PSU students to stage Japanese kyogen play
The Vikings’ final lapWith Portland State’s track outdoor season comes to an end
Adventures in traditional slapstick comedy from ancient Japan
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ARTS: PAGE 6
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FRIDAY, JUNE 3RD, 2011
PSU students awarded Fulbright grants Three students will work and study in Germany, Laos and the United Arab Emirates Vinh Tran Vanguard staff
When Sarah Taylor received the email informing her that she had received the prestigious Fulbright scholarship to teach in Germany, the 23-year-old major applied linguistics and German was struggling to come up with words to tell her co-worker. “I turned and said ‘Ful…Fulbright! They emailed me,’” Taylor said. Immediately after, she called her grandmother in Dallas, Ore., to tell her the good news. FULBRIGHT ON PAGE 3
University selects three finalists to replace Marvin Kaiser College of Liberal Arts and Sciences dean candidates wrap up campus visits this week Peter Browning Vanguard staff
The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences is a step closer to finding a dean to replace Marvin Kaiser after the final candidates wrapped up their campus visits on Wednesday. Three finalists were chosen out of a wide field in order to find a candidate that is the best fit for Portland State. Over the past two weeks, Alan Burns, Susan Beatty and Philip Cohen all visited PSU and delivered hour-long presentations to students and faculty. CLAS ON PAGE 3
Student group to host annual African Night Association of African Students will celebrate with a night of food, fashion and family fun Sierra Pannabecker Vanguard staff
The Association of African Students will host its 31st annual African Night tomorrow to celebrate African culture. The event will feature traditional food, dances, clothing and music from a variety of African nations. This event’s theme is “Afrika Rising.” The event will take up three floors in Smith Memorial Student Union and each floor will host a different presentation. One floor will feature African drumming performed by a troupe of professional musicians, who will be accompanied by professional and student dancers. AFRICAN NIGHT ON PAGE 3
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Campus battles rise in graffiti Cases filed in 2011 already nearing 2010 numbers Alison Barnwell Vanguard staff
The Campus Public Safety Office at Portland State has filed 17 reports so far this year related to graffiti, fast approaching the total of 24 graffiti listings last year. Seven instances were reported in May alone. Officers speculate that graffiti writers could be catching on to the visibility and traffic of the campus’ downtown location. “I chose PSU because there’s lots of college students who are going to see tags and take interest,” said one Portland man who wrote graffiti that was documented in the May reports. His “tag,” or signature, is Busk, and he associates with YM (Young and Malicious) and several other local writing groups. The increase of graffiti at PSU is part of a citywide trend, according to Officer Matt Miller, a head graffiti investigator at the Portland Police Bureau. He estimates that $5 million is spent annually on fighting graffiti in Portland. GRAFFITI ON PAGE 3
ADAM WICKHAM/VANGUARD STAFF
Campus vandalism: Suzan Wilson, PSU's lead gardener, scrubs graffiti off of an electric box near Science Building 1.
Smith Space Committee sparks controversy Accusations of biased and unethical voting within committee; voting postponed Ryan Deming Vanguard staff
The Smith Space Committee meets every two years to allocate Smith Memorial Student Union space to student groups. This year, however, the process has been postponed until fall because a number of issues were raised about the legitimacy of the process. The main point of controversy is the Student Veterans Association and the room it currently occupies, M114. The committee wanted to turn this room into a conference room that could be used by a number of different student groups throughout the year, instead of taking up and over-booking the larger Student Activities and Leadership Program conference room in M113. As of the initial allocation, the committee had decided to move the SVA to M104. However, at the last committee meeting on May 23, members voted for the SVA to retain their current office in M114. A number of students, including committee member Brandon Harris, have taken issue with the way this deci-
sion was made and how it was reached. “The three members of the committee who opposed turning the current SVA room into a conference room all have direct ties to SVA,” Harris said in an email to student groups. “One is a member, one openly said in a committee meeting that they think SVA is more important than other groups and the last is a close friend of SVA’s leadership.” While this may apply to other members of the committee, Chair Pv Jantz said he is not affiliated with the SVA in any way. “I’m accused of being affiliated with SVA,” Jantz said. “Not true, and I deny any such affiliation. I am not currently involved with any student group.” Harris is not the only student upset by the alleged bias. Sean Green, an Organization Budget Council representative, said that he would have liked to see more of a process in regards to decision making. “Pv said that we just didn’t have time to discuss committee members’ affiliations,” Green said, adding that Harris asked for them to do so twice. Under Article III in the space committee’s bylaws, it states that every member must declare any affiliations that could be perceived as a conflict of interest.
Both Harris and Green said that the committee members skipped over this part of the meeting and would not state their affiliations before the voting took place. According to Harris, Jantz also appointed the outgoing ASPSU president, Katie Markey, to the committee the day of the meeting to swing the vote in favor of the SVA. “Katie Markey has really close ties to the SVA and knows Pv,” Harris said. “He appointed her to the committee on the last day because he knew that, with the votes we had, the SVA would become a conference room.” Harris feels that appointing Markey to a committee that she hadn’t attended any meetings for was unethical. According to Article II, Section E of the committee’s bylaws, “consultants” may be added to the committee as needed, though they cannot be voting members. However, Harris said that Markey was a voting member. In an email sent out to student groups on May 25, Jantz cited three reasons for the delay: lack of uniformity, a high turnover rate of previous committee members and the lack of time to make an informed decision. Jantz said that a new committee will meet again in the fall to vote on room assignments. ■