News briefs

Threat closes Rock Creek campus

Security officials closed the Rock Creek campus of Portland Community College Tuesday afternoon after a threat of violence was discovered.

The school also canceled Wednesday’s classes.

A college spokeswoman said a worker found a note in a restroom that threatened violence similar to what occurred at Virginia Tech last week, when a gunman killed 32 people.

Deputies conducted a sweep of the campus just before 5 p.m. No arrests have been made.

The threat was the second in a week to close a Portland-area campus.

The Vancouver branch of Washington State University was evacuated last Tuesday because of threatening graffiti discovered in a campus restroom. That threat also referred to the killings at Virginia Tech.

-The Associated Press

Black Panther at PSU

Ken Ford, the man who initiated a Portland branch of the Black Panther Party, will be delivering a speech on campus about the history of the Black Panthers and their historical presence in Portland’s civil rights movement today.

Ford’s speech is being held from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in the Multicultural Center, Room 228 of the Smith Memorial Student Union. Ford’s speech will be presented alongside a photo exhibition of work by noted Black Panther photographer, Eve.

The Black Panther Party was a black nationalist group that formed in the 1960s, during the height of the civil rights movement. The Panthers are no longer a formal organization, though many of the former members, Ford included, continue to regularly advocate for black rights as demonstrators, authors and orators.

Ford’s speech is being presented by Portland State’s Black Studies Department, as part of their Black Bag Speakers Series. The Black Bag is a joint effort by the Black Studies Department and the Multicultural Center to host bi-weekly speaking events with regards to the history of black nationalism, African-American immigration and the current state of civil rights for students of color.

Further Black Bag events can be found by visiting the Multicultural Center or by calling the Black Studies Department at 503-725-3472.

-Robert Seitzinger

No apparent links in Virginia Tech shootings

More than a week after Seung-Hui Cho killed 32 people during an early morning rampage at Virginia Tech, investigators have yet to find a motive, despite examining his computers, e-mail and cell phone records.

In an interview Tuesday night with The Associated Press, State Police Superintendent Col. W. Steven Flaherty said authorities have found no evidence that could begin to explain the massacre that ended when Cho took his own life.

Authorities also have no link between the 23-year-old loner and his victims.

“We certainly don’t have any one motive that we are pursuing at this particular time, or that we have been able to pull together and formulate,” Flaherty said. “It’s frustrating because it’s so personal, because we see the families and see the communities suffering, and we see they want answers.”

He added: “I don’t mind telling you guys that I don’t know. It’s certainly more painful to sit down and tell that to these families.”

-Matt Apuzzo, Associated Press