Portland State Vanguard Volume 78 Issue 36

OPEN OPINION PLATFORM COLUMN

EDITORIAL

EDITOR IN CHIEF

Kat Leon

Isaiah Burns (in training)

MANAGING EDITOR

Tasha Sayre

NEWS EDITOR

Zoë Buhrmaster

CO-NEWS EDITOR

Alyssa Anderson

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR

Macie Harreld

SCIENCE & TECH EDITOR

Anish Kumar Arumugam

OPINION EDITOR

Cameron Rodriguez

MULTIMEDIA EDITOR

Sergio Cervantes

SOCIAL MEDIA EDITOR

Josi Struck

ONLINE AND PROMOTIONS EDITOR

Alley Henrici

DISTRIBUTION MANAGER

Aishwarya Suresh

COPY CHIEF

Isabel Zerr

CONTRIBUTORS

Amber Finnegan

Colin Russell

Diana DeGroot

J.M. Vincent

Milo Loza

Tayma Miguel-Reyes

Thuyu Gedi

Vaishnavi Srinath

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.

NOW HIRING NEWS EDITOR

Responsibilities:

• Oversee weekly content creation by either crafting news stories or delegating assignments to contributors

• Train and provide guidance to contributors to ensure their involvement in the publication

• Participate in weekly meetings to pitch ideas for upcoming issues

• Stay up to date on current events and relevant news

ELSA grant amount: $2,100 per term

Hours per week: 15–20 hours

Applicants with previous news-writing experience are encouraged to apply, though all are welcome!

If you have a talent for writing and presenting the facts, then please apply!

PROTEST AT PSU ADMINISTRATION

BUILDING LEAD TO LAWSUITS

STUDENTS CLAIM THAT PHYSICAL POLICE FORCE WAS USED ON NON-VIOLENT STUDENTS

Protesters lined up, sat down and linked arms at the entrance to the Richard & Maurine Neuberger Center’s (RMNC) parking garage. Some caught their breath after running from the front of RMNC where the protest had begun with two PSU students chaining themselves to the building’s doors.

Protesters organized in front of RMNC on May 23 out of solidarity with students who had chained themselves to the doors of the building and been arrested. The protest on May 23 has since resulted in two lawsuits filed by students against the city and the university for the “use of physical force against nonviolent students,” one notice stated.

Two Portland State students—Makayla “Topaz” Arnold and David Mosqueira—are suing the city and the university for the events on May 23. They claim officers did not give verbal warning prior to using force and did not consider alternatives to using physical force. Their attorney, Michael Fuller, sent notices to Mayor Ted Wheeler and PSU President Ann Cudd of the lawsuits. The notices cite pain, mental suffering, emotional distress, humiliation and medical bills endured by Arnold and Mosqueira. Together, the two claims come to a total of $7,000.

Police have also filed a probable cause affidavit for protester Sarah Netto, who the police arrested in front of the administration building. The affidavit alleges that Netto was attempting to break through the line of police and was given a warning that she would be arrested should she continue.

Video footage shows Netto joining the line of protesters. Netto had both arms linked with protesters in front of the police, and her head was turned, engaged in dialogue with them prior to the arrest. Shortly after, the footage shows a police officer holding onto Netto’s arm and pulling her back into the line of police, at which point she and the group around her made efforts to resist the police who were dragging her backward.

In this struggle, according to the affidavit, she kicked Campus Public Safety Office (CPSO) Chief Willie Halliburton in the leg, which the affidavit cites as part of attempted assault for which she was charged. Police then handed her over to CPSO Officer Marco Jimenez inside the building.

Around this time, protestors noticed that those arrested were being taken out through the parking garage.

Once protesters reached the garage, they sat in front of and behind the two police cars to prevent them from leaving. Those

who sat behind were quickly arrested, except for one who left the line shortly before CPSO made the arrests, according to an eyewitness statement.

Portland Police Bureau (PPB) officers in tactical gear arrived onsite and pushed through the crowd to join the line of PPB bike police and CPSO officers between protesters and CPSO cars.

Video footage shows Halliburton standing in the middle of the police line and making the first push into the line of protesters. Jimenez, looking to Halliburton, made the second push, shoving several protesters onto the concrete floor, including one off their bike.

In response, a masked protester wearing a bandana stepped forward and placed their hand on the shoulder of Jimenez’s right arm, which was in the process of shoving another protester down. Jimenez reacted by grabbing the collar of the protester with the bandana and throwing them against the concrete parking garage wall, where the protester narrowly caught themselves with their hands.

PPB Chief Bob Day condemned the protesters’ actions as a legitimate political protest, saying that the crowd had become extraordinarily hostile in a statement released the following day.

Police may use physical force on another person only after first considering other alternatives and after giving verbal warning that physical force may be used, providing them with a reasonable opportunity to comply, according to Oregon peace officer laws.

Video footage of the initial push into the crowd, however, shows Halliburton pushing into the line of protesters without any verbal warning to the crowd while some protesters shouted, “This is a peaceful protest.”

In the following minutes, police continued to use physical force upon protesters, deploying mace and pushing protesters.

Once they had cleared the entrance of the parking garage, police started grabbing protestors from behind and pulling them to the ground, with many of them falling on top of other protestors.

At one point, a bike policeman tripped over the pile of protesters on the ground and another protester came behind him and hit the top of his helmet four times, according to video footage. The bike policeman leapt up and slammed the protester to the ground, choking the protester with his foreform on the pavement for a total of 12 seconds. The bike policeman added a second arm to the protester’s neck for an indeterminate amount of time, a potential maximum of five seconds of holding with both arms.

In a video taken after police had pushed protesters out onto

the street and the line had disbanded enough for police vehicles to leave, a PSU student with blue hair walked near Jimenez and began to say something to him. The video shows the protester’s arms crossed when Jimenez turned toward the protester and immediately shoved them to the ground.

The student protester said that the push resulted in a torn meniscus and ACL—which will require surgery—along with bone bruising, according to MRI results they received two weeks later. They intend to file a report with CPSO once they’ve mentally recuperated, they said.

“Personally, it was a horrifically traumatic event,” the student protester said. “And also just horrifying to see the level of violence that was being utilized against nonviolent student protesters and also community members, and fairly unwarranted, but then also, too, like not given any level of warning.”

