At noon yesterday, approximately 200 Portland State students and faculty members launched Occupy PSU by walking out of classes and congregating at the South Park Blocks behind Smith Memorial Student Union to rally for improvements in the higher education system. They were joined there by a group of protesters from Occupy Portland who supported the walkout’s objections to tuition increases, large class sizes, poor faculty compensation and decreased state funding for higher education.
The initial rally outside of SMSU was followed by a march to Portland City Hall. On the return march, just before the remaining 100–150 protesters reached the intersection at Southwest 5th Avenue and Madison Street, a police barricade blocked the path, and tension between the police and protesters escalated, culminating in the arrest of one man at around 1:45 p.m.
A second arrest was made just before 4 p.m., outside of the Academic and Student Rec Center. A man was trying to enter the ASRC, which had been locked by university officials as Occupy PSU protesters neared the building. According to CPSO Officer Craig Whitten, CPSO officers told the man to leave, and warned him that if he came back he’d be arrested.
The man came back, and wouldn’t provide his ID or his name, so the police arrested him, Whitten said.
According to eyewitness Jason Sayr, CPSO officers carried the uncooperative man away from the ASRC.
Whitten said that it was a pretty standard arrest.
It was not known at press time whether either arrested suspect is affiliated with Portland State.
The nascent Occupy PSU movement had hoped to capitalize on momentum generated by the ongoing Occupy Portland movement by adopting its name, though it has no official ties to Occupy Portland.
The kick-off rally outside of SMSU featured speeches from ASPSU President Adam Rahmlow and PSU faculty members David Osborn and Marcia Klotz. They spoke on topics ranging from corporate greed to the virtues of democracy.
Osbaldo Rodriguez, a senior in the child and family studies program who was participating in the rally, said he was most concerned with the rising costs of attending college classes and the reality of the poor job market. “We are going to school for no reason,” he said. “We are going to graduate with a lot of debt and have nowhere to go.”
After about 35 minutes of assembly, the nearly 300 protesters in attendance began the winding march through downtown Portland, guided by Portland Police officers on bicycles and on foot.
“There were enough cops to completely surround us,” said Aimee Zink, a sophomore Japanese major and reporter for the Arts and Culture section of the Vanguard, who was present at the march in an unofficial capacity. “We marched down to the Bank of America, right across from the Portlandia statue, where we stopped and gathered.”
After PSU students and faculty told personal stories about debt and problems within the higher education system, the remaining protesters began to march south along Southwest 5th Avenue towards the PSU campus. They were blocked by a wall of officers, Zink said.
“I was really confused because people were shouting,” Zink said. “I went to ask a nearby police officer, ‘Why can’t we go through? Are they blocking us?’ The officer said, ‘That’s up to them [the officers up front]. Just stay on the sidewalk.’”
It was at this point that the first arrest occurred, according to Zink, and that many more police showed up, including at least eight policemen on horseback. “People started shouting ‘shame on you’ and making derogatory comments toward the police,” Zink said. “I definitely don’t think the majority of people were being violent toward the police, but some definitely were.”
Shortly after the first arrest, police escorted the marchers to the PSU Urban Plaza, where the protesters conducted Occupy PSU’s first general assembly.
According to Zink, Portland Police presence decreased after the march concluded, and Portland State’s Campus Public Safety Officers took over.
During the general assembly “a PSU graduate, who said he couldn’t find a job, burned a copy of his diploma,” Zink said. “It wasn’t the original, just a copy.”
An estimated 25 protesters were left in attendance at the conclusion of yesterday’s event, around 3:45 p.m. The second arrest occurred after the general assembly was over.
Occupy PSU has scheduled its second general assembly meeting for Monday, Nov. 21, at 2 p.m. in Urban Plaza.
Ryan Deming, Josh Hunt and Katrina Petrovich contributed reporting.
View more photos from Occupy PSU on the photo blog
Occupy PSU Arrest footage
