BICYCLE COMMUTING THROUGHOUT A WEIRD WINTER
CENSORING HISTORY
INDEX
Huckleberry Finn still creating controversy
NEWS OPINION ARTS SPORTS
Save money and avoid winter weight gain
ART: PAGE 10
OPINION: PAGE 4
2 4 8 12
FREE The Vanguard is published twice weekly on Tuesdays and Fridays.
ESTABLISHED 1946
FRIDAY, JANUARY 21, 2011
VOL. 65 NO. 31
PSUVANGUARD.COM
prepares Architecture jobs lacking in 2011 SFC for budget deliberations
Tough year ahead for PSU’s architecture graduates Ryan Deming Vanguard staff
The economic recession that is just now starting to subside has affected every aspect of students’ lives, especially the job market. At Portland State, the Architecture Department is gearing up for a tough year, during which many graduates will not be able to find work in their field. “In Portland, the architecture market has experienced a lot of layoffs, making it very difficult for new graduates,” said Career Center Director Greg Flores. Flores said that the construction industry is very closely tied with the fields of architecture and engineering. Because of this close relationship, and the decrease in construction over the past few years, the architecture and engineering job markets have taken a blow as well. According to a report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job market for architects is expected to increase by 16 percent in the coming years. “But that growth is tied to the recovery of the construction industry,” Flores said. According to this report, there are over 141,000 architects currently employed. But it is expected that by 2018 there will be over 164,000 employed architects. When the expected economic growth does come, it is predicted that the architecture field
Over next few weeks, SFC will review approx. 30 budget requests Alison Barnwell Vanguard staff
DREW MARTIG/VANGUARD STAFF
Uncertain future: Student Oran Stainbrook in the architecture lab in Shattuck Hall.
will fare very well, according to Architecture Department Chair Clive Knights. “When the economy turns, our profession is often one of the first to feel the benefit as developers get building projects underway again, so we are a good barometer of change,
both up and down, in economic fortune,” he said. At PSU, Knights said the program is responding to the decreased job market by ARCHITECTURE ON PAGE 3
ASPSU prepares to address education reform ASPSU wants less state regulation, greater student input
The Student Fee Committee held its final meeting yesterday before deliberations over the 2011–12 budget begin next week. This year, the SFC is reviewing roughly 30 budgets submitted by departments and groups across Portland State, including student government and various publications, funding boards and student-run services. Each group has been assigned an individual SFC liaison. In previous years, the SFC was responsible for funding student groups, and therefore had to look at over 100 budget requests. These groups are now funded by the Organizational Budget Council, which is overseen by the SFC. SFC Chair Krystine McCants is glad for this change from previous years. With fewer budgets to review, SFC liaisons can have more one-on-one time with each group. “Hopefully that will lead to less appeals,” McCants said. SFC ON PAGE 3
MESA program recieves $35,000 in grant money
Jesse Hansen Vanguard staff
The push for restructuring of the Oregon University System has been steadily gaining momentum since the release of the Frohnmayer Report in 2009, an investigation into the condition of Oregon’s higher education. Now, ASPSU is preparing itself to lobby in Salem to support some aspects of the OUS restructuring bill. “However big you think it is, it’s bigger than that,” ASPSU President Katie Markey said of restructuring in an unofficial senate meeting on Jan. 4. Recently, a 400-page document landed on the desk of the Oregon State Legislature. This new proposal states that OUS would no longer be a state agency, but a public university system. This would grant the university system more autonomy and would free up its tuition revenues. Currently, the legislature is considering three separate proposals: one from OUS, one
PSU-sponsored program promotes math, engineering and science achievement Katrina Petrovich Vanguard staff
Giving students a voice: ASPSU is gearing up to lobby for education reform. It will present legislators with personal testimonies from students.
from the University of Oregon and an overarching bill from the legislature’s task force. The latter, however, may potentially merge with OUS’ bill. “Oregon is one of the most regulated states when it comes to higher education,” Markey said. “What the OUS wants to do is get rid of some of those regulations.”
SARIA DY/VANGUARD STAFF
According to Casey Dreher, the campus representative for the Oregon Student Association (OSA), OSA has created a brief set of “principles.” ASPSU, along with the student government bodies at the other state-funded Oregon universities — with the exception of ASPSU ON PAGE 7
The College Access Challenge Grant Program has allocated $35,000 in federal grant money to the Portland State-sponsored Math, Engineering, Science Achievement program, which helps underrepresented and minority students achieve post-secondary success in the fields of math, engineering and science. MESA is a national program that reached Oregon in 1989. David Coronado, executive director of Oregon MESA, said that the main goals of the program are to get students excited about college, educate parents and families about MESA ON PAGE 7