The Graduation Guide Congratulations, class of 2013—you did it!
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Portland State University FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2013 | vol. 67 no. 66
For one grad, dreams come true College immigrant’s Republicans An story of hard and under fire work dedication Students clash over limits of free speech Ravleen Kaur Vanguard Staff
During the past few weeks, Portland State’s College Republicans student group has found itself at the center of a proverbial storm, freshly igniting time-tested debates about free speech at the university. In late May, the group sponsored two separate events that caused a stir: a talk by activist Nonie Darwish, who has been widely described as a vocal critic of Islam, and a screening of the documentary Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West. Several students at the events charged the film and speaker with promoting racist rhetoric. A video of the confrontation after the film screening has received significant online media attention, stacking up nearly 20,000 views on YouTube as of Thursday. “Both events made a huge distinction between the majority of Muslims and the radical strain,” said Julia Rabadi, president of the College Republicans. “[Darwish] said this isn’t about [Muslim] people, this is about an ideology.” Members of the Muslim Student Association, among others, spoke out against the events. “Islam is about mercy, peace, love, compassion. These words are the very opposite of what Nonie Darwish preaches and teaches others,” said member Sadaf Assadi. Tensions ran high in both groups. Some Muslim students were worried that the events could incite violence See conflict on page 3
Kaela O’Brien Vanguard staff
Graduating Portland State senior Faduma Ahmed-Ali will be accomplishing her dream this summer. She’ll return home to Kenya to help make the water in her country safer to drink. “I am a true believer [in] hard work, passion and dedication,” Ahmed-Ali said. Ahmed-Ali has seen firsthand the diseases caused by poor water sanitation. Now, along with PSU’s Sustainable Water, Energy and Environmental Technologies Laboratory, she will help implement and track a new hand-washing tool. “SWEETLab’s current primary focus is developing and implementing remotely accessible instrumented monitoring technologies designed to improve the collection of effectiveness evidence in global health programs,” assistant professor Evan Thomas, the head of SWEETLab, said in an email. They will work with Innovations for Poverty Action to install and test improved hand-washing stations, Thomas explained. The hand-washing stations will have SWEETLab-designed sensors attached that will return data on effectiveness and usage, Thomas said. Ahmed-Ali, who will graduate at the end of the term with a degree in public health, grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp with her family before getting a visa and moving to Beaverton in 2001. “I gained a passion for public health when I first [realized] there was a water sanitation problem,”
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Faduma AHMED-ALI, a public health major with a minor in sustainabiltiy, works in the SWEETLab.
she said. “I witnessed people dying of small infectious diseases.” In addition to poor water sanitation, lack of education is a very prevalent problem, Ahmed-Ali said. She will be the first in her family to earn a college degree. “Don’t let your past determine your future,” Ahmed-Ali said. Ahmed-Ali admitted that when she arrived in the U.S. and finally began her education, she encountered initial obstacles because of language and cultural barriers. “Struggle is a learning process,” Ahmed-Ali said. “But nothing is challenging until you put it in your mind as challenging.”
Inspiring innovation Nike global brand director shares company’s goals in innovation and sustainability Turner Lobey Vanguard staff
Tom Kelley remembers taking the 19-mile drive down Interstate 10 in Los Angeles to school at the age of 14. On the way, he would pass a giant billboard that hung over the highway promoting whoever it was that was renting the space. He remembers passing it one day and seeing the board had been filled with a Nike
advertisement featuring a fiercelooking Lester Hayes—then the cornerback for the Oakland Raiders. He remembers thinking how incredible it would be to grow up to be the guy who got to make those advertisements. Now, more than 20 years later, Kelley has become that person. He’s the global brand director of sustainable business and innovation at Nike, has worked in both marketing and advertising at Wieden+Kennedy and was involved in innovative marketing for companies like Livestrong and Rhapsody. On Monday at Portland State, Kelley lifted the curtain to expose the behind-the-scenes actions Nike is taking to inspire innovation and
sustainability both in its business and throughout the world. The presentation was the final installment of the Age of the Pacific Lecture Series this quarter, hosted by the Master of International Management program at PSU. “It’s rare for people in marketing to be so heavily involved in the world of sustainability like Kelley [is], and Nike uses that to their advantage. We’re lucky to have him here,” said Cliff Allen, the MIM academic director. Inspiring innovation was the key message of the night. “That’s really what we’re focused on. To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world— and if you have a body, you’re an athlete,” Kelley said.
The people she knew while living in Kenya motivated her to face challenges head-on rather than let them slow her down, she explained. At the end of her high school career, she received a full scholarship to PSU that was funded by both PSU and Beaverton public schools. “Life experience made me realize there are people still struggling. Just because I had the opportunity to get out doesn’t mean I just forget about it. I had an obligation to get my education, and I have an obligation to go back and help,” Ahmed-Ali said. There is a need for greater awareness of the struggles of developing countries such as Kenya, she
said. “I want to bring a voice to the voiceless.” While Ahmed-Ali is a strong believer in hard work and dedication, she is also grateful for the support she has received from family and PSU staff and faculty. “My mom is a huge inspiration. She inspires me every day to not forget where I came from,” Ahmed-Ali said. After taking a sustainability and design class with Evan Thomas, Ahmed-Ali expressed a further interest in the topics they discussed, and eventually became a member of the SWEETLab team.
At its essence, Nike is devoted to great athletes, great products and great stories, he said. It’s about putting ourselves in a place to be advocates for the underdog and the athlete, Kelley said. “My favorite product story is Michael Johnson and the golden shoes. The guy shows up in these glittery shoes…We wanted to make them lighter—and we did, they were 30 grams—but we took a brash point of view so people sat up and paid attention.” Apart from selling products, Nike has been heavily involved in creating and organizing programs aimed at engaging the consumer and pulling them into a physically active lifestyle. Programs like Run London, Run America and Nike’s Women’s Marathon are organized running events that unite thousands of runners from around the world. They’re aimed at encouraging a healthy, active lifestyle
and are “done in the spirit of getting people out there and doing something,” he said. In an ever-evolving world, business has reached the point where it can no longer operate the way it did in the past. A growing global effort to become more green and sustainable has driven Nike to transform the way it operates. “The reality is, everything has changed. Our business model has changed. We have to break from our scarce resources to do what we do now, just in a different way,” Kelley said. By designing product-creating processes that waste less and programs like Reuse-a-Shoe, which has recycled more than 28 million shoes and turned them into new shoes, basketball courts and other rubber products, Nike has taken strides to emphasize environmental consciousness in all of its business actions, Kelley said.
See Dreams on page 6