Portland State Vanguard vol. 71 issue 24

PORTLAND STATE VANGUARD Q&A WITH CAMPUS ACTIVISTS DONALD THOMPSON AND KAITLYN DEY

VOLUME 71 • ISSUE 24 • FEBRUARY 28, 2017

ILLUMINATING THE DARKEST CORNERS

P. 3 ASPSU MEMBERS STRUGGLE WITH ACADEMICS P. 5 PSU TALKS IMMIGRATION P. 6 CONSTRUCTING BLACK IDENTITY AT PORTLAND ART MUSEUM P. 10 FREE SPEECH COMES WITH POWER AND PRIVILEGE P. 12

CAMPUS GROUP PROMOTES SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION, TRAINING AND ADVOCACY

CONTENTS

STAFF

NEWS PORTLAND RENTERS GET A LITTLE RELIEF

P. 4

INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEK AROUND THE WORLD

P. 7

FEATURE BRINGING SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION TO LIGHT P. 8 NEWS ROBOCOPP: KEEPING CAMPUS STREETS SAFE

P. 11

OPINION FREE SPEECH, NOT FREE-WHEELING SPEECH

P. 12

EVENTS FEB. 28-MAR. 6 BACCHAE, MARDI GRAS AND FREE MOVIES

P. 14

ETCETERA ADVICE FOR BROKE BRIDESMAIDS

P. 15

COVER ILLUSTRATION BY SHANNON KIDD, DESIGN BY AARON OSBORN

THE VANGUARD IS HIRING EDITORS FOR SPRING TERM POSITIONS BEGIN APRIL 2017, PAY $1900 PER TERM IN THE FORM OF AN ELSA (SCHOLARSHIP AWARD) AND REQUIRE A TIME COMMITMENT OF 15-20 HOURS/WEEK, WITH AN EMPHASIS ON SUNDAY, MONDAY AND FRIDAY OFFICE HOURS. WE WORK AROUND STUDENTS’ CLASS SCHEDULES. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS MUST BE PSU STUDENTS ENROLLED IN 6 OR MORE CREDITS WITH A 2.5 GPA. FOR SPECIFIC POSITION OPENINGS AND DESCRIPTIONS, VISIT PSUVANGUARD.COM/JOBS.

EDITORIAL

NEWS EDITOR Jon Raby

DESIGNERS Lauren Chapluk Terra DeHart Shannon Kidd Lydia Wojack-West Nimi Einstein Chloe Kendall Robby Day Max Wayt

ASSOCIATE NEWS EDITOR Alanna Madden

MARKETING DESIGNER Skylar Nguyen

ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Matthew Andrews

DISTRIBUTION & MARKETING MANAGER Chaitanya Deshpande Venkate Naga Sai Dilip Daneti

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Colleen Leary MANAGING EDITOR Tim Sullivan

OPINION EDITOR Jennee Martinez INTERNATIONAL EDITOR Alex-Jon Earl COPY CHIEF Thomas Spoelhof COPY EDITORS John Falchetta Harlie Hendrickson Jacoba Lawson

ADVERTISING ADVERTISING MANAGER Madelaine Eivers ADVERTISING DESIGNER Sam Hicks ADVERTISING SALES Michael Hardy Ilyse Espino Caitlyn Malik

ADVISING & ACCOUNTING

ONLINE EDITOR Andrew D. Jankowski

ADVERTISING ADVISER Ann Roman

CONTRIBUTORS Joan Brown Cassie Duncanson Dylan Gansen Chris May Ryan Morse John Pinney Ellena Rosenthal Eric Steffen Kristi Tihanyi Nick Tool Anna Williams

STUDENT MEDIA ACCOUNTANT Sheri Pitcher

PHOTO & MULTIMEDIA PHOTO EDITOR Silvia Cardullo PHOTOGRAPHERS Cassie Duncanson Roosevelt Sowka MULTIMEDIA MANAGER Andy Ngo

ART DIRECTION & DESIGN CREATIVE DIRECTOR Aaron Osborn

COORDINATOR OF STUDENT MEDIA Reaz Mahmood To contact Vanguard staff members, visit psuvanguard.com/contact.

To get involved and see current job openings, visit psuvanguard.com/jobs Mission Statement The 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 a quality, hands-on journalism education and a number of skills that are highly valued in today’s job market.

About The 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 in print every Tuesday and online 24/7 at psuvanguard.com.

NEWS

A CONVERSATION WITH TWO PORTLAND STATE ACTIVISTS ANAMIKA VAUGHAN AND JON RABY

Donald Thompson III and Kaitlyn Dey are activists at Portland State. They have participated in and helped organize actions such as Disarm PSU, 15 Now, and have openly brought up qualms with PSU President Wim Wiewel and the Board of Trustees. Dey is a member of PSU Student Union, and Thompson is a member of PSUSU and the Associated Students of PSU. The following Q&A was edited from an hour-and-a-half conversation they had with the Vanguard.

Thompson: This idea that getting involved locally, and for students that means especially the campus, is what we are most concerned with.

Dey: A lot of organizations in the Portland area in general, including on-campus organizations, are really struggling right now with everything that is going on nationally. Because right now there’s a lot of energy surrounding Trump’s presidency and his executive orders.

There’s a lot of people who haven’t been doing activism who really want to get into it, and then they kind of get plugged into bigger organizations that are focusing on more of those macro issues.

DT: When you focus on that it defuses the power locally. [For us] it’s about how do those national issues make themselves manifest on our campus, and what we can do about boarding that.

Vanguard: What is the importance of a protest?

DT: Visibility. It’s a visible, tangible expression of unrest. If you see a thousand people saying that something is bad, then it makes you think that maybe I should consider the thing’s bad. A lot of the time, protests culminate because the people showing up to them understand that their methods of expressing themselves have otherwise been silenced.

VG: People say that university campuses are very liberal, have you ever heard this or is there any response to that?

DT: What I’m curious about is why someone would try to de-legitimize a protest? I think it’s important to examine what causes a protest rather than assigning it to some super liberal instance. That’s just a way of invalidating something by not thinking about it.

We can certainly ignore people, but we can’t silence them. There’s a difference. People typically protest, in my experience, when they feel like they have to.

VG: How can we define hate speech so that we can use the definition in a productive way that doesn’t silence people who maybe don’t have bad intentions?

KD: To me hate speech is anything that can be perceived as violent. Because I think a lot of people see speech from the alt-right and white nationalists and think, “Well, they’re not physically hurting anybody,” but a lot of what they are saying, even if they may sugarcoat it, is advocating for violence against people.

DT: I do draw a definite line between the alt-right and conservatives. But the problem is that by letting those racist views wind up alongside your own, and not saying anything about it, and not doing anything about it, you are complicit. The responsibility of conservatives is to be able to identify these horrible racist folk who are pushing their views, using them. It frightens me that conservatives are like, “Well, they’re popular and that’s working, so we’ll go with it and we won’t say anything about it.” Until you draw that clear line of distinction between yourself and the altright, and be like, “That’s not right,” you are the same.

VG: Do you think a fair amount of people feel like they can’t say what they actually believe because they feel like they are not with the majority of the PSU Campus?

DT: You know, I think it’s really easy to feel that way. But when you examine how much those individuals are shut down or silenced and look at someone who is a Palestinian refugee, and how much they are silenced, when President Wim Wiewel goes on trips to Israel and sends out emails saying that the BDS resolution is ill advised and divisive, how silenced do you think that individual feels?

They have way less structural power than someone who often espouses conservatism.

And so I think that while they are being silenced, and that is important to acknowledge, I think that their capacity to vocalize, “I’m being silenced” is more than that of someone who is a part of a marginalized community.

Because I don’t think conservatives are marginalized, I think that their political acumen is less popular here. That is different than having a body that is marginalized.

What I would say to them is that I hear you and I see you, and I know how awful it feels to be invisible, and I don’t wish that for you, but I need for those people to acknowledge that the situation that they are identifying with is felt so much more implicitly by someone who is marginalized in our country, and the position that they are feeling is just a taste of what

someone like me, or that Palestinian refugee that we talked about, or international students, or a trans woman, deal with everyday.

