF

EDITORIAL

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Tanner Todd

MANAGING EDITOR

Brad Le

NEWS EDITOR

Zoë Buhrmaster

NEWS CO-EDITOR

Philippa Massey

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

Kat Leon

OPINION EDITOR

Nick Gatlin

PHOTO EDITOR

Alberto Alonso Pujazon Bogani

ONLINE EDITOR

Christopher Ward

COPY CHIEF

Nova Johnson

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Nick Gatlin

CONTRIBUTORS

Alyssa Anderson

Macie Harrold

Milo Loza

Ian McMeekan

LeeAnn Rooney

Isabel Zerr

PRODUCTION & DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Whitney McPhie

DESIGNERS

Camden Benesh

Neo Clark

Casey Litchfield

Hanna Oberlander

Mia Waugh

TECHNOLOGY & WEBSITE TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS

Rae Fickle

George Olson

Sara Ray

Tanner Todd

ADVISING & ACCOUNTING

COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA

Reaz Mahmood

STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT

Maria Dominguez

STUDENT MEDIA TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR

Rae Fickle

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

MISSION STATEMENT

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.

ABOUT 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 Wednesdays and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @psuvanguard for multimedia content and breaking news.

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US YOUR LETTERS TO THE EDITOR P. 3 NEWS IDAHO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO RELOCATE OREGON BORDER P. 4 BEEM—BLACK ECONOMIC EQUITY MOVEMENT P. 5 ARTS & CULTURE THE DEATH AND REBIRTH OF THE COMMUNITY MALL P. 6-7 OPINION PORTLAND POLICE HASN’T CHANGED P. 8 ASSIGNMENT OVERLOAD P. 9 COMICS P. 10-11 EVENTS CALENDAR P. 12
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COVER DESIGN BY WHITNEY MCPHIE PHOTO BY ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI

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We have revived our “Letters to the Editor,” a recurring Opinion feature that publishes and spotlights voices from around PSU, as well as the larger community of Portland, Oregon. This is a section devoted to spotlighting the opinions and feelings of our readsers, rather than the writers and contributors in our newsroom, and we welcome submissions from anyone. We’re particularly interested in perspectives related to current Portland events and community issues, as well as circumstances that impact the Pacific Northwest overall. We’d also love to hear your thoughts on stories we’ve covered—if you have a strong opinion about something we’ve reported, write us! We’ll happily read your submissions.

To share your letters for publishing consideration, email your thoughts to opinion@psuvanguard. com with the heading LETTER TO THE EDITOR, followed by your subject line.

We look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely, The Vanguard Editorial Staff

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IDAHO HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES TO RELOCATE OREGON BORDER

THE PROPOSED BILL WOULD MAKE OREGON A LOT SMALLER

ZOĂ‹ BUHRMASTER

The Idaho House of Representatives voted in favor of the “Greater Idaho” bill, allowing Oregon negotiations to move forward with Oregon legislators about relocating the state line between Oregon and Idaho.

The “Greater Idaho” bill would push Idaho’s state lines to induct 13 eastern Oregon counties and four partial eastern Oregon counties, which includes all of Harney and Malheur counties, into Idaho. In total, the proposed counties account for 62% of Oregon’s land mass and 9% of the overall population in Oregon. A large red and gray map on Greater Idaho’s website illustrates the imagined expansion, outlining which eastern Oregon counties have already approved the motion and which have yet to vote.

Below the map on the movement’s web page is a list of frequently asked questions for curious clickers. “Selfdetermination” and “End the gridlock” in regards to the tension between Oregon’s largely Democratic legislature and Republican representatives are listed under a section delineating how “moving the Oregon/Idaho state line would benefit Western Oregon!”

Idaho representatives approved the bill on Feb. 15 after meeting to discuss the possibility and its implications for both Idaho and Oregon. Idaho Representative Barbara Ehardt spoke the first words in favor of the bill at the meeting.

“We are talking about a portion of Oregon that felt like they no longer fit in the state in which they resided,” Ehardt said when she took the floor. “Why wouldn’t we at least want to

have this conversation? Why, when with Idaho having been the fastest growing state in the union until recently when Florida passed us, why wouldn’t we want to have a conversation with so many people moving in here about expanding our land mass?”

