Portland State Vanguard Volume 78 Issue 25

psu ranked worst for free speech

PSU poli-sci professor said study lacks validity

NEWS: Staff explains declining hours of operation in PSU student spaces P. 5

P. 4

OPINION: Prioritizing comfort and consumerism, anti-Black ignorance to global genocides P. 6

SCIENCE: Galaxies devour each other in slow-mo as an act of cosmic cannibalism P. 7

STAFF

NEWS

CO-NEWS

ARTS

Macie Harreld

SCIENCE & TECH

Anish Kumar Arumugam

OPINION

Cameron Rodriguez

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Alberto Alonso Pujazon Bogani

SOCIAL

ONLINE AND PROMOTIONS EDITOR

Alley Henrici

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Aishwarya Suresh

COPY CHIEF

Isabel Zerr

CONTRIBUTORS

Amber Finnegan

Diana DeGroot

Milo Loza

Isaiah Burns

T Gedi

PRODUCTION & DESIGN

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

Briana Cieri

DESIGNERS

Arianna Thomas

Haley Hsu

Abby Raymundo

Parker Patnode

TECHNOLOGY & WEBSITE

TECHNOLOGY ASSISTANTS

George Olson

Hongzu Pan

Sara Ray

ADVISING & ACCOUNTING

COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA

Reaz Mahmood

SALP 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 online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

REPORT RANKS PSU AMONG WORST SCHOOLS FOR FREE SPEECH

CLARITY OF DISCRIMINATION AND HARASSMENT POLICY PRIMARY REASON WHY

The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expressions (FIRE) released its annual report. The report ranks colleges across the United States and how the colleges’ policies either protect or infringe on student and faculty rights to freedom of speech. Portland State received a “red light” rating, indicating that the school has at least one policy infringing on free speech. Of the 248 schools ranked, PSU came in at 232.

According to FIRE’s website, 98 of the 489 schools in their database earned a “red light” rating for maintaining policies which clearly and substantially restrict free speech and 320 earned a “yellow light” rating for maintaining policies which impose vague regulations on expression, 20% and 65.4% respectively. Only 63 schools—aka 12.9%—earned a “green light” rating for maintaining policies which do not seriously imperil free expression. Eight schools, 1.6% of the 489, received a “warning” rating, because they do not promise students free speech rights at all.

The website explained how this is the second year in a row the percentage of red light schools increased, which reversed a 15-year trend of decreasing percentages of red light schools.

The policy from PSU which received a red light rating was the Prohibited Discrimination and Harassment Policy, which outlines the university’s policy for assessing instances of discriminatory and sexual harassment claims.

FIRE’s Director of Policy, Laura Beltz, explained harassment policies such as this are often flagged due to their overbroad nature, which can infringe on student and faculty rights to free speech.

“What it seems to be is that schools are hanging on to policies on harassment that are overbroad, and those are policies that we see with the worst ratings right now,” Beltz said. “Harassment is, of course, not protected by the first amendment. The government can certainly take action against harassment without infringing on free speech rights, but there are a lot of schools that have policies on harassment that encompass free speech. They are written so broadly that they include both speech that actually would constitute harassment and protected speech.”

Beltz said these overbroad policies are often written this way when schools try to simplify the definition of harassment, which ultimately makes the school’s definition of harassment much more vague than the typical legal standard for such definitions. This can result in protected speech—such as a single dirty joke— being qualified as harassment when the legal definition of harassment requires it to be severe, pervasive and disruptive, resulting in a student being denied opportunities or impacting their education.

For example, Beltz said if a student happened to see someone on campus protesting with a sign that had a sexualized word which they found offensive, and then they decided to report the sign holder for sexual harassment, then the overbroad nature of

the policy would allow that, even though the legal standard does not qualify such an instance as sexual harassment.

If the university took action against the accused student, they would infringe on that student’s right to free speech.

According to Beltz, students may be hesitant to express their thoughts due to the fear of being accused of sexual harassment when such policies are in place.

“There are two risks to having a policy like this,” Beltz said. “Obviously, if a policy [like this] is on the books, that means that administrators can apply it and use it against students’ speech. The other risk is that, even if it isn’t applied in this way… people will be reading this policy and their speech may be chilled… Even when these sorts of policies aren’t being applied this way and practice, they can have a chilling effect on the environment.”

However, PSU Political Science Professor Christopher Shortell said reports, such as the one from FIRE, can be misleading, since they rely on subjective impressions from a limited subset of students. While PSU currently has around 22,000 students, only 94 gave input for the report, which Shortell said is not a very representative sample size.