Every, everyday, by virtue of things they cannot change. Political opinions are a lot more malleable than we give them credit for.

sity of tactics and a diversity of tactics is absolutely necessary. And so when people only have one view of what activism looks like, it really takes away the impact of activism and how there are so many different ways to make change.

[We begin talking about a Feb. 16 high school protest that began on the PSU campus and ended with police in riot gear.]

DT: Are you more comfortable with the misuse of power than you are with violent expression against objects? What people objected to [in Portland] wasn’t people being violent against other people; they objected to cars getting smashed, bricks getting thrown through windows. That’s what the media focus has been on and that’s what people are focused on.

I think it’s important to recognize that protesting and getting out there for women’s rights is in the same lane and direction as protesting Trump or protesting ICE agents pulling undocumented folks out of our country.

We’re all struggling against the same structure when we do these things and making sure that we draw the parallels.

KD: We are seeing riot cops, and that’s the difference from a year ago when we were doing rallies on campus and marching around downtown: We never had to prepare for riot cops before, but now that has become commonplace at every single protest I’ve gone to in the past two or three months.

When I am involved in any kind of organizing or planning ahead of time, that’s something we think about and that’s very new and something we have to think about as organizers on campus.

Now I’m in meetings and it’s like, “What happens if they start shooting rubber bullets at us?” It’s just very concerning for activism on campus in general to see that kind of response and be fearful of [holding rallies] in the future.

The other thing we were wondering about was what was the coordination between the Portland Police and CPSO? How is CPSO going to respond to protests now that we are seeing an excessive use of force against protesters in Portland in general?

VG: It’s important to acknowledge the protest that did turn into a riot, that had smashed windows, spooked a lot of Portlanders.

KD: What I think’s most important right now is just reframing what exactly activism is and part of that is recognizing that there is a diver-

KD: In the grand scheme of things, I think activism is all about building community and making community stronger. I think a lot of that involves diversity of tactics because not everyone is able to do certain things. Not everyone is able to go to marches. Not everyone is able to boycott things because it might be a necessity and difficult to boycott. And not everyone can do sit ins, not everyone can do graphic design to make fliers, not everyone can do phone banking because it might be hard for them to talk on the phone.

There are so many different things you can do, and in fact that’s absolutely necessary to sustain these movements. So it’s a really good way to build community and also to use the diverse amount of skills community members have.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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NEWS NEWS

PORTLAND RENTERS FIND THEIR VOICE THROUGH NEW CITY ORDINANCE ANNA WILLIAMS

The Portland City Council unanimously approved a new ordinance that protects tenants from the cost of devastating rent increases or no-cause evictions on Feb. 2, 2017.

Ordinance 188219 requires landlords who issue no-cause eviction notices or increase rent by 10 percent or more in a 12-month period, including notices pending prior to Feb. 2, to pay relocation fees for tenants ranging from $2900 to $4500.

With the help of attorneys at Student Legal Services, many PSU students have seen their landlords rescind no-cause eviction notices or rent increases.

While the ordinance has also benefited other Portland tenants, the apartment lobbying entity Multifamily NW is suing the city.

Portland continues to debate with critics over the state-wide ban on rent control and what long-term solutions can fix the city’s housing crisis.

Lawyer John DiLorenzo with Multifamily NW represents landlords Phillip Owen and Michael Feves, a PSU adjunct geology professor. According to a Feb. 9, 2017 Portland Tribune article, DiLorenzo filed suit because he believes the ordinance violates Oregon’s ban on rent control and essentially eliminates no-cause evictions, which both Owen and Feves have used to evict problem tenants.

“We view the current circumstances as resulting from an imbalance between supply and demand,” DiLorenzo said. “Not enough locals possess the skills for jobs newcomers are taking.” Multifamily NW’s solution to the housing crisis is to “build more, build up, and build more dense” to avoid displacing locals by the influx of professionals moving to the city.

City Commissioner Chloe Eudaly, who presented the ordinance, disagrees with this position. “It will take decades to build our way out of [the housing crisis],” Eudaly said in her Feb. 2 city council speech. Eudaly is a former bookstore owner and long-term renter in Portland.

She ran her 2016 campaign on affordable housing issues. “And that’s only if developers are willing to start building for existing demand,” Eudaly said.

Eudaly discussed how developers are primarily building luxury housing, which doesn’t help disabled, low-income, and often people

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LAUREN CHAPLUK of color, whom she said suffer the brunt of the housing crisis. As for landlords foregoing forcause evictions for problem tenants, Eudaly said, “The law is weighted in the landlord’s favor.” She added, “We don’t call our eviction court an eviction mill for nothing.”

Eudaly’s Deputy Chief of Staff, David Austin, told the Vanguard the ordinance is not a longterm solution, but “a temporary measure so the state legislature can make some decisions.” Austin referred to Tina Kotek, Speaker of the Oregon House of Representatives, who publicly advocates an overturn of the state ban on rent control.

“Do we want to price out everybody and then people who work in the service industry and people working other blue collar jobs can’t afford to live in this city?” Austin asked. “Commissioner Eudaly isn’t interested in having her city turn into that. Greed isn’t a good thing.”

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 7, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

DiLorenzo said he believes rent control would make the housing crisis worse. “If [the City of Portland] enacts rent control,” DiLorenzo said, “there will be even fewer market rate units. The market will always win.”

As a counter offer to rent control, Multifamily NW proposed a $25 million rental assistance bill in December which Kotek immediately opposed.

Dr. Ethan Seltzer, a professor at PSU’s Toulan School of Urban Studies and Planning, said most economists agree rent control would lead to less housing production than the city needs. “On the other hand,” Seltzer said, “building up is not the only way we can build more, but politically building up is actually easier.” Seltzer said policymakers should decide what they want and don’t want for the city, “then focus in on whether the tools

and tactics, like rent control or building up, makes what we as a community want easier to attain.”

The big question is, as Austin asked, “What kind of city do you want to live in?”

DiLorenzo’s lawsuit is set to go to state court, where the definitions of rent control may be debated. While humanitarian and economic perspectives continue to argue their points, the ordinance still stands in Portland, and it’s up to tenants to enforce it.

PSU students have the backup they need to appeal no-cause evictions and large rental increases. Student Legal Services reported that some landlords seem to have responded better to letters stating tenant’s rights under the ordinance written by SLS attorneys than those by students themselves. SLS recommends students contact its office as soon as they receive a notice.”

NEWS

CRONYISM IN QUESTION ASPSU REVIEWS SEVERAL PEERS’ ACADEMIC ELIGIBILITY APPEALS

JOAN BROWN The Associated Students of Portland State’s Judicial Review Board heard appeals by student government members regarding failure to meet academic requirements on Feb. 1 and 10.

The 2016-17 ASPSU Constitution requires that undergraduate and post-baccalaureate students who want to participate in student government must maintain a minimum GPA of 2.50 quarterly and cumulatively; must be enrolled in six academic credits per quarter, not including incompletes; graduate students must maintain a minimum GPA of 3.00 quarterly and cumulatively, and must be enrolled in five academic credits per quarter. Credit requirements do not apply over summer term.

For ASPSU, ELSAs range from $700 per term for senators; $1500 for senators who chair a committee or work on the Student Fee Committee; chief of staff, vice president, president and SFC chair make between $1900 and $2700. Judicial Review Board members make $400 per term

“ASPSU... never follows its own constitution when it comes to eligibility.”

– AIMEE SHATTUCK, ASSISTANT DEAN OF STUDENT LIFE and the Chair makes $700. This is different from student employees, who go through payroll.

“ELSAs are for student leaders who have positions only a student can do,” said Aimee Shattuck, assistant dean of Student Life in Student Activities and Leadership. “We could never hire a staff person to be student body president or a peer mentor. They have to have some sort of leadership component. They’re not staff and they’re not employees.”

Across campus multiple programs receive ELSAs, such as the Multicultural Center, International Student Services, Student Media, Leadership Fellows, Student Community Engagement Center, the Programming Board, and ASPSU.