The con-joining of eastern Oregon counties to Idaho is largely seen as an advantage to Idaho, as a recent study by the Claremont Institute showed that the addition of rural Oregon counties would have significant positive economic benefits for Idaho.

Oregon Spokesman for the Greater Idaho movement Matt McCaw pointed out gun regulation as an example of political divide between eastern Oregon cities and northwest Oregon cities, most notably Portland.

“Portland voters forced a gun control measure on the whole state, although eastern Oregon voters almost defeated it,” McCaw said during the introduction of the bill to the Oregon Senate. “And then an eastern Oregon judge blocked it. His injunction might stand for a couple years while he decides the case. If Oregon had let Grant and Harney counties go when they requested to join Idaho, then their judge wouldn’t have blocked an Oregon measure. Grant and Harney counties are ranchland, and Portland is not. It doesn’t make sense for these two cultures to be dictating policy to each other.”

In a response to the trade, U.S. Rep. Earl Bluemenauer, (D-Ore,) said he’d be willing to discuss a potential landoriented transaction.

“I would entertain a trade for Boise and Sun Valley,” Blumenauer said in a statement.

Sun Valley and Boise are two of the wealthier cities in Idaho— this would allow for some budgetary balance, since in the current plans Idaho would take in 11 of Oregon’s poorer, rural counties. In this deal, Oregon would keep Bend as well. This is phase one of the plan, anyways. Phase two, which is now optional according to the Greater Idaho website, would add to Idaho five northeastern California counties, along with three small counties and two small towns from southeastern Washington.

Yet, the bill is still a long way away from happening. In order to pass, it would require an interstate pact between both state legislatures and then Congress’ stamp of approval. So far, 11 counties in Oregon have voted in favor of moving the border. Eastern Wallowa County is set to vote next, followed by five other counties that have yet to plan a vote on the supposed proposition.

For now, the conversation between Oregon and Idaho is just beginning.

“We are asking Oregon Legislature leaders to give this idea a hearing in Oregon,” a press release on the Greater Idaho movement’s website, greateridaho.org, said. “Unlike any other bill, our Oregon bill SJM 2 is supported by the votes of 11 counties, and a poll a year ago showed that 68% of northwestern Oregonian voters want their officials to look into the idea. Eastern Oregon deserves a chance to present this proposal to Oregon state leaders.”

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com 4 NEWS
MAP DETAILING "GREATER IDAHO" EXPANSION PLAN. COURTESY OF GREATERIDAHO.ORG

A new transformative research project by OHSU-PSU School of Public Health is investigating health disparities, particularly in the cases of at-risk Black youth.

Marguerita Lightfoot is the Associate Dean of Research in the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded Lightfoot a $9 million five-year grant to study the benefits of a guaranteed income provided to at-risk Black youth. Lightfoot is co-investigator alongside Sheri Lippman from UCSF and Margaret Libby, the founder and chief executive officer of MyPath.

“[NIH] was pushing boundaries and pushing all of us to do something different during COVID,” Lightfoot said. This is the impetus for BEEM, the Black Economic Equity Movement research project.

The study will observe how income and financial training impact the financial, mental and physical heath of low-income Black youth—ages 18 to 25—as they transition to living independently. Through this, Lightfoot hopes to change the trajectory of young Black people from low-income families by providing these resources.

“3.2 million of those dollars are going directly to young people and paying the bills— guaranteed income,” Lightfoot said regarding the $9 million funding from NIH.

“And we’re trying to help them have some kind of foundation or base so that they’re not struggling…to just survive,” Lightfoot said. Out of the survival mode and into a planning mode, as Lightfoot called it.

Lightfoot studied counseling and psychology at UC Los Angeles and graduated with a Ph.D. in 1997. Lightfoot’s research interests include

BEEM—BLACK ECONOMIC EQUITY MOVEMENT

studying homelessness in youth, the juvenile justice system and youth with HIV. Figuring out how these kids get derailed is her focus. Lightfoot explained that her research is often community-based and that she’s passionate about helping. She left California and transitioned from psychology to public health at OHSU-PSU.