Cudd sent a campus-wide email the following day, acknowledging that those in the protest had experienced physical force and that Halliburton suffered a medical emergency.

At one point, footage shows Halliburton clutching his chest while a bystander called out that he believed the CPSO Chief was going to have a heart attack. The bystander had two dogs, which were trained to recognize heart attacks, he said.

About seven minutes into the protest following Halliburton’s initial push, Halliburton was guided over to the sidewalk with his hand over his chest, crouching down before laying down on the ground. Day purported that protesters blocked the way for emergency vehicles responding to Halliburton’s medical emergency.

“Police officers were assaulted and harassed, and lifesaving medical care was delayed for Chief

Halliburton,” Day stated. “It baffles me that these actions are being portrayed as legitimate political protest.”

Video footage, however, shows the crowd of protesters largely disbanding once Halliburton was on the ground, while police walked forward and expanded a perimeter of officers around the area with ease. A firefighter truck pulled onto the street and medics walked directly to Halliburton without being impeded.

“Students protest peacefully with absolutely zero property destruction,” the student protester said. “And then that’s met with an extreme amount of force, which feels very indicative of the fact that it doesn’t really matter how you protest. It’s just the fact that you’re protesting at all.”

ALYSSA ANDERSON/PSU VANGUARD

ZOË BUHRMASTER/PSU VANGUARD

ZOË BUHRMASTER/PSU VANGUARD

This was moments before Netto (red beanie) was accused of trying to cross the line of police behind her

CPSO Officer Jimenez shoved this protestor and he caught himself seconds before crashing into the cement wall

Bike police officer held this protestor down for 12 seconds and up to five of those he used two arms

ABBY RAYMUNDO

ISAIAH BURNS/PSU VANGUARD

KAT LEON AND ZOË BUHRMASTER

CPSO Chief Halliburton (right) was taken away by ambulance shortly after this photo was taken

ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROGRAMS TO BE CUT

PROGRAMS CONSIDERED ESSENTIAL TO INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS WILL BE REMOVED

IELP is a program designed to help international and other non-English speaking students learn English is being cut

ALYSSA ANDERSON AND J.M. VINCENT

The Faculty of Portland State’s Intensive English Language Program (IELP) received an email on Feb. 12 asking them to attend an emergency Zoom meeting. During this meeting, Interim Provost Shelly Chabon informed them that all 12 of IELP’s faculty members would be laid off and the program would be cut at the end of the academic year due to declining enrollment.

The IELP—an almost 60-year-old program designed to help international and other non-English speaking students learn English—currently has only 30 students enrolled. According to PSU President Ann Cudd, enrollment for this program has been declining steadily since 2015, causing the program to become unsustainable.

During a June 3 Faculty Senate meeting, the majority of Faculty Senators urged a “no” vote against Cudd’s decision to eliminate the IELP and provided comments. Several commenters cited a rushed process for the decision to eliminate the program. Other Senators who commented urged others to vote no as well. They cited the immense benefit of IELP—not just for international students, but also the broader PSU community.

Many also cited realistic alternatives to full elimination, steps that could prolong the program while a more definitive analysis of concerns about the program are addressed. No faculty senators spoke in support of the elimination of the program.

Six senators voted to eliminate the program, 31 voted against its elimination and 12 abstained. However, the vote ultimately does little to impact the decision and acts more as a ceremonial gesture.

“We value our international students greatly,” said Cudd during a March 1 press conference. “They add diversity. They add… different kinds of cultural backgrounds. And it’s just great to have students from all over the world. We’ll continue to support those students. We’ll continue to embrace them and hope that they continue to come. It is unfortunate that the numbers are dropping, but that’s really not our intention.”

In lieu of the IELP, Cudd said they will be seeking off-campus

resources to support international and non-English speaking students. These students will potentially be rerouted to different colleges or programs in Portland which can offer them the same support.

“Learning English is certainly an important thing, and we want to help support our students in that,” Cudd said. “We’re going to have to find resources off campus to help our students… who need that to access the support. But we’re very dedicated [and] committed to finding ways to help our students who need support in the English language to get it here in Portland.”

An anonymous email received by PSU Vanguard from someone claiming to be a PSU alum and former IELP faculty member described the decision to cut the IELP as shortsighted and appalling.

“I am very dismayed at this demonstrated lack of investment in and lack of commitment to PSU’s international student population, domestic student population, instructional staff and its image as a globally-minded institution,” the email stated. “PSU students, faculty and staff deserve forward-thinking leadership, not whatever austerity-minded ‘rational economics’ garbage is driving this move.”

During the March press conference, Cudd referenced an announcement during a winter strategic planning meeting which said PSU now qualifies as a majority BIPOC-serving institution. While Cudd says she values diversity on campus, some students find the decision to cut the IELP to contradict this sentiment.

In an open letter sent to PSU Vanguard on March 31, PSU post-bacc student Charissa Yang described the cuts to the IELP as self-defeating and hypocritical considering the university’s publicly elevated commitments to diversity and antiracism.

“PSU is claiming it is doing more in the realm of antiracism and supporting diversity while it is simultaneously killing off so many programs that were already effective in supporting the culturally diverse and international community,” Yang stated.

“Instead, it would not only make more sense to retain these programs in order to bolster these diversity goals, but in contrast, it would demonstrate a shameful lack of integrity to dismantle these long-standing programs, ignoring the further impacts of their effects here and long term for the students and community impacted.”

Gwen Heller Tuason—PSU alum and IELP faculty member since 2005—explained that international enrollment around the country began to decline around 10 years ago. Nearly 600 students enrolled in the program at its peak.

“Enrollment has changed over the years for the entire country and there are multiple reasons for that,” Tuason said. “Some of them are political, some of them are economic. Some of them have to do with issues like safety and the perception of safe cities in the [United States]. The increase in gun violence has also impacted our enrollment. So, there’s many reasons for [declining enrollment.]”

In the press conference, Cudd said that the low enrollment made the program financially unsustainable for the university. “We’ve tried making it more sustainable a couple of different times in the last nine years,” she said. “And we’ve also injected additional investments into it in order to try to beef up its enrollment and its ability to sustain itself. But instead it has just become less and less sustainable.”