“I think FIRE has done a lot of valuable work, but I do think that they have a more limited set of areas that they focus on and a particular perspective that they have on that,” Shortell said. “And to that end, I think when they are putting out reports it can reinforce perceptions, both about the institutions they’re reporting on and about the organization itself. And that isn’t necessarily helpful for getting a better, clearer or more accurate understanding of the underlying issues.”

In his time at PSU, Shortell acknowledged that the campus climate may make it difficult for certain students to speak out, which he said restricts the possibility of potentially valuable discussions between people of differing opinions.

“I definitely think that, as a result of having a student body that leans more liberal than conservative, that students who do not identify with what they think are the dominant ideological positions might be hesitant to speak out,” Shortell said. “That’s a pedagogical challenge that is raised in classes where those kinds of topics might come up. But it’s different, I think, from a suppression of free expression.”

Shortell urged students not to put too much weight on the FIRE report, and explained that it misleadingly suggests there are many policies in place which infringe on student’s rights when that is, in reality, not the case.

Shortell also explained that Oregon has much more expansive free-speech protections than those at the federal level. He said that, as a state institution, PSU does not violate state law with its policies.

In a statement received by Portland State Vanguard, the PSU administration addressed the report and ensured that PSU is an institution which values free speech.

“Portland State has always been and will continue to be a welcoming home for free speech,” PSU stated. “Vigorous debate is a key tenet of the academic enterprise and is highly valued and well protected. We believe that free speech is not in conflict with our core institutional values which includes providing an inclusive environment for individuals of all backgrounds. The policy flagged by FIRE as anti-free speech protects individuals from harassment and discrimination. We do support the free speech of those with a variety of viewpoints. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment or retaliation.”

ALYSSA ANDERSON

Out of the 248 schools ranked by FIRE, PSU came in at 232 as one of the worst schools rated for free speech

ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD

LIMITED OPERATING HOURS FOR BUILDINGS ON CAMPUS FUNDS,

STAFF AND DEMAND IMPACT HOURS OF OPERATION

Just about every student on campus has likely had an instance where they go to scan their card at a facility only to find themselves locked out of it. That student will soon realize they’ve come to the building after operating hours, and the facility is closed. Perhaps this may come as a surprise, as the student may swear up and down that the building was open at this time just last term.

The student is likely not wrong. Campus facility hours are constantly shifting in an effort to balance student needs and realities of operation, such as declining enrollment, understaffing and underfunding.

Open hours vary from building to building, as does who decides them. Michael Bowman serves as the Interim Dean for the Branford Price Millar Library. He was quick to identify two primary factors which determine the hours for the library: staffing and demand. The pandemic, he noted, heavily impacted the latter.

“Our hours are shorter than they were pre-pandemic,” Bowman said. “Monday through Thursday we close at 10 [p.m.], but prepandemic we closed at midnight.”

How the library determines its demand is based on how many people are coming into the library and when people show up.

“We actually get monthly entry and exit data [for the turnstiles] that we can sort by time and day of the week,” Bowman said. “Sometimes, we don’t want to expand hours. Instead, we might look at shifting them. It might make sense to shift open-

ing time and closing time by one hour after we get a sense of how many people are coming in during that first hour.”

In Oct. 2023, the total turnstile count at the library was 40,429. In Oct. 2019, the count was 108,494. That’s just 37.3% of the traffic pre-pandemic.

At the heart of this lowered demand is the ever-present factor of declining enrollment here at Portland State. Bowman confirmed this as a factor for the library’s present hours. It has also affected the hours of other buildings on campus, such as the Campus Recreation Center.

“As enrollment has declined, our funding for labor and other expenses has decreased,” said Jenny Welnick, the Director of Campus Rec. “In addition, the number of people purchasing memberships—which includes faculty, staff, alumni and plusone members—has not rebounded to pre-pandemic levels.”

For the 2023 fiscal year, Campus Rec staff counted 198,497 total visits, 158,235 of whom were students. In 2020, total visits numbered 221,065.

Another factor is staffing. Due to its classification as a staffed building, the Millar Library can only be open when a specific, minimum number of staff members are present. For the library, this means having at least one Access Services staff member present at the front-end circulation desk. Bowman said that filling these positions is a top priority due to these requirements. The price tag to keep buildings open is also on the rise. Randy

Mishler—the Marketing and Communications Coordinator for Smith Memorial Student Union (SMSU)—pointed out that utility bills are becoming increasingly costly.

“We usually have some downtime to keep the building operational,” Mishler said. “We can close down for a while, like during a break or something, or sometimes we’ll close for a few days. It helps us save a little bit on our utilities. It’s been an outrageous thing to try and gauge what we’re going to need there for the last couple of years. The bills have been much higher than were projected.”