“I was interested in counseling psychology because I was really interested in understanding people’s behavior, but in particular, how to help young people be successful,” Lightfoot said. “I’ve always really been passionate about promoting and supporting the health and wellbeing of adolescents, and have always been interested in those young people who are most vulnerable.”

What is happening in these communities? How do we help our communities to become healthy? These are things Lightfoot often asks herself.

Lightfoot explained how addressing non-financial issues is essential to positive outcomes for these young people. “And the outcomes that we’re looking at are mental health in particular, we’re looking at depression and anxiety,” she said. “Because given the age of people, accessing sexual reproductive health services and then the last thing is looking at their kind of investments in the future.”

If these kids no longer need to struggle with day-to-day financial survival, they can begin to look forward to their futures and perhaps plan for higher education or pursue other dreams that previously weren’t possible.

Every young person in the program has access to scaffolding services, a financial mentor/coach and a peer learning circle. These resources teach the young people in

the study about things like credit scores and predatory lending, how to build one’s credit and how to become financially stable. Mental health services and sexual reproductive services are also offered if needed.

There is no magical thinking here. The recipients are aware that the money will stop after a year, and meanwhile are prepared for that day through mentoring, a peer learning circle and other resources. Most importantly, however, the study will conduct follow-up analysis after the guaranteed income stops.

Lightfoot explained that while many studies that give a guaranteed income do not follow the recipients after the study ends, the BEEM study will follow half of all recipients for half a year after the money stops.

Lightfoot predicted three primary possible outcomes for what these follow-up studies might reveal.

“You can think about maybe three patterns,” Lightfoot said. “That they’re on this upward slope of getting involved in things and be themselves, better situated, they can either continue to go on that upward slope, or they can flatten out…and then they maintain that. Or the other pattern might be, you know, they had that upward slope while they were getting the money, and the money stops, and then they go back down.”

She said that they may find additional patterns as well, but emphasized the importance of tracking the results and perhaps even having pre-indicators of successful outcomes.

BEEM started recruitment in November and expects to finish in June. They have no preliminary data yet, but they are already

making an impact. If a young person is found to be in a high risk mental health state during the initial screening, recruiters will follow up and offer services.

“About 30% of our young people are in crisis,” Lightfoot said. “So mental health is absolutely a critical component and we’re seeing that very early on in our study.”

Making the study and its benefits sustainable is an integral factor. Lightfoot has been engaging with people in both cities and counties, which she said have been open to discussion about providing funding for young people. She’s also engaged in a funders roundtable that is likely to fund some of the youth who were not eligible for the study. For the study, she hopes that funding from city and county legislature will provide some stability to guaranteed income programs.

Michelle Nakphong, a postdoc at UCSF working with Lightfoot on the BEEM project, expressed her passion about the project.

“I am working on the qualitative indepth interviews because I love hearing and understanding people’s lived experiences,” Nakphong said.

Nakphong said that she has also been looking into housing instability in particular, noticing a high level of it among the participants. “Even in short conversations with folks, people have described a lot of stress regarding housing insecurity and instability,” she said. Bringing this issue into the light of day is what BEEM is all about.

“That’s my hope, to see how my skills and passions can support the incredible work that people are doing,” Lightfoot said.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com NEWS 5
DR. MARGUERITA LIGHTFOOT. COURTESY OF DR. LIGHTFOOT KELSEY ZUBERBUEHLER

RENAISSANCE OF COMMUNITY ARTS: THE DEATH AND REBIRTH OF THE COMMUNITY MALL

LLOYD CENTER CONNECTS PORTLANDERS TO COMMUNITY LOCALLY AND ABROAD

Editor’s Note: After COVID-19 and all that has happened over the past few years, we have all experienced a collective trauma. The pain we have experienced as a collective community is high, yet with distance needed for so long, community gatherings took a back seat to safety, and many were left to suffer alone. Despite being and feeling alone, this trauma was a community trauma, one that demands a community response to healing. There are whispers throughout the artist community postCOVID—one thing I hear over and over is how creators want their art to reinvigorate community spaces, to allow viewers and creators to use these spaces to express their pain and experience collective healing. Renaissance of Community Arts is a new series that we will be running that focuses on spaces and events that encourage that sense of community and facilitate community healing.

