News

Representatives from various organizations throughout Portland have recently discussed a proposal that would raise parking rates in the University District by 25 percent—from $1.60 to $2 per hour. Revenue raised from the fee increase would go toward on-campus improvements in the areas of transportation and public safety.

Portland State’s estimated benefit from the proposed rate hike would be approximately $300,000 annually.

Excessive use of textbooks and paper leaves a sizable carbon footprint, and because Portland—and Portland State specifically—is concerned with sustainability, e-reading methods are gaining popularity.

Other organizations, such as Multnomah County Library, have begun to implement measures that can potentially reduce paper use. In September, Multnomah County Library launched a program allowing readers to check out books online to read on their Kindles. A user must have accounts with the library and Amazon in addition to a Kindle (or the free Kindle application for mobile phones) to download the Kindle e-books from the Library2Go website.

A record-breaking year for donations to PSU brought in $15.7 million, but to some, this is just the beginning. While a 22 percent increase over the previous year is certainly noteworthy, Françoise Aylmer, vice president of University Advancement, sees the increase as a stepping stone toward future gift totals.

The College Board Advocacy and Policy Center recently published the College Completion Agenda 2011 Progress Report, a troubling showcase of poor minority graduation and retention rates and the center’s comprehensive plan to improve the statistics.

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.

The Portland State University Faculty Association (PSUFA) represents approximately 1,200 part-time instructors; each term, close to 700 members teach at PSU. Last fall term, there were 676 adjunct instructors at PSU—a 103.6 percent increase over the number of adjunct faculty in fall 2000.

The number of part-time faculty positions varies from department to department. Schools that heavily utilize adjunct instructors are education, art, business, community health and physical education, according to Brooke Jacobson, president of PSUFA and an adjunct instructor in the communication studies department. More academically oriented departments are not as reliant on part-time instructors, Jacobson said.

Over the last year, Portland State has seen a consistent increase in the amount of drug and alcohol violations in on-campus housing. And according to Clery crime statistics—a report produced annually by all U.S. colleges and universities—liquor law and drug law violations on the PSU campus have been on the rise.

There are a multitude of avenues for student and community start-ups at Portland State, but resources are spread across the campus, and knowledge of events and programs is limited to students and faculty in specific programs. In an effort to make one cohesive conglomerate of resources, PSU is creating the Entrepreneurial Center.