In the last few years—especially considering the COVID-19 pandemic—Tuason said IELP enrollment bottomed out. If given the opportunity and additional resources, she said the program could have returned from the decline it saw during the pandemic.

“If we had the right systems in place to recruit for our program, we would have had a chance of keeping the program going,” Tuason said. “Likely with some reductions in the size of faculty, but not completely eliminating the program. We had hoped that that would happen. But the university, from my point of view, has chosen not to put those resources in place. That this is not something that happened overnight.”

Hika Hukita—Master of Social Work student and employee

SERGIO CERVANTES/PSU VANGUARD

IELP Deficit, 2015-2023

-$1,500,000 -$1,000,000 -$500,000 $0

-$2,500,000 -$2,000,000

at the International Student Office—said she feels frustrated about the cuts to the program, since English language help is much needed. She explained how students unaffiliated with the program do not know about the cuts, and it is even unclear for prospective students whether or not the program would be available to them.

“I received a few calls from some students thinking about coming to PSU, like international students, asking about the program,” Hukita said. “I had to tell them that we’re not accepting [new applicants] but that they’re looking for some alternatives. But I don’t have any information that I can give them. So it’s very frustrating and I feel the administrators… need to have alternative plans.”

Cudd indicated at the March press conference that the administration is developing alternative plans for the IELP, such as working with outside institutions such as Portland Community

College (PCC). However, Hukita said commuting to an off-campus location may be difficult for international students.

“Most of the international students at PSU, including myself, do not have a car, and that commute is what we generally consider when deciding a place to live,” Hukita said. “Also, many of us have a hard time finding a place that we can actually make a contract with, since normally we do not have credit scores that we can show to a landlord. Even students are admitted to PSU on condition of additional language classes before transitioning to the degree-related program. If the language programs take place off campus, such as PCC, commuting can be extremely challenging—with no cars but just buses—as well as the decision of where to live.”

Additionally, Hukita explained how many international students with children consider the school district when deciding where to live. A lot of them wind up in suburban areas, such as

Hillsboro, which would make an additional commute to PCC exceptionally difficult.

According to Tuason, international students pay out-of-state tuition—the highest possible tuition rate at PSU. By cutting the IELP, the university will lose out on this money. The reason for shutting down the IELP was said to be budget cuts and Hukita said this reasoning feels off and she doesn’t understand the administration’s rationale, since PSU will be losing money once the program is cut.

“I feel kind of sad about PSU becoming less PSU,” Hukita said. “The president is saying that PSU is very diverse and she would like to make the campus more supportive for minority students, but what she is doing, actually, is very contradictory to what she’s saying she’s going to do. So, they’re very confused and they’re very frustrated, and I feel frustrated about the contradiction, as well.”

Students

SERGIO CERVANTES/PSU VANGUARD

ARIANNA THOMAS

POLICE ON CAMPUS CAUSES SAFETY CONCERNS

RESOURCE CENTERS CANCEL EVENTS TO PROTECT MARGINALIZED STUDENTS

Students and faculty alike at Portland State have voiced concerns about a lack of safety with the presence of the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) on campus. This comes following the administration’s response to involve the PPB in responses to campus protests starting on May 2.

This has highlighted not only the tension of campus safety with students and police presence, but also the issues faced when organizing events for students led by different school organizations.

Nic Francisco—the director of the Women’s Resource Center (WRC) with a Ph.D. in Political Science—mentions how an annual event called Big Trans Movie Night had to be postponed due to on-campus police presence on May 3.

“We did not feel like it was a safe place to ask marginalized students to come to, given what we saw the day before with police presence and brutality,” Francisco said.

The WRC held the event later at 5th Avenue Cinema on Friday, May 24. Francisco also spoke on the feeling of being on campus. “We saw a community of folks taking care of each other,” Francisco said. “The people who [were] not taking care of anyone was the police force. Never once did I think that folks involved with various encampment methods were here to endanger or harm students.”

Kazia Salazar—a first-year student majoring in social work— spoke about the response of PPB to the protests.

“A lot aren’t prepared—aren’t trained—to handle situations like this without using violence,” Salazar said. “It felt a little scary to come to campus if it had been open.”

The Native American Students Community Center (NASCC) reportedly lost an estimated $12,674 in revenue during the police presence on campus. NASCC Manager Trevor Roberts said the revenue loss is noteworthy.

“We could have definitely used that money for programming and just support for Portland Native students in the Native community,” Roberts said.

NASCC community members canceling events pointed to safety concerns with police on campus, according to Roberts.

“Regular clients have canceled events, because they didn’t want their attendees to feel unsafe or uncomfortable with the police presence,” Roberts said. “And then some of the organizers themselves have expressed discontent with the way that the school and the president have handled the protests here on campus.”

Nanette Beyae, a third-year architecture student, expressed concern about PSU’s Campus Public Safety Office (CPSO), especially since they remain armed.

“When CPSO is armed and things like that, I’ve never really felt safe around them,” Beyae said. “Then, seeing the way that the events were carried out—whether that be the library or just general peaceful protests—how those all [were] handled very violently… I just don’t really want to be on campus if I can avoid it.”

Ahmed Elmansouri is the Assistant Director and Program Coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia Student Center (MENASA) and a graduate student studying conflict resolution. He said MENASA had to postpone an event initially scheduled for the week after the library occupation.

“The week that we opened, the person that we worked with said, ‘Okay, I could still do the event [in] the park blocks, but our event is very celebratory in nature,’” Elmansouri said. “‘How do we play loud music and have people dance when there was just literally a protest here? [It’s] marked by police presence. What if there’s another one? What if the police have to be there again?’ I mean, clearly you would have to decommission.”

With that in mind, MENASA postponed the event, holding it at a later date and in Montgomery Plaza instead of the South Park Blocks.

Since the library occupation, PSU President Ann Cudd has justified bringing in PPB, citing the hazards of the fire systems being disabled while protesters were in the library.

“I frankly think that the situation in the library, what happened in the library, was so incredibly dangerous and egregious that it absolutely necessitated that I take some action,” Cudd said. “Yes it was a risk, but the outcome was on the whole quite good.”

“I think that the CPSO is doing a good job of just trying to be as friendly and welcoming to our students—all of our students—as possible to try to mitigate that feeling of not being safe,” Cudd said.

Among rising safety concerns and postponed events from students, faculty and school organizations, PSU’s administration faces pressure to provide a safe campus for students and organizational events.