The death of the American mall is hardly a recent phenomenon. Major retailers have been in steady decline since at least the early 2000s. The 2008 recession and COVID-19 pandemic have only exacerbated these trends.

From Sears to Macy’s, Blockbuster, Sharper Image and Toys R Us, the 21st century has bankrupted and fossilized companies that had been wildly successful in the previous century. With the last American mall built in 2006, the age of e-commerce now utterly overshadows physical shopping centers. This effect has given way to thousands of structural buildings suspended in a limbo of uncertainty. While many American malls sit abandoned, deteriorating skeletons of their former glory, others have simply mutated into ghosts of their capitalist past: Amazon warehouses, corporate offices or big-box monopolies. So we must ask ourselves—is this the best use of our own space here in Portland?

Even during the height of department store retail, malls were about much more than just shopping. Malls meant arcade gaming, bustling food courts and strolling the storefronts with friends. From Stranger Things to Fear Street and Wonder Woman 1984, it’s no coincidence that modern Hollywood aestheticizes the 1980s United States through the shopping mall scene. We mourn the death of the American mall not because we seek elitist materialism in the form of big chain retailers. No, our nostalgia for such liminal spaces is really a reminiscence of their communal aspect. So why replace a faltering breed of consumerism with one infinitely more detached from its immediate community?

Some U.S. cities have already realized a greater alternative for their floundering shopping centers. In Providence, Rhode Island, the U.S.’ oldest mall Westminster Arcade, repurposed its vacant space as affordable housing units back in 2013 The former Landmark Mall in Alexandria, Virginia, became a temporary homeless shelter coordinated by the non-profit Carpenter’s Shelter in 2018 and is currently in the process of transforming into a site for Inovia Alexandria Hospital, as well as numerous housing units. What used to be Cinderella City Mall in Englewood, Colorado, has been transformed into a major community center, complete with a public library, civic center and outdoor art museum.

The American mall is not dying—it’s being reborn. At least potentially. The scope of such restructuring is dependent on the involvement of the community.

In our own backyard, the Lloyd Center yields massive potential for this kind of progress. The pandemic threatened the survival of the mall, and many Portlanders feared a total collapse. Nevertheless, the Lloyd Center persisted, and today we find the space transforming into a creative community hub.

At the forefront of Lloyd’s evolution is the indie clothing design company Dreem Street, Portland-born record shop Musique Plastique and locally shelved bookstore and publisher Floating World Comics. These businesses have all engaged with the broader community in their own ways, from hosting social functions to collaborating with radio stations and local musicians. Floating World Comics has organized art and animation festivals, galleries and signing events. The shop’s owner, Jason Leivian, imagines the future of the Lloyd Center in writing: “Is an empty mall post-apocalyptic or pre-utopian? We get a say in it. I envision empty storefronts filled with exciting local, independent businesses.”

The John Daniel Teply Gallery and Atelier is the newest Lloyd Center art district member, opening its doors in the mall only four weeks ago. The gallery’s premiering project is the 2023 International Art Festival, a multi-disciplinary experience celebrating ten countries over the span of four months. “We offer a way to connect culturally with the whole world,” said John Daniel Teply, the owner and curator of the gallery. “This week we had a cultural experience from India, next week we’re gonna have Palestine. The week after that, it’ll be Iran.”

The festival showcases song and dance, cooking demonstrations, lectures, storytelling, craft workshops and much more. “We’re working on trying to give a full experience of the countries that we’re working with,” Teply said. “The reason why we’re doing all these activities is to give an overlay of the culture of the artists.”

Alongside the festival events, within the gallery is displayed an alluring variety of large painted murals. This is the International Mural by Mail, a collaborative production in which “on one end, a mural is completed by the participating international artist. On the other end, another mural is completed by local

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com 6 ARTS & CULTURE

Portland artists. The two murals are started in one location and then mailed back and forth to the other location, as the artists add to each other’s work.” Teply explained that this is “a chance to see something fresh. It’s about community and working with each other.”

