Simon Benson Awards dinner raises $465,000

The 12th Annual Simon Benson Awards dinner held Wednesday night was a huge success for Portland State, netting $465,000 in funds raised.

The money goes towards supporting PSU students and faculty, according to the PSU Foundation, the organization which planned the event. Named after the late local philanthropist Simon Benson, the event honors the Furman and Mark families for their contributions to the arts, as well as education and nonprofit organizations.

About 1,600 people attended the sold-out event, which is almost 50 percent more than attended last year’s dinner. During the days leading up to the event, PSU received several letters of complaint from faculty and local organizations for its choice of former secretary of state CondoleezzaRice as the keynote speaker. At least three faculty members at PSU have criticized the university for selecting Rice as the speaker.

President Wim Wiewel issued a letter in response, explaining that the decision to invite Rice was driven by her compelling personal story and the fact that she is someone of national importance.

A group of about thirty people were outside the Oregon Convention Center by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, an hour before the reception began inside. They waved signs to protest Rice’s arrival at the dinner. At least one organization, Veterans for Peace, was present at the protest. A large puppet wearing a prison uniform—intended to represent Rice—was seen being chased and finally led into a metal “jail” cell, which protesters said “was for her war crimes.”

Before Rice took to the podium to deliver her speech, she spent about fifteen minutes answering questions at a press conference held at the OCC. Rice fielded questions about the role of the United States in the liberation of Libya and said she approved of current secretary of state Hillary Clinton’s visit to Libya the week before.

Rice also commented on the controversy surrounding her appearance at the event—specifically, the protest that was taking place outside. Addressing the false accusation that she was indicted by an international criminal court for her involvement in the Iraq war, Rice said the need for accurate information is important to any debate.

Controversy is unsurprising in a university setting, Rice said, but it’s important to check your facts. “It’s also extremely important to have multiple voices because the very nature of debate is to listen to other voices and to be able to sustain your own argument. So protests—fine, but they need to get their facts right.”

At least one faculty member—political science professor Bruce Gilley—has publicly supported Rice’s right to be at the event. Gilley defends Rice’s performance as secretary of state, but finds Wiewel’s explanation as to why the university selected Rice to speak—an explanation framed around the right to free speech and Rice’s personal story as a black woman in the segregated South—unsatisfactory.

“I was dismayed that the university was not more forthright in defending her appearance on the ground that she was a very senior and important official, which clearly is the reason she was selected,” Gilley said. “They capitulated to the ideological censorship of a small numbers of faculties by reframing it as something to do with the African American rag-to-riches story.”

Gilley said that he supports the university’s mission to promote the diversity of opinion by inviting Rice, and said that faculty members should respect that.

“We have a very vocal minority and a very silent majority,” Gilley said, “Faculty members overstep their responsibilities when they try to promote their ideological agenda.”

Besides the heckling from protesters outside the OCC, the event was decidedly formal. Rice’s speech centered on current events, as well as the importance of philanthropy in upholding a stable democracy and the transformational power of education.

Rice observed that in the past decade, we have been through three major “shocks”: the Sept. 11 attacks, the 2008 financial crisis and the current regime changes in the Middle East. Rice said the Middle East uprisings show that freedom—which Rice said is an unalienable right—is becoming a right demanded by more and more people worldwide.

However, freedom alone cannot sustain itself, Rice said. Freedom needs to be institutionalized in order to be called a democracy, and in order for a democracy to work, the compassion of private citizens must lead people to reach out to the less fortunate. Rice pointed out that the U.S., which she described as one of the most individualistic countries in the world, is also the most compassionate, the most philanthropic and the most giving.

“Isn’t that a paradox?” Rice asked. “There is something that government can never, ever deliver, and that is compassion. We saw tonight that it’s possible to be compassionate both at home and abroad.”

That compassion, Rice said, is what has fueled our sense of the American dream.

Rice skirted political issues in her speech, save immigration. During the press conference, Rice said one of her biggest regrets from her years in office is not having delivered a comprehensive immigration reform. In her keynote speech, the former secretary of state revisited the immigration issue by praising the contributions of immigrants to the country.

“We are a country of immigrants, and frankly, I don’t understand the conversation we’re having about immigrants,” she said.

“When did [they] become the enemy?” Rice asked, a question followed by immediate applause from her audience.

Throughout her speech, Rice thanked the Furman and Mark families for their generosity to the community, most significantly to students who are the beneficiaries of scholarships. Rice used her personal story to illustrate the transformational power of education.

Rice noted that her grandfather’s decision to obtain a college education at age 19, and his ability to do so (made possible in part by his receiving a scholarship), forever changes the track for the rest of her family. She believes out that because of her grandfather’s higher education, several members of her family were later able to obtain Ph.D.s.

Rice also encourages people to find their passion in life. “I often say to my students, ‘If you haven’t found what you’re looking for, keep looking and it might find you,’” Rice said. “After all, why would a black girl from Birmingham, Alabama, decide to become a Soviet expert?”

The spirit of philanthropy, for which Rice thanked the two honorees, has had a definite positive impact on at least one PSU student.

23-year-old Stefanie McLean,who graduated with a double major in management and leadership and human resources management and is a first generation college student, is a former recipient of the R.G. Miller scholarship worth $750. The scholarship helped take some pressure off from working to pay for school, she said. During her years at PSU, she worked at Safeway and Lamb’s grocery stores, sometimes up to 40 hours a week to support herself.

“I think it’s fantastic that these families were honored,” McLean said, “[It] makes life easy on college students who are just trying to better themselves.”

President Wim Wiewel said that despite the objection to Rice’s policies during her tenure as secretary of state, her message has a universal appeal and is worth listening to.

Before the evening was over, Wiewel was overheard commenting to an attendee, “Oh my God, what a great speaker!”