SMSU receives some funding from student fees, which the Student Fee Committee allocates. Campus Rec and the Millar Library both receive money from these fees as well. Campus Rec also generates revenue through membership fees, equipment rentals and program fees. Declining demand, however, has affected this revenue.

SMSU does not directly generate revenue through sales from interior businesses despite being home to Smith’s Kitchen, Bowery Bagels, University Market and other food stops. Mishler highlighted that third parties rent out the space from PSU, indicating that they own the spaces.

The administration from all three buildings stated that structuring business hours is a balance between offering students the best services possible and being very conscientious of logistical factors, such as budget and staffing.

ISAIAH BURNS

Reduced demand after the pandemic and budgetary concerns have resulted in campus resources being less frequently available to students compared to pre-pandemic times

ALBERTO ALONSO PUJAZON BOGANI/PSU VANGUARD

GLOBAL GENOCIDE AND ANTI-BLACKNESS

INTERCONNECTED STRUGGLES AND LIBERATION OF ALL OPPRESSED PEOPLE

T GEDI

From Palestine to Hawai’i, Indigenous people all over the world suffer at the hands of neocolonialism and ethnic cleansing, with Rafah facing a ground invasion while those in the United States watch the Superbowl and one Sudanese baby dying every two hours inside refugee camps

These atrocities serve as a global litmus test, revealing how instead of halting the genocides those capable of stopping them are often the ones funding them. The goal is clear—to ethnically cleanse and exploit the people of the land.

Moreover, global exportation of anti-Blackness—or neocolonialism values such as antiBlackness—discriminate against the often darker Indigenous populations and have favoritism for those more akin to colonial features, which are directly responsible for who gains international attention.

Since 2003, Sudan has faced a grueling humanitarian crisis as an aftermath of the Darfur genocide, which didn’t come to an end until 2020. The Darfur genocide resulted in the deaths of over 200,000 civilians, with two million displaced.

Today, Sudan faces another genocide while still recovering from a previous one. Currently, over seven million people remain displaced due to this genocide carried out by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF), a mercenary private military company funded by the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

In a series of videos released by Arab tribal leaders in July, they pledged loyalty to the RSF, thus plwedging to the ethnic cleansing of the Sudanese population. Local Sudanese journalist Abdel Moneim Madibo argued this “will divide South Darfur between Arabs and non-Arabs.”

Led by Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo on April 15, 2023, a coup gave the RSF the power they needed to enact a genocide against the ethnic Masalit tribe of Sudan.

As of the end of 2023, this genocide has claimed lives, with RSF militia pillaging villagers’ properties, murdering civilians, committing sexual violence against women and girls and cutting off internet connections to withhold real-life accounts from citizens.

The Masalit people have been targeted explicitly in West Darfur and the RSF continues their ethnic cleansing of them.

Just south of Sudan, the neighboring country—the Democratic Republic of the Congo—faces its own unique genocide, fueled by the West’s desire for coltan and cobalt. The Congo holds nearly 60% of the world’s coltan reserves and over 50% of the world’s cobalt reserves, two essential minerals to the modern digital world.

Present-day uses of coltan include laptops, cell phones, rockets and gaming consoles. Cobalt, on the other hand, is primarily used in making batteries for cell phones, electric cars and green energy solutions.

Corporations we rely on daily—such as Apple, Tesla, Sony and Samsung—are directly responsible for the demand for cobalt. The image is clear—our daily desires and consumerism act as fuel for the genocide occurring in the Congo.

Unfortunately, the Congo does not control its reserves but is operated by multinational mining companies created by the U.S., France, China and the United Kingdom.

Israeli billionaires, such as Dan Gertler, also exploit the nation for its natural resources.

These global imperial powers collectively fund Uganda and Rwanda, allowing them to invade areas rich with minerals in the Congo. The incentive resides in financial gain and political control for both nations.

As a result of the invasions planned out by Uganda and Rwanda, as well as Western powers, six million people have been killed, with an equal amount displaced. The Congo remains a children’s rights violation, a women’s rights violation and ultimately a human rights crisis.

Both crises in Sudan and the Congo have been labeled “silent genocides” when the reality is that these oppressed people have been pleading for the world to show any care or empathy.

In the Congo, a man went as far as lighting himself on fire in an attempt to bring attention to the genocide. Those in Sudan have been using what little internet access they have—due to the RSF severing connections—to share their recounts of their genocide. Still, both countries have struggled to gain international recognition.

A large part of why two genocides occurring in Africa have been labeled silent and remain ignored is due to anti-Blackness, colorism and prejudice against those of darker complexions.