A rich tapestry of history and representation, the gallery brings together a diverse panel of artists from within the community and abroad. Spectators can enjoy the visual art and participate in shared skills and histories from around the world.

Not only does the Lloyd Center benefit from the aesthetic and cultural atmosphere of the gallery, but the art mutually benefits from its location in the mall. Ultimately, a centralized shopping center allows for greater foot traffic and easier accessibility to places the general public may have otherwise missed out on. “What’s great about the Lloyd Center is that you have all different kinds of people that aren’t necessarily going there for an art experience, but because it’s in the mall and because there’s kind of a safe atmosphere about that, they’re willing to just walk in the door,” Teply said.

Teply mentioned that shopping malls such as the Lloyd Center are highly advantageous for creative galleries because they allow for sufficient physical space for people and exhibits, as well as ease of access in terms of parking and navigation.

With tenants such as these, the Lloyd Center is moving in a positive direction. As the U.S.’ old retail mall withers away, it’s up to each prospective community to decide how to repurpose their central spaces. The potential to fulfill Portland’s needs is significant, whether it be in affordable housing, health care providers or simply enjoyable spaces to learn and connect with each other. Our involvement with the pioneers of a new mallscape can maintain and grow the Lloyd Center into the thriving and equitable community center we want it to be.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com ARTS & CULTURE 7
TOP LEFT: MURAL BY IRANIAN ARTIST SAMANEH VAFAEIZADEH. TOP RIGHT: MURAL BY SOUTH AFRICAN ARTIST FRANS LUCKY PHOOKO. MACIE HARRELD/PSU VANGUARD RIGHT: MURAL BY UKRAINIAN ARTIST OLESYA HUDYMA.

PORTLAND POLICE HASN’T CHANGED

THE REINSTATEMENT OF FORMER PPB OFFICER BRIAN HUNZEKER SHOWS LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY IN THE BUREAU

After their brutal mishandling of the 2020 protests held in the wake of George Floyd’s murder by Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin, the Portland Police Bureau has been under deservedly harsh scrutiny from city officials, the general public and the United States Department of Justice (DOJ).

Despite this scrutiny, however, a state labor arbitrator recently ordered the reinstatement of officer and former Portland Police Association President Brian Hunzeker after he was discovered to have leaked false information to the press, per Willamette Week. That Hunzeker was given his job back with only a one-week suspension displays how the Bureau’s lack of accountability runs rampant to this day.

According to a 2021 article published by Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), Portland police officers used force against protestors over 6,000 times in 2020, with many officers neglecting to file the required use of force accountability paperwork.

A Feb. 2021 report from the DOJ indicated that police supervisors “validated uses of force with little to no critical assessment—even uses of force captured on video and replayed on news media, or later became subject to complaints.” Per the DOJ report, these actions “stand in contrast to the Bureau’s policy requirements for force investigations and the Bureau’s expressed organizational goals.”

The Bureau’s actions in 2020 displayed a disturbing lack of accountability within the Bureau—a lack that has garnered intense criticism from Portland citizens and city officials alike, including former Commissioner Jo Ann Hardesty, the first Black woman to serve on Portland’s City Council.

“What we have now does not work,” Hardesty wrote in a Nov. 2020 Twitter thread. “You cannot look me in the eye and tell me that a Bureau responding violently to protestors every night works for us. Or that over 50 percent of all the Bureau’s arrestees are houseless works for us… We can’t keep talking about how we as a city are committed to centering BIPOC voices but never actually acting on things they call for. Listening without action is not progress, it is lip service.”

In March 2021, Hunzeker was found to have leaked false information to an Oregonian reporter that implicated Hardesty in a hit-and-run. According to OPB, Hunzeker confessed to investigators that he leaked this information in retaliation against Hardesty’s criticisms of the Bureau.

Hardesty, who was proven not to have been involved in the crime whatsoever, then filed a $5 million lawsuit against the Association, the city of Portland, Hunzeker and Portland Police Officer Kerri Ottoman—who is said to have distributed the false information to a political action committee called the Coalition to Save Portland. The trial is set to begin on Sept. 26, 2023.

