The Smith advisory board met last Monday and unanimously approved a resolution to convert one women’s bathroom to a gender-neutral facility. Located on the fourth floor of the Smith Memorial Student Union next to the Queer Resource Center, the restroom will be the first multi-stall, multi-user gender-neutral bathroom on campus. SMSU staff is still working on the timing for the exact date of the conversion.
Slabtown
1033 NW 16th Ave.
I asked Doug Rogers, owner of Slabtown, what’s going on at the bar and venue today, and he told me that right now he’s hosting the urban golfers, who are getting ready to knock tennis balls around the city.
It’s Wednesday morning, and Portland State physics Professor Ralf Widenhorn isn’t standing at the front of a lecture hall, he is bright-eyed and addressing students in a research lab. Beakers and supplies are strewn all around, and in the back, one student balances on a scale to help plan a demonstration, with data being reported in real time in a graph on the computer. The PSU Science Outreach Society is deep in the planning stage of its next demonstration to be held at the Bagdad Theater in Southeast Portland.
“This city has a blight on it. It’s not producing the results we need it to,” Mayor Sam Adams said at a May 9 City Council meeting. “We can’t wait for the state to figure out higher education,” he added.
A proposed Urban Renewal plan has $50 million worth of building and land improvements coming to the Portland State campus. Some of these projects include renovating Cramer and Neuberger Halls, expanding the School of Business, increasing classroom space and efficiency, and research lab upgrades.
It was a rainy afternoon on May 1, and historic May Day celebrations were underway all across the U.S., including on the Portland State campus. A small crowd began gathering at 2 p.m. in the South Park Blocks in front of Smith Memorial Student Union as PSU math and economics senior Grant Booth addressed the crowd. More people trickled over as the student speakers got underway, and the crowd reached 40–50 people at its peak.
Portland State has been re-named to the Princeton Review’s Guide to Green Colleges. Published every April, the guide highlights the “greenest” 322 U.S. colleges in recognition of efforts toward sustainability. PSU is recognized for being “a national leader in community-based learning” and a wide range of green initiatives spearheaded by two internal departments: the Institute for Sustainable Solutions and the Campus Sustainability Office.
Bulk bins: the cheaper and more environmentally friendly way to shop. A Portland State study now has the data to officially support this claim. In the first research of its kind in the United States, a team of four PSU Master of Business Administration students conducted a study on the cost and environmental benefits of shopping from the bulk bins. According to their study, students found that consumers can save an average of 89 percent by buying in bulk instead of food in pre-packaged counterparts.
What happens after the revolution? As government control and authority shifts in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and many other North African and Middle Eastern countries, it’s no longer a question of whether the revolution will succeed or if war will ensue, but how it will reform. How will these shifts and changes play out as government becomes redefined?