Winterhawks gliding along
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PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY PORTLAND STATE UNIVERSITY TUESDAY, JAN. 15, 2013 | VOL. 67 NO. 29
Turnover plagues ASPSU Executive committee sees most new faces ANDREW LAWRENCE VANGUARD STAFF
Since convening in June, nearly half of the positions in the inner circle of Portland State’s student government have been through a turnover, part of an ongoing retention problem that has bred uncertainty within the organization. The turnover will have an impact on accomplishments this year, said Nick Rowe, Associated Students of Portland State University student fee committee chair and executive cabinet member. “I’m bummed out because it means that ultimately we won’t be able to do as much as we might’ve had we not had turnover,” he said. While he’s not concerned, he knows the personnel changes will leave a lasting mark. “I’ve taken it as given that we’re going to be able to make a lesser mark in terms of effecting change, because there isn’t continuity.” The executive committee has 12 members, not counting the president and the vice president. Six have left office since the current administration began. One of three branches of student government, the executive branch includes the eight members of the executive cabinet, seven of whom are appointed by the president to head the various affairs committees that help shape students’ daily on-campus life. Affairs committees include academic, student life, multicultural and equal rights groups. Symptoms of this turnover were evident at ASPSU’s last meeting of fall term on Nov. 29. The absence of some voting members caused the meeting to adjourn early because a quorum (the minimum number of members required for a vote to
Honors Program receives $1 million Sights set on honors college TURNER LOBEY VANGUARD STAFF
hard time even retaining senators, so it would really shrink the applicant pool,” Dollar said. Often the members of the senate want to be doing things that are directly serving students, she said, but find it hard when half of their time each week is spent in meetings. “I think it’s a pretty inglorious position, to just put it delicately,” she said. “You know, those meetings are boring to the average person: [It is] not fun to sit through a four-hour discussion about a budget.”
Opportunity comes to the Portland State University Honors Program in the form of a $1 million gift. The gift, from the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust, is the third-largest donation to a scholarship endowment in the school’s history. The trust and the school have a long-running relationship, and this marks the trust’s largest donation to date. The money will be used not only to help expand the program but also to provide greater opportunities for its students. “Million-dollar gifts are few and far between, especially in Oregon,” PSU President Wim Wiewel said in a recent news release. “This is a big win for the University Honors Program in particular and for PSU and Portland in general. Our university attracts bright, talented students from around the world, and these students become productive, skilled members of our community.” The future for the program is growth in both opportunity and size, and this grant is a step toward advancing the program into something greater. “We’d really like to see it grow into an honors college,” said Ann Marie Fallon, director of the program. An honors college would create a higher profile for the program, help to
See ASPSU on page 3
See HONORS on page 4
KARL KUCHS/VANGUARD STAFF
VICTOR MENA, an ASPSU senate member, raises questions about Tessara Dudley before the senate voted to appoint her on Jan. 9. take place) could not be reached. Questions were raised at the meeting about some members’ chronic absenteeism, and whether some should be asked to resign. One member present was overheard grumbling about the fact that members are paid to be present. Currently, there are four vacancies in the 15-member student senate. According to ASPSU President Tiffany Dollar, one member left because they needed more time at home to take care of their child, while several other departures were because of grade performance (ASPSU members
who are not graduate students must maintain at least a 2.5 GPA and complete six credits per quarter). Feeding into this problem is the common misconception about the amount of time one has to put in as a member of student government. “We say it’s at least 20 hours a week, and it’s often above and beyond that,” Dollar said. While she said that those who have worked in student government before usually know what they’re getting into, anyone can become a member, as there are no prerequisites for experience. “One of my biggest concerns is that there’s a
PSU researchers measure bone density in dolphins Age correlation and health assessments among key concerns MAYA SEAMAN VANGUARD STAFF
COURTESY OF NOAA/NATIONAL OCEAN SERVICE
A BOTTLENOSE DOLPHIN jumps out of the water in Charleston Harbor, S.C.
As a kid, Portland State biology doctoral student James Powell wanted to work with dolphins. He didn’t know how or what he would be doing with them, just that he needed to build his professional career around them. At one point, he considered becoming a dolphin trainer for the U.S. Navy, but was
talked out of it and instead turned to the field of biology. For six years, before coming to PSU, Powell did get to work with dolphins—they just weren’t always alive. Now, Powell’s research on bottlenose dolphin bone density may end up revolutionizing how field biologists study the health of marine mammals everywhere. “There’s no information known about bone density in bottlenose dolphins, so we’re establishing the background field of bone density as it naturally occurs with respect to age, or differences in sex and reproductive
status—things that we know about the animals,” Powell said. His goals are trifold: to create a baseline dataset that could relate bottlenose dolphin bone density to age; to determine the effects of pollution on bone density; and to create a portable, noninvasive ultrasound device that will allow field biologists to scan the flipper of a live, wild dolphin and estimate its bone density. Powell studies the bones of stranded, deceased dolphins that have washed up on the beaches of See DOLPHINS on page 2