Hunzeker then stepped down from his position as president and was put on administrative leave until he was ultimately fired from the Bureau altogether. However, despite an internal investigation proving Hunzeker’s guilt in the matter, the Oregon Employment Relations Board filed a report in Feb. 2023 that indicated Hunzeker will be reinstated to his position on the police force.

Timothy Williams, a stateappointed arbitrator, instructed the Bureau to rehire Hunzeker within 30 days and pay him the wages he missed following his termination. Williams wrote in a report that Hunzeker’s termination was a politically motivated injustice that was not justified by the facts at hand.

OPB reported that arbitrators such as Williams are notorious for reinstating previously terminated officers. In 2010, Portland police officer Ron Frashour shot and

killed 25-year-old unarmed Black man Aaron Campbell. After the city paid Campbell’s family a $1.2 million settlement, Frashour was reinstated to his position in 2012 by a state-appointed arbitrator. Williams also claimed that the city investigation into Hunzeker failed to display the extreme harm the situation caused Hardesty, yet again displaying the Bureau’s utter lack of respect for the complaints and concerns of the city’s Black community members.

Though the trial on this matter is many months away, the Bureau’s decision to reinstate Hunzeker after his retaliatory actions shows the organization’s blatant disregard for the pain and suffering they cause Portland citizens—particularly citizens of color. Especially when considering the Bureau’s violent actions during the 2020 protests, it has become abundantly clear that this organization—which supposedly exists to ensure the safety of all community members—is only looking out for itself.

If the Bureau refuses to hold officers accountable for their actions even when there is glaring evidence of wrongdoing, then it is safe to say that the police, for lack of a better phrase, have simply not learned their lesson. The situation with Hunzeker, on top of the mountain of other accounts of police wrongdoing, proves that the Bureau cannot be trusted to hold themselves accountable.

If the Bureau continues to dismiss valid criticisms like the ones eloquently laid out by Hardesty, then it is clear they do not value public opinion or concern. The Bureau does not have the public’s best interests in mind—only their own. And what does that mean for the future of Portland? Sadly, there is much worse in store unless we pay attention to voices like Hardesty who urge for significant reform of the Bureau.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com 8 OPINION
ALYSSA ANDERSON POLICE CAR PARKED OUTSIDE PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU. ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD POLICE CAR PARKED OUTSIDE PORTLAND POLICE BUREAU. ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD

ASSIGNMENT OVERLOAD

STUDENTS HAVE LIVES BEYOND HOMEWORK

University students are often forced to juggle multiple responsibilities at once: school, work, sleep and self-care, to name a few. With so many duties piling up on their schedules, it can be near-impossible for students to keep up their grades while maintaining a job, a social life and their own wellbeing. It’s situations like this that make one think that professors at Portland State, as well as at other universities, should have more flexible policies on assignment deadlines in order to account for this reality.

Yes, juggling school and life responsibilities is part of being a college student. But with the pressure of assignment deadlines, many students are not able to put in time to relax, which is vitally important for their long-term health. If students are not able to turn their brains off every so often, their education will suffer and the homework that professors assign may end up doing more harm than good.

Education scholar Denise Pope, Ph.D., found that “students in high-achieving communities who spend too much time on homework experience more stress, physical health problems, a lack of balance and even alienation from society,” according to a 2014 article from Stanford News. “More than two hours of homework a night may be counterproductive,” Dr. Pope found. According to a study Dr. Pope co-authored in the Journal of Experimental Education, 56% of students surveyed considered homework a “primary source of stress,” and many said that homework pressure contributed to long-term health problems like sleep deprivation, headaches and exhaustion. Perhaps the most concerning finding is that students in highhomework environments were “more likely to drop activities, not see friends or family, and not pursue hobbies they enjoy.”

Additionally, many students have jobs in order to pay for college in the first place. Researchers from HSBC, a bank and financial services company, found that 85% of college students in the United States work paid jobs, 57% of students work

out of financial necessity and 37% of students search for jobs to improve their chances in the post-college job market, as Kalysa To of The Daily Bruin reported. “The study also found students spend about 4.2 hours a day working on average, compared to 2.3 hours a day in class, 2.8 hours studying at home and 1.5 hours visiting the library,” To wrote.