Elmanasouri iterated that, as a center which serves students specifically from the Middle East, North Africa and South Asia, they have seen some of the most impact from recent events around the world which have centered on protests in Palestine and the Middle East.

“And so for that reason, we had to dig deeper into, ‘Okay, well, how do we approach this?’” Elmanasouri said. “‘What is our role in this? How do we support students? What is our role in supporting students while this is unfolding?’ And time and time again, we come back to that. There is no moving forward without addressing issues of justice and inequities and oppression and all sorts of things.”

COLIN RUSSELL

SERGIO CERVANTES/PSU VANGUARD

Resource and cultural centers have had canceled and chose to cancel events due to feeling that minority students would feel unsafe because of the increased police presence on campus

PSU FALLS SHORT ON ADDRESSING ACCESSIBILITY CONCERNS

DRC IS CHRONICALLY UNDERFUNDED AND UNDERSTAFFED

The Disability Resource Center (DRC) at Portland State ensures that the university is inclusive and accessible to students with disabilities by providing a variety of accommodations and services to those with particular needs. Yet, students with disabilities and staff at PSU express major grievances about the inefficacy of the DRC, citing understaffing and underfunding of the center, as well as pervasive ableism throughout university infrastructure.

Many students with disabilities at PSU encounter significant challenges in accessing the resources and support that they need to thrive in an academic environment. For example, students face delays and barriers to course accommodations offered through the DRC.

DRC ACCOMMODATIONS

For a student to apply for accommodations, they must register an online account through the DRC, fill out an application detailing their disabilities and their request for accommodations, and then schedule an appointment with an access counselor at the DRC to assess their eligibility.

If approved, every term thereafter, students will submit a request through the DRC online

system for each of their classes. This will alert their instructor about the student’s accommodations. Students are also responsible for communicating with their instructors about their specific needs.

Examples of accommodations include ASL interpreting; peer note-taking; alternatives to presentations; extended time on tests; flexible attendance, in which students are not penalized for missing a certain amount of class, determined on a case-by-case basis; video captioning and/or real-time captioning, which allows students to read what is being said during in-person classes, virtual classes or in audiovisual materials; and deadline extensions, which allows students a two- to three-day extension for submitting work.

Ironically, many students report facing significant barriers in actually securing accommodations, one of which is the tedious—and sometimes declined—application. “I feel like they [the DRC] require a lot of proof that I need help, instead of just being understanding,” said PSU student Jay Lewallen.

“I had to fill out a bunch of [forms], like, so many forms, and then I had to contact my doctor,” Lewallen said. “They had to contact my

doctor. It felt like it was a pretty tedious process for something so simple.”

In order to receive accommodations, students must have a medical diagnosis. PSU student Lex Faller explained how, while they had been granted an accommodation for captions and transcriptions at Portland Community College, they were denied the accommodation at PSU because they lacked a formal diagnosis of auditory processing disorder.

“On their frontward-facing stuff, they say that they will do [the diagnosis process] through Student Health and Counseling [aka SHAC],” Faller said. In Jan. 2023, Faller requested a diagnosis through SHAC, but never received a response. “I still haven’t heard anything,” they said. “And I’ve asked the DRC about it and they said they still can’t do anything unless I get a diagnosis.”

PSU student Jessica Vilaysanh had a similar experience. In 2021, Vilaysanh requested accommodations from the DRC at PSU using a diagnosis that was from 2020. While Western Washington University’s DRC did accept the documentation, PSU’s DRC denied the documentation because it was too old.

“So I had to go out to my doctor,” Vilaysanh

said. “I typically didn’t see my doctor very often because it was [COVID-19], so everything was booked all the fucking time. By the time I got the accommodations I needed, it was a little too late for my GPA to be super cool, because it took them like a term. It was just so tedious.”

Even if a student has a formal diagnosis and is granted accommodations through the DRC, students report that professors are sometimes unable or unwilling to provide accommodations. Additionally, PSU does not require professors to provide accommodations if they alter the fundamental nature of a program, activity or course outcome.

Students can reach out to the professor as soon as they register for the class to determine if the course can accommodate them or not. However, this does not always yield results. “I’ve tried being like, ‘Hey, professors, can you email me the syllabus a bit early, so I can see if this class is good for me, because I’m disabled?’” Vilaysanh said. “And they’re like, ‘I haven’t even written the syllabus yet.’ So it’s like, what the fuck do I do?”

“It’s very frustrating from my standpoint having to drop classes, because I couldn’t take tests the way I need to take tests,” said PSU student

MACIE HARRELD AND JENNY LUNTE

SERGIO CERVANTES/PSU VANGUARD

A student criticizes the accessibility of Broadway Residence Hall, calling the ramps hazardous, especially when icy

Via Marie Nichols. “Or getting penalized for missing classes when I’m having an active crisis that the DRC has been informed about and has on record that I need help with, and it’s just not getting taken care of.”

“I have had one class that I had to last-minute drop, because [they made it clear that] we’re not going to do anything to help you here,” Faller said. “And they [the professor] sent me this lovely letter, which is apparently the form that Portland State gives to professors… [which says to the professor] you only have to agree to accommodations if they don’t alter the way that your course is set up.”

While students are expected to communicate with professors about their accommodations, they are frustrated by a lack of consistency when it comes to negotiating these needs. “Most of them [professors] are compliant, I would say…” Vilaysanh said. “At PSU, it’s wishy-washy as fuck. You gotta thug it out. If your professor wants to comply, that’s up to them.”

While some faculty are less accommodating than others, even the most anti-ableist, well-intentioned professors are stretched thin within the confines of an institution that fails to support them in fully addressing each student’s unique needs.

“I have had conversations with professors who have said that they aren’t getting enough support—or even close to enough support— to be able to execute the accommodations,”

Faller said, regarding remote attendance accommodations.

“There’s been several quarters where I’m registered for the standard 12 credit hours,” Faller said. “I get in, and then they’re like, ‘I can’t do your accommodation,’ but it’s too late for me to switch to a different class. And so I’m kind of just up a creek. Honestly, the DRC system with PSU, it’s incredibly inefficient.”

