Portland State’s Walk of the Heroines park, located next to the Peter W. Stott Community Recreation Field, will soon undergo a major change—it will be made into a pedestrian-only zone free of bicycles and skateboards.
This area of campus is devoted to sculptures, a naming wall, a fountain, a stage, artistic paving, heroine stories and a garden. Damage has been caused to different areas of the park, including the naming wall, by people using the structures for skateboarding and bike riding, Campus Public Safety Office Chief Phil Zerzan said.
“There is no sign up now, but people [put time and energy into creating this area of campus],” Zerzan said. “There are scuffs, scrapes and chunks of the wall coming off, and people are upset.”
Professor Sally McWilliams, the director of the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies program, noticed the damage when she volunteered in the garden.
“My department oversees the Walk of the Heroines in conjunction with PSU. I was doing volunteer work in the garden and noticed tread marks on the lower part of the wall and the granite panels coming off,”
McWilliams said.
The panels, partly paid for through donors, have the names of heroines—historic, personal and famous—engraved on them, she said.
According to the Walk of the Heroines’ website, more than 1,800 individuals and organizations contributed to this project.
The idea to make the area a pedestrian-only zone was loosely based on the regulations in place in the Urban Plaza as a community-maintained space, McWilliams said.
“We hope that students will be aware of the new regulations and help educate others who may not be aware of them,” she said. “Student fees are also invested in this space, and we want to keep it as beautiful and structurally sound as possible.”
“We believe that with clear direction and clear understanding of the rules as well as the reason for the change, people will cooperate and we can prevent further damage to this meaningful artwork,” Zerzan said.
Additional information on the monument can be found at woh.pdx.edu.