It’s no mistake that the RSF militia’s target— the Masalit people—are of darker complexion. A central pillar of anti-Blackness is the hatred of dark skin tones and dark-skinned people. It’s how one’s proximity to Blackness or whiteness is determined at first glance.

Black lives aren’t valued in the same way non-Black lives are valued. In an anti-Black world, we must merely exist as bodies from which labor is to be extracted. When nonBlack people are introduced to the white supremacist structure via colonialism, imperialism, cultural contact or assimilation, they themselves can internalize and adopt it.

Seeing a potential for material advantage, some make a collective agreement to begin the project of defining their racial identity in opposition to Black people. This is why anti-Blackness can be observed in all non-Black communities.

Anti-Blackness is the barrier to true solidarity amongst Black people and people of color. It is the unfortunate pledge non-Black people of color allege to separate themselves from Black people to gain proximity to whiteness. It is the direct and indirect association of people of color to separate themselves from Blackness to achieve the promised privileges of whiteness.

The disease of anti-Blackness even seeps into Black communities themselves, with bigotries such as featurism and texturism dividing the community, thus preventing true Pan-African solidarity.

Many genuinely believe this is inevitable— that their pleasures must come at the expense of Black lives. That their new iPhone is worth the life of a young Congolese child.

As Black people are seen as inherently violent, some reduce the genocides to merely Black-on-Black violence, even when the reality is that Western powers collectively push for the subjugation of the Congo, and the UAE funds the genocide in Sudan.

One thing I have observed about Westerners, specifically those in the U.S., is their lack of focus and tunnel vision when it comes to their attention. In the U.S. mind, only one crisis at a time can exist or be focused on.

Mention disparities happening elsewhere and you get an earful of “now’s not the time” and “can we focus on one thing, please?” Mention disparities happening to Black people and you’ll receive an uproar from supposed allies as to why it isn’t relevant to mention right now.

For people to truly combat anti-Blackness, they’d first be forced to humanize Black people, something many non-Black people aren’t ready to do.

I see what is happening in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo right now—what has been happening for decades—and my heart hurts for all of us. We cannot sit by and passively exist in a world where such violence exists. Violence does not disappear because we choose to plug our ears and shut our eyes.

Our struggles are united—the struggle for Black liberation in the U.S., liberation in Somalia, liberation in Palestine, liberation in Sudan, liberation in the Congo and liberation of all oppressed people. We must continue to fight in solidarity, because your struggle is also mine.

Malcolm X once said that “the only way we’ll get freedom for ourselves is to identify ourselves with every oppressed people in the world.” White supremacy aims to isolate colonized people and blame those with the least power, furthering their marginalization from ever forming a collective. International solidarity is more important now than ever.

The war machines of the U.S. and other global powers are killing people all over the world to ensure continued profit. China dominates the mining industry in the Congo, exploiting young children barely 6 years old. At the same time, the UAE actively funds the RSF militia’s ethnic cleansing against the Masalit people.

Israel restricts the movement of Palestinians on their own land The U.S. also does the same to Black Americans, forcing them to settle in hoods and ghettos. Indigenous Americans face the continued effects of removal and confinement to reservations established under the U.S. colonial regime.

The colonial power to delineate and define spaces and bodies as greater or lesser—to exploit or to be exploited—is exercised in each of these cases.

This fight is not just abroad—it is right here in the belly of the empire. It’s important never to forget that genocide criminals are repeating offenders and all follow the same playbook.

We all have to be in this fight for each other. None of us are free until we all are free.

HALEY HSU

GALACTIC CANNIBALISM

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE MILKY WAY MIGHT BE DARKER THAN SPACE

ANISH ARUMUGAM

Imagine a universe where galaxies the colossal islands of stars numbering in trillions—are not just majestic neighbors but are also ravenous predators. This is the reality of galactic cannibalism, a process where a larger galaxy gravitationally rips apart and absorbs a smaller one, forever altering the celestial landscape.

One of the most significant mysteries in astronomy is the process of galaxy formation. The hierarchical merger model of galaxy creation is one way researchers explain how galaxies form. According to this model, when galaxies of the same size crash into each other, they join together.

However, unlike when two galaxies of the same size merge to form a new galaxy, we have seen something very interesting when different-sized galaxies collide.

It has been found that the bigger galaxy will “eat” or “cannibalize” the smaller one. The big galaxy will tear the small galaxy apart, taking in all of its stars, dark matter and energy and leaving behind a trail of stardust. This strange kind of cannibalism is quite common across the universe.

Jim Todd—the Director of Space Science Education at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry and a Portland State alumnus— explained how galactic cannibalism “is a common occurrence in the 13.8-billion-year history of our universe.”