Some accommodations are more difficult or time-consuming for professors to manage than others, such as accommodations for closedcaptioning and subtitles. “There’s a turnaround time,” said Melissa Thompson, professor of sociology at PSU. “You [the professor] have to submit them to the DRC… Basically, they [the DRC] need them, like, two weeks before it’s actually required in class, because they need time to do the captioning.”

“It makes sense,” Thompson said. “I totally get it, and I wish I could do that for everything, but as a human being, it’s hard to be two weeks ahead.”

Professors are expected to provide all accommodations as well as communicate with each student individually about their needs. Thompson explained that professors can be notified of accommodation needs at any point in the term, which can be a challenge to juggle.

“Especially when students will get [accommodations] halfway through the quarter, it can sometimes be hard to keep track of,” Thompson

said. “So, I try to reach out, but I don’t always succeed… I haven’t felt like it’s always necessary to reach out, if I’m just going to give [the accommodations] anyway.”

Thompson detailed how the accommodations process works from a professor’s perspective, explaining that the Thursday or Friday before the first week of classes, professors will receive an email from the DRC with a list of their enrolled students and their respective accommodations.

“I generally just provide all the accommodations on my list that I’m supposed to,” Thompson said. “If I’m not sure about the right way to offer that accommodation, or if I feel like I need to confirm and check with students sometimes, I’ll reach out [to the student].”

However, students describe how this scenario doesn’t always play out so neatly in other classrooms. “With the automated letters [detailing student accommodations] for remote classes, the professor signs off, they agree to it, but until I set up a meeting with them, and then specifically I’m like ‘Hey, I need these accommodations, you already approved them,’ they won’t do it,” Faller said. “And I’ve been in several classes where I have to continuously remind them [the professor] to do it throughout the term.”

Lewallen echoed this sentiment. “I have flexible attendance accommodations, because I have a chronic illness that sometimes makes it hard for me to go to class,” they said. “So they [the DRC] say they tell my professors, but I don’t think they actually tell my professors, because my professors never actually know that I have accommodations.”

Not only are there communication issues impeding access to accommodations, but students are also frustrated by the fact that the DRC doesn’t send out automated accommodation emails until one to two work days before classes start. By that point, if a professor is unwilling or unable to provide an accommodation, it can be difficult to find equivalent courses still open for enrollment.

UNDERFUNDING OF THE DRC

Universities across the country are experiencing “a spike in students registering with disability services to receive accommodations,” according to an article published by Inside Higher Ed . At PSU, this seems to be the case as well.

“I’ve been at PSU for more than 20 years,”

Thompson said. “[Based on] my own personal experience—just in the students in my class— there’s been a huge increase in the number of students with DRC accommodations. So obviously if the DRC isn’t staffed hugely, more in terms of more people, they’re going to be dealing with the same amount of people [staffing the DRC] dealing with way more accommodations. So I think that’s been a little difficult for them to try to be informing us and reaching out and being clear about directives and expectations.”

Many agree that understaffing, and inadequate funding of the DRC, are major factors that contribute to accessibility issues at PSU. “The university just doesn’t really prioritize funding the DRC a lot of the time,” said Hanna Kane, a student engagement intern at the DRC.

“There’s a lot of things that we just aren’t completely able to do, because there’s not enough people and there’s way too many students,” Kane said. “So certain things are more, I guess, aspirational. We’re just doing the best we can with very limited staffing right now.”

Many students reported experiencing long wait times during the accommodation application process, as well as far-out and limited availability for appointments with DRC staff and counselors. This is particularly true leading up to the start of fall term.

“By the time school starts, [the DRC is] inundated with requests,” said Tricia Dowis, a leader for one of the DRC-hosted affinity groups. “That would be one thing—give the DRC more funding because they are severely underfunded. That is number one. Number two would be to make the accommodations process easier for those who need it, which again goes hand-in-hand with funding the DRC.”

While the DRC as an entity lacks the funding needed to be more effective, students recognize that the center staff themselves are not to blame. “I do feel like the people who are directly staffing the DRC care about students with disabilities, but they’re not paid enough or they don’t have enough staff to actually help us, or enforce our accommodations or what we need,” Nichols said.

“I have nothing against the DRC staff,” Vilaysanh said. “They’ve been helpful. It’s just, like, I can’t get to them. So it’s like a matter of accessibility… I feel like the university has a lot of resources, but they all fund them poorly. So they don’t even matter. It just looks good on paper.”

Students express grievances about the steepness of some of the ramps around campus. Depicted is one such ramp, with a sign cautioning wheelchair users of the incline.

JENNY LUNTE / PSU VANGUARD

Some auditorium classrooms at PSU are largely inaccessible for students with disabilities. Designated accessible seating is isolated from the rest of the class.

JENNY LUNTE/PSU VANGUARD

INACCESSIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE AT PSUT

At PSU, students with disabilities point to many infrastructural flaws that prevent them from fully engaging in their education. One issue is that the physical landscape at PSU is difficult to navigate for wheelchair users.

“I’m a mobility-aid user,” Faller said. “I use a wheelchair most of the time, a manual wheelchair, and the few times that I am on campus that’s a joke. It is a joke to try to get around the campus in a wheelchair.”

“[Some ramps are] graded so high that I can’t get up them,” Faller said. “The sidewalks are uneven and there’s huge curb cuts. The first time I took my wheelchair to campus, I damaged my wheelchair, which is a very expensive thing to have happened. It’s scary when you’re alone in a mobility aid that you rely on just trying to get around your campus, and your device gets damaged.”

“Living on campus is very inaccessible,” Vilaysanh said. “I lived in Broadway [Residence Hall] for two years… Those ramps are a joke. Everybody jokes about those ramps, especially if they’re icy. Good fucking luck. Go down those ramps at your own risk.”

At PSU, wheelchair users also frequently encounter recurring elevator breakdowns. “I’ve lived in a couple different residence halls, and the elevators are constantly breaking,” Lewallen said. “And they take forever to get someone back out to fix it… That just kind of makes it to where people can’t exist. They can’t go to class.”

Even once inside the classroom, students point out that some rooms are less accessible than others. In Cramer Hall, for example, many auditorium-style classrooms are without ramps, flanked by stairs and filled with tiny chair-desk combos completely unusable for many mobility aid users.

These rooms often contain specifically designated chairs and desks for students with disabilities, but they are isolated from the rest of the class—either at the very back of the auditorium or in front of everyone.

