VOLUME 76 • ISSUE 8 • MAY 18, 2021
HOLDING
CPSO ACCOUNTABLE: DISARM PSU DEMANDS ACTION
P. 8–9
NEWS PSU vaccine clinic surpasses its goal P. 4
ARTS & CULTURE The CIA is woke now P. 13
OPINION Bidenomics P. 14
CONTENTS
COVER BY SHANNON STEED
NEWS COVID-19 UPDATE
P. 3
PSU HOSTS COVID-19 VACCINE CLINIC, OVER 500 DOSES ADMINISTERED
P. 4
CONTROVERSIAL PROFESSORS CONDEMN PSU’S STATED COMMITMENT TO ANTI-RACISM
P. 5
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY A DEEP DIVE INTO PORTLAND’S FACIAL RECOGNITION BAN
P. 11
ARTS & CULTURE RESIDENT EVIL 8 IS A LESSER RESIDENT EVIL
P. 12
FINALLY, THE CIA IS INTERSECTIONAL
P. 13
INTERNATIONAL DESPITE RISING DEATH TOLL, PROTESTS CONTINUE IN COLOMBIA
P. 6
OPINION BIDENOMICS, POPULISM AND THE NEW ECONOMIC PARADIGM
P. 14
PACIFIC ISLANDER’S CLUB TAKES TRADITION TO THE SCREEN
P. 7
LET’S NATIONALIZE UBER
P. 15
COVER DISARM PSU DROPS BANNER OVER SW BROADWAY
P. 8–9
EVENTS CALENDAR
P. 16
INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD
P. 10
STAFF
EDIT ORI A L EDITOR IN CHIEF Justin Grinnell MANAGING EDITOR Nick Townsend NEWS EDITORS Conor Carroll Rachel Owen INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Karisa Yuasa SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY EDITOR Béla Kurzenhauser ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Morgan Troper
OPINION EDITOR Nick Gatlin ONLINE EDITOR Lily Hennings COPY CHIEF Sophie Concannon CONTRIBUTORS Alana Baldwin-Joiner Dylan Jefferies Nova Johnson Catherine Kane Allison Kirkpatrick Analisa Landeros Alan Rodriguez Tiburcio Ryan McConnell Danny O’Brien
PHO T O & MULTIMEDI A PHOTO EDITOR Annie Schutz
A DV ISING & ACCOUN TING COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood
MULTIMEDIA EDITOR Olivia Lee
STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher
PRODUC TION & DE SIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Sam Person
TECHNOLOGY ADVISOR Corrine Nightingale
DESIGNERS Sam Garcia Shannon Steed T ECHNOL OGY & W EB SIT E TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS Juliana Bigelow Kahela Fickle George Olson
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.
COVID-19 UPDATE CONOR CARROLL
TOTAL CASES AT PSU AS OF MAY 17: 61
Eight April cases, six May cases Eight cases have been reported in the month of April, as well as six in May, at Portland State, bringing the total case count at PSU to 61. One on-campus employee and five on-campus students have tested positive for COVID-19. Some potential on-campus exposures have been identified and are undergoing testing and quarantine. PSU relies heavily on a self-reporting system for people who have tested positive or inconclusive and have been on campus within two weeks. The self-reporting form can be found on PSU’s Coronavirus Response website.
TOTAL IN OREGON AS OF MAY 17: 195,684 CASES; 2,587 DEATHS
Total Vaccinations as of May 17: 468,931 series in progress; 1,604,796 series complete Governor Kate Brown issued a statement May 13 requiring Oregon state to immediately follow the direction provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding mask requirements and vaccinations. “Oregon will be following this [CDC guidance], which only applies to fully vaccinated individuals. Immunocompromised people should still continue to follow the recommendations of their health care provider,” Brown said in a pre-recorded press-release on May 13. Oregonians will still have to wear a mask in any healthcare setting, on public transit and in airports, regardless of proof of vaccination, in accordance with CDC guidance. “Youths and teachers in schools will still be required to wear masks for this school year… [and] businesses can continue to enforce mask requirements for the time being,” a May 13 OPB article stated. An estimated half of Oregon residents are vaccinated, and over two million have received at least one dose, according to public health data.
TOTAL IN U.S. AS OF MAY 17: 32,753,426 TOTAL CASES; 582,796 TOTAL DEATHS
Total vaccinations as of May 17: 157,132,234 at least one dose; 122,999,721 fully vaccinated The COVID-19 pandemic was “a preventable disaster,” according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response’s report. The analysis found “weak links at every point in the chain of preparedness and response,” globally and in the U.S. The WHO delayed calling COVID-19 an official global pandemic. National governments also waited too long, especially during the “lost month” of Feb. 2020, when many countries could have prevented most of the worst effects, according to the study. The report mentions warnings that were ignored, in the United States and abroad. In a U.S. state and federal government “table-top exercise” conducted in 2019, titled “Crimson Contagion,” the dangers of a “novel respiratory coronavirus pandemic” had been simulated. The simulated response noted many of the shortcomings that the WHO report mentioned.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
NEWS
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PSU HOSTS COVID-19 VACCINE CLINIC, OVER 500 DOSES ADMINISTERED
PSU VACCINE CLINIC. COURTESY OF PSU
JUSTIN GRINNELL Portland State hosted its first COVID-19 vaccine clinic on May 12–13, following PSU President Stephen Percy’s announcement that the university will require the COVID-19 vaccine for fall term. The clinic was held from 9 a.m.–5 p.m. in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom both days. According to Emma Stocker, director of Emergency Management, there were 227 people registered on Wednesday and 205 people registered for Thursday. In between the two days, the clinic saw an increase in registrations for May 13. “We saw a surge in registrations on Thursday after we announced that 12–15 year olds could come get their first shot,” Stocker stated in an email Thursday evening. Despite 38 no-shows
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Wednesday, the clinic was still able to surpass their goal of 500 administered doses. Students, staff and faculty arriving for their vaccine appointment entered through Smith’s SW Broadway entrance and followed a one-way path up two flights of stairs to the ballroom. The clinic itself was organized into a check-in area, a waiting area, stations where vaccines were administered and an observation area. Exiting the clinic took another one way path down two flights of stairs and out the opposite end of the building. “I pulled up, parked and everybody directed me through [the site],” said Claire Dunlep, a graduate student at PSU who received their vaccine Wednesday. “It was pretty streamlined.” While PSU hosted the clinic site, the layout and organization was part of an Albertsons-Safeway
program, according to Mark Bajorek, director of Health and Services at PSU. “The flow is really designed by Safeway,” Bajorek said. For Bajorek, one of the clinic’s challenges was finding a demand for vaccines. According to AP News, “as the supply of coronavirus vaccine doses in the [United States] outpaces demand, some places around the country are finding there’s such little interest in the shots.” “We’re trying to get people that are either delaying it or hesitant,” Bajorek said. “Just trying to make it as easy as possible for folks to get vaccines.” Joshua Murray, a PSU employee, said having a PSU clinic available made it easier to get the vaccine. “[I’m] very thankful that PSU put this on and made it so available,” Murray said. “I
was on the fence about the whole situation…I wanted to support the community and participate in the vaccine, making it possible to overcome this situation, but at the same time, I like to do my research and wanted to be 100% sure.” “I’m stoked,” Murray said after receiving the vaccine. “I feel a little empowered inside, I feel like I did a good thing.” University of Oregon held a vaccination clinic over multiple days in April at Autzen Stadium— second doses are being administered throughout May—while Oregon State University has vaccinated more than 19,400 people since late January, according to OSU. PSU will host another clinic June 2–3 for students, staff and faculty to receive their second dose of the vaccine.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