THE 2016-17 ASPSU ADMINISTRATION HAS RECENTLY FACED ISSUES WITH ACADEMIC ELIGIBILITY. ROOSEVELT SOWKA/PSU VANGUARD Leadership Fellows has 110 filled ELSA positions, and out of those students, 10 (9 percent) in the last 12 months did not meet academic criteria.

ASPSU has 36 filled ELSA positions, and out of those students eight (22 percent) in the last 12 months did not meet academic criteria.

During winter 2017 there were nine requests for ELSA appeals. During winter 2016 there were six requests for appeals.

ELSA recipients who fail to meet academic requirements are allowed one appeal every 12 months. ASPSU is the only group allowed more than one appeal per calendar year.

“The ELSA process is one appeal. No exceptions,” said Coordinator of Student Government Relations and Greek Life Advisor Candace Avalos. “ASPSU is unique in that they are the only ones who have this process to allow appeals, and there’s no written limit on how many appeals one can have, whereas in a lot of other situations those students are just no longer in a position.”

The JRB, whose job is to address all constitutional questions, heard several appeals from ASPSU officers on Feb. 1 and 10, including Student Body President Liela Forbes, Student Body Vice President Kaitlyn Verret, and Chief of Staff Amber Hastings.

“This is something that I’ve been working with my professor on,” Forbes said. In addition, she has been using campus resources. “I feel that I’ve made a lot of improvements in terms of my academic confidence and abilities to get stuff done.” She was not able to bring documentation to the appeals hearing.

This is Forbes’ third appeal. “That definitely gives me pause,” said JRB Chief Justice Kate Lindstrom.

“I believe in her, and I really want to give her another chance, but I feel we don’t have

any documentation right now,” said Judicial Review Associate Justice Nhi Dao. Vice Chief Justice of the JRB Joshua Friedlein questioned a positive change in the present term considering Forbes has academic work from prior terms to complete.

After discussions, the JRB voted 4–0 to decline the seat vacancy and reinstate Forbes to her position as president.

Verret was also being heard on a third appeal. Last term she withdrew from classes because of health issues. “This was a step recommended to me by the Care Team under the dean of Student Life,” Verret said.

Other concerns involved the 2016 spring ASPSU campaign.

“We had some threats and harassment from white supremacists that were directly targeted toward us,” Verret said. “The school knew about it. I didn’t feel like they took the correct measures to provide us with a program for safety. I no longer felt safe coming to class. There were threats of rape and murder targeted directly toward me. We were elected on a platform of social justice and equity. I think we’re doing some good work. I love this work; I’m dedicated to it.”

Lindstrom reported Verret is considered by many to be a wonderful champion for students. Verret’s commitment was not questioned, but the primary concern is keeping academics in line with the constitution. The JRB voted to reinstate Verret.

Hastings withdrew from classes last term. She explained she was recovering from a car accident that happened a couple years ago which resulted in health issues.

This was her second appeal. The JRB voted to reinstate Hastings.

Student government, through the JRB, is the only group on campus that gets to govern over its own members.

“We have set up a system in which they’re the government and we’re letting them be semiautonomous,” Shattuck said. “Constitutions are set up with the best intent. If student government, any government, chooses not to follow their own constitution, it’s a bit corrupt. If the system is set up in a way that the group making decisions is too close to the other students within that system, then it’s croneyism. ASPSU continuously never follows its own constitution when it comes to eligibility.” Thus far this hasn’t been a problem with other ELSA groups.

The ASPSU constitution is a living document that is reviewed every year. “One of the issues that I wanted to address in revising the constitution,” Lindstrom said, “is actually including a change that would bring ASPSU grade appeal policy in line with the ELSA policy so that there are consistent and clear policies across the board. It would not give the JRB any authority over ELSAs—we don’t touch anything to do with finances—but it would create the same one-appeal-per-termof-office that the ELSA committee has.”

The grade appeals process exists to recognize that extenuating circumstances happen.

“I encourage students who have concerns about the grade appeals process to come to talk to us in the ASPSU office or to email myself or the president or the senators or show up at a senate meeting,” Lindstrom said. “The best way for students to let us know that they’re happy or unhappy is to talk to us through one of the many channels we have.

We’re here to help students, and we can’t do it without input.”

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

THE NEW OLD COLOSSUS: PSU TALKS IMMIGRATION CHRIS MAY

TERRA DEHART The Portland State Multicultural Center hosted “We Won’t Go Back,” an event exploring immigration policy and advocacy on Feb. 16. Dr. Ronald Mize, associate professor in the School of Language, Culture and Society at Oregon State, discussed the history of immigration in the United States and how it influences our current understanding of what citizenship means.

His talk was followed by a panel of advocacy organizations who discussed how their work intersected with immigrant communities and why this work is more important now than ever.

A NATION OF (CERTAIN) IMMIGRANTS

Mize’s research focuses on the historical origins of racial, class and gender oppression in the lives of Mexicanos and Mexicanas residing in the United States. Before even addressing the complicated and fraught history of American attitudes toward immigrants, he pointed out that the history of America didn’t begin with those who now lay claim to it.

“We clearly know that there were lots of people here who were not immigrants well before the conversation about a nation had begun,” Mize said.

Even at the very beginning of that conversation, what it meant to be a citizen was

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very clearly defined along racial, class and gender lines.

Mize went on to chronicle a brief, if often neglected history of immigration policy following the founding of the United States, including one of the first acts of the newly formed Congress of the United States. This was the Naturalization Act of 1790, which defined who was eligible for citizenship.

The act restricted naturalization as citizens to “any alien, being a free white person.” Here, “person” meant any white man who owned property. Native Americans, women, free blacks, slaves, and indentured servants were not included.

“We are not solely a nation of immigrants,” Mize explained. “We are also a nation of chattel slaves, we’re a nation of coolie labor, we’re a nation of land and labor usurped from violence abroad. And we have to hold those together to understand who we are as a nation.”

He contrasted the oft-cited Emma Lazarus poem, which is associated with the Statue of Liberty and includes the lines, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” with the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act. Enacted a year before Lazarus’ poem was written, it prohibited the immigration of all Chinese laborers.

Somewhere between the rhetoric of mythical boot-strapping immigrants that keep their heads down, play by the rules, and finally “make it” and that of foreign invaders that only want to steal jobs and take advantage of welfare lies the reality of what it really means to be an American.

PATHS TO CITIZENSHIP

Marwa Al-Khamees is a sophomore at PSU. She was born in Iraq and described how the chaos in her country during the Iraq War forced her family to leave.

“I was a first grader when [the Iraq War] happened,” she said, “and right after 2003 things just kind of went downhill and it wasn’t very safe in the country.”

After her parents received threats that led them to believe their children might be kidnapped, they decided to leave the country.

But due to the proliferation of immigration restrictions following 9/11, even other Arab countries were rejecting refugees from Iraq.

“We tried Egypt,” Al-Khamees continued, “We ended up paying a couple thousand dollars for each person, but we got scammed

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

and had false hope with that. Then we tried Jordan, but they refused to give us residency, so obviously we had to go back to Iraq.”

After being denied both immigrant and refugee visas to the U.S., Al-Khamees’ family eventually found a path to citizenship through a grandmother living in the U.S. But the path was not easy.

In 2006 when her family began the process of applying for citizenship, Al-Khamees’ family was living in Syria. However, the multiple preliminary interviews that were required beforehand took place in the U.S. embassy in Iraq, so Al-Khamees and her family were forced to make trips back and forth between the two countries.

“I was missing up to three weeks of school in Syria just because of these interviews that would last for a couple days,” Al-Khamees explained, “and they would happen every other month, so they impacted my grades a lot.”

On Sept. 11, 2015, Marwa was on her way to the Veterans Memorial Coliseum to volunteer for a veteran’s resource fair. While waiting at a MAX stop, she was approached by a well-dressed man.

“He came up to me and he asked, ‘What do you have to say to us on this day?’,” AlKhamees recounted. “At first I was like, ‘Excuse me? Are you talking about the MAX delays? What exactly are you talking about?’

He’s like, ‘9/11. What do you and your kind have to say?’ I told him, ‘I don’t have to say anything if you’re not going to apologize for slavery and the 2003 Iraq war.”

Al-Khamees acknowledged that she has noticed an increase in discrimination since before the presidential elections began, but she also pointed out that being in an environment like PSU opened her eyes to what had been there all along.

