Challenging conventions
NEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 ARTS & culture............ 6 OPINION........................ 10 SPORTS........................ .. 14
Prolific poetics professor Charles Bernstein Arts & Culture page 6 to read at PSU
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Portland State University Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012 | vol. 67 no. 9
More vets attend PSU New Viking Vets center opens Josh Kelety Vanguard staff
They’ve put down their flack jackets and night vision goggles, their helmets and M16 rifles. Now, they’re in classrooms studying and reading, being students. This year, more veterans than ever are attending Portland State. This fall, about 1,200 veterans are receiving GI Bill tuition benefits, up approximately 20 percent from last year. Additionally, there are at least 400 additional student vets who don’t show up on the books. The GI Bill was introduced in 1944 as a way for the federal government to give back to service men and women. If utilized within 15 years of their release from active duty, veterans can have their college tuition paid and receive a small stipend. Partly because of the attendance spike, veterans have a new space in Smith Memorial Student Union, where they can connect to the services and help they need to make their time as students successful. It’s a place mostly for social support, intended to help veterans make the transition to being students, said David Christensen, vice president of development for Viking Vets, the student veterans association. “A lot of times when veterans come back from service and are trying to reintegrate into the community, they See Vets on page 4
Growing food on campus Green-minded campus lacks organic garden Cassandra Moore Vanguard staff
Across the country, organic gardens are being worked into the campus landscape. In the Northwest alone, rows of veggies are tucked in a fiveacre plot at Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash. The Urban Farm at the University of Oregon is 1.5 acres. Looking farther, the urban garden at Kendall College in Chicago produces between 2,000 and 3,000 pounds of food per year, just a mile from one of Illinois’ busiest interstates. Though the Portland State Sustainability Leadership Center map marks seven campus gardens, most are not vegetable gardens—some have herbs or trellises of strawberries, but there is no urban farm here. While food grows on or near campus, why isn’t PSU following suit? The answer is complicated and involves space, logistics and safety. Now a patchwork of smaller projects yield a small harvest of food.
Some success Where an exit off I-405 snakes away from US-26 and heads behind Stephen Epler Residence Hall, a modest, blockwide swath of exposed earth looks like a mirage amid gray asphalt. Dug up in 2005 and 2011, respectively, the community garden and orchard at Southwest 12th Avenue and Montgomery Street is fenced and padlocked. The garden shed is nestled among trees growing under the belly of an interstate overpass. The 48 plots in the community garden are leased for free to on-campus
Corinna Scott/VANGUARD STAFF
The community garden at Southwest 12th Avenue and Montgomery Street lays barren.
residents. As of mid-September, some plots need weeding or have been abandoned. A few plots are bare—one sixby-four-foot bed coddles a single aloe vera plant. The orchard smells of hay and engine oil. Keith Nevison, a PSU environmental studies graduate, former garden liaison and principle creator of the orchard, said soil testing has confirmed the earth here is safe. But, “I’m cautious,” he said. “A lot of students want to grow a lot of edibles [on campus].” That is not always practical, Nevison explained. Aside from concerns with soil toxicity, the real
impediment is construction.
Natural and man-made barriers Even if the university had space for an organic garden, physical limitations exist, Nevison said. “You will dig down three or four inches and hit sheet metal, glass, brick and other construction debris.” To save money, he said, construction companies have buried their waste on campus and covered it with topsoil. While other urbanites might look to rooftops for veggie plots, in the Northwest garden roofs are tricky, he
Rising to the challenge Melody Rose starts work as Oregon University System’s vice chancellor for academic strategies Ravleen Kaur Vanguard staff
The first time Melody Rose ever stepped onto a college campus was on move-in day at the University of California, Santa Cruz. As a firstgeneration college student from a poor family in Los Angeles, the odds were stacked against her. Just last week, Rose became vice chancellor for academic strategies for the Oregon University System, and will work on issues that impact all seven OUS campuses.
Among her many responsibilities, Rose, Portland State’s former vice provost of academic affairs, will serve as a senior policy adviser to the chancellor, develop student success initiatives and help shape the direction of higher education in Oregon. Rose’s unique insights make her a great fit for the post, said George Pernsteiner, chancellor of OUS. “She brings knowledge of Oregon that comes from deep interactions with communities and leaders in this state for many years,” Pernsteiner said. “She has a record of scholarship needed to establish credibility with faculty at all our universities.” Rose has spent 17 years at PSU, rising from adjunct faculty member to chair of the political science department before serving as the university’s vice provost for academic affairs. As
vice provost, Rose led a revision of the honors program curriculum, led an update on the institutional accreditation process and integrated the PSU Center for Academic Excellence. During her time at PSU, she also founded the campus Center for Women, Politics and Policy. The center aims to train and inspire the next generation of women to increase their presence in public policy. “She has had a significant impact on the understanding of the role of women—past and present—in public life, and moreover has taken an active role in the development of future women leaders. Melody is a nationally regarded scholar on this topic,” said Roy Koch, former provost and vice president for academic affairs. Drawing on her own experience, Rose has a self-proclaimed passion
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for public education, and attributes her success to college; she attended at a time when the state of California was investing heavily in its public universities, making tuition for lower-income students affordable. “I wouldn’t be vice chancellor today if I didn’t have that opportunity,” Rose said.
explained. “Rooftops generally make terrible places to grow food because they get baked in the summer. And vegetables take incredible amounts of water.” Green roofs range from lightweight three-inch ground covers—like on the roof of the Montgomery Bike Garage— to human-accessible parks. The weight from a rooftop garden can exceed engineering limits, especially for older buildings. Add rainwater and an unstable roof will collapse. So buildings must be inspected before gardens can be installed. See Garden on page 2
The new vice chancellor believes optimism and collaboration are key in tackling the big issues that higher education faces. Among these is affordability. “Access to higher education is a cause near and dear to my heart,” said Rose. “I’m concerned about the enormous student debt out there. I am and will continue to be a vocal advocate for accessibility.” Rose also stressed the value of educational attainment. She will be instrumental in seeing through Oregon’s 40/40/20 Plan, an education goal that aims, by 2025, for 40 percent of Oregon adults to have a bachelor’s degree or higher, 40 percent to hold an associate’s degree or vocational certificate and 20 percent to have a high school diploma. “We face great opportunities as the education landscape changes in Oregon and in the country,” Pernsteiner said. “[Rose] has the See Melody on page 4