CONTROVERSIAL PROFESSORS CONDEMN PSU’S STATED COMMITMENT TO ANTI-RACISM DYLAN JEFFERIES “Let’s be blunt about what we face: We face a group of small-minded, petty ideologues who have hijacked a public institution and who are hell-bent on ripping down western civilization,” said Portland State philosophy professor Peter Boghossian at a recent virtual event when describing what he sees as rampant liberalism sweeping PSU. The event, titled “The New Censorship in American Higher Ed: Insights from Portland State,” was held on May 7 by the Oregon chapter of the National Association of Scholars (OAS), a nonprofit advocacy organization which seeks to “promote excellence, freedom, and merit in higher education in the state,” according to its website. It included three speakers: Bruce Gilley, a controversial political science professor at PSU and president of the OAS; Boghossian, a controversial philosophy professor; and Oregon Republican Senator Dennis Linthicum. The speakers discussed a report released by the OAS on April 29, which claims PSU is at the center of a “new-censorship” movement taking over universities across the country. Much of the report focuses on a resolution unanimously passed by the PSU Faculty Senate on March 1 which accused unnamed professors of using the guise of academic freedom to harass their colleagues and instigate hate crimes. President Stephen Percy and Provost Susan Jeffords supported the resolution. At the event, Gilley said the OAS report identifies “two damaging attacks on the core principles of the university taking place” which have
“unfolded under President Stephen Percy since the fall of 2020.” “The first strategy is to curtail or ban criticisms of critical race theory, diversity training, woke studies programs, equity frameworks or radicalized classroom teachings by redefining such criticisms as harassment or intimidation or mob violence,” Gilley said. “The second strategy is an explicit denial of academic freedom.” According to the Faculty Senate resolution, “carelessness in the exercise of academic freedom can undermine, stifle, and annihilate academic freedom itself.” According to Gilley, that language institutionalizes left-wing ideology and censorship into the framework of the university. “It’s an institutionalization also of a particularly partisan social justice advocacy agenda into every aspect of university operations,” Gilley said. On top of the resolution on academic freedom, a proposal to instate a campus-wide Race and Ethnic Studies requirement to start in fall of 2022 will be voted on for approval by the Faculty Senate on June 7. The speakers said the recent actions taken by the Faculty Senate, along with the university’s stated commitment to anti-racism, will have a devastating impact on the university. “What you’re seeing at PSU in particular is a fundamental violation of the idea that all people are created equal,” Linthicum said. “This is a question of our students being able to think for themselves, and have their beliefs
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
questioned and challenged, and being able to question and challenge the beliefs of their professors and fellow students in a way that’s respectful and in good faith,” Boghossian said. “We do not have that. We have a catastrophic failure of the system right now.” Shortly after the resolution on academic freedom passed, Faculty Senate Presiding Officer Michele Gamburd characterized its dissenters in an interview as “a kind of right-wing backlash against a lot of the work that campuses are doing on diversity, equity and inclusion.” “They believe themselves to be the saviors of free speech and free thought at the university,” Gamburd said. “They believe that [liberal ideology] is being forced on people and that it’s creating a hostile environment for people who don’t share that commitment to equity.” “We’re not censoring any faculty, but we are calling out behaviors that we feel are counter to the way we do things at an institution,” Gamburd continued. “We want to be welcoming of diverse views, but we also have rules around conversations when we have a difference of opinion.” Gilley and Boghossian don’t see it that way. They accused the Faculty Senate and the PSU Board of Trustees of “railroading” liberal ideology into the functions of the university. “In 10 years,” Gilley said, “[PSU] will have transformed into a cult, and the diversity of opinions and views that the public expects to find in a university will no longer be found on a university campus.”
PETER BOGHOSSIAN. COURTESY OF MIKE NAYNA “This is not an education that people are receiving,” Boghossian said. “This is an indoctrination.” Audience members asked what should be done about it. In response, Boghossian encouraged people to show up at public meetings to voice their dissent and for concerned alumni to cease donations. He also advocates for suing the university. “We have to sue to stop this ideology,” he said. He also recommended that concerned students document classes they believe perpetuate left-wing ideology by taking video of lectures and pictures of class materials and sharing them online, which is what Gamburd and other members of the Faculty Senate singled out as harassment when the resolution on academic freedom initially passed. “It’s not part of academic freedom to somehow have a right to take your colleagues copyrighted course materials, put them on the internet and encourage students to first view the materials, which is a violation of the student code of conduct, and then encourage the general public to attack your colleague,” Gamburd said in an interview. At the core of the issue is a deep rift in what different factions at PSU believe constitutes academic freedom, education and equality. Percy believes PSU’s stated commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion and anti-racism will herald in a brighter future for the university. “I’m not optimistic about the future,” Boghossian concluded.
NEWS
5
DESPITE RISING DEATH TOLL, PROTESTS CONTINUE IN COLOMBIA A YOUNG COLOMBIAN CITIZEN HOLDS A BANNER READING "COLOMBIA RESISTS. PAMPLONA IS WITH YOU." ALVARO BARRIENTOS/AP PHOTO KARISA YUASA For a third consecutive week, anti-government protesters have taken to Colombia’s streets to demand economic assistance and stand up against the recent uptick of violence, according to Al Jazeera. As of May 11, Colombia’s human rights ombudsperson reported 41 civilians and one police officer had died in direct connection to the protests. Protests originally broke out on April 28 in relation to proposed tax reform that would potentially increase taxes on public services, fuel, wages and pensions. Although Colombian President Iván Duque announced on May 2 he would withdraw the new reforms, protests have continued over broader economic demands. “I am asking Congress to withdraw the law proposed by the finance ministry and urgently process a new law that is the fruit of consensus, in order to avoid financial uncertainty,” Duque said, according to Reuters. “It is a moment for all of us to work together without malice.” While some of the demonstrations remained peaceful, many protesters and human rights groups argue governmental pressures, along with violence by police officers and military forces have turned many demonstrations violent and deadly. “Since [April 28], there have been demonstrations, mostly peaceful, in different parts of the country in response to the tax reform bill presented by President Iván Duque, which have often been violently repressed,” said Erika GuevaraRosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.