PSU’s commitment to its sanctuary campus status is one step she highlighted as a move in the right direction.

SEE YOU IN COURT, SEE YOU IN THE STREETS

Sanctuary cities (to say nothing of sanctuary states), according to one of the first of Trump’s executive orders, “have caused immeasurable harm to the American people and to the very fabric of our republic.”

This immeasurable harm is justification for threats to withhold federal funding for any such sanctuary jurisdiction that does not comply with White House directives.

Mass deportations and expanded immigration restrictions are not unique to the Trump administration, but there is no reason to expect these systems will do anything but increase in scale and force.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach was the main architect behind Arizona’s SB1070 and Alabama’s HB56, two of the most regressive and racist immigration laws in recent memory. Kobach was a candidate for the chief of the Department of Homeland Security and is currently one of Trump’s top advisors on immigration policies.

“The goal was to make them leave by just simply throwing as many of these laws out as possible,” Mize said. “Whether they are constitutionally valid or not, most of them have been struck down as not constitutional.”

Trump’s recent executive order effectively banning immigrants from seven primarily Muslim countries has also been found unconstitutional.

“The courts moved way quicker than the Trump administration assumed that they would,” Mize said.

Despite this, Mize emphasized that waiting for the courts to solve these problems is not going to work. He isn’t the only one.

Several organizations also attended the event: the Coalition for Communities of Color, the Oregon Latino Agenda for Action, Unite Oregon, and Causa Oregon all discussed the work they were doing in the realms such as leadership development, immigrant rights, legislative advocacy and research.

PSU Freshman Fatima Mendoza is currently a community engagement intern at Causa, a Latino immigrant rights organization in Oregon. She is one of the approximately 80 undocumented students at PSU. “Although a lot of our communities are in fear and they feel hopeless,” Mendoza said, “and everything is very uncertain as to what’s going to happen, I choose to fight.”

She put out a call to action to those in the PSU community and beyond to connect with advocacy organizations and those among their own communities.

“I think it’s just really important to support one another and understand that the struggle is real,” Mendoza said. “We need to do something now, truly showing that we can all have a voice together and we can all fight together.”

INTERNATIONAL

“LOL”:

ASSASSINS TAKE OUT HALFBROTHER OF NORTH KOREAN LEADER

TERRA DEHART

ERIC STEFFEN

Kim Jong-nam, the half-brother of current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was attacked at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia on Monday, Feb. 13. He reportedly died in route to Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

Currently, Malaysian police have arrested four people, one each from Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and North Korea in connection with the assassination. As the police try to piece together the attack, many experts, including the South Korean government, have all pointed fingers at Kim Jong-un.

Lee Byung-ho, the director of South Korea’s National Intelligence Service, told the National Assembly that since Kim Jong-un ascended to power in 2011 there has been a standing assassination order for Jong-nam, with Jong-nam even penning a letter to his half-brother in 2012 begging for his life and asking Jong-un to withdraw the assassination order.

Jong-nam was the estranged half-brother of Jong-un and posed the greatest threat to his rule.

While Jong-nam was the presumed heir to North Korea, he was exiled by his father, Kim Jong-Il, following an embarrassing attempt to enter Japan on a forged Dominican Republic passport. He split his time between Macau, Beijing, and Singapore, reportedly having families in both Macau and Beijing with various girlfriends in Singapore and Malaysia.

It is widely speculated, according to the Japan Times and the South Korean National Intelligence Service, that Beijing was keeping him safe to use as a replacement for Kim Jong-un to keep North Korea stable, yet have a friendly leader in power should anything happen to the North Korean dictator.

The assassination of Kim Jong-nam has been likened to a spy script by the United Kingdom news outlet, The Independent. The two women from Indonesia and Vietnam, one wearing a shirt that boldly proclaimed “LOL”,

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both told police that they believed to have been taking part in a prank. They said they were approached by a man at a Kuala Lumpur nightclub who offered them each $100. They practiced at the airport three times prior to targeting Jong-nam, the difference here being the cloth used on Jong-nam was covered in poison rather than water.

Malaysian police have conducted an autopsy and have demanded DNA from the Kim family to identify the body, but Pyongyang vehemently denounced the autopsy and said they will seek to return the body to North Korea.

Adding more credibility to Pyongyang’s hand in the assassination, the Malaysian police are working with Interpol to locate four North Koreans who flew out of the country the same day of Jongnam’s death. If Pyongyang is behind the death of Jong-nam, Jong-un seems willing to antagonize China to further consolidate his power.

Further illustrating China’s increasing frustrations, Beijing halted all imports of North

Korean coal, a vital lifeline to the isolated regime according to The New York Times. While the Malaysian police continue to work with their South Korean counterparts to identify the motive behind the assassination, further evidence of North Korean involvement will continue to antagonize the few remaining allies the secluded country has left.

As the story continues to develop, Malaysian police are seeking to question a senior diplomat at the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur and an employee from Air Koryo, North Korea’s state-owned airline. Mr. Khalid, the Kuala Lumpur police chief, has also come out to comment against the women’s narrative that they had no idea they knew what they were doing.

Rather, Mr. Khalid asserts, according to The New York Times, that they knew full well what they were doing and were likely trained by the four North Korean men who had fled the country.

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA

China announced the suspension of all coal imports from North Korea over reports that the reclusive nation is continuing its nuclear program apace. The announcement is made in respect to North Korea’s reliance on Chinese trade, with 90 percent of exports going to this neighbor.

FEB. 20 NEW YORK, NY

Russian ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin died of heart failure in New York City. His death sparked numerous conspiracy theories regarding the potential for assassination or other sabotage. Toxicology is still pending.

FEB. 23 AL-BAB, SYRIA

Turkish forces succeeded in suppressing rebel forces in the center of al-Bab, Syria. The multi-month battle began in early November and did not reach a conclusion until just this week.

FEB.23

PYONGYANG, NORTH KOREA

FEB.24

PRETORIA, SOUTH AFRICA

North Korean state media blasted Chinese leaders over suspension of coal imports, their admonishment of North Korean ballistic missile testing, and nuclear ambitions. The fiery tirades reasserted a push toward nuclear ambitions and weapon growth, further straining ties with the neighboring superpower.

Feb. 18– Feb. 24 Alex-Jon Earl

South Africans rioted against Nigerian and Somalian immigrants in the latest of a series of anti-immigrant protests. Much of the violence has seemingly been whipped up by President Jacob Zuma, who has in recent weeks called such people criminals, and labelled the protests as antidrug and anti-crime.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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COVER

ILLUMINATING THE DARKEST CORNERS CAMPUS GROUP PROMOTES SEXUAL ASSAULT PREVENTION, TRAINING AND ADVOCACY CASSIE DUNCANSON

Illuminate, a new division of Portland State’s Center for Student Health and Counseling, started with a push from students. The Student Alliance for Sexual Safety was pivotal in establishing advocacy for interpersonal violence and was already being built by the Women’s Resource Center.

According to its webpage, Illuminate uses “the power of prevention education to promote healthy relationships and sexuality by addressing the underlying social determinants of violence and to create equal and respectful relationships.

Illuminate seeks to shed light on the social injustices that lead to sexual and relationship violence and to create social change through prevention programming such as bystander intervention, anti-oppression, consent workshops and social norms campaigns.”

Illuminate’s goals reflect national trends to create comprehensive prevention work in regard to IPV, particularly on college campuses, and sanctions associated with Title IX included citations that required those colleges to begin bringing prevention work onto campus. Most schools that want to be leaders are looking to what Title IX endeavors to encompass.

WHO’S IN THE ILLUMINATE OFFICE? “[PSU] did not have sanctions around IPV,” according to Amy Kayon, Illuminate’s Sexual and Relationship Violence Prevention coordinator. “There’s a groundswell of student and administrative need and want—a desire to be out in front of what could be mandated and building the advocacy program from that.”

Before working at PSU, Kayon was the coordinator for the statewide youth crisis line. After that, she volunteered for the Sexual Assault Research Center in Washington County before accepting a coordinator position. “That prevention [work] set me up to do work at PSU because PSU is such an urban commuter campus,” Kayon said.