Every student also has the need to partake in self-care. “In a society in which people are expected to work long hours and pass on vacation days,” we have a societal tendency to devalue self-care, reported Matthew Glowiak, Ph.D., for the Southern New Hampshire University newsroom . In our culture, he wrote, “there is an underlying belief that we must always be productive—which can ultimately take away from opportunities for self-care. But by taking some time out to engage in self-care, you may relieve the pressures of everyday life and reset yourself to get back to a healthy point where productivity is once again maximized.” Crucially, Dr. Glowiak wrote, “the single most common reason people give for not participating in self-care is due to a lack of time.”

For all these reasons, professors should give students more time to complete assignments, or perhaps assign less work overall. If students had more time to finish their homework— and if professors had a more lenient due date policy that gave more consideration to students’ work schedules, social lives and stress levels—then incidents of burnout would likely decrease, and students would likely have a healthier level of school-related stress to handle.

After all, professors have the ability to give more time on assignments—they should think about assignments from the students’ point of view and be a little more lenient. Professors should work with their students to find an amount of homework for students with jobs, social lives and other classes that can be finished in a reasonable amount of time in order to sustain a healthy school-work-life balance.

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com OPINION 9
ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD
IAN MCMEEKAN
PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com 10 COMICS CASEY LITCHFIELD
PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com COMICS 11
CAMDEN BENESH WHITNEY MCPHIE

Events Calendar

M arch 1-7 MILO

TWIDDLE AND EGGY STAR THEATER

8 P.M.

$26+

TWIDDLE AND EGGY ARE JAM BANDS, BLENDING ROCK, JAZZ, BLUEGRASS, REGGAE AND FUNK WITH CATCHY MELODIES

FOCUS HOLOCENE

9 P.M.

$15

A DANCE NIGHT INSPIRED BY THE MUSIC OF SZA

WHITE DENIM WONDER BALLROOM

8 P.M.

$22

ROCK BAND KNOWN FOR THEIR HIGHENERGY PERFORMANCES AND ECLECTIC SOUND BLENDING ROCK, JAZZ AND FUNK

EMOTIONAL ORANGES

MCMENAMINS CRYSTAL BALLROOM

8:30 P.M.

$30+

AN R&B/POP GROUP FROM LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA

LERNER & LOEWE’S MY FAIR LADY KELLER AUDITORIUM

7:30 P.M.

$62+

A MUSICAL BASED ON GEORGE BERNARD

SHAW’S 1913 PLAY PYGMALION

MOMMY TALKS LUNCH

MITTLEMAN JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER

12 P.M.

FREE

JEWISH MOMS TALK ON DENTAL HYGIENE, MENTAL HEALTH, PARENTING, EDUCATION AND MORE

P.M.

$35

HANG OUT WITH ARTISTS AND LEARN HOW TO PAINT A SUNFLOWER IN A WINE BOTTLE

HAND CUT SILHOUETTE PORTRAITS BLACK WAGON

11 A.M.

$35

ARTIST KARL JOHNSON CUTS OUT A SILHOUETTE BY HAND FOR GUESTS

QUASI

DOUG FIR LOUNGE

3:30 P.M.

$22.50

PORTLAND-BASED INDIE POP DUO FEATURING SAM COOMES AND JANET WEISS, KNOWN FOR THEIR SHARP MATERIAL

VANCE JOY

KELLER AUDITORIUM

8 P.M.

$50+

AN AUSTRALIAN SINGER/SONGWRITER KNOWN FOR HIS UKULELE-LED CHARM AND GLOBAL HIT “RIPTIDE”

YOUNG NUDY HAWTHORNE THEATRE

8 P.M.

$25

AN ATLANTA-BASED RAPPER KNOWN FOR HIS DISTINCTIVE VOICE AND DARK, INTROSPECTIVE LYRICS

LIVE WIRE

ALBERTA ROSE THEATRE

7:30 P.M.

$30+

EMMY AWARD-WINNING HOST LUKE

BURBANK FEATURING MUSIC, COMEDY AND CONVERSATION WITH SPECIAL GUESTS

LEAVE YOUR TROUBLES AT THE DOOR FUNHOUSE LOUNGE

10 P.M.

$5

THE AUDIENCE WRITES PROBLEMS, AND COMEDIANS JOKE ABOUT THEM TO FEEL BETTER ABOUT YOUR TROUBLES

SHADOWS

5TH AVENUE CINEMA

6 & 8:30 P.M.

