Students for Unity hold 10-week Black Panther lecture series in Smith
Students for Unity are offering a free 10-week lecture series on the Black Panther Party Tuesday evenings in Smith Memorial Student Union 296. The free classes, which started last week, are being organized in part by Dominic, a collective member of Portland’s Laughing Horse Books who refused to give his last name.
The lecture series will feature original members of the Black Panther party, including Elbert “Big Man” Howard, one of the Panther’s earliest members, discussing the history of the organization.
The series will continue this evening from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. with part one of a lecture on the Oakland, Calif. Black Panthers chapter.
Lectures to follow will include such topics as COINTELPRO, an FBI counter-intelligence program that monitored the Panthers, a two-part series on prison movements and lectures on the Chicago and Portland chapters of the Black Panthers. Proposed speakers include George and Jonathan Jackson, Angela Davis, Huey P. Newton, Fred Hampton, Bobby X and Elaine Brown.
-Matt Alpert
No decision yet for bringing mtvU to PSU, Soto wants his MTV
No decision has been reached over bringing the college cable network mtvU to PSU housing’s cable package, after network representatives came to campus late October to discuss a possible contract with PSU.
Corey Ray, director of Residence Life, said that there currently are no plans to add mtvU to the university housing’s cable line-up.
“As far as I know there’s no talk about doing it,” he said.
In the meeting in October, mtvU pitched an idea to the Associated Students of Portland State University (ASPSU) to put plasma screens in Smith Memorial Student Union that would broadcast the channel. ASPSU President Rudy Soto did not feel it was right for student government to endorse the pitch, but said the network would fit well in the housing cable package.
Soto said student government is still trying hard to get mtvU on campus.
“We encouraged and tried to establish contact between mtvU and the university,” Soto said. “From what I understand, the university has not followed up with them. But they [mtvU] hope to come back soon.”
–Steve Haske