Working in high schools, she specifically looked at ways to change behaviors, knowledge and attitudes. “One of the great things about working within the campus is its strong community identity—of being part of PSU as opposed to belonging to an outside agency.” Her Master of Teaching degree has also given her a strong sense for curriculum development, and this background helps her think systemically when building programs.

“Our first year was very successful, focusing on comprehensive prevention in three different places on campus and offering bystander and consent workshop campus wide,” Kayon said. Workshops were built with the help of peer educators who helped collaborate and inform the content.

PEER EDUCATORS Illuminate currently has two paid peer educators. Anastasia Hale and Jessica Le got involved with Illuminate by taking Public Administration 409: Sexual Violence Prevention, Education, and Response, a 3-credit course which looks at different views on advocacy and prevention education on PSU’s campus. The class specifically examines sexual harassment, sexual assault, relationship violence and stalking. Completion of the course allows students to pursue advocacy work with the Women’s Resource Center or, as Hale and Le chose, to pursue prevention work with Illuminate.

Le, who focuses her psychology degree on criminal studies, said she “never really thought about prevention” prior to taking PA409.

While prevention and advocacy work are certainly different sides of the same coin, Jessica became interested in “getting at the root of the problem…prevention efforts as opposed to reacting.”

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(L TO R) JESSICA LE AND ANASTASIA HALE, MEMBERS OF ILLUMINATE. CASSIE DUNCANSON/PSU VANGUARD

ILLUMINATE‘S PINS AND STICKERS, DESIGNED BY PSU MARKETING STUDENTS. CASSIE DUNCANSON/ PSU VANGUARD

Much of the work that Le and Hale do goes beyond doing workshops and working with other programs, both on campus and in the community; they are also preparing Illuminate for the long haul. Much of the peer educators’ current work—organization— might seem like a menial task, but they are setting up Illuminate for the next generation of students, creating systems that Illuminate can use for programming, for communicating with the community, and for scheduling events and working with campus programs. Their successors in Illuminate and the following generations that will benefit from their hard work.

Hale especially loves Illuminate’s name and logo, designed by PSU’s Marketing program. “They aren’t scary, in your face,” Hale said. “It helps with tabling.” The unique logo and name open the conversation to students who might not otherwise have any interaction with the subject.

Hale has been surprised by the amount of student engagement.

Workshops are mandatory for student athletes and Resident Assistant training and are held in student housing. “The people who come are genuinely engaged and want to get better,” Hale said. “They leave feeling empowered, [wanting] to do something about the issues.”

STUDENT INVOLVEMENT AND WORKSHOPS Because of heavy student involvement, these workshops reflect the campus. “A lot of PSU students are wanting to interact with the topic of consent,” Kayon said.

Illuminate recently led a consent workshop for the Queer Resource Center’s Sex Week. It was well received, and the conversation seemed to resonate with the students.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

Peer educators have been doing a lot of work during the month of February, embracing Valentine’s Day as an opportunity to talk about sex and consent.

Bystander and consent workshops have been held in many residential buildings (Psst…Free pizza). Illuminate has built workshops specifically with Athletics, Residential Life and International Student Life programs in mind.

Illuminate is rooted in the community and relies on its volunteers. All volunteers go through training that has been approved by the attorney general’s sexual assault task force. The online module meets standards for confidentiality privilege.

One Master of Public Administration student volunteer (who wished to remain anonymous) has created a volunteer management protocol system. Their involvement has been a “beautiful partnership with program, [helping to create] system[s] and structure how to engage students when they want to volunteer.”

Another Master of Public Health student has been helping with program development, particularly with the international student life program, and one of Illuminate’s interns will spend spring term developing queer- and -trans-specific programming with QRC, being particularly cognizant that not all queer students use QRC. “The interest and collaboration by the students on campus has really driven success this first year,” Kayon said. “They are driving the same level of innovation and development in year two.”

LOOKING FORWARD Master of Social Work student Alix Prior is looking at ways to build Illuminate by reaching out to different schools and pro-

COVER SHANNON KIDD

grams at PSU and inviting them to do comprehensive prevention work within the program. One of the biggest challenges has been reaching out to every student: only approximately 2,000 of PSU’s almost 30,000 students live on campus, and not every student is involved in extracurricular activities which mandate workshops and training. Every student, though, is enrolled in classes. Prior seeks to build Illuminate presence and relationships with students in the classroom and “building sustainable relationships with departments.”

She is currently working on developing programming with the Resource Center for Students with Children.

Prior is also cultivating programs for orientation and matriculation, under the mandate that all incoming students will take Illuminate’s bystander workshop. This will provide incoming students with an element of prevention work; the timing—the week before Viking Week—will allow transfer and other non-traditional students who aren’t coming straight from high school to be involved.

Illuminate’s work with Resident Life has sought to require all first-year residents (traditional freshmen) to take the bystander and consent workshop within the first two weeks of school. According to Kayon, this helps open up the “opportunity to come in and do more programming and cover more topics, knowing that everybody who comes in has done the bystander workshop.” It frees Illuminate to do other prevention work.

The second year will have an emphasis on workshop development beyond consent and bystander, looking to issues of depression, harmful gender stereotypes, toxic masculinity, substance abuse and media representation.

In the coming year, Illuminate will be working with PSU psychology professor Keith Kaufman, who recently received a $750,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to discuss situational prevention work. Kaufman will create a handbook based on that research, and on the work he will be doing with eight universities, including PSU, where he will be working with Illuminate and Kayon. “[He will be] training me on how to help facilitate the groups,” Kayon said. “My goal is that when he’s done handing off the handbook [we will be able] to continue this type of work—we’d like it to come into the Illuminate umbrella.”

Kayon added that this type of discussion and work addresses “small- and -big-picture sexual violence prevention work that can drive at some of the policy changes that are a little bit more difficult to address, but really drive at systemic changes that help prevent perpetration and victimization.”

UPCOMING EVENTS Illuminate’s next big event is An Evening with Brenda Tracy, 5:30–8 p.m., April 5 in the Smith Memorial Student Union Ballroom, cosponsored by AAUW, WRC, PSU Global Diversity and Inclusion, and PSU Athletics. Tracy will be spending the evening sharing her story of survival and advocacy, and will discuss on-campus solutions and her own history of legislative advocacy work within the state of Oregon. More information about the event can be found on the event’s Facebook page.

Another exciting upcoming event is Denim Day; this will be Illuminate’s first year running the event. Denim Day will take place from 9 a.m.–3 p.m. on April 26 on the Park Blocks; there will be free food, raffles and plenty of swag. Illuminate is currently looking for donations of denim: jeans, jackets, vests, chaps—any and everything denim. Donation boxes will be in on-campus centers, including the Queer Resource Center and Women’s Resource Center. These items will be used as part of an interactive activity on Denim Day, and you won’t want to miss out.

HOW CAN I HELP? Currently, Illuminate is looking for student volunteers, and there are ample opportunities with varying time commitments. Members are looking for coordinators for Denim Day, students who can give presentations and do outreach work, and students who want to give input on the workshops and various programs that Illuminate is working on.

Kayon says she is “all ears all the time for what students want on campus.”

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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NEWS ARTS NEWS& CULTURE

THE SOUND GRENADE EXPLODES AT PSU ELLENA ROSENTHAL

You are walking from Smith to your car on a cold winter’s night. Portland rain has covered the streets as the clouds overhead make visibility difficult. A figure comes walking toward you and aggressively reaches for your gym bag, which holds your wallet, car keys, and take-home midterm. In a split second you have a decision to make: How will you protect yourself?

More than one hundred students on Portland State’s campus are deciding against reaching for their mace, switchblade or raising their fists. Instead, they’re reaching for a small piece of plastic called the Sound Grenade™—a keychain-like device that fits in the palm of your hand or a carabiner attached to your belt loop.

Once activated, the Sound Grenade releases a 120-decibel siren—which the company behind the device describes as a blast equivalent to that of an ambulance siren or having your ear up close to speakers at a rock concert—for up to 30 minutes.