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“On [May 1], the president announced a military presence in ‘urban centers where there is a high risk to the integrity of citizens,’ and stated: ‘I want to issue a clear warning to those who, through violence, vandalism and terrorism, seek to intimidate society and think that by this mechanism they will break the institutions.’” According to AP News, some government officials have announced that they believe rebel groups have infiltrated protests and drug-trafficking enterprises are subsidizing demonstrations. “The population’s discontent over economic measures that they perceive as unfair and may put their human rights at risk should not be labeled ‘vandalism and terrorism,’ as President Iván Duque has done, nor be used as an excuse for violent repression,” Guevara-Rosas said. “Thousands of young people have taken to the streets across Colombia because they feel they have no future. They see government institutions as distant entities that are not willing to listen to them,” said José Miguel Vivanco, Human Rights Watch’s director for the Americas, according to AP News. “While some of them have engaged in violence, police officers have arbitrarily dispersed peaceful protests and responded with excessive, often brutal, force to violent protesters.” The economic issues that are being protested were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic as now over 40% of the population lives with less than enough to satisfy their basic needs. “The Colombia protests are not just about [COVID-19], they are about anger towards Duque for police repression from 2019 onwards, not advancing the 2016 peace accord, rising massa-
cres and killings of social leaders and the perception by middle and working-class Colombians that the government is only interested in advancing the economic and political elites’ agendas,” said Gimena Sanchez, director of the Washington Office on Latin America Director for the Andes. “It goes beyond the usual people you would find at these protests; student organizations, labor unions, transport unions,” said Sergio Guzman, director of the consultancy Colombia Risk Analysis. “A much broader segment of society wants to show its discontent.” A day after Duque withdrew the tax reform, Alberto Carrasquilla, Colombia’s finance minister, resigned. On May 13, Colombia’s Foreign Minister Claudia Blum also resigned following the conflict. “I have accepted the resignation of Dr. Alberto Carrasquilla as [finance minister],” Duque wrote in a tweet. “My gratitude and respect always for your contribution at the head of the economic team. During his administration, important achievements were achieved, including an unprecedented social program to face the pandemic.” Despite the resignations, withdrawal of the tax reform and rising COVID-19 cases, protesters continue to take to the streets to voice their grievances. ‘How bad must the situation be for us to march in the middle of a pandemic?” said Jhon Ramirez, a protester in Zipaquira, a city near the capital of Bogota. “The violence has taken a backseat because we can’t deal anymore with this government that won’t stop killing us.”
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
KARISA YUASA Over a year into the COVID-19 pandemic, people are continuing to adapt and figure out how to pull off large scale events in the virtual world. The Pacific Islander’s club (PIC) took its annual Lū'au from the floor of Viking Pavilion to Zoom on May 15. “It was definitely a challenge due to everything being remote,” said Maile Sumile, the PIC treasurer and one of the choreographers and dancers at the Lū'au. “In my opinion, the vibes are completely different when you go to a Lū'au in person versus watching it through a screen.” The 18th annual Lū'au, themed “Journey Through the Pacific,” included dances choreographed and danced by Portland State students representing different Pacific Islander cultures. “Putting on a Lū'au every year is very important to me because I would like to spread the PI culture here at PSU since PSU is not as diverse as it seems,” said PIC President Macie Nakahashi, who also choreographed and danced during the event. “The PI and Native Hawaiian percentage here at PSU is 1% according to their facts and numbers, which is really low. Lū'au is the best way for others to learn about the PI culture because it is through a fun and interactive show.” The dances featured styles representing the islands of Hawai'i, Tahiti, Samoa and Aotearoa or New Zealand. In addition to student performances, the Lū'au included special guest performances from fire knife dancer Tolo Tuitele, Polynesian dance troupe Teva Oriata and Grammy Awardwinning singer-songwriter Kalani Pe'a. “Putting on a Lū'au every year allows us to share our cultures and traditions of the Pacific Islands with the community and by doing this, we are ultimately keeping those traditions alive,” Sumile said. “With the Pacific Islanders Club, we build an 'ohana, a family. So, putting on a lū'au every year not only welcomes everyone around, but it brings our family closer together with the different generations—whether they may be a current PSU student, a PSU alumni, or members of the Portland community.” The pandemic impacted almost every aspect of the planning process of Lū'au—an event that typically
brings in hundreds of people to watch live performances and try local food. “This year was definitely different from the past years because we were used to a way of things going and we had a system down,” Nakahashi said. “We had a checklist that we could reuse each year to make sure things were completed. For this year, we had to rethink our system on how to present dances, how to get vendors, and have run-throughs. This year, it took a lot of critical thinking because we wanted Lū'au to go as smoothly as possible.” The pandemic affected how they went about their raffle prizes. The raffles consisted of drawings from all attendees and specific drawings for students and people residing in Oregon and Hawai'i. The prizes included donations of fruit butters, stickers, jewelry and photography sessions from local businesses. “For vendors, it was a challenge because we have always reached out to local businesses in Hawai'i, PI and Oregon,” Nakahashi said. “When asking them to be a vendor, I felt bad because I knew that [COVID-19] did hurt a lot of businesses and did cause some to close. I wanted to support smaller businesses and although it was hard, I am thankful for the vendors that did agree to be part of our event and to even donate a door prize.” Despite the challenges and setbacks, PIC made the most out of the situation to put on their first virtual Lū'au in it’s 18-year run. “This year, we took the fact of everything being online as an opportunity to grow our 'ohana by reaching out to those out-of-state and back home in the Pacific Islands and around the world,” Sumile said. “Last year we weren’t able to [do Lū'au] and it made me feel empty, like I was missing something,” Nakahashi said. “Even though Lū'au had to be virtual this year, putting on a show was a must, because I am a senior graduating and PIC has been part of my four years here and I wanted to graduate knowing I had the chance to put on a Lū'au. It was something new and I am glad we were able to pull through and make it the best that we could.”
