In short

Zine Center now able to appeal zero-funding

The Student Fee Committee is allowing the student-run Zine Resource Center to file a budget appeal, after miscommunications between the committee and the adviser of PSU’s student publications left the center initially zero-funded.

The SFC told student publications adviser Judson Randall that he would not be able to appeal the zero-funded Zine Resource Center budget because of an SFC rule that prohibits groups from appealing if the group did not attend the SFC’s annual student group budget school orientation during fall term.

Randall, who created the budget and presented it to the SFC, said he told the SFC he would miss the budget school because of scheduling conflicts, and he had not been notified of budget school in time to rearrange his schedule. The SFC had initially forgotten that Randall said he wouldn’t be able to attend. SFC chair Amanda Newberg sent Randall an e-mail Thursday saying the Zine Resource Center will be allowed to appeal their budget.

“The confusion was specifically with the Zine Resource Center and not seeing them as a group signed up,” Newberg said in a Jan. 31 e-mail to Randall.

Newberg said one other student group, the Disability Advocacy Cultural Association, will also be allowed to appeal their budget. She said the group had not been able to appeal due to miscommunication over whether or not they had met with their SFC liaison.

-Steve Haske

Chinese New Year celebration Sunday

Portland State’s Association of Chinese Students and Scholars is hosting an event celebrating the Chinese New Year on campus this weekend.

Meiru Liu, director of PSU’s Confucius Institute, said a few hundred people attended last year’s party and that she anticipates as many to attend this year’s. The party, which celebrates the Chinese Zodiac’s year of the rat, will feature free concessions, a raffle and various performances, including kung fu and a Chinese orchestra, Liu said.

The Confucius Institute, a group that provides Chinese-speaking students with resources at PSU, is co-sponsoring the event with the Chinese Language Association. Liu said the Confucius Institute this term began holding social events each Friday, and that more information about the events and this weekend’s party can be found at www.ci.oia.pdx.edu.

The event will be held Saturday, Feb. 2, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in room 335 of Smith Memorial Student Union. The event is open to the public and free to attend.

–Robert Seitzinger

Discussion on race and media Tuesday

A panel discussion, “Race and the Media in Portland,” will be held Tuesday, Feb. 5 from noon to 1:30 p.m. as part of the ongoing Brown Bag Lecture Series.

The discussion, which will concentrate on a much-publicized 2006 sexual harassment case, will be held in the Smith Memorial Student Union Multicultural Center (SMSU 228).

On the panel will be members of the local media. David Reinhard and Renee Mitchell from The Oregonian and Nick Budnick from The Portland Tribune are scheduled to attend.

Nearly two years ago, then Police Chief Derrick Foxworth was accused of sexual harassment by Angela Oswalt, a Portland Police Bureau clerk. The accusation was broadcast through many forms of media.

The Brown Bag Lecture Series began in October of 2006. Past discussions include slavery, police violence, segregation and gentrification, and education.

The Black Studies department, the Multicultural Center and the NAACP of Portland State are jointly sponsoring Tuesday’s event.

-Christopher J. Miller

Oregon schools given bad beef for lunches

PORTLAND, Ore.-School cafeterias in Oregon received more than 170,000 pounds of beef from a Southern California meatpacking company that was barred this week from supplying school lunch.

The action was taken as federal investigators look into video footage that showed workers at the Hallmark Meat Packing Co. mistreating sick cows to force them into a slaughterhouse. The Humane Society of the United States released the video after a six-week undercover investigation,

USDA regulations and California law generally do not allow mistreatment of disabled animals. Federal regulations also call for keeping downed cows out of the food supply because they may pose a higher risk of E. coli, salmonella contamination or mad cow disease.

Federal officials say there is no evidence the beef was unsafe, and Oregon officials say there have been no reports of sickened children.

Hallmark supplies the Westland Meat Co., which processes the carcasses. The facility is a major supplier to a USDA program that distributes beef to needy people and the National School Lunch Program. Westland has delivered beef to schools in Oregon and 35 other states.

–Associated Press