STUDENTS: FREE

GENERAL: $7

1958 FILM EXPLORING INTERRACIAL RELATIONSHIPS AND IDENTITY IN NEW YORK CITY’S BEAT SCENE

FROSTY FABLES

ARLENE SCHNITZER CONCERT HALL

2 P.M.

$20+

AS WINTER MELTS INTO SPRING, THESE ENCHANTING FAIRY TALES ARE SURE TO HELP YOU CELEBRATE THE JOYS OF THE SEASON

COMEDY OPEN MIC THE CHEERFUL TORTOISE

9 P.M.

FREE

COMEDY AT PSU CAMPUS, WITH FIVEMINUTE SETS AND LOTS OF ENERGY

SUBURBIA CLINTON ST THEATER

7 P.M.

$8

A FILM ABOUT A TEENAGER WHO LEAVES HIS HOME TO JOIN A GROUP OF PUNK ROCKERS

COMMUNITY CLINIC

THE HERB SHOPPE

4 P.M.

FREE

OFFERING SLIDING SCALE ASSISTANCE FOR MINOR HEALTH NEEDS. PRACTITIONERS CAN’T DIAGNOSE OR CURE DISEASE.

PORTLAND SEAFOOD & WINE FESTIVAL PORTLAND EXPO CENTER

2 P.M.

$16

FRESH CRAB, WINE, BEER, SPIRITS, EXHIBITORS, LIVE ENTERTAINMENT, FACE PAINTERS AND BALLOON ARTISTS

HOLLYWOOD FARMERS MARKET NE HANCOCK & 44TH AVE 9 A.M.

FREE

BROWSE THROUGH LOCAL PRODUCE AND TRINKETS

SHEBREW FESTIVAL THE REDD ON SALMON STREET 12 P.M.

$30+

WOMEN-FOCUSED BEER EVENT. BREWER COMPETITION AND FESTIVAL CELEBRATING FEMALE MAKERS, BENEFITING LGBTQ AND HUMAN RIGHTS CAMPAIGN.

MONDAY MUSIC & MINGLE SELLWOOD COMMUNITY HOUSE 10:15 A.M.

FREE

JAM OUT AND MEET NEW PEOPLE, WITH TEA AND SNACKS PROVIDED

DANCE YOUR SCIENCE

MATT DISHMAN COMMUNITY CENTER

4:30 P.M.

FREE

TEENS CAN EXPLORE SCIENTIFIC CONCEPTS AND EXPRESS THEMSELVES THROUGH MOVEMENT

PSU Vanguard • MARCH 1, 2023 • psuvanguard.com 12 EVENTS
LOZA ART MUSIC FILM/THEATER COMMUNITY DOWNTOWN SPRING BLOSSOMS BOTTLE & BOTTEGA 6 P.M. $44 LEARN TO PAINT DOWNTOWN PORTLAND AND SPRING FLOWERS, WITH INSTRUCTION FROM AN ARTIST BEAVERTON FINE ART EXHIBIT SOUTHMINSTER PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH 7 P.M. FREE LIVE MUSIC, ARTIST MEET-AND-GREET AND TRANSFORMED SANCTUARY WORSHIP SERVICE NATURE, ART AND YOGA PLAYFOREST 1 P.M. $25 NATURE-INSPIRED ART & YOGA FOR KIDS WITH ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIALS WEAVING DATE EXHIBITION TOUR JORDAN SCHNITZER MUSEUM OF ART 1 P.M. FREE THIS TOUR WILL COVER THE HIGHLIGHTS OF THE TERM-LONG EXHIBITION EXHIBITION: FERNANDA D’AGOSTINO OREGON CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART 12 P.M. FREE SHOWCASING PUBLIC ART AND NEW MEDIA INSTALLATIONS, FEATURING PROJECTION SCULPTURES INSPIRED BY TENT CATERPILLAR NESTS PAINT NITE: SUNFLOWER BETHANY PUBLIC HOUSE 7
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