PACIFIC ISLANDER’S CLUB LŪ‘AU. KARISA YUASA/PSU VANGUARD
PACIFIC ISLANDER’S CLUB TAKES TRADITION TO THE SCREEN PSU STUDENTS PERFORM A TAHITIAN DANCE AT LŪ‘AU. KARISA YUASA/PSU VANGUARD
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
INTERNATIONAL
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DISARM PSU DROPS BANNER OVER SW BROADWAY
RACHEL OWEN
The organization Disarm PSU dropped a banner over SW Broadway stating “Did PSU Disarm? NO!” on Wednesday May 12. “With the banner drop, Disarm PSU calls on Portland State University to make good on their promise to disarm our campus police,” stated Disarm PSU in a press release the same day. “We also want to make sure all members of our community, including prospective students, are not duped by false advertising and know that the PSU campus police officers are still patrolling with guns.” The Campus Public Safety Office website states, “In August 2020, CPSO Chief Willie Halliburton announced that campus police would begin unarmed patrols at PSU during fall term of that year.” For some, the announcement meant demands for CPSO to disarm its officers were heard and that there would be an impending change in policy. However, when CPSO had to postpone disarming in fall 2020, celebration slowed and discourse grew. “What [the announcement] sounded like was that they were disarming,” said Disarm PSU and Childhood and Family Studies faculty member Miranda Mosier. “I think a lot of people took it that way and certainly a lot of folks who have been working on
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this for years and years and years were celebrating.” For Mosier, the goal for the banner drop was to draw attention to the process for disarming CPSO officers. “I understand the frustration of no further updates about unarmed patrols,” said Christina Williams, Director of Media and Public Relations. “We are meeting with Chief Halliburton regularly, but hiring and training officers, rewriting hundreds of pages of policies and establishing new operating agreements with Portland Police Bureau are complicated processes that take a great deal of time. There are very few examples of sworn law enforcement agencies that have made the decision to patrol without arms, and none in Oregon. As a result, we [PSU] are really creating something completely new.” The website also states that as of January 1, 2021, Halliburton and his Lieutenant, Joe Schilling, have begun regular patrols without firearms, further extending the original deadline. The announcement explains the extension by stating, “It was an ambitious timeline, and it has been delayed by many factors, including police officer turnover and a complex process for rewriting policies and agreements. Chief Halliburton and the leadership of PSU remain committed to this groundbreaking shift in campus policing.” According to Williams, prior to 2014, CPSO at PSU were
not armed. In response to what is known as “Kaylee’s Law”— which passed in 2019 and is named after a student from Central Oregon who was murdered by a college security officer in 2016—CPSO altered their patrol protocol. “The passage of Kaylee’s law in 2019 completely changed the landscape for campus security, and makes it impossible for PSU to return to the pre-2014 status quo,” Williams said. “[Kaylee’s Law] resulted in a complete overhaul of the statutes governing campus security officers.” Out of this “overhaul” came a growing discourse regarding campus safety between students, faculty and the Board of Trustees. Disarm PSU was created out of these conversations. “This army has a really long history now,” Mosier said. “My experience and understanding of Disarm really started in the fall of 2014 when the Board of Trustees was first formed and they were holding this special series of meetings to discuss the possibility of arming.” Mosier said that in those early conversations it was clear the majority of the campus community was against arming CPSO. However, it was apparent that PSU’s president at the time, Wim Wiewel, was in favor of the new protocol. On Nov. 24, 2014, the BOT moved forward with the decision and CPSO officers were armed the following spring.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
DISARM PSU MARCH. ANNIE SCHUTZ/PSU VANGUARD
Four years later on June 29, 2018, Jason Washington was shot and killed by an armed CPSO officer. When this happened, Disarm PSU came to support Washington’s family and continued to pressure CPSO about disarming. “It was an intense and emotional time,” Mosier said. “Hundreds of folks would fill these Board of Trustees meetings demanding that CPSO disarm. The university’s response was disappointing to a fair amount of people.” PSU contracted a group called Margolis Healy to conduct a campus assessment of policing. The final report recommended more policing on campus and justified keeping CPSO armed. However, Mosier suggested there were “objectively true methodological flaws” in the way the assessment was conducted such that the evaluation criteria were biased towards protecting police officers. Coincidentally, on the day that the BOT decided to arm CPSO a grand jury acquitted police officer Darren Wilson for the murder of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. “This was all kind of taking place in the context of the Black Lives Matter movement and just this growing awareness of police brutality towards people of color,” Mosier said. Seven years later, in the wake of another prominent time in the
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, not much has changed. Although awareness of police brutality has become a more integrated part of conversation, CPSO has continued to arm its officers. “In June 2020, I remember President [Stephen] Percy putting out a statement in support of Black Lives Matter like lots and lots of leaders,” Mosier said, “but I would say the majority of the departments on campus said, ‘You know, that’s great, but we need to disarm. We need to show Black Lives Matter by disarming.’” According to Mosier, the group met to detail what “disarming” at PSU means and what it looks like in practicality. They came up with three specific demands. The first is called “reverse.” This demand asks for the reversal of the decision made in 2014 to arm CPSO. Mosier noted this is intended to remind people that PSU existed for a long time without arms and this decision to be armed only came about seven years ago. There was a time when CPSO was not armed and it is possible that they can be disarmed again. The second demand is “reinvest.” Disarm PSU asks for the reinvestment of funds from CPSO to other organizations and programs on campus. Building on the quantification of resources going to arming CPSO, “reinvest” focuses on how those resources could
be redistributed to programs on campus that are underfunded. Lastly, the group came up with the notion of reimagining what safety on campus could look like. This demand highlights the possibility of other resources to help students feel safe on campus outside of CPSO. Collectively, reverse, reinvest and reimagine ask for a deconstruction of CPSO into services that provide campus safety, but no longer rely on police for it. Although centered around the priority of disarming CPSO, these demands work to help the PSU community as a whole by reshaping the allocation of resources to departments and programs that are underfunded and creating a safety plan that centers around the needs and sensitivities of students, according to Mosier. Moving forward, Disarm PSU is focusing on the future of the PSU community, especially with the intentions for in-person classes this upcoming fall. They plan on keeping the conversation going and making sure resources are available to students and faculty. “Thinking about transitioning back to campus and those alternatives, and then memorializing Jason and also pushing the university to make sure that they keep those promises seems critical now,” Mosier said.
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THIS WEEK
around the
WORLD
May 10–13
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May 10
KATHMANDU, NEPAL
Nepali Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli lost a vote of confidence with 93 votes in favor and 124 votes against him, according to Reuters. Oli recommended the vote of confidence following the country’s continued political crisis credited to the President’s December 20 decision to dissolve the house and announce fresh elections. “He has created instability and is behind the crisis the country is facing now,” said the head of the main Maoist group, who goes by the name of Prachanda. “He does not have the confidence of parliament any more.” Despite losing the confidence vote, Oli was sworn in for a third time on May 14 and faces another vote of confidence within 30 days.
