Author: Ryan Deming

Last month, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the OUS campus ban on firearms was invalid because it superseded Oregon state law.

The OUS rule responsible for the controversy was enacted in the late 1970s, and was based on another Oregon statute that gives universities the right to control the use of their property. However, there is a “state preemption” in Oregon firearms law that allows no one but the Oregon legislative assembly to regulate the possession of firearms. Because of this preemption, the OUS administrative rule was found invalid in accordance with state law.

Oregon Senate Bill 242, signed into law by the governor this summer, will begin to have important effects at Portland State and throughout the Oregon University System in the coming months.

While the bill was signed into law at the end of July, implementation of the bill will really begin this coming January, said Diane Saunders, director of Communications in the OUS Chancellor’s office.

On Wednesday morning, the Oregon Court of Appeals ruled that the Oregon University System (OUS) did not have a right to keep guns off of public university campuses.

Yesterday morning, “the court concluded that the OUS’ administrative rule…which prohibits firearms and other weapons from campuses, is invalid,” according to an OUS press release.

A new school year means new ASPSU campaigns and plenty of All University Committee spots that need to be filled.

“Students need to know that these committees are doing important work,” said Sean Green, a member of the Budget Committee. “Out of 71 spots, the majority aren’t being filled year after year.”

At the 2011 Campus Technology Conference this July in Boston, Mass., Gary Brown and his colleagues discussed the future of the Learning Management Systems (LMS), exemplified by Blackboard and Desire To Learn (D2L).

According to Brown, the new director of Portland State’s Center for Online Learning, the LMS “is a transposition technology that makes is possible to create a course in virtual space, rendering it asynchronous and accessible from distributed sites. In short, a class can be conducted anytime and anywhere.”

Mark O. Hatfield passed this Sunday, leaving behind his legacy as an Oregon senator and the namesake of the School of Government at Portland State.

“The senator generously gave us the use of his name,” said Ron Tammen, director of the school. “He taught here and assisted many students over a long period of time while his health permitted.”

A Portland State program that helps struggling students graduate is now in its second year.

Founded in February 2010, Last Mile was born out of the University Studies program as part of a campus-wide effort to increase retention and graduation rates.

ASPSU will be launching a new website this week—maybe by Friday, according to student government representatives.