PSU Magazine Fall 1993

Deaf values in conflict For hearing parents a cochlear implant is seen as an entrance into the mainstream world for their hearing– impaired child. But to many member of the deaf community, the implant are unconscionable experiments and the effort to "cure" hearing impairment is considered misguided. Experts and audience member will gather to discu s "The Cochlear Implant Controversy: Kindness or C ruelty? A Discussion of Values in Conflict" in a free public fo rum Nov. 11 , 5:30 p.m. in 75 Lincoln Hall. Nationally prominent p akers include Harlan Lane, a peciali t in the psychology of language and linguistics and author of The Mask of Benevolence: Disabling the Deaf Community; Dr. Simon Parisier, a New York otohinolaryngo logist and a clinica l professor of the spec ialty; Richard Stoker, former director of the Central Institute for the Deaf; and Nancy Bloch, executive director of the National Association of the Deaf. A cochlear implant is an electric device that is inserted surgica lly into the inner ear to convert sound into electric signals. For some the resulting electrica l stimulations sound something like peech. O thers say the stimulation allows them only to differentiate between noise and silence. And fo r some the implant is not feas ible. O n Nov. 12 an all-day workshop is planned entitled "A Hearing for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People: Under– standing the Issues from Infancy to O ld Age." Registration begins at 7:45 a. m. in 338 Smith Center. The $65 fee includes lunch and materials. Both programs will use interpret r , captioning, and offer ass istive device . This marks the sixth annual "Humanitie Present: Current Ethica l Issues in Debate" sympos ium and workshop presented by PSU's Uni ver– sity Honors Program. z PSU Magaz ine Community policing Administration of justice students are helping the Portland Police Bureau with its community po licing efforts. Last spring, 30 students completed an ex tensive study of 80 businesses on Portland's near east side to gauge per– ceived problems and improvements in the urban environment. Todd Stangel, a recent PSU graduate in administra– tion of justice, coordinated the Eastside Community Development Project as a enior practicum project. Stange l's proj ect served as a follow– up of a imilar survey of businesses in the same district, conducted in fall 199 1 at the suggestion of the police bureau' Community Policing Division . In that urvey (which Stangel also took part in) business owners identified numerous problems in their 50-square– block district between the Willamette River and Grand Avenue, and Burnside and Morrison streets. Respondents to the first urvey said litter, deteriorating building , property crime and vandalism, and poor main– tenance of business grounds were prob– lem areas. Participating businesse al o offered suggestions, including increased police patrols, property fi x- ups, and transient camp removal. Joseph Midgett, pu b!ic safety analyst for the police burea u, says police offi – cials used comment from the first survey to help work with merchants on specific project . "We wanted info rmation from the mo t objective people-the business people in the area," says Midgett. Police increased efforts to disperse the area's transient population, aided by the Bridgeport Hotel demolition and by con truction of a skateboarding park under the ea t end of the Burnside Bridge. Police al o w rked with volun– teer , U.S. Bank , and the Central Ea t ide lndu trial Council to conduct a ma ive clean-up of the area in April 1992. L cal companies teamed up to remove and recycle old tires, and remove rodent-infested wooden pallets from business grounds. Police officials anxiou ly awaited results of the second survey. "A lot of the responses were pos i– tive, which urprised me," says Stangel. "Crime was not perce ived as such a big problem. Transients and poor grounds maintenance al o weren't mentioned as problems." "We were looking at the urvey as an indica tor of our efforts, not f; r cold, hard ev idence or specific numbers," says Midge tt. "Hav ing the students do the actual urveying of busines es made this project feas ible. We've been really happy with our partnership with PSU ." Annette Jolin, ass istant professor of administration of justice, says the project helped sharpen students' obser– vation of the urban landscape. "Normally, students don't look that close ly at the buildings and urban envi ronment around them," says Jolin. "By doing the proj ect on behalf of the police bureau, they felt a rea l extension of authority. They got usefu l responses from bu ine es and felt they were making a po itive contribution." "Trailgate" auction Story tellers and musicians in pioneer costume entertained the 600 party– goers at this year's Ultimate Tailgate Auction Sept. 18. The Oregon Trail provided the theme for the fund-rai ing auction and dinner held at the Portland Hilton. William Seal, pres ident of Barbara Sue Seal Properti es, served as event chair. Along with fun fact and fa bles about the O regon T ra il and P U, thi year's guest bought raffle tickets fo r a $4,000 trip to the Caribbean. Popular auction items included a day with the Pepsi Uh -huh girls, a cajun dinner fo r 16, a fly fishing trip on Yellowstone River in Montana, and an autographed pair of basketball shoe from Phoenix uns' player Charles Barkley. Begun in 1989, the Ultimate Tail– gate ha raised more than $300,000 for student cholarship and Uni versity programs. The P U Foundation and the P U Viking lub spon or the event.