“Galaxies, bound by gravity’s invisible strings, are constantly on the move,” Todd said. “When two galaxies get too close, the larger one’s immense gravitational pull begins to steal gas, dust and even stars from the smaller one, slowly devouring it over millions or even billions of years. This process can trigger bursts of star formation as the stolen material gets compressed, creating a cosmic firework display.”

Our own galaxy, the Milky Way, is no stranger to this galactic cannibalism. “Our Milky Way is currently consuming the Magellanic Clouds that are close to us, both the small and larger clouds,” said William Blackmore, PSU Alumnus and Planetarium Director and Astronomy Instructor at Mt. Hood Community College. The streams of gas and dust linking us to these celestial morsels are a testament to this ongoing galactic feast.

However, what happens to the galaxies involved in this cosmic clash? Kevin Davis, Planetarium Manager at Eugene Science Center, explained how “the larger galaxy usually retains its dominant structure, while the smaller one gets torn apart and its stars become part of the bigger galactic body.” This galactic digestion also reshapes the larger galaxy, transforming a majestic spiral galaxy such as ours into a more elliptical one.

Understanding galactic cannibalism is an ongoing quest for astronomers. With advancements in technology, our ability to peer into the depths of space is constantly improving.

Telescopes, such as Hubble and the newly-

launched James Webb Space Telescope, provide unprecedented views of galaxies undergoing this cosmic ballet. As Davis highlighted, these observations reveal evidence of binary black hole mergers, further solidifying our understanding of these galactic collisions.

NGC 474 is a galaxy showcasing the characteristics of galactic cannibalism with its distinctly shell-like appearance. Todd mentioned the captivating Tadpole Galaxy, visible through the lens of the Hubble telescope, exemplifies the slow-motion dance of galactic cannibalism played out over millions of years.

“But you have to keep in mind, this is a very different timescale than what we [are on] are as humans,” Todd said. “We live by the minutes and the hours. These galaxy collisions occurred over millions and billions of years. It’s super slow-mo, but it’s happening.”

Two smaller galaxies, called Sagittarius Dwarf and Canis Major Dwarf, were shredded by the Milky Way galaxy. “It’s really torn apart,” Todd said. “There’s really nothing really left of those galaxies, but we see them in the background in the recent discovery.”

We know this because they’re moving in a different direction than the Milky Way. “They’re a different age, different makeup,” Todd said. “However, mainly their motion is going in a different direction than we are.”

The study of galactic cannibalism is not just about understanding the past. It also holds clues about our future. The Milky Way is on a collision course with the Andromeda galaxy, another galactic behemoth. Though this celestial headon won’t occur for another five billion years, it serves as a stark reminder of our universe’s dynamic—and sometimes violent—nature.

Don’t lose any sleep, joked Todd. “It’s just that we’re basically going to pass through each other,” he said. “But we’re going to do a slow dance around each other. At that point, the sun will be gone. The solar system will be gone. There’s nothing left for us to watch at that time period. That’s a scary thought, but that’s the way the universe works.” The halo of the two galaxies has already merged now, but they’re so transparent that we can’t see the boundary.

The fascinating thing about galactic cannibalism is that it is a rich ground for new stars being born. What’s often referred to as starburst galaxies is all that dust, gas and material in the galaxies running into each other are being compressed by the shockwaves. The observations by Chandra—an X-ray observatory by NASA— are playing an important role in understanding starburst galaxies.

“Forget the image of stars gracefully orbiting around a galactic center. Instead, picture the arms of a spiral galaxy as a standing wave,

a traffic jam of cosmic material constantly stirred by exploding stars [or supernovae],” Blackmore said. “These shockwaves compress dust and gas, triggering bursts of new star formation within the arms.”

While stars and gas move within the galaxy, they aren’t actually traveling along the arms.

“Think of it like cars navigating a traffic jam,” Blackmore said. “They’re not going anywhere fast, but the jam itself isn’t moving either.”

“Another common misconception [is] our Milky Way’s appearance,” Blackmore said. “Since we’re inside it, we don’t have a direct picture,” he said. “Those textbook images are actually educated guesses, based on other galaxies and our own internal mapping. It would take hundreds of thousands of years to capture a true image from far enough away.”

As we continue to explore the cosmos, galactic cannibalism remains a captivating area of research, filled with unanswered questions and hidden secrets. As galaxies devour other galaxies, the matter they accrue allows them to forge new suns. So basically, everything we are is due to an ancient act of galactic cannibalism. So, the next time you gaze up at the night sky, remember that the serene beauty you witness may be hiding a tale of conquest— a cosmic dance where galaxies rise and fall, devoured by their grander neighbors.