Moreover, many students with disabilities have limited availability to attend campus in-person. The lack of remote attendance options available at PSU events and programming is another barrier to participation for these students.

For example, PSU held a recent strategic planning session with President Ann Cudd. Faller explained how they reached out to

the event organizers requesting an option for Zoom participation, but their request was ultimately refused.

“I was under the impression that we did figure out how to have meaningful remote discussions during the early months of the pandemic,” Faller said. “And while I understand it, I think that it says a lot about whose voices you want to hear at these strategic planning sessions.”

“I don’t feel like I get to be an active participant of the Portland State student body because of that extreme pressure to return to normal that’s leaving students who can’t necessarily do that behind,” Faller said.

AFFINITY GROUPS

Faller is not only a student but also an affinity group leader at PSU. Affinity groups are student-led groups hosted by the DRC. Currently, there are three different groups, one focused on advocacy, another oriented towards neurodiverse students and a third geared towards socializing.

According to the DRC website, “the groups center and create space for disabled students to learn from and build community together.” The groups meet weekly, with in-person and virtual options. More specific information can be found on the DRC website.

“We want this to be an extension of [the] DRC,” Dowis said. “Because a lot of us have talked about our journeys to even getting accommodations or even just accepting that we have a disability, because there’s a lot of stigma still involved with ADHD [and] with autism… There’s still a stigma around disability period.”

“We take the issues and we’re trying to organize to improve conditions for disabled students at large at Portland State…” Faller said about the advocacy group. “Being a disabled student at Portland State and at any college is very isolating.”

“Students are kind of told that they shouldn’t disclose their disability in public or talk about their disability in public,” Faller said. “Trying to counteract that in order to create a broader community is super important.”

Faller explained how, while the advocacy group is a safe space for discussing and sharing self-advocacy tips, the group ultimately seeks to influence systemic change. “Something structurally needs to improve at Portland State,” Faller said.

Sergio Cervantes and Alley Henrici explore everything you want to know about online classes in PSU Vanguard’s new podcast Amplify.

The accessible entrance for Ondine Residence Hall is behind the building by the dumpster. Students express grievances about the state of elevators and wheelchair ramps in student housing.

JENNY LUNTE/PSU VANGUARD

PARKER PATANODE

INCLUSION OR MARKETING

PSU’S TREATMENT OF BIPOC STUDENTS

One day you’re sitting at the park blocks with your friends, the next your face is on a promotional brochure for the university. Welcome to the life of a student of color at Portland State, the city’s leading university in diversity and neglectful administration.

Do I sound bitter? Yeah, I am. Rightfully so. First and foremost, PSU’s efforts to be inclusive to communities of color are extremely lazy and have shortcomings. They only put students of color at the forefront when it’s time to ask for funding and sell to our most vulnerable populations. The most PSU gives Black students and students of color is a random couch in a random building which is then labeled as a cultural resource center. When you do get a building, you’re as invisible as possible.

I mean, what are the optics of placing the Native American Cultural Resource Center (NASCC) way in the back of the school? This center received a bomb threat, and the most PSU did was send a vague, lousy email. Although the bomb threat has since been confirmed a hoax, the trauma inflicted upon the community was very real and absolutely could’ve been handled better by the university. In the end, the community had each other and supported themselves.

PSU has a whole justice system referred to as Student Conduct which promises its focus is the success of students, when really its goal is to criminalize students—particularly Black students. Student Conduct has personally told me that I must keep my interactions with other students peaceful after I had an off-

campus conflict with an older student. While I won’t get into the finer details of things, the student started the conflict, and when they couldn’t finish they weaponized the PSU Student Conduct system by falsely claiming that I’d threatened their life. Yet, somehow the responsibility to remain cordial was placed on me, a dark-skinned Black femme. As if I’m not an adult who is bound to encounter conflict.

The entirety of the Student Conduct system is racialized and mimics the injustice system we see Black and brown folks fall under. It deems any conflict involving a Black or brown student as violent by the administration, even when that student is the victim. We talk about the school-to-prison pipeline in elementary and high schools, however, it’s time we discussed how the pipeline continues to follow Black students well into college. PSU’s Student Conduct system strongly replicates the country’s corrupt justice system which is embedded in other institutions.

The limitations of free speech—especially against Black students—and threats of disciplinary probation and consequences are just another leg on the school-to-prison pipeline, and overpolicing that doesn’t stop even after Black students graduate. I wonder if I’ll receive a conduct letter for this article?

Then there are the limitations on free speech. Back in February, PSU ranked among the lowest for free speech, coming in 232 out of 248 schools. I’m not surprised, actually.

One anonymous student who’d been placed on behavioral probation for attending a protest at a Board of Trustees meeting

explained to me how disheartened they’d felt to be punished for exercising their right to protest. “PSU administration, in their policing of the student body, tore away my hope for the future and the joy I felt fighting for a free Palestine,” the student said. “I would like to ask PSU, and their fellow friends in power in the war machine destroying humanity around us, how would you like us to protest? Should we sit silently and beg for our money to stop being a part of the industrialization of war? What has that ever given us in this university?”

It’s a question PSU still has yet to answer, with organizations such as Disarm PSU and Cut Ties with Boeing—benign political campaigns which have been vocal for years—having yet to realize their objectives. How do we achieve anything on campus when all effective forms of protesting are essentially criminalized and muzzled by police force?

For a school which brags about becoming the region’s model majority BIPOC institution, the talk sure doesn’t match the actions, and it’s evident in the campus-wide budget cuts. Why is it that the school of business remains continuously funded yet social sciences, such as Black and gender studies, face budget cuts? Thank you, PSU. Thanks for determining social sciences as less valuable than businesses or anything else which funnels money through exploitation and weapons companies.

Pre- and post-library occupation protestors on this campus have practiced their freedom of speech and been met with police presence. PSU President Ann Cudd has consistently intruded

THUYU GEDI

SERGIO CERVANTES/PSU VANGUARD

The university seemingly only uses students of color for the optics but lacks actual care for them which was amplified by the increase in police that has resulted in an unsafe environment for students of color

on freedom of speech by deploying the Portland Police Bureau (PPB).

What does it say about a school’s president and administration if they have police on speed dial? Is this a place where one would expect students to feel safe?

