Would you like to buy cookies for equality? Religious groups condemn Girl Scouts, claiming the organization supports pro-abortion efforts opinion page 10
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Portland State University Thursday, Feb. 28, 2013 | vol. 67 no. 42
Student Smoke-free challenge introduced at PSU reports offensive touching CPSO issues reminder to stay alert on campus Stephanie Tshappat Vanguard staff
The Campus Public Safety Office received a report Monday afternoon from a female student who said she was subjected to sexually suggestive and offensive touching. The woman said the incident occurred at 12:50 p.m. on the north side of the Engineering Building located at 1930 SW Fourth Ave. The woman said the suspect restrained her while making sexually suggestive comments and rubbing against her. The man was described as white male in his late 20s who was approximately 6 feet tall with a stocky build and a scruffy beard. He was wearing a gray stocking cap with tassels, a blue rain jacket and a green bandana at the time of the incident, the woman said. A “timely warning” issued by CPSO requested that anyone with information about the incident contact CPSO. CPSO’s timely warning also reminded students to be “vigilant and observant of their surroundings on See Offensive touching on page 4
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Secondhand smoke on campus remains an issue outside of the Clean Air Corridor. The new Fresh Air Campus Challenge seeks to make PSU completely smoke-and-tobacco free by 2016.
Regional Fresh Air Campus Challenge seeks to eliminate smoke and tobacco on campuses by 2016 Ashley Rask Vanguard Staff
For nonsmoking students on campus, secondhand smoke can be a serious annoyance, if not a major health issue. Even with the implementation of the Clean Air Corridor, there are plenty of other places on campus where students could be inhaling others’ smoke. Today, federal, state and local officials will launch a Fresh Air Campus
Challenge at Portland State. They will encourage a policy to make all college campuses in Alaska, Idaho, Washington and Oregon completely smoke- and tobacco-free by 2016. “If successful, this challenge has the potential to protect students, staff and faculty from involuntary exposure to secondhand smoke, while encouraging a social norm change that will reduce tobacco use,” PSU Vice President Jackie Balzer and Dr. Howard Koh, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services wrote in an article submitted to the Vanguard. The announcement will be made officially at 10 a.m. in the Native
American Student and Community Center at 710 SW Jackson St. Koh and Dr. Mel Kohn, state health officer and director of the Oregon Health Authority’s Public Health Division, will speak at the event, along with Balzer, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Regional Administrator Dr. Patrick O’Carroll and a board of students. Portland State has already taken steps toward becoming a tobacco-free campus. “Through the adoption of the Clean Air Corridor and the recent ban on smoking in the Urban Plaza, Portland State University is building the momentum necessary to become a Fresh Air Campus,” Balzer and Koh
wrote. “The PSU process will continue to unfold and will include campus discussions.” The CAC covers the buildings along Southwest Broadway, including Smith Memorial Student Union. Portland State will be the first campus to sign on to the challenge, according to the article. One reason that state and national health officials want to focus on college campuses to promote public health is because while students are in college they are more likely to begin smoking or shift to regular smoke and tobacco use from experimentation. See fresh air on page 4
Lincoln Hall’s glass tower to exhibit performance art College of the Arts will gain attention with new 3-story structure Jaime Dunkle Vanguard staff
Passersby will get a VIP view of performing arts within the new glass tower at Lincoln Hall, which is to be fully constructed by the end of September. Barbara Sestak, dean of the College of the Arts, is directing the construction of the beacon that will visually showcase the newly founded college at Portland State. She said the idea for the extravagant three-story glass tower stemmed from earlier renovations to Lincoln Hall.
“As part of that process, there were new ideas for the glass tower, and we decided we wanted to fundraise for it,” Sestak said. “Lincoln Hall turned its back to the main street, and now, 100 years later, the main visual piece is on Broadway.” PSU will save millions of dollars by using preexisting building permits. Boora Architects came up with the glass tower idea as a way to make Lincoln Hall stand out on Southwest Broadway. Acting and dance classes will be visible from outside the transparent tower, as will a student art
gallery. Construction will start in mid-June. Sestak said money from previous fundraising paid for construction documents and permits, and a gift from local philanthropist Arlene Schnitzer allowed the start of construction. Lincoln Hall is growing in popularity as a performance venue, and hosted more than 17 events last year, including Chamber Music Northwest and a mayoral debate. Dance will likely become a major at PSU again because of the dance studio on the second story of the glass tower. An acting studio will be on the top floor, and a green room will be on the first floor. A black box See GLASS TOWER on page 2
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A rendering of the glass tower to be constructed by the end of September at Lincoln Hall.