PARKER PATNODE

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: IZAAK FAZEKAS

SCULPTURE DECONSTRUCTS IMPERIALIST HARM

Izaak Fazekas is an interdisciplinary transmedia artist in the BFA program at PSU. Originally from New Orleans, Fazekas relocated to Portland in 2019 in order to pursue an education in the PNW. Fazekas spoke with Portland State Vanguard to discuss his art practice and some of his recent works.

Vanguard: What kind of materials and mediums do you enjoy working with?

Fazekas: I paint. I draw. I do sculpture. I like sculpture a lot. I feel like it gets things across. But also within my sculpture, I do textile work. I do computer programming sometimes…

If I make a work, and I’m like, ‘I want it to be this way,’ and say it involves glassblowing—I don’t know how to blow glass, but there's a certain piece I want to make eventually that involves glassblowing—so I’m like, ‘Okay, I don’t know how to do that, but I’m going to learn because it’s got to be made out of glass for this to work.’ I love learning new things, and that’s a big part of my art making…

I make a lot of installations where you can walk into it… You become part of the artwork as you’re experiencing the artwork. But I also make a lot of work about the human body and specifically about trans and queer bodies because I’m trans and queer.

VG: Can you tell me about a recent piece of yours?

Fazekas: One of them is called ‘I Fear God, Not Death…’ I was doing research on basically the response to [COVID-19] by the United States and the response to [COVID-19] by people in the United States, specifically on people who were anti vax or against getting the vaccine, and the mentality behind valuing your held beliefs over the general health of a population. Or basically valuing your belief in God over your belief in your life…

The title of it originally came from… a protest sign that was like, ‘I fear God, not COVID’ and I was like, ‘Okay, to me, that means “I fear God, not death,”’ because if you’re talking about what you are risking when you don’t get the [COVID-19] vaccine is you’re risking your life basically, especially at that point in the pandemic.

VG: Can you tell me about the physical construction of this piece and your choice of materials?

[‘I Fear God, Not Death’ is composed of a 12- by 9-feet U.S. flag splayed out on the floor. Suspended above the flag is a crocheted wire bag full of needles and syringes.]

Fazekas: Each material I’m using means something to the piece, so it adds something. It’s [made from] a cotton flag, and cotton was a share crop that was farmed by enslaved people in the United States, up until pretty recent history. And now a lot of cotton fields are worked by immigrant workers. And I’m from the south, so that’s like a sharecrop that I’m very familiar with the history behind. It’s a colonialist crop in my mind.

The red portion of the flag is dyed with cochineal, which is a bug that is originally from South America. But when South America was colonized by the Spanish they, quote unquote, ‘discovered this new dye’ and they brought it to Europe, and it became a dye that was primarily used by royalty, because it was very hard to come by, and it made this beautiful, bright red color…

The bug portion of that also talks about colonialism and the [oppression] of Indigenous identities—which is just part of America in general—which is why I made the flag out of those things. But then I over dyed that with a petroleum [dye], which kind of talks about our hyper-consumption and the basically pillaging [of] the earth…

So the material significance of all that is to talk about colonialism and the United States as an imperial empire.

And the reason I have the flag on the ground is that we're always told you can’t ever let the American flag touch the ground. It’s like a sacred object. And to me, it’s almost when, in Christianity, the symbol of the crucifix almost becomes more important than God in a religion.

And for me, it was like the American flag has become more important than what the American flag is supposed to stand for—where it’s become a god to certain people, and it can’t be touched or desecrated. And it’s just a piece of fabric. ‘Do you value this piece of fabric more than people's lives?’ is the question I’m asking there.

VG: What’s the meaning behind the bag of needles?

Fazekas: As I was making this piece, [the bag with the needles hanging above this flag] became both about [COVID-19] vaccines, which were administered with a needle and syringe, but also about the opioid epidemic.

And how… our government does not support people who have addiction. And it doesn’t treat people who have addiction like people. People that need help and could get that help if we decided that they were worth it, and Portland has a very distinct problem with that.

And I think it’s a failing of our government that people do not get the help that they need. And it’s also… the fact that opioids were given to people to become addicted to by large pharmaceutical companies. Those companies are backed by lobbyists who run the United States.

So it’s all intertwined together. It’s talking about many different things, but also specifically how our medical complex that we have in the United States doesn’t support people. It’s not meant to support people, it’s meant to make money. And so at the same time, it’s that flag becomes the whole of the people of the United States who are being trampled on.

The point of this piece is for people to walk on it, because the

MACIE HARRELD

Fazekas’ piece titled ‘I Fear Death, Not God’ seeks to bear witness to anti-trans U.S. legislation

COURTESY OF IZAAK FAZEKAS

flag was so big that you can’t see what’s inside the bag if you don’t walk on the flag. So if you’re not willing to step on this symbol that you’ve been told to respect so much, [then] you’re not gonna get the bigger picture. You’re not gonna see what’s actually wrong with this country if you’re not willing to look past the propaganda that you’ve been fed.