San Francisco-based company ROBOCOPP manufactures the sound grenade and noticed via customer shipping and email addresses that many purchases have come from the blocks that make up the Portland campus “When there’s an event that shakes a community, there’s a surge in purchases of the Sound Grenade,” said ROBOCOPP public relations director Jill Turner.

This may explain the surge in Sound Grenade popularity within the Portland metro area, specifically PSU’s campus. From the beginning of December 2016 to now, Vanguard’s weekly “Crime blotter” has documented approximately 75 incidents involving theft, violence, sexual harassment, trespassing or vandalism.

According to Turner, the Sound Grenade is buzzworthy as it provides a nonviolent and innovative way to prevent attacks on or off college campuses.

ROBOCOPP receives regular reviews from students and customers about how the device was instrumental in preventing potentially violent attacks. Just this week, Turner was contacted by an Oregon mother

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whose son had used the Sound Grenade in self-

defense while walking to his car at night.

The mother told Turner that her son had noticed a man persistently following him and crossing the street whenever he crossed the street. When her son used his Sound Grenade, the stranger took off running in the opposite direction. Campus Safety was then called and dealt with the situation.

The device was originally designed by ROBOCOPP CEO Sam Mansen for his sister who was a student at UC Berkeley. Now the device is used at over one hundred college campuses in the U.S. And according to ROBOCOPP, campus security departments love this device. “It helps them do their job,” Turner said. “They can respond to an incident because they hear an alarm; it’s worth it for them. A lot of the time they are just patrolling.”

However, PSU’S Police Chief Phillip Zerzan, along with PSU Sgt. Robert McCleary, were not aware that students on PSU’s campus were using the Sound Grenade.

During an email correspondence, Zezarn said he could not speak to this specific product, but his office encourages everyone on campus to always have a plan for personal safety. “This includes being aware of your surroundings, traveling with companions, and having a way to communicate a need for assistance,” Zerzan said.

The Sound Grenade can be used to prevent crimes such as rape and theft. The device weighs less than an ounce, which makes for easy access, and is available in different designs and colors to yield a cool, sleek look.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

“Fifty percent of our customers are male, and we really think it’s bizarre when companies only market their product to women,” Turner said. “Violent crime is not exclusive to one gender, and I find that crime prevention is often discussed in relation to women.”

“Big muscley men are mugged all the time,” Turner continued. “Both genders value a nonviolent tool like this. [It’s] an affordable tool to prevent an attack.”

The Sound Grenade has been on the market since 2015, and ROBOCOPP claims to have had a 100 percent success rate.

For students interested in learning about other self-defense methods, please visit PSU’s Physical Education webpage for future course information. visit psuvanguard.com for Vanguard staff testing out the sound grenade.

Multimedia at psuvanguard.com

ARTS & CULTURE

‘CONSTRUCTING IDENTITY’ ON THE PARK BLOCKS COMMENTARY BY KRISTI TIHANYI If you are inspired by issues surrounding personal identity—such as race, gender, and community—and if you have a free afternoon to bask in the beauty of unique and inner strength-based art, you should take a walk up the Park Blocks to the Portland Art Museum.

Students of all ethnicities and backgrounds can benefit from attending the Constructing Identity exhibit, only a few blocks north of Portland State.

This bold and inventive collection, presented by the Petrucci Family Foundation Collection of African-American Art, offers a new voice and value to the history and identity of African-Americans. The themes of Black History Month 2017 can be found in the collection, which will remain on display through June 18, 2017.

The exhibit is divided into overlying themes used to break down and reconstruct the identity of African-Americans through artistic expression. Reminiscent of the culture and style of the art that put black people into the artistic foreground during the Harlem Renaissance, the collection tells a story of a culture that was historically identified in comparison or contrast to dominant, Anglo-Saxon values—hence the construction of a black identity.

PSU student Chauncey Wheeler-Scott— psychology major, guest speaker on KPSU, and prospective childhood education graduate student—commented on the positive influence that an exhibit featuring the voices and perspectives of minorities can have on other students, and on all citizens of Portland.

During a telephone interview, WheelerScott explained her position on the need for exposure to African-American art: “Portland is a very white experience, a very gentrified experi-

ence. Black communities that have been here for years are being pushed out.” Like many PSU students motivated to fight for the equality of all people, Wheeler-Scott feels that “change requires awareness…Understanding where people are coming from is understanding their identity.”

The artists here have fought to address and expand on this reality by creating a realm of imagery depicting self-perception that is truer to their lives than the predominant conceptions of black people that have been crafted by ideals of whiteness.

The art in this exhibit represents themes of community, gender, faces, the land, abstraction, and the spirit. Pieces labeled by the theme “Gender,” for example, depict images of black women wearing wraps (scarf-like garments wrapped around the hair) and humble clothing, while those labeled “Community” present black-and-white images of a group of proud looking young black men standing side by side. The themes in no way limit the scope or medium, and enthusiasts can even find a five dollar bill dressed up to give Abraham Lincoln a stylish, distinctly African-American ‘fro. The collection not only attributes all this history but also corrects and reconstructs the image of the African-American.

The significance of this exhibit of paintings, sculptures, prints, and other multi-medium pieces symbolizes the variety and persistence of African-American artwork, constructing a self-identity within the larger context of American history. Berrisford W. Boothe, professor of art at Lehigh University and the exhibit’s curator, discussed the need for the expansion of black art.

“African-Americans as a people exist within and outside the boundaries of their race iden-

“SPIRIT SISTER” CREATED BY NELSON STEVENS IS ONE OF THE VARIOUS ART PIECES FEATURED IN “CONSTRUCTING IDENTITY.” COURTESY OF NELSON STEVENS tity as human beings, and as such, they were and remain integral to an accurate structural, political, and representative concept of the United States,” Boothe said. The identity of black people was influenced by the construction of an American nationalist identity, but at the same time they have a place both in history and in the present, as they have equally shaped the meaning of the United States.

After all, this country was founded on the backs and hard labor of African-American people. Legislation from the earliest years of American history reveals the presence of

black people; their rights and lack thereof have been a steady undercurrent running through social and civil rights issues since before the abolition of slavery.

Yet somehow the artistic expression, the culture, and the true voices and ideas of black people have been repressed in an attempt to paint them as foreign to the prosperity of the United States.

Portland Art Museum’s daring, wide-ranging collection carries a powerful message about revisiting history, the value of parallel experiences, and the emergence of the voices of the “silenced minority.”

PROFESSOR’S FILM MAKES FESTIVAL CIRCUIT DEBUT DYLAN GANSEN

“VANESSA GOODWIN” RUNS FEB. 9-12 AT SE PORTLAND’S ACTION/ADVENTURE THEATER. COURTESY OF PAT MORAN

Matt McCormick, a film professor at Portland State, has a few decades of filmmaking under his belt. His works have ranged from the feature film Some Days Are Better Than Others to music videos for bands such as The Shins and Sleater-Kinney. His latest film, the documentary Buzz One Four, is a very personal project involving the story of a pilot and a plane crash along the East Coast.

The plane was a B-52 carrying two nuclear bombs, and the pilot was McCormick’s own grandfather.

“The film is not only about the historical event of the crash,” McCormick explained. “It is also a family portrait, if you will.”

This particular plane crash was the result of mechanical failure, but McCormick learned while making the film that life was extremely exhausting for the pilots operating the bombers on their long missions toward Russia. To offset exhaustion and keep the planes in the air, the Air Force gave the pilots drugs.

“At 28 hours, that’s a long time to be in the air,” McCormick said. “Pilots and crews were starting to have problems with fatigue. So basically, crystal meth as we know it was developed by Air Force scientists for these pilots.”

If you did not have the chance to catch Buzz One Four during its run at the Portland International Film Festival, you may still be able to watch it at other festivals in the coming months. McCormick said that the film may also stream on Netflix after its wide release at the end of 2017.

Watch the interview with the director of Buzz One Four. Video by Dylan Gansen.

Multimedia at psuvanguard.com

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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THE RESPONSIBILITY OF FREE SPEECH 404: Column Not Found Ryan Morse C ongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

—The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution Speech. Religion. Assembly. Press. These are freedoms that we in America are “privileged” to have. But they shouldn’t have to be considered privileges here in the United States or in any other country.