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May 11
UNITED KINGDOM
Queen Elizabeth II delivered her typically annual speech outlining the government’s priorities for the months ahead. Approximately 30 bills were highlighted in the speech, relating to topics such as infrastructure, border security and education. In addition, the queen stated that the U.K. will move to ban conversion therapy. “Measures will be brought forward to address racial and ethnic disparities and ban conversion therapy,” the Queen stated. According to Reuters, following the
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speech, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said measures will be brought forward to prevent these “abhorrent practices which can cause mental and physical harm.” The ban on conversion therapy was first announced in 2018, but has been postponed due to controversy and continued discussions. “We’ve had three years of talking,” said Jayne Ozanne, a former government equality advisor, according to BBC. “What we really need is action that will protect young and old LGBT people right now, not this Groundhog Day of constantly being told that we’re going to consult and listen.” 3 May 12
CHINA
During a virtual meeting, human rights groups and United Nations representatives from western nations demanded that the Chinese government grant U.N. experts access to investigate allegations of the country’s crimes against the mostly Muslim Uyghur minority, according to AP News. Prior to the meeting, China’s U.N. mission urged member nations not to attend the “anti-China event.” “The evidence, from a growing number of credible sources—including satellite imagery, survivor testimony and publicly available Chinese Government documents—is of grave concern,” said Britain’s U.N. Ambassador Barbara Woodward, who previously was the U.K. ambassador in China. “Expressions of religion have been criminalized and
Uyghur language and culture are discriminated against systematically and at scale.” A day after the meeting, at an event celebrating Eid al-Fitr—a religious celebration marking the end of the month of Ramadan—Muslim leaders from Xinjiang rejected allegations of Uyghur discrimination. “The conference was full of monstrous lies and disinformation, and was another clumsy performance and outright political farce by the United States and a few other countries that have no bottom lines,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying. 4
May 13
KENYA
The Kenyan High Court ruled to block a president- and government-backed plan to amend the constitution, according to BBC. The proposed amendments, also known as the Building Bridges initiative, had already been passed by parliament. The court said the process was illegal because Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta used a constitutional provision reserved for citizens to bring about the change. “The constitutional amendment bill is an initiative of the president and the law is clear that the president does not have the constitutional mandate to initiate any constitutional changes through popular initiative,” the court stated in its ruling. “The president cannot be both player and umpire in the same match,” said Jairus Ngaah, one of the judges.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
SAM GARCIA
A DEEP DIVE INTO PORTLAND’S FACIAL RECOGNITION BAN RYAN MCCONNELL Portland has banned both public and private use of facial recognition technologies since January 9, instating one of the most restrictive bans in the country. The ban, drafted by tech advocacy organization Smart City PDX, aimed to ban both private and public use of facial recognition software in an effort to protect BIPOC communities that have been sorely misrepresented by the technology. However, little has been explained about what is inside, and what exactly this new law covers. What’s initially intriguing about the ban is that it is actually separated into two ordinances. The first half took effect immediately upon its approval on Sep. 9, 2020 and the second half as a city code took effect on Jan. 1, 2021. The first ordinance covers the prohibition of the use of facial recognition by city bureaus, while the city code explicitly outlines prohibitions and guidance for privatized use of facial recognition in places of “public accommodation.” While they may be the most restrictive policies against facial recognition software, even the most wellcrafted laws have their limitations due to their language use and strict legal interpretations. City codes, statutes and laws typically have a section of definitions, defining specific vocabulary mentioned throughout the text. This section is key in interpreting legal and linguistic analysis of the law. In Chapter 34.10.030(D)(1), public accommodations are defined as “Any place or service offering to the public accommodations, advantages, facilities, or privileges whether in
the nature of goods, services, lodgings, amusements, transportation or otherwise”—a definition that is especially key to deciphering exactly how and where facial recognition may be used in private contexts. “When we start looking at this [definition] then we get this question of accommodations...as a layperson I can kind of think about what does that mean to me, but it probably also has a very specific meaning in how it’s used elsewhere in other laws,” said Dr. Alyssa Hartig, professor of applied linguistics at Portland State. “Part of how you would want to interpret what accommodations mean in this context would be to see how it is used in other ordinances, and what kinds of things does it use to cover in those contexts…I’d be interested to know what’s included in accommodations, advantages.” In essence, there is still room for legal interpretation about what exactly accommodations covers. In the same section of definitions, the code is also clear that places of public accommodation do not include “an institution, bona fide club, private residence, or place of accommodation that is in its nature distinctly private.” This means that so long as a company remains private, and their infrastructure remains inside private boundaries, they are still free to practice the use of facial recognition technology at their leisure. As such, the ban does not prevent the use of the technology entirely within city lines, but rather, it only limits use in public areas within the confines of the city.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
Another important facet of the ban is that it can only hold the city bureaus accountable. While it makes sense for city ordinances to take effect solely within the bounds of the city it’s in, questions arise about what kind of leniency Federal Bureaus have in using the technology in Portland. Previously, the only facial recognitionadjacent law affecting Oregon state bureaus was within ORS 133.741(1)(b)(D), which prohibited the use of facial recognition to analyze recordings from body cameras. Section (e) inside the city bureau ban states that “Bureaus shall not direct a non-City entity to acquire or use Face Recognition Technologies on the City’s behalf unless such acquisition or use would be otherwise allowed for bureaus under this ordinance,” meaning the city cannot formally ask nor use facial recognition technologies offered by federal or state institutions, unless it applies to the restrictions stated in the law. There is, however, no law nor ability to hold higher officials accountable if they simply do not ask permission from the city itself. The inability to control what goes beyond the city’s own law enforcement may be considered minutiae at best. However, federal forces in Portland have a history of acting on their own without permission, despite Portland’s own mayor requesting they leave, even tear-gassing him in the process. Despite such loopholes, this is the first ordinance at a state level in US history to enact such a strict ban. Portland city commissioner Jo Ann
Hardesty cited the urgent need for the ban in a Sep. 2020 statement to Wired, stating that “the more research [Smart City PDX] did, the more it became clear we had to do something now.” Cities such as Boston, Oakland and several others have also passed similar bans, potentially opening the door for wider federal restrictions. The ban is also a major boon for protestors and their right to privacy, as facial recognition cannot be used by the Portland Police Bureau in any prosecutorial capacity and streets may be defined as transportation under public accommodations. Although the ban does not grant complete anonymity, it does mean any photos taken either from social media or law enforcement themselves cannot be run through any facial recognition software to identify and incriminate protestors, nor can the PPB or any other city bureau outsource the task. Cameras in Portland’s street light sensors have since been disabled for this reason as well, protecting the privacy of protestors that take to downtown city streets. Finally, although the ban does restrict companies from collecting facial recognition data, tech companies with a focus on facial recognition are still allowed to perform research and development, as long as it is done so in a responsible manner. “Smart cities was a marketing term created to sell cities technology,” said Kevin Martin, manager of Smart City PDX to Wired. “When the concept first started getting traction, a lot of those technologies were oversold.”
SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
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RESIDENT EVIL 8 IS A LESSER RESIDENT EVIL MORGAN TROPER Resident Evil is one of the most unpredictable video game franchises ever. For every masterpiece in the series there is a game that is proportionally terrible; for every regressive misstep, the series will introduce a forward thinking gameplay mechanic that singlehandedly revolutionizes the industry. It’s tough to even think of a comparison in a different medium. Perhaps the best analogy would be the Beach Boys—a band who produced some of the best and worst music of the era. Thus, you should take the Resident Evil fandom with a grain of salt—the people who claim that all Resident Evil games are great have either never played them all or are simply blinded by brand fealty. After arguably the two worst games in the series—2009’s Resident Evil 5, which was teeming with racial insensitivities, and 2012’s Resident Evil 6, a kitchen-sink course correction—developer Capcom produced an unexpected goodun in Resident Evil 7, which graced the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2017. Resident Evil 7 was the first game in the series that bore a marked Western influence—it ditched the over-the-shoulder camera for a first-person perspective, and traded “Raccoon City”—a very Japanese composite of distinct American metropolises—for a much more frightening and realistic setting: an abandoned plantation in Dulvey, Louisiana. It was the first—and last—game I played in VR, and it scared me pissless, an admission that makes me feel old for a variety of reasons. Resident Evil 7 managed to progress the series without forsaking its creepy-ass roots. It takes place almost entirely on the grounds of the aforementioned plantation. I say “almost” because, like most of the Resident Evil games, things get really weird and dramatic toward the end, and there’s a pretty jar-
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ring change of scenery, which remains one of the game’s most contentious points. Nonetheless, this aspect of the game harks back to the first Resident Evil game for the original PlayStation, which occurred in a zombie-infested mansion. A lot of the scares in that first game are a result of this claustrophobic locale—your character can’t even step outside for a quick breath of fresh air, and not even the “safe rooms” feel totally secure. The new Resident Evil game—Resident Evil 8, or Village as it is officially known, because, get it? the first four characters form the roman numeral “eight”—is a direct sequel to Resident Evil 7, featuring the same playable character, Ethan Winters. Ethan is now raising a newborn daughter with his wife Mia, who he rescued from the plantation back in RE7. Needless to say, there is a lot of baggage and suppressed trauma in their marriage—lest we forget, Mia chopped off Ethan’s hand with a goddamn chainsaw a short while ago. Ethan and Mia’s daughter is kidnapped and transported to—literally—Transylvania, and it’s up to Ethan to save her from werewolves and a memeworthy giantess. Aesthetically, Resident Evil 8 draws quite a bit from series crown jewel Resident Evil 4, which occurred in an unnamed, extremely grey-looking town in Spain. On the surface, that game wasn’t really about zombies either, although it masterfully incorporated convoluted Resident Evil lore into its plot like only a Japanese video game can. That game also benefited from stellar writing and a bulletproof localization—its star, Leon S. Kennedy, is a sendup of late ‘90s Leonardo DiCaprio and gruff action game protagonists of the era, such as Metal Gear Solid’s Solid Snake. One of the greatest cutscenes in Resident Evil 4—and possibly any video game ever—is when
IT’S NOT PARTICULARLY SCARY AND IT LOOKS VERY WEIRD RESIDENT EVIL 8. COURTESY OF RESIDENT EVIL.