VG: You mentioned that you’ve created another piece inversely titled ‘I Fear Death, Not God.’ Can you tell me about this second piece?

Fazekas:[‘I Fear Death, Not God’] is a body bag also made out of cotton—the same material as the flag but undyed—and so I sewed it into a body bag and wove a black and red American flag that I pinned to the top of the bag, over where the heart would be. Inside of the body bag, is a mannequin and a speaker playing a recording of the original version of “The Star-Spangled Banner” from 1814…

Sitting at the head of the body bag, where the head is, is a stack of papers… They are all of the anti-transgender bills that [have] been either proposed or passed in every single state of the United States—recognized states of the United States, I will say.

And, as you can see, the stack of paper is enormous, and that is not even all of them. I did not have the time or energy to print out every single bill that had been proposed and passed. It was over 400. And this, to me, is a cry of distress. For me and also from the transgender community.

And so this piece is about a cry of distress from a group of people who [are] being persecuted by their country. And that persecution is ongoing and sys-

temic, and it’s not quite in the forefront right now as it was a year ago, I think. But it is of the same importance that people—queer and transgender people—are… systematically oppressed in this country. I think it’s a fact that people don’t really realize until it’s put in front of their face in the form of a body bag and a stack of bills that say somebody shouldn’t exist.

I think it’s fundamentally wrong of a country to tell somebody that they don’t have a right to exist or don’t have a right to do with their body as they see fit.

VG: Who do you create for? Do you have a specific audience in mind, or a goal that motivates you to create?

Fazekas: All my work talks about people and connecting on a human capacity to people’s emotions. And I want my work to bring awareness to people that you may not be able to directly communicate with or relate to just because you don’t know their life experiences…

My work with the American flag and the body bag, that was trying to bring awareness to people who don’t have a transgender or queer experience—to people who don’t have an experience with the United States medical system that doesn’t support them…

I feel like artists are, in their [own] way, historians… My way of documenting is to make art about it, and so I think when there’s something that happens that really hits me, like the passing of anti-transgender laws and bills in different states, or feeling that people aren’t bearing witness to people who have opioid addictions in a way that’s humane.

I think those kinds of things are what motivates me. [It’s] feeling like I have to bear witness to something.

Local A&C Events

MILO LOZA

Jim Gaffigan

Keller Auditorium

Mar. 1, 7 p.m.

$75

Family-friendly observational humor from a man who loves Hot Pockets

Darude

45 East

Mar. 2, 10 p.m.

$25

Finnish producer with viral trance anthem, “Sandstorm”

Laughgasm

Underbar

Mar. 3, 7 p.m.

$10

A showcase of local comedians, hosted by Logan Loughmiller

El Oh Hell

Dante’s

Mar. 4, 4 p.m.

Free

Comedy open mic with five-minute sets in a hell-themed bar, hosted by Bryan Withawhy

Magnificent Mug-Making

Vintage and Clay Studio

Mar. 5, 11 a.m.

$75

Make your very own custom mug by hand in this pottery class

Freaked in 35 mm

Hollywood Theatre

Mar. 6, 7:30 p.m.

$12

Genetically-altered freaks fight to survive against a twisted businessman’s experiments

Free First Thursday

Portland Art Museum Mar. 7, all day

Free

Portland Art Museum admittance and programs at the PAM CUT Tomorrow Theater are free

Fazekas documents systemic and social injustices through his art practice, as seen in his sculpture titled “SEX & VIOLENCE”

COURTESY OF IZAAK FAZEKAS

ARIANNA THOMAS

VANGUARD CROSSWORD

Answers in stories2/29/24

MILO LOZA

Answers from 2/22

1) Palestine, 2) SEIU, 3) Indigenous, 4) children,

5) poverty, 6) Labor of Love, 7) teachers,

8) SUPER, 9) JSMA, 10) childcare, 11) wildfires

Across

Down:

Over seven million people are currently displaced to the genocide carried out by this group. Acronym.

1. This country has faced a grueling humanitarian crisis as an aftermath of the Darfur genocide since 2003

2. This campus building used to close at midnight prepandemic, but it now closes at 10 p.m

first name of the artist who created “I Fear God Death…”

3. The rating given to PSU by FIRE indicating that a policy infringes on free speech, two words

5. The Democratic Republic of the Congo holds over 50% of the world’s _____ reserves, a resource demanded by Apple, Tesla, Sony and Samsung

Laure Beltz explained harassment policies are often flagged by FIRE due to their _____ nature.

