In short

Schott promoted to head coaching coach

Less than a week after former head soccer coach Tim Bennett’s resignation was announced, Vikings assistant coach Laura Schott was promoted to the head coaching post.

Schott, 26, spent the past three years coaching under Bennett, as she becomes Portland State’s seventh women’s head soccer coach.

Despite the Vikings less-than-stellar three-year record under Bennett, who departed to accept an associate head coaching position at Iowa State that he said is closer to home and family, Portland State has some momentum coming off a season where they vied for the Big Sky title until the last match of the year.

A Portland native, Schott was a prep player for FC Portland before moving to the University of California, where she left as the all-time leader in goals at 56.

Schott scored a goal on Norway as a member of the U.S. National Team in 2001. Playing alongside Mia Hamm, Schott was a member of the WUSA Washington Freedom’s championship squad in 2003.

–Nathan Hellman

OSERA survey focuses on LGBT student issues

The Oregon Student Equal Rights Alliance is surveying students to understand how safe lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students feel on campus.

The survey asks questions such as if students feel comfortable taking a class with an instructor who identifies as lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender person (LGBT), or whether schools provides enough of a support environment for LGBT students. The survey is also meant to assess how knowledgeable students, who do not identify as LGBT, are about LGBT issues.

Staff members of the Associated Students of Portland State University will be handing out and collecting surveys in the Park Blocks and around Smith, Neuberger Hall and Cramer Hall all week.

The Oregon Student Equal Rights Alliance is an affiliate group of the Oregon Student Association and focuses on advocating for issues specific to LGBT students.

Jack Galliano, the PSU campus organizer for the Oregon Student Association, said ASPSU has collected more than 200 surveys so far and hopes to collect 400 by the end of the week. The knowledge gained through these surveys will help the equal rights alliance determine what issues to advocate for during the 2009 legislative session.

Students can also fill out the survey online, at aspsu.pdx.edu.

–David Holley