To continue on the encampment at the Branford P. Millar Library, I truly can’t help but feel admiration and inspiration for the protestors. They bravely put their bodies on the line in the name of a free Palestine and called on PSU to divest from Boeing. For years, PSU has dragged out the process until student activists graduate and leave the university. When they escaped the library and avoided arrest—for the most part—I was filled with joy and hope for the resistance. No one should be punished for practicing their right to protest. Protesting shouldn’t need permission to operate. Permission from the system doesn’t evoke change, people. I imagine it’s difficult to operate as a student while knowing your school accepts blood money from the same companies that create military-grade weapons to commit genocide upon your own people. It’s disheartening when your very own president refuses to simply call for divestment and cut ties with companies funding the genocide.

Rather than viewing the genocide of Palestinians as a conflict, Cudd must acknowledge it for what it is—a genocide perpetrated by the illegitimate state of Israel and funded by United States dollars.

In response to the encampment, Cudd initiated a violent raid by the PPB who brought along Oregon state troopers to our campus—a place where we’re supposed to feel most safe and protected. As a school which positions itself as a safe, welcoming environment for Black and brown students, it’s deeply irresponsible to unleash law enforcement upon students, especially seeing as how police have already murdered 100 Black people this year alone

During the protest, what I witnessed was beyond atrocious. The only thing more distasteful than the cops’ presence—as if anything could precede that—was knowing it was our university’s president who had allowed this to happen. Who had allowed for a Black man to be assaulted by the police, who had allowed a person in a wheelchair to be dragged from their chair multiple times.

Despite the fear I felt throughout my body while witnessing the police brutalize fellow students, hope also filled my heart. In the midst of all the violence, the community had mobilized with a common goal and took steps to protect each other. When I returned to class, my professors held space to discuss what had occurred the previous week. It felt right to have discussions surrounding police violence, and walking through trauma together as a community.

Even after the protests, the unity within the community and solidarity for the library protestors remained strong. Multiple PSU organizations and clubs released statements in support of the students demanding a divestment from Boeing, and condemned Cudd’s decision to allow police forces onto campus.

NASCC said it best on their Instagram post. “The trauma and distrust that was sowed will live on in students’ minds for an indeterminate amount of time,” the post stated. Seeing the history with police on campus and demands to #disarmpsu, I wonder if Cudd’s priorities lie

in protecting students or protecting her pockets.

The PSU Alert system exists to provide immediate information to the community on anything that could compromise our safety. However, throughout the week of protests, PSU used the alert system to send a series of alerts which lacked transparency. They were overall dishonest. At one point, they claimed that the PPB would be on campus when there was in fact no police activity. A system meant to protect the community from harm was instead used to instill fear and paint a negative image against the library protestors.

Claiming the police are present on campus when there are no police at all is frankly disgusting. How are we supposed to trust the emergency alert system ever again knowing it was—and continues to be—abused and deceptively used as a tool to restrict students’ free speech on campus by disrupting protest actions?

While we discuss disparities within class systems, we should bring light to our president’s whopping salary of $610,000 on top of a $96,000 housing allowance and $12,000 for vehicle expenses. There’s something to be said when a university’s president makes upwards of $700,000 while knowing a few of my classmates live in their cars to survive.

Cudd’s inability to effectively negotiate with students alongside her unwillingness to divest from genocide has resulted in nothing but harm for the student body. Her attitude towards her student population is one of fear and not empathy. It’s becoming increasingly clear that Cudd’s actions jeopardize the continuation of PSU. After harsh budget cuts and the expansion of a police campus, it’s evident that her presence is more of a danger to students, and for this, we should say no more.

Between restrictions on campus freedoms, violent police occupation of campus, department cuts and a frankly insultingly exorbitant salary for an unresponsive, insufficient leader, it’s clear to these students where Cudd’s presidency is taking the university as an institution: towards failure.

I happen to agree with them.

Local A&C Events

MILO LOZA

Taylor Swift Wine Pairing

Pairings Portland

June 10, 4 p.m.

$30

A flight of wine paired to Taylor Swift’s eras

Kid with the Golden Arm in 35mm

Hollywood Theatre

June 11, 7:30 p.m.

$12

An extremely rare 35mm print of the 1979 martial arts classic by Chang Cheh

John Malkovich in The Music Critic

Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall

June 12, 7:30 p.m.

$36+

John Malkovich blends comedy with classical music in a unique performance

Throughlines: Connections in the Collection

Portland Art Museum

June 13, 10 a.m.

$25

An exhibition exploring artistic innovation across diverse geographies and time periods

Bigfoot Regional Poetry Slam

Powell’s City of Books

June 14, 5 p.m.

Free

Poetry slam tournament featuring teams from the Pacific Northwest

Stuff Island: Live Stand Up

Comedy

Helium Comedy Club

June 15, 4:30 p.m.

$27

Comedians Tommy Pope and Chris O’Connor perform, blending observational and introspective humor

Mrs. Doubtfire Father’s Day

Portland Art Museum June 16, 4 p.m.

$25

A screening of Mrs. Doubtfire along with family craft activities

EVA SHEEHAN/THE PACIFIC SENTINEL

EVA SHEEHAN/THE PACIFIC SENTINEL

AI REVOLUTION IN POLITICS

IMPACTS AND ETHICS OF AI IN ELECTIONS

Artificial intelligence (AI) is making waves across various sectors and politics is no exception. As we navigate an era of increasingly sophisticated AI-generated content and deepfake technologies, it’s important to understand how these advancements reshape political landscapes worldwide.

From influencing voter outreach to posing ethical dilemmas, integrating AI into politics brings both opportunities and challenges which need thorough examination.

Deepfake technology—which comes from the terms deep learning and fake—leverages neural networks to create highly realistic audio and video content which can deceive even the keenest eyes and ears. This synthetic media is created by machine-learning algorithms named for the deep-learning methods used in the creation process and the fake events they depict.

“Deepfakes rely on models that are trained on a large amount of data using neural networks that mimic how our brains work,” stated Dr. Wu-chang Feng, a professor of computer science at Portland State. These models are trained on various content types—such as images, videos, audio and text—to generate plausible yet false content.