7. “I think it’s fundamentally wrong of a country to tell somebody that they don’t have a right to _____.”

“I Fear God not Death…” by Fazekas, this item the main subject of the piece.

Campus facility _____ are constantly shifting in an fort to balance declining enrollment, understaffing underfunding.

Across:

Down

3. Over seven million people are currently displaced due to the genocide carried out by this group, acronym

1. This country has faced a grueling humanitarian crisis as an aftermath of the Darfur genocide, 2003.

4. The first name of the artist who created the piece “I Fear God, Not Death”

6. Laura Beltz explained harassment policies are often flagged by FIRE due to their _____ nature

2. Pre-pandemic, this campus building used to close midnight, but it now closes at 10 p.m.

8. In “I Fear God, Not Death” by Fazekas, this item is the main subject of the piece

3. The rating given to PSU by FIRE, indicating policy infringing on free speech. Two words.

9. Campus operating _____ are constantly shifting in an effort to balance declining enrollment, understaffing and underfunding

5. The DRC holds over 50% of the world’s _____ reserves. A resource demanded by Apple, Tesla, Sony and Samsung.

7. “I think it’s fundamentally wrong of a country tell somebody that they don’t have a right to _____”

Community & Wellness Resources

UPDATED WEEKLY

By Milo Loza

Happening Soon

Board Game Night

SMSU Cafeteria

Mar. 1, 3 p.m.

Free for students

Hang out with the weekly group to play games and make friends

PSU Choirs: Golden

First United Methodist Church

Mar. 1, 7:30 p.m.

Free for students

PSU’s Rose, Thorn and Chamber Choirs present a journey of life and light found in darkness

Measure for Measure

Lincoln Performance Hall

Mar. 3, 2:00 p.m.

$6 for students

Theater Professor Karin Magaldi directs Aditi Brennan Kapil’s translation of Shakespeare’s play

Palestinian Film Festival

5th Avenue Cinema

Mar. 3, 3 p.m.

Free for students

Catch a series of different Palestinian films at 5th Avenue from Friday until Sunday

Jazz Combo Night

Lincoln Recital Hall, LH 75

Mar. 3, 7 p.m.

Free for students

Students present a variety of jazz and contemporary music arranged or composed for their ensemble peers

Live at Lunch: Open Mic

Parkway North, SMSU 101

Mar. 5, 12 p.m.

Free for students

Show off your talent in music, poetry, comedy or dance

Resources

PSU Basic Needs Hub

SMSU Suite 435

Mon–Fri, 9 a.m.–5 p.m.

Free for students

Helps students access resources such as funds, food, housing, employment, childcare and health support.

PSU Food Pantry

1704 SW Broadway (temporary location)

Tues–Thur, 12–4 p.m.

Free for students

Access to free groceries in a welcoming, equitable, trauma-informed way. Must be enrolled in at least one credit for summer or fall.

SMART recovery meetings

University Center Building 340 E Times vary

Free

In peer recovery, students with shared experiences connect to reduce stigma and build a campus recovery community.

SHAC weekly online parent support group

Online

Thursdays 11 a.m.

Free

Come together as parents in a relaxed setting to support each other, share ideas, collaborate and commiserate

Women’s Resource Center

Online

Mon–Fri, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Free

Confidential advocacy services to students who have experienced sexual harassment, assault, violence and stalking

Oregon Energy Fund

Varying Locations

Mon–Fri, hours vary

Free

Provides energy bill assistance to low-income Oregonians to support household stability

Wellness

SHAC Mind Spa

UCB Suite 310

Mon–Fri (by appointment)

Free for students

Solo space to experience biofeedback, light therapy, meditation, massages, relaxation and more. Must be enrolled in at least five credits for summer or fall.

Opioid Overdose Reversal Training

SHAC, Suite 340E

Mon 10–12 p.m. & Fri 2–3 p.m.

Free for students

Pick up free opioid overdose reversal medication and get a 10-minute training on how to use it

Mindful Meanderings

Listen on Spotify

Available 24/7

Free

PSU-produced podcast about being mindful while outside, practicing gratitude, finding joy and being in the moment

Telus Health Student Support

Download on App Store or Google Play

Available 24/7

Free

Connecting students with free, confidential mental health and wellbeing support

Outdoor Workshop Wednesdays

Watch on Youtube

Available 24/7

Free

PSU Campus Recreation Center staff videos about topics ranging from Leave No Trace and plant identification to hiking spots and land acknowledgments

BORP online fitness studio

Watch on Zoom

Mon–Sat, hours vary

Free

Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program’s (BORP) virtual exercise classes for people with physical disabilities