Public Safety Officers deserve proper tools,respect
PSU needs to look at the role the Campus Public Safety Officerplays and the expectations of the campus community (“No Tasers yetfor CPSO,” Oct. 29, 2004). If the community expects the staff tointervene in dangerous situations and be first responders todangerous scenarios, then they need to provide them the equipmentand training to do so in a safe and effective manner. DowntownPortland presents many challenges to the CPSO staff. It isincumbent on the leadership of the university to ensure the staffknow their role and have the ability to do their job. Ask yourselfif you’d do the job of the CPSO Officer without the appropriatetools? What would you think if you called a plumber and theyarrived with only a hammer?
John Fowler
Former PSU public safety director
Every day these officers go to work knowing they lack thesupport of the students, staff, and faculty. They are consistentlycriticized by 18 – 20 year olds who think they know the solutionfor every problem that exists on this planet. The same age groupwho costs U.S. tax payers $53 billion dollars a year because theywant to drink alcohol underage. Or, a faculty or staff member whobelieves they can do the job better. At times when confronted bystudents they hear, “you can’t do that…I know I’m pre-law.” Get aclue, kids, PSU doesn’t have a pre-law class. Or, a graduatestudent who says, “I’m staff so let me in that room.” No you’renot…graduate first. Graduate students throw bigger tantrums thenmy 18-month-old daughter. So to put up with everything they do andstill maintain a positive attitude. They are professionals anddeserve the tools to do their job.
Brent Laizure
Vanguard coverage slanted to theleft
I am upset at the Vanguard for not representing the whole studentpopulation of PSU, not just on the Measure 36 issue but on thewhole election (“Keeping a straight face at all costs,” Oct. 19,2004). A significant portion – though probably not a majority – ofthe student population supports Measure 36 and supports PresidentBush. However, it seems to me the student newspaper of PSU onlyrepresents those students who support liberal/Democrat views. Ihave attended three different colleges during my undergraduateyears and have work on staff at a college newspaper before. I havealways understood the role of the student newspaper to representthe entire student population to the best of its ability. That isclearly not the case with the Portland State Vanguard.
Erin Doyle
Student
[Editor’s note: the article referred to in the above letter waswritten by a Vanguard editorial writer and does not necessarilyrepresent the views of the Vanguard or its editorial board.]
Is to be expected. The liberal paper would support all liberalcandidates (“2004 Vanguard Endorsements,” Oct. 22, 2004). Kerry isnot the candidate for PSU students. He is more likely to forget allhis promises like he has done with everything else in the past. Hewas in Congress for 20 years, and never did anything to “help”students during that time. No, in fact he is a selfish person whoonly looks after himself, he is an embarrassment of an American,insulted his fellow soldiers in the ’60s and ’70s. He has changedtoo many of his ideas.
This year I will have the pleasure of voting for the first timein my life (I became a citizen this year) and there is no way Iwill give my vote to someone that lacks leadership skills and wouldnot protect our nation like George W. Bush has done.
Angel Almendarez
Alumnus
Mailing ballots not hard
In a close election, like the one going on now, every vote matters.So when a collector comes to your door to ask for your ballot, howis it logical to place your vote in the hands of another (“Thelaziest way to vote, the easiest way to get cheated,” Oct. 26,2004)? After the ballot leaves your doorstep, you really have noway of knowing if your vote ever reaches the collections office orif it’s thrown away into the recycle bin a block down the street.Is not paying the cost of a stamp really worth risking your vote?The point is, if you truly care about your vote in this year’spresidential election, you’ll have the common sense to take care ofmailing the ballot yourself instead of relying on an untrustworthycollector to do it for you.
Brenden Sachs
Portland, Ore.
PSU administration fails onHigherOne
If HigherOne (“New IDs, door locks incompatible,” 10-27-04) is notable to manage to perfect this technology what other things havethey not perfected? Down the road, will there be issues with theaccounts or delivery of money?
What proof of record does this company have? So far I have notheard anything about the company’s past record. This concerns mebecause it shows an overall lack of information on both the PSU’spart and Higher One.
Moreover, for all students to have to carry both IDs for atleast a year seems extreme. If the system is not going to be readycompletely for the next year then it should not be launch untilthen. This would give everyone more time to work out other issuewith the process. As well, as give time to create information packsin other languages and inform the whole student body.
Sam Fix
I can’t believe that the PSU Administration was this unpreparedfor the new ID cards. They had 18 months of ”veiled secrecy” anddetails like this never even came up? What happens to a student whomoves into PSU housing and doesn’t have an old ID card? Do theystill have to get a new one? What if they can’t get a way toinclude these all-important coils? More and more, it shows that DeeWendler just got dollar signs in her eyes and never looked at thepractical aspects of the ID cards. This is what happens whenstudents are not included in the process. An incomplete finalproduct is what we all get.
It’s depressing to have the administrators that we pay to makedecisions for us screw up so badly.
Adas Lis
student
A new way to help homeless
I am a business owner in the state of Connecticut, and I have anidea that I think may help (“A vote for the disenfranchised,” Oct.22, 2004). I propose a screening method in which a group ofvolunteers talk to the homeless to find out what they really wantfor themselves as far as their dignity goes and what they weredoing before they became homeless and what they want to, or whatthey can do, now.
By offering training and giving them a “Second Chance” to giveback, they in turn can raise their self-esteem and be able to holdtheir heads high once more.
Brion Horvath
Stamford, Conn.