someone offers Leon a cigarette, and he politely declines. “I’ve got gum,” he says. By contrast, Ethan Winters is an uninspired idiot at best. It’s clear Capcom wants to make you feel like you’re inhabiting this character—hence the first-person perspective and paucity of meaningful personality—but it never feels quite right. This is an issue that’s plagued gaming for awhile, and arguably reached its apex with last year’s Cyberpunk 2077—how can you have a main character that feels like an extension of the player when they have an in-game script? And if the goal is to make that dialogue as nondescript as possible, isn’t that an insult to the player’s identity? One of the main problems with Resident Evil 8—and to be fair, I’m not done with it yet—is that it simply doesn’t feel like a Resident Evil game. Mechanically, it’s pretty much identical to 7, so it’s not like it’s unenjoyable to play, necessarily—but there is something very Twisted Metal about its rogues gallery of antagonists, giantess included. A lot of the time, its setting feels like the members of Slipknot designed a ride for Disneyland, and when the RE mythos does creep in, it feels shoehorned into a game that ought to qualify as a spinoff at best. Lastly, the game just looks really fucking weird—like, mindbending, uncanny-valley weird. I am playing it on a PlayStation 5, and so far, the scariest character has been Ethan and Mia’s baby—who writhes, whines and pouts in a manner that is both incredibly artificial and convincing. A “Resident Evil 8 on the original PlayStation” deep fake has been making the rounds, and it actually makes the game seem much more frightening. It’s an odd thought—things are generally scarier when our imaginations have to fill in the gaps.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
FINALLY, THE CIA IS INTERSECTIONAL
BUT IT’S STILL THE CIA CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY. COURTESY OF HISTORY
NICK GATLIN In recent months, the Central Intelligence Agency has begun a social media campaign called “Humans of CIA,” presumably in an effort to reach out to marginalized communities and promote diversity at the, uh, CIA. A playlist on the CIA’s YouTube channel titled “Working at CIA” contains a number of videos produced in the past few months in this series, which are presumably meant to show the public that the CIA is more diverse and accepting than they thought. One video tells the story of a Black woman who joined the CIA “almost straight out of college,” speaking about the “social challenges both women and people of color face” in the workplace and the “senior analyst” who acted as an “ally and genuine mentor” toward the young recruit. “It is not enough to just say that CIA values people from diverse backgrounds and diverse abilities,” she said. “We have to challenge ourselves and commit to regularly questioning, ‘how do our actions actually embody those values?’” Indeed, one wonders how the work of a CIA analyst embodies the values of diversity and equity. Another video, the infamous “cisgender millennial who has been diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder” ad, follows a Latina woman employed at the CIA. It uses the language of empowerment liberally, such as when she says, “I am unapologetically me. I want you to be unapologetically you, whoever you are. Whether you work at [the CIA], or anywhere else in the world. Command your space. Mija, you are worth it.” The best way to empower oneself, of course, is joining the CIA and working to overthrow beleaguered governments in Latin America. Coups
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
are still cool, just make them woke. One of the more recent ads features a CIA librarian who grew up “gay in a small Southern town.” “Imagine my surprise,” he says, “when I was taking my oath at CIA and I noticed a rainbow on then-Director [John] Brennan’s lanyard.” This is the same John Brennan who falsely claimed that there was not “a single collateral death” in the CIA drone strikes he oversaw as Director. It’s cool that he had a rainbow lanyard, though. The problem, as we all know, with coups, assassinations, drug trafficking and human rights violations, is that they’re just too white, straight and male. When the CIA used “all feasible means” to prevent the Italian Communist Party from winning the 1948 parliamentary elections, they should have checked their privilege and questioned why the anti-communist task force was so white. When they overthrew the governments of Iran, Guatemala, the Congo, the Dominican Republic, South Vietnam, Brazil and Chile, did they ask themselves, “Am I centering BIPOC voices?” No. When they armed, funded and advised the Taliban, the Kuomintang, the Contras and the Batista dictatorship, the first thing they should have done is make sure their propaganda teams were at least 50% female. None of this is to say diversity or intersectionality are bad—quite the opposite, in fact. It’s sickening to see one of the most powerful forces of suffering and disenfranchisement in the global south cynically and opportunistically use the language of intersectionality to justify their actions. It does not matter how many cisgender millennials with generalized anxiety disorder or imposter
syndrome work for the CIA. It will still be the same agency doing the same things, upholding the American empire through assassinations, extrajudicial killings and coup attempts around the world. There is nothing particularly surprising about this rhetorical turn by the agency. As a 1986 article in The New York Times shows, the CIA has always hired from elite universities such as Yale, Georgetown, George Washington University and others; though even then, they noted the CIA’s move away from being an “Ivy League club.” Today, universities and the students who attend them use the language of intersectionality every day. If the CIA wants to appeal to those potential recruits, it only makes sense they would meet them on that rhetorical turf. Today, CIA recruiters “are pretty universally accepted and students sign up in droves for [recruiting] sessions [at universities],” according to journalist Daniel Golden in a 2018 NPR report. This report, by the way, has a glowingly positive tone toward the CIA, which might be understandable considering “the CIA invited NPR to its headquarters in Langley, [Virginia]—and into a recording studio that’s complete with a green screen—to speak about the evolution of its recruiting.” To bring this back to media criticism: don’t be fooled by the CIA’s latest push to “increase diversity” and use “intersectional” language. It’s a scam—a ploy to get well-meaning liberals to devote themselves to one of the biggest sponsors of human suffering in the world, and feel “woke” while doing so. No matter how sleek their ads are, and no matter how genuine their new recruits seem, “Humans of CIA” is a piece of propaganda like any other.