This technology has profound implications for political communication. “The ability to generate plausible, but untruthful content and to instantly spread it is unprecedented,” Feng stated. Informed participation is a cornerstone of democracy, but when the lines between truth and fiction blur, the very foundation of democratic engagement is at risk.

Dr. Bart Massey—an associate professor of computer science at Portland State—added that while deepfakes are not a novel concept, AI accelerates their creation and dissemination. “A skilled editor could simulate realistic content with traditional means over weeks,” Massey said. “Now, AI can do it in seconds.” This rapid production of convincing deepfakes means that misinformation can spread more quickly and widely than ever before.

The ethical implications of AI-generated deepfakes in political campaigns are manifold. Feng highlighted new issues in copyright, liability and privacy which arise using generative AI.

Massey questioned the ethical legitimacy of using deepfakes for voter outreach, suggesting it’s hard to imagine a scenario where such use could be ethically justified. “It’s not that complicated ethically, but what is complicated is the larger impact of AI on steering people’s opinions and ideas,” he said.

Some regulatory bodies are beginning to take action in response to these ethical concerns. For instance, the United States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has made AI-generated voices in robocalls illegal. FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel has also proposed new rules requiring political ads on TV and radio to include disclaimers about AIgenerated content, emphasizing that “consumers have a right to know when AI tools are being used.”

As deepfakes become more sophisticated, so do the methods for detecting them. Feng mentioned how automatio n can effectively identify specific kinds of deepfakes, particularly fake-news articles.

However, Massey warned that this technological arms race is ongoing, and while defenders are winning now, the future is uncertain. “The age in which we can trust experts to detect deepfakes may be coming to an end,” he said, highlighting the potential for fake experts to muddy the waters further.

The use of AI in politics is not just theoretical, it’s already happening on a large scale. A recent article by WIRED illustrated how Indian politicians use deepfake technology for voter outreach. In one instance, a politician created a deepfake of himself to address 300,000 potential voters, delivering personalized messages in their regional dialects. This practice is effective and cost-efficient, making it an attractive tool for political campaigns.

However, this raises significant concerns about transparency and misinformation. The personalized nature of these messages means that voters might believe they are receiving genuine communication from a candidate when, in fact, they are interacting with a digital clone.

Beyond deepfakes, AI’s influence on politics extends to ma-

nipulating public opinion and propagating biased information. Massey pointed out how the ability to generate large quantities of text and other content means that AI can “sway the entire content of the internet around a particular politician or political cause.”

The vast amounts of data collected on individuals facilitate this manipulation, allowing for highly targeted and personalized messaging.

This phenomenon is reminiscent of what Massey described as memetic infections, where AI-driven content acts like a disease spreading through a population. The rapid and widespread dissemination of tailored messages can significantly alter public perception and debate, undermining the democratic process.

Looking ahead, the role of AI in politics is poised to grow even more significant. Feng suggested that regulation may be necessary to handle malicious uses of AI. Policymakers such as Rosenworcel and Senator Amy Klobuchar echoed this sentiment by advocating for clearer guidelines and transparency in the use of AI in political advertising, according to CNN

Moreover, tech companies are also taking steps to address the issue. According to the BBC, Meta—aka Facebook—requires political campaigns to disclose the use of deepfakes and ban its inhouse generative AI tools for political advertising.

The integration of AI into the political sphere is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it offers unprecedented opportunities for personalized voter engagement and efficient communication. On the other hand, it poses significant ethical, legal and practical challenges that need to be safeguarded against to protect the integrity of democratic processes.

Understanding the implications of AI in politics is crucial for students and future leaders. It’s not just about being informed voters, it’s about being critical thinkers who can navigate and scrutinize the digital content we consume. The broader context of AI in politics involves “taking a lot of the agency for free choice away from people,” Massey said. And it’s up to us to reclaim that agency.

VAISHNAVI SRINATH

HALEY HSU

VANGUARD CROSSWORD

Answers in stories

Answers for 6/3

1. Emotional impact on students after a bomb threat or protests

4. Written statement used as evidence, detailing events during protest

5. Demonstrations on campus, leading to safety concerns and police presence

6. Local police force involved in managing campus protests at PSU, acronym

9. United States agency that regulates AI-generated content in political ads, acronym

Across:

2. The center that provides support and accommodations for students with disabilities, acronym

3. Global health crisis contributing to the decline in student enrollment

7. English program at PSU that was cut due to declining enrollment, acronym

8. AI-generated realistic fake media, posing ethical and political challenges

Across

2. The center that provides support and accommodations for disabled students.

10. Legal action taken by students against the city and university for the use of physical force against nonviolent students

3. Global health crisis contributing to the decline in student enrollment.

7. English program at PSU cut due to declining enrollment.

11. Term for minority groups in the U.S., acronym

8. AI-generated realistic fake media, posing ethical and political challenges.

12. PSU president criticized for her handling of student protests

10. Legal action taken by students against city and university for the use of physical force against nonviolent students.

11. Term for minority groups in the US.

12. PSU president criticized for her handling of student protests.

MILO LOZA

Community & Wellness Resources

UPDATED WEEKLY

By Milo Loza

Happening Soon

Register to Vote!

Between SMSU and CH

June 11, 12 p.m.

Free for students

Register to vote at the booth with pre-law society and receive sweatshirts

Bowl for Free, Craft for a Cause

Viking Bowling Alley

June 12, 3 p.m.

Free for students

Bowling, crafting and volunteering event for PSU students

Networking for Introverts Workshop

FMH 342H

June 13, 3 p.m.

Free for students

Learn networking basics in this interactive workshop

Mural Opening Celebration

Littman & White Gallery

June 14, 12 p.m.

Free for students

Celebrate the mural unveiling with refreshments and gift bags, hosted by the Social Practice Club

Sanskriti 2024

SMSU Ballroom

June 17, 4:30 p.m.

Free for students

Celebrate Indian culture with dance, music and cuisine

Lords of Dogtown

5th Avenue Cinema

June 16, 3 p.m.

A film following the rise of skateboarding pioneers in 1970’s Venice Beach, California

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

SMSU basement

Tues 10:30–4:30 p.m., Wed 9–1:30 p.m., Thur 12–5:30

p.m. and Fri 10:30–5:30 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

Wellness & Health Action Team

Follow on Instagram

Available 24/7

Free

WHAT is a group of peers who educate on health topics specific to PSU students.

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