News
In a recent U.S. News & World Report ranking, PSU tied for first place with University at Buffalo, State University of New York, for colleges with the highest ESL participation rate. Portland State’s Intensive English Language Program boasts a participation range of 350–500 students per term, representing more than 35 countries.
Judy Reed, director of the IELP, said the program is expecting approximately 500 students this quarter.
TriMet has taken a harsher stance against riders caught without valid fare. Moving from a policy of education to one of enforcement has resulted in a nearly sevenfold increase in $175 citations since July 2011.
On Dec. 13, TriMet released a Fare Enforcement Report, which compared the number of warnings, citations and exclusions issued by TriMet for 2010 and 2011. In September of 2010, TriMet gave 1,128 warnings, 198 citations and 430 exclusions. In comparison, during September 2011 only 487 warnings were given, but 2,028 citations and 563 exclusions were issued.
Significant roster changes have been made to the Portland Trail Blazers team in 2011.
Since the end of the 2011 season, the Blazers have made substitutions at point guard by swapping out Andre Miller for Raymond Felton, and have also made changes to their bench by shedding Rudy Fernandez and signing Jamal Crawford.
In June 2011, the Blazers traded Fernandez to the Dallas Mavericks for a first-round draft pick, and then sent that pick, along with Miller, to Denver for Felton. Right before the season started, the team also signed Crawford to a two-year, $10 million contract.
PSU is currently undergoing security and safety improvements following two recent sexual assaults that occurred on campus.
On Dec. 20, 2011, the Campus Public Safety Office responded to a call from someone who heard screaming coming from the downstairs restroom of the Academic and Student Recreation Center.
Next week, the Northwest Coalition Against Trafficking film festival will come to PSU for the first time. The festival will showcase two films—The Day My God Died on Tuesday, Jan. 10, and Wonderland on Thursday, Jan. 12—both of which present different aspects of underage sex trafficking as it occurs both internationally and domestically. The screenings will be held at the Smith Memorial Student Union from 6 to 8 p.m. They are free for PSU students and will be followed by question and answer sessions with survivors of human trafficking.
Oregon’s January special election could have far-reaching implications for the future of the Congress of the United States.
The election is being held to determine the House representative of Oregon’s First Congressional District and will take place on Jan. 31.It will feature Democrat Suzanne Bonamici, Republican Rob Cornilles, Libertarian James Foster and Progressive Steven Reynolds as candidates. Bonamici is considered the favorite, with Cornilles as the strongest challenger.
As any Portland State student with 10 minutes between classes will tell you, Southwest Broadway is one of the busiest thoroughfares on campus, whether traveling by foot or bicycle. The wait for a traffic signal to change near Cramer Hall can seem endless, and it’s not uncommon to see impatient students dart across the street, regardless of the color of the light.
This, too, is true regardless of whether that student is traveling by foot across the street or by bicycle along Southwest Broadway’s cycle track, making a few specific intersections around campus particularly dangerous. For a campus that prides itself on bike-friendliness, this creates a problem.
Stumptown Coffee and its founder Duane Sorenson had an eventful 2011, with fast-flying rumors of the sale of the company and the openings of Woodsman Tavern and Woodsman Market, Sorenson’s latest Portland ventures. With a new central headquarters and a second Stumptown Café opening in New York City, 2012 seems to be following a similar, busy trend.
ASPSU is planning to significantly increase its budget allocation for next school year and already has big ideas for how to distribute it.
Brandon Harris, executive chief of staff of ASPSU, said the 2012–13 budget should see a raise of just over $40,000, putting the total ASPSU allotment close to $222,300.
On Nov. 22, Governor John Kitzhaber issued a temporary halt to the use of capital punishment in Oregon. This decision comes just two weeks before the scheduled execution of Oregon State Penitentiary death row inmate Gary Haugen.
In the last 49 years, only two people have been executed in Oregon. Both executions took place during Kitzhaber’s first administration, in 1996 and 1997, and both men had volunteered to die by waiving their remaining appeals.
On Nov. 16, after nearly two months of unexplained itching and rashes, sophomore Stephen Martin, a sociology and Black studies major, discovered bed bugs and their excrement in the mattress of his second floor Montgomery Court sleeper.
Three days later, Martin’s next-door neighbor, biology and environmental science sophomore Tina Schroyer, woke up to bites on her upper arms and ankles.
By Monday, Nov. 21, three more second-floor Montgomery Court residents had been bitten in their sleep, two of whom live much farther down the hall from Martin.