ARTS & CULTURE
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BIDENOMICS, POPULISM AND THE
NEW ECONOMIC PARADIGM THE BIDEN ADMINISTRATION’S SHIFT AWAY FROM NEOLIBERALISM IS GOOD FOR THE LEFT, AND GOOD FOR THE U.S. ALAN RODRIGUEZ TIBURCIO President Joe Biden administration’s economic policy, known by some as “Bidenomics,” is a much needed move in a prudent direction—not only moving away from former President Donald Trump’s administration, but away from the standard that’s framed economics for both parties since the mid-20th century. To understand Bidenomics, it’s best to compare it to the old economic standard, broadly known as the Washington Consensus and labelled by some contemporary critics as “neoliberalism.” This old economic philosophy is best captured in former President Bill Clinton’s claim that “the era of big government is over.” The framework prescribes welfare austerity, market deregulation, supply-side tax cuts and a focus on combating inflation over unemployment (i.e., tight monetary policy); it is the paradigm that connects the policies of former President Ronald Reagan to those of former President Barack Obama. It is also the economic paradigm from which the United States influenced global policy, historically via the IMF and World Bank, implementing neoliberal reforms across the developing world. This shift away from the old economic framework is important to understand, as it shows the key ways Bidenomics serves progressive aims. Critics during the 2020 Democratic primary worried that Biden’s policies were tepid and too centrist, but there’s reason to believe that Biden is actually more progressive on economic issues than his critics say. Greg Ip wrote a highquality piece on Bidenomics in The Wall Street Journal, in which he details the shift away from neoliberalism that is being taken with Biden’s current economic policy. Though Bidenomics is
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far from radical, its shift and proposals indicate a government that is more willing to actively support the welfare of the populace. Bloomberg’s Noah Smith wrote a detailed piece on Biden’s economic platform for Substack, illustrating the shortcomings of the neoliberal system and ways Bidenomics is remedying the aftermath—he illustrates the platform’s boldness, as well as the possible challenges. Still, to understand the boldness of Bidenomics, it’s important to understand the context in which it arose. It is not necessarily the case that Bidenomic’s move toward larger government spending is a response to pushes from the political left. Biden has framed his platform using rhetoric from across the political spectrum—from the left by relaying support for unions, from progressives by asserting healthcare should be a human right, from anti-globalists by prioritizing domestic job creation in cli-
mate policy, and from conservatives by framing the U.S. as being in competition with China. Evidently, Biden is willing to adopt economic positions framed within either side of the political divide, and is not bound by the pushes from one coherent political frame. It’s important to understand that Bidenomics is a product, not a cause, of the economic shift occurring in the aftermath of the Great Recession. The Great Recession forced economists to rethink two neoliberal views: the microeconomic view of human beings as rational agents or “homo economicus,” and the macroeconomic reliance on market prices being accurate. If the latter assumption does not hold, as the Great Recession suggests, it opens the door for the government to play a bigger role in amending market failures. With that in mind, it is still too early in history to pinpoint a definite new “alternative” to mainstream economics; however, within the U.S. there is a particular lean toward government involvement in the economy, i.e. Keynesian economics. Janet Yellen, Biden’s treasury secretary, has an approach to economic theory with roots deep in Keynesian economics. Though the Keynesian school does not abandon free markets altogether, it does not accept markets will naturally find the efficient outcome; instead, Keynesians argue imperfect markets can lower market efficiency, and seeks to remedy these markets with the power of government. With the Great Recession proving that imperfect markets are real and can cause serious harm to economic prosperity, academic economists resurrected Keynes in the mainstream; though there were always Keynesian-inspired thinkers in academia—such as Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, Janet Yellen and Robert Solow—it was not until the Great Recession necessitated a new framework for market economies that politicians and policy makers took notice. It is also appropriate to understand Bidenomics as a continuation of the Obama administration’s economic policy, “Obamanomics.” Both administrations began their tenures amid unprecedented economic turSHANNON STEED moil and turned to Keynesian
economics as a result. But Obama had a steeper hill to climb as he faced a different economic landscape, and his policies were ultimately grounded in neoliberalism. In contrast, Bidenomics moves forward in a new landscape. In late 2020, the Federal Reserve shifted its position on inflation; its goal is now to achieve an inflation rate that averages 2% over time, as opposed to strict adherence to 2% at all times. This is likely a response to mainstream suggestions that inflation rates can be higher than 2%, and empirical research arguing that inflation targets could even double without necessarily harming long-term price stability. Secondly, across various measures—including economic, political and social—Western democracies are experiencing a rise in inequality, and this inequality is not simply a product of “wellfunctioning markets,” as the neoliberal paradigm suggests. Empirical research indicates that rising inequality is a product of at least three key factors: technological change, access to education and the increasing power of the wealthier classes embodied by the weakening of labor unions. This inequality has contributed to increasing populism and radicalization within both left- and right-wing political ideologies, as people feel more distrust toward institutions and technocratic elites. In America, this distrust is especially felt by youths, minorities and the general working class. Once we understand the shifts occurring in the dominant economic paradigm, the changes in federal institutions and the apprehensive attitude dominating many Americans, Bidenomics becomes more understandable. In addition to responding to the COVID-19-induced economic crisis, Bidenomics is a much-needed response to a quickly changing world in which the U.S. must domestically reconfigure itself or lose legitimacy within its own borders. As he stated in his campaign, Biden is making an effort to unify the country—an effort to reunify the general public under the institutions of the U.S. and regain trust in a weakening establishment. Ultimately, it is too soon to judge whether Bidenomics will reinstate faith in American institutions or produce anything resembling a social democracy in the U.S. As it stands, any structural changes will likely parallel the evidence-based suggestions of mainstream academics and experts, insofar as those suggestions are politically popular and viable. Biden would do well to reach further left and attempt to implement the popular policies that could unite left factions within the Democratic Party. And while a willingness to increase the role of government does not inevitably correlate with either social democracy or left-wing politics, it is a good sign for the political left, and the population as a whole, that economic thinking and policy-making is shifting away from the decades old status quo—that is to say, that the era of “the era of big government is over” is over.