These are fundamental human rights.

When we live in a civilized society—a caring society—our words, voices and actions are the strongest tools we have. They can shake institutions, and they can change people.

Power is too often wielded to deafen voices asking questions or offering criticism. Silencing one voice in favor of an agenda or narrative is an extremely dangerous mistake. No person, no group, and absolutely no concept should be seen as infallible, despite the fact that sometimes we would like them, want them, or believe them to be.

America is made of many genders, orientations, races and creeds—not one or two.

With that in mind I believe that it is important for us to remember that free speech does not equal a free platform.

If you are using your tools to hurt or oppress other people because of their race, sexual orientation, or creed, don’t be surprised when people refuse to give you a platform.

Furthermore, when you are in the street spouting words and wearing symbols of blatant oppression, don’t be too surprised

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when people disagree with you and might want to punch you in the face.

While violence should never have to be an answer to anything, it’s important to remember that aggressive words can provoke aggressive reactions. The power of words can incite violence against each other, and words can lead groups to gang up against individuals and hurt them.

That makes us all the more responsible for the power of our own words, as well as the context in which we use them.

There are also people who can hide behind the term or concept of free speech itself: They can use it as a shield to say whatever they want, sometimes seemingly looking to simply goad us into conflict or strike reactions out of us.

While not all of these individuals and groups have malicious intent, it’s important to remember that they are only as powerful as the platform we give them through our words and actions.

Free speech is a tool that is, rightfully so, far from easy to wield. An amount of accountability and responsibility should always come with it. You can hide under your label of free speech, but how you use and project your words always exposes you for who you truly are.

Just as people’s words can hurt others less privileged or powerful than themselves, those same words can ruin their credibility, reputation and relationships.

These freedoms are rights that we as people deserve, and they should never be seen as privileges. That being said, these freedoms contain incredible power, and that power is not to be taken lightly.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

ROBBY DAY

OPINION NEWS

ARE YOU WASTING TIME WHEN YOU COULD BE SAVING MONEY? The Complete Tool

by Nick Tool

The average millennial spends 315 hours per month using electronics for entertainment, and 160 of those hours are spent on videos alone according to a 2016 quarter 4 report by Nielsen.

It is not realistic to just cut video out of life completely, but cutting this time in half is a realistic goal. Dropping 80 hours per month is only a reduction of 2.8 hours per day from all electronic use, and this does not include listening to music. 80 extra hours of work per month means an extra 900 bucks.

An extra 900 bucks per month means renting an apartment closer to work and school becomes more feasible. Living near work or school means time saved on commuting. The average American spends 26 minutes commuting to work each way, which is about 18 hours per month just sitting in a car. That is an extra 200 bucks in wages if those 18 hours are spent working instead of driving.

The running tally is now an opportunity to make an extra $1,100 per month, or 98 hours saved for something more productive.

According to the Wall Street Journal, employed Americans also spend almost nine hours a day on weekdays sleeping (mostly). The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7–9 hours of sleep per night, but as few as six hours can be appropriate.

For anyone at the upper end of this spectrum, cutting two hours of sleep each night might yield the same rested feeling with an extra 56 hours of time per month which is worth $630.

The total is now $1,730, or 154 hours of extra time.

Obviously, just because an hour or two is free during the day does not mean it can be spent working, but putting a dollar value on time makes it easier to evaluate daily usage of time.

What else can be done with an extra 154 hours a month? Josh Kaufman, author of The Personal MBA: Master the Art of Business (not

ARON UGHOC the fedora-clad winner of season six of The Voice), says learning a new skill only takes 20 hours. Seven new skills could be picked up per month.

More realistically, a valuable skill can be developed into proficiency every month. Do you really know how to use Excel? How well do you understand personal accounting? Have you ever wanted to learn to draw, paint, play an instrument, work on cars, or make things?

All of which can increase income, and they

have benefits that Hulu cannot give you.

Spending a lot of time wasting time is not the way to win. Auditing a daily routine to reduce unproductive uses of time can have positive financial or personal results.

To start figuring all this out, track how time is spent each day on activities. Make an estimated outline of the day, and then record how that time was actually spent. Start looking at what was mandatory and what was optional.

At the end of the week, total all this time up

in categories by use. Keep doing it all month long, and add up the weekly totals to find out how time was spent all month long. Sort time used by whether it was spent on mandatory activities, hobbies, studying, laying around, driving, sleeping in excess, or anything else that fits.

This is decision-making criteria for streamlining life. Figure out what changes need to be made in order to eliminate wasted time, and make those changes.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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Andrew D. Jankowski

EVENT LISTINGS FOR FEB. 28–MARCH 6 FEATURED EVENT THE BACCHAE 7:30 P.M. MARCH 3–11, PREVIEW MARCH 2, 2 P.M. MATINEE MARCH 5

@ LINCOLN PERFORMANCE HALL $6–15

PSU School of Theater + Film presents William Arrowsmith’s translation of the terrifying Euripides tragedy that’s haunted audiences for almost two and a half millennia. Featuring a live score composed and performed by VG’s very own A&C editor Matthew Andrews!

TUESDAY, FEB. 28 MUSIC STEVIE NICKS, THE PRETENDERS

7 P.M. @MODA CENTER $82–168

Look, I get it, we’re college students.

Probably not the most budget-friendly recommendation. But it’s Stevie Nicks.

Get your shawl and twirl your AHS: Coven fantasy in the aisles. Or get a sugar daddy to buy you that upper-tier ticket. Apparently PSU is full of successful sugar babies. Be a sugar baby or just look like one.

PARTY MARDI GRAS 7 P.M.–2 A.M.

@CHEERFUL TORTOISE $3–10

Whether you need a Stevie Nicks pre-game, afterparty, or don’t feel like catching a cab off campus, the folks at Cheerful Tortoise are throwing a party you can stumble back to your dorm after, featuring all the decadence that makes Mardi Gras what it is.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 1 COMEDY BRI PRUETT BLOWS THIS JOINT

7:30 P.M. @HELIUM COMEDY $12–15

HIP-HOP MYKKI BLANCO, CAKES DA KILLA, DJ SPF666

8:30 P.M. @HOLOCENE $13–15

The critically acclaimed rapper, poet and activist continues their West Coast tour, with local voguing support from the House of Flora, House of Aida and Maarquii.

THURSDAY, MARCH 2 5 P.M. @PORTLAND CENTER STAGE FREE

A fusion of street/club culture with high art from Portland’s first lady of blues and a stellar break dance crew featuring dancers transplanted from Virginia.

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One of the Wu-Tang Clan’s most visible members visits Portland during a period that sees him exercising more control in Wu-Tang and moving forward with his own solo work. If NPR and Pitchfork both say you should be there, you should.

FRIDAY, MARCH 3 ART OPENING MAGIC THUMB | BEN QUINN

6 P.M. @LITTMAN GALLERY FREE

Oakland artist exhibits new paintings and drawings, on display through March 31.

CABARET DE COLORES CABARET 8:30 P.M.

@THE HEADWATER THEATRE $20–30

Producer Ruby Rounds envisions a burlesque and drag revue of all Latinx performers to showcase the colors, genders, sizes, abilities, orientations and interests that make up Latin American identities. Headlined by Egypt Blaque Knyle and Lola Coquette, featuring Frida Fondle, Jacqueline Hyde, Ms B LaRose, Perlita Picante, Venus de Folie, Perla Foxxx, Hydrangea Strangea, Ri Ri SynCyr, Arabella de Lioncourt, Mynx and Luz de la Concha.

SATURDAY, MARCH 4 CIRCUS MARCHFOURTH MARCHING BAND’S 14TH ANNIVERSARY SPECTACULAR

2 P.M. (ADDITIONAL DATES AND TIMES MARCH 3 AND 4) @CRYSTAL BALLROOM $8–12 MATINEE; $15–26 OTHER SHOWTIMES

MUSIC

7 P.M. @COMMUNITY MUSIC CENTER $15 SUGGESTED DONATION

The marching band that turned Gwen Stefani into a Hollaback Girl turns 14, and the family matinee is its most affordable show. Featuring the JoyNow Youth Brigade.

