Virtual Al coming to PSU

Portland State students may be interested to know that Al Gore is coming to campus today.Well, kind of.

Gore will be “present” for a live webcast tomorrow in the Ballroom of Smith Memorial Student Union, where the former Vice President and Nobel Peace Laureate will be addressing college students around the country about climate change, sustainability and the importance of voting.

During his address, Gore will also be giving a shout-out to Portland State, one of the top five national schools to have RSVP’d enough students for events held to celebrate the webcast at each respective campus.

The PSU event, called “Blood, Guts and (Al) Gore,” is designed to remind students how important it is to vote, as well as to promote sustainability on campus. The event is being joint-sponsored by ASPSU, PSU’s environmental club and the sustainability club.

P.J. Houser, the coordinator of PSU’s environmental club that helped organize the event, said the Gore campaign selected PSU as one of the top five national schools.

“PSU was one of the schools that Al Gore’s campaign wanted to have a big event around the webcast,” Houser said.

Houser said the opportunity to hold the event occurred after she was contacted by the Sierra Student Coalition, part of the Energy for Action coalition that works with Gore’s campaign. Gore’s campaign was also interested in PSU because of the university’s burgeoning green reputation, she said.

“They said PSU has a reputation for sustainability, and that Portland is politically interesting,” Houser said. “I think that means Portland is heading in a sustainable direction.”

In addition to Gore’s webcast, PSU president Wim Wiewel will be speaking, as well as Noelle Studer-Spevack, sustainability coordinator, Hannah Fisher, ASPSU president, and Nick Fish, a Portland city commissioner. The four will be complimenting the sentiments of Gore’s address, Houser said.

Following the webcast, ASPSU members will also be “trick-or-voting” on campus, essentially knocking on students’ doors and reminding them to vote Nov. 4.

The “get-out-the-vote” aspect of the event is what’s most important, Houser said.

“I think people are more involved with voting than previous generations,” she said. “That’s our big priority.”

Houser said that event coordinators are aiming to fill the SMSU ballroom to capacity with students watching the live-from-Nashville webcast.

“We’re hoping for a 300-student turnout, at least,” Houser said.

Interested students can watch Gore’s webcast at 4:30 p.m. today in Room 355 of SMSU. Refreshments will be provided.