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
LET’S NATIONALIZE
UBER UBER APP. COURTESY OF GEEKWIRE
DANNY O’BRIEN Platforms such as Uber and Lyft aren’t profitable. The solution? Nationalize them. They’ve nosed their way into the framework of our society, so why not use them to our true benefit? In a previous article I wrote critiquing car ownership as infrastructure, I mentioned the unprofitability of Uber and the potential it would have as a nationalized service. I don’t mean to say that nationalizing Uber would fix the transportation structure, but having a reliable, state-run ride-sharing service with benefit to both employee and passenger would lessen dependence on car ownership, decrease pollution and serve as a comfortable transition to a radically different transportation infrastructure. While some might say that this is an unrealistic idea—that the country would never agree to nationalizing any of its businesses, let alone something as trendy as Uber—nationalization has happened before, and I believe it would be very much in the interest of the country to do so with Uber and Lyft. Most of my attitude toward the United States, foreign and domestic, is one of dissent; however, nationalizing private ride-share companies would be of direct political and economic benefit to both the country and its citizens, and that this argument is ultimately one of defense towards the country. In 2020, Uber lost $6.8 billion. In 2019, it was $8.5 billion. The year before that, $1.8 billion and in 2017, $2.2 billion. Even with new strategies being deployed such as reducing supply and spending more on delivery services, the ride-sharing giants aren’t turning worthwhile profits. They’re also reluctant to turn over the revenues they do make; by now, Uber drivers have fought in a few years of battle in an effort to overthrow their draconian classification of independent contractor and gain true employee status with wages to match. These workers don’t have radical demands. In fact, looking at a list of demands from a wishful union—recent unionization efforts by ride-sharing drivers have been squashed—it’s clear to see what the drivers most desperately want are reliable wages and commission caps put on the company. The Economic Policy Institute, a public policy think tank run out of Washington, D.C., takes the side of the drivers’ strug-
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
gles and even outlines how Uber’s argument for independent contractor status does not align with its practices. Instead of playing to this bellowing public demand, Uber and Lyft have instead spent millions lobbying against these bills. When you have an already abysmal track record of profit loss, spending so much on lobbying and mangling the morale of your workers seems like an exceptionally poor business decision. How would nationalizing these ride-sharing giants help all of these conditions? Moving Uber’s wealth and management to the public sector would have the effect of taming the rogue ego of the capitalists that run it. Uber has always had monopolistic desires without the profit to match, and has acted aggressively and illegally—for example, by tracking and evading city officials, operating in a gray area due to its corporate status as a software company rather than a tech/transportation company and disregarding the Americans with Disabilities Act. By nationalizing a wannabe monopoly such as this, the people get its network and its service without the burden of its violent profit motive. Uber and Lyft have had a series of lawsuits and safety scandals with regards to both drivers and passengers. There is no accountability as they repeatedly shrug off sexual assault and other violence without even artificial condolences. If these ride-sharing companies were in the hands of the state, there would be clear channels, already established, where people could go to have abuses accounted for. Nationalizing Uber and Lyft would put them legally into the state apparatus and would guarantee a level of accountability that would at least be a safety net compared to what is offered in its current condition. Uber and Lyft lose money every year and fail to perform to the standard of their Silicon Valley peers. With so much of the profit motive of start-up companies and new on-demand businesses caught up in the very short term, they don’t always think about long-term decisions, or at the least, they don’t give them nearly enough attention. A benefit of nationalization is that long-term investments and projects become more feasible. Short term profits wouldn’t be nervously watched by a board of shareholders looking to make a big, quick buck.
For something such as a ride-share company to be established and economical, it realistically must take time. Uber and Lyft have had a jarring time ripping through the nature of transportation in this country and disrespecting everyone they come into contact with—but if their platform was both deployed on a wide scale, with well-paid state workers giving safe, mostly free rides, and given enough time to comfortably integrate into the fabric of American society, then they could begin to produce positive economic gain. The U.S. has successfully nationalized many of its companies in the past. The federal government nationalized American railroads during WWI to huge benefit; repairs were made, shortages were addressed and wages were increased. During WWII, the government again nationalized some railroads, along with brass, ore, metal, explosives and mining companies. In 2001, airport security was nationalized. 2008 saw partial nationalization of many banks. The U.S. has nationalized its companies mainly with a sense of emergency for short bursts of time, usually to address war and crisis. It faces some intense crises and threats of war today, many with their own historically unique sense of emergency. As the U.S. grip on world power slowly slips, it would do itself good to stimulate its economy in new and creative ways. The U.S. has been made a fool by Uber and Lyft. These companies came into play without warning, operated illegally with absolutely no consequence and have been talking a mad game while losing enormous profits. The state has been shown to be weak and without defense. For a country that spends 53% of its budget on its military, the last thing it wants to be thought of as is defenseless. The U.S. could make an example of Uber and Lyft by absorbing them into the public sector, showing strong state power and even have the added byproduct of condemning profit loss and negative public image in other companies. And if we reaped the benefits of nationalizing services such as Uber and Lyft, it could pave the way for even larger and more consequential acquisitions; can you imagine the good a company such as Amazon could do as a publicly-owned, nationalized corporation?
OPINION
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EVENTS CALENDAR
````````````````````````````````````````````````````````` MAY 18–MAY 21 UNMUTED: PCC STUDENT ART EXHIBIT
TUE MAY 18
PCC Sylvania Campus Free Ongoing through June 4
“Over one year ago, Portland Community College moved to remote operations to help stop the spread of the coronavirus. Since then, students, faculty, and staff have been doing heroic work from home, and art students have continued their education remotely, making work in the midst of personal, local, national, global crises and revolutions. This has become a year of raising voices and making art — in spite of, and in response to the challenges of being alive in this time. To honor the art that PCC art students have created during this pivotal year, our first ever college-wide virtual art student exhibition invites student artists to “unmute” themselves and share their art work with the world.”
WED MAY 19
“Journey back 250 million years to prehistoric North America! Get up close and personal with more than 25 life-size dinosaurs, two authentic massive full body dinosaur skeletons, dozens of real fossils, and more.”
PORTRAITURE FROM THE COLLECTION OF NORTHWEST ART
“Isaka Shamsud-Din: Rock of Ages is an intimate exhibition celebrating the Portland artist’s masterful paintings, rich in a narrative combining personal stories and folklore. ShamsudDin’s paintings also celebrate and honor individuals by capturing portraits. Tightly composed and with a vibrancy of color, the works invite viewers to be among these individuals and warm settings. The exhibition is titled after Shamsud-Din’s painting of his father, Rock of Ages (1976), the museum’s most recent acquisition of the artist’s work.”
“In the rich tradition of portraiture reflected in Northwest art, there is an exemplary range of individuals and styles of depiction. For this exhibition, the artist Storm Tharp was invited to help select works from the collection through his keen eyes as a fellow portraitist. As he combed through the collection, some themes in portraiture rose to the surface: the selfportrait, artists and friends, family, psychological space, and making present those who have been less recognized. For an artist, capturing a literal likeness is far less important than grasping the essence of a person or the moment in time. How artists in this collection have chosen to do this is remarkably varied, offering an alluring examination in itself. Across the themes and styles in this exhibition, it is evident that portraiture allows for a breadth of expressiveness, a scrutiny of the self, and the occasion to connect with those around us.”
19TH ANNUAL FILMED BY BIKE
CLEVER LITTLE LIES
Streaming via Hollywood Theatre Varying showtimes $10–15 Ongoing through May 23
FRI MAY 21
OMSI 10 a.m. $8–12 Ongoing through September 6
ISAKA SHAMSUD-DIN: ROCK OF AGES Portland Art Museum 10 a.m. $17–20 Ongoing through August 1
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DINOSAURS REVEALED
Portland Art Museum 10 a.m. $20 Ongoing through September 1
Streaming via Artslandia 7:30 p.m. $15–35 Ongoing through May 22
It’s an annual film festival, and it’s exactly what it sounds like—a variety of film submissions “A mother always knows when something is wrong. When Alice notices her beloved husshot from bicycles! band, Bill, has returned home on edge after a tennis match with their son, she grows suspicious and springs into action. Determined to piece together the puzzle, she invites her son, Billy, and daughter-in-law, Jane, over for drinks and dessert. Sidesplitting chaos ensues as Alice digs for the truth, resulting in even more honesty than anyone expected.”
EVENTS
PSU Vanguard • MAY 18, 2021 • psuvanguard.com
