Author: Matt Alpert

Today will bring a day of music, art and food to the South Park Blocks as the PSU Roots Festival, the yearly celebration of diversity, hits campus.

Two celebrities, Sean Astin and Dule Hill, spoke on campus yesterday afternoon to promote the democratic candidates for the upcoming presidential election.

As Ellie Justice observed the latest artwork created by children at the Helen Gordon Child Development Center, a young girl called out her name. Reaching up to Justice, the girl handed her a small piece of construction paper with a leaf glued to it, a backwards $3 symbol written under it. “I made this for you,” the girl said, “but you don’t have to give me $3.”

If you have ever wanted to get down and dirty with your professors, this weekend you might just get your chance. Students and faculty will have an opportunity Saturday to get involved with community service and help benefit Portland city schools by volunteering for the 2008 Earth Day/Global Youth Service Day.

As a young girl growing up in Louisiana, Candace Gossen loved to dig in the dirt. Now grown up, the part-time PSU environmental sustainability instructor is still digging through the dirt–this time as a scientist. Gossen recently returned from her latest research trip to Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, where she studied lake deposits for deforestation research.

At a recent Big Sky Conference Tournament PSU men’s basketball game last month at the Rose Garden, student body presidential candidate Christian Aniciete noticed something as he looked at the crowd. He thought, “Where’s the school pride? The great turnouts to cheer on the team?” What Aniciete observed that night echoed a change he wants to see around PSU–to bring students into a greater involvement with their campus community.

Dressed in turn-of-the-century clothes and sporting a black hat and large white wig, historian Gloria Myers channeled the first female U.S. police officer, Lola Greene Baldwin, at PSU on Tuesday. Myers, a PSU graduate, stood before a nearly 35-member audience, giving history on and delivering speeches as Baldwin, to recount the life and times of this historic figure. The event was held on the centennial of the day Baldwin was sworn into duty. Portland Mayor Tom Potter also commemorated April 1 as Lola Greene Baldwin Centennial Day.

With a wooden yellow sign that reads “Jesus Forgives” draped over his shoulders, Marty Kennedy delivers his Christian message to PSU students in the South Park Blocks on a cold day in mid-February. Street preachers are a common sight in the PSU Park Blocks. Among some of the regulars who choose to deliver their messages on campus are Kennedy, 53, and Ron Lohman, 65.

ASPSU is currently attempting to reduce the cost of the student FlexPass, one of the platform issues for this year’s student government administration. ASPSU President Rudy Soto and his executive staff have been working on a number of other platform issues, in addition to their FlexPass campaign, recently. Here’s a look at their progress on a few key platform issues.

Student body President Rudy Soto is working on a plan that would use student fee dollars to help reduce the cost of the FlexPass, which he says could lower the price of the $150 pass by anywhere between $50 to over $100. Soto said that if student fees subsidized the pass program, the cost of the passes would drop, making the FlexPass more affordable for students. The FlexPass allows PSU students to ride any public transportation system, such as the MAX or buses, to any part of the city.

The Oregon Student Association will decide tonight whether to implement ASPSU’s proposal that would create a new board within OSA and would alter the internal structure of the organization.