BRIGHT VOICES OF THE DARKEST HOUR: MUSIC + THE HOLOCAUST

Portland Chamber Music and the Institute for Judaic Studies present an increasingly poignant collection of stories and music from composers directly affected by the Holocaust.

THEATRE ON THE EDGE: “TRIFLES” + “DUTCHMAN”

7:30 P.M. (SHOW DATES MARCH 2–5; MARCH 9–12; MARCH 16–17) @DEFUNKT THEATRE $15–25

A double-feature fusion of two existing plays, featuring common themes of racial and gender inequality in America. Directed by Sarah Armitage.

Saturday’s performance features a post-show talkback with The Color of NOW.

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

SUNDAY, MARCH 5 FILM @5TH AVENUE CINEMA STOP MAKING SENSE $4–5 (PSU STUDENTS: 3 P.M. (ADDITIONAL SCREENINGS FREE) FRIDAY AND SATURDAY EVENING) Featuring Talking Heads at their expanded-lineup prime (including Parliament-Funkadelic veterans Lynn Mabry and Bernie Worrell), Jonathan Demme’s Stop Making Sense was filmed over the course of three days in Hollywood’s Pantages Theater. This is the one with the big suit and the boombox.

DANCE NRITYA SHUBHA DANCE FESTIVAL

5 P.M. @ALBERTA ROSE THEATRE $15–20

Bharatanatyam, Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi & Mohiniattam classical Indian dance showcase.

NIGHTLIFE SAD DAY 9 P.M.

@LOVECRAFT BAR $10

MONDAY, MARCH 6 SPEAKING/DANCE PSHA PRESENTS: THE FIFTH ELEMENT

5 P.M. @PARKWAY NORTH FREE

No, not the movie: the Portland State Hip-Hop Alliance hosts a panel and demonstration on the four elements of hip-hop (DJing, Breakin’, Graffiti, and MCing). Featuring an audience Q&A and dance party featuring DJ Oz Roc and DJ Wicked.

READING GRIEF RITES READERS SERIES 7 P.M.

@POST 134 (NE ALBERTA) FREE

Catharsis is the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from, strong or repressed emotions. Hear from storytellers writing on themes of grief, loss and love, and consider bringing canned goods and/or cold weather clothes and blankets for the Post 134 Food & Clothing Pantry.

Patrick Buckmaster presents Portland’s prettiest/pettiest/saddest dance party and drag ball. As seen on VICE News. May include very sad PowerPoint presentations.

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

CUISINE •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

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& confessions CIRCUS ACROBATS MEET CULINARY ARTS! Thur-Sat

March 2-4 7:30 PM + 2 PM SAT MATINEE NEWMARK THEATRE

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FIRST THURSDAY/ DANCE LARHONDA STEELE + MICHAEL “MANTIS” GALEN BREAK DANCE CREW

8 P.M. @DANTE’S $25–50

Photo by Sophie Leclerc & Olivier Tétreault

Like all good Portland comedians, Bri Pruett will soon leave us for L.A., but before she goes, she’s headlining an evening with some of Portland’s funniest active comedians: Katie Nguyen, Anthony Lopez, Caitlin Weierhauser, and Marcus Coleman.

HIP-HOP GHOSTFACE KILLAH, PURE POWERS

STUDENTS & SENIORS RECEIVE 20% OFF

SPONSORED BY: DARCI & CHARLIE SWINDELLS

TICKETS: whitebird.org

ETC

THE BRIDESMAID ALWAYS RINGS TWICE SUBPAR ADVICE FROM THE SUB-BASEMENT JOHN PINNEY Frugal Bridesmaid writes:

The Next Step writes:

So I’m really happy for my friend who’s getting married, and would be thrilled to be her bridesmaid if she asks…except that she spends money like it’s going out of style. I, however, am more frugal and am on a budget. I’m panicking about saying no, or saying yes and then seeing the bill come my way—especially if it’ll be on location. (Hint: It will most likely be on location.)

Do I suck it up and pay? Do I suck it up and say, “Only if in town?” How do I get out of this without seeming like a prima donna friend?

Hey advice guru, I’ve been with my current boyfriend for almost two years and I want to start a conversation about moving in together. I hate leaving his house at the end of a good weekend together but he hasn’t brought it up yet, nor any other sort of long-term commitment that one might expect after being together as long as we have. Am I pushing or have I waited too long?

Heya Frugal Bridesmaid,

I wouldn’t say you’re pushing, but you’re definitely at that commitment line if that’s how your relationship rolls. After all, two years is quite a relationship, and you’ve been through a lot.

But I don’t think a dinner out and a conversation is really going to help you here. Not to say that honesty isn’t the best, but I think this requires a different tack to go forward with to get to that honest place.

Heya Next Step,

Welcome to the year when all of your friends get married and pregnant at once. Welcome to attending an avalanche of parties in soft pastel dresses you can never wear again. Welcome to long telephone calls about the representation of teal as both an emotional color and as a delivery device for an embarrassing amount of tulle.

Have you done the toothbrush or drawer test to see how boo feels about you leaving stuff? Because then your presence is there, and if he’s okay with it, you will be too, more and more.

If you start getting red flags and weirdness, then you’ll have to have a full-on conversation, but it may just be that your boyfriend is a bit like Bobby Hill: mulch that can’t be moved until it’s acted on.

I have to say, I’m on your side with the panicking. If you know that your friend is all about the money, and you’re all about not starving to death, her wedding shouldn’t be pricey enough to put bridal party and guests alike in debtors’ prison. That being said, anything with the term wedding automatically gets marked up so the expensive nature of it is almost unavoidable.

You shouldn’t have to suck anything up. You should feel joy for your friend, but instead you’ve had to economize your emotion, and that just plain old sucks. You already know deep down how that conversation is gonna go and it won’t be happy for you. Your friend will feel miffed and you’ll feel sad and everyone will be bummed about the scenario.

The best I can do is to offer you a compromise. If you have the free time and want to be involved, why not say yes, I’ll be a bridesmaid, but I can’t pay for the whole of my dress.

And if someone is willing to help monetarily, offer to help fold invitations and ferry wedding presents around as a way of diligently economizing your time. If the bride goes all Bridezilla over that suggestion, maybe you put the friendship on hold until the wedding season is over. And then she’ll rrrreally need you, because she won’t have any friends left after that.

Or plan a girls’ night and pop in Bridesmaids. That might work too.

Hearts and Stars, Your Advice Guru

ILLUSTRATIONS BY LYDIA WOJACK-WEST All Abuzz writes: I have a great job at this local nonprofit. It’s stressful and the hours are long, but hey, I’m pretty happy. When we go out to lunch, we cover each other or split. There’s not a running tab, everyone just kind of goes by the honor system and it works, believe it or not. Occasionally, though, I’d like to treat my office mates or friends out to something without them feeling obligated to pay back. What’s the best way to bring this up without lording my affluence over them?

If your relationship is more about the fun than the relationship aspect, and if you’re expecting wedding bells at the end and he’s not, well then you’ve got quite a Bridesmaids situation going on, and you’ll have to ask yourself if Jon Hamm’s what you really want or if there’s actually some Chris O’Dowd down the road who wants to give you the security to go with the goodness you’re actually feeling.

Also, if your boyfriend doesn’t like Bridesmaids, I’d reconsider the whole relationship altogether. You don’t need that kind of negativity in your life.

Hearts and Stars, Your Advice Guru

Heya Abuzz, Mazel tov on the job! It sounds like a sweet gig. I’m about to graduate…is your nonprofit hiring dashing and witty writers?

I think it’s great, and I’d love for someone to pay for my coffee on occasion, but I can understand why people might think it’s coming with strings. So here’s an idea you might enjoy from the random acts of kindness file.

Get a five dollar coffee gift card and choose a fellow employee at random. Leave the gift card at their desk, unsigned, but make it clear that it’s a thoughtful gift from the kindness fairy. Do it on a random non-birthday day. Make it a tradition for yourself.

Then it’s a gift and a surprise and a mystery and a kindness that can get passed along. Who wouldn’t want that?

Hearts and Stars, Your Advice Guru

PSU Vanguard • FEBRUARY 28, 2017 • psuvanguard.com

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