PSU Magazine Spring 1994

LETTERS Gay study article debated This letter i intenJed a a protest to your articl e in the fa ll [1993 ] edition of PSU Magazine titleJ "A Record of Int imacy." It i true th at we are in the midst of intere ting times, i.e., un ·ettling soc ial changes anJ unpara lleleJ personal freedoms, which make fo r a great dea l of unsubsta ntiated and exaggerated trash be ing pa lmed off on the pub lic as fact and/or art. The homosexual agenda is heavy into all of the above... Any mo re blatant propaganJa such as the articl e complained of and l will give my 15 cent to ·ome other organ iza ti on. William E. Richardson '64 Portland "A Record o f Intimacy" is an incr dibly wel l-written and in fo rmative tory about something we probably wouldn't get to read in the new papers, and about an inte ll igent profe -sor who is helping oc iety... A book currently be ing read in my America n tud ies class (Cultural tudies, ed. Lawrence Grossberg, 1992) conta ins fa r mo re revea ling photos, accompanying the late tin th eory. Eliza beth Coonrod Martine:' 3 Albuquerqu e, New Mex ico l am no t gay o r bisexual, but, contrary to last issue's letter writer, l find it the duty of a university maga: ine to pre ent various, and frequen tl y unpopu lar, sides of soc ial problems of our t ime.. . The article in question was no t rropaganda but resea rch ... Jean B. Foster Portland Alums from the '70s help I would like to thank your reader · who re ·ponded to my letter ISrring 1993] a king fo r recollections of the May 1970 PSU tudent trike. In a ll, 135 participants and ob ervers shared their recollections fo r my dis ertation, "T he May 1970 Portl anJ ra te Univer ity Student S trike: tucl ent Protest as Social Drama" [ava ilable in the PSU library, O regon Historica l oc iety, and Mu ltnomah County Library]. l am currentl y co ll ec ting stories and documents fo r a book about th e People's Army Jamboree and Vortex, the summer 1970 rock concert spon– sored by Gov. Tom McCa ll to counter expected demon trati ons aga in t the American Legion onvention in Po rtland. O nce aga in, I woulJ welcome reco llecti ons from your reaJ ers. Do ry Hylton 1942 NE 17th Ave., Portland, OR 972 12, (503 ) 28 7-8525 Wanted: job as juror l aw your cover sto ry about juries [Winter 19941. I was on jury J ury fo r two weeks in 19 ... l wish l could have made it my permanent job... Miche lle Mc lintock ' 2 Portland PSU Magaz ine wants ta hear from you. Send your comments tO PSU Magazine , Portland State University, P. 0 . Box 75 1 , Portland , OR 97207 . We reserve the right w edit for space and clarity. FROM THE PRESIDENT Ir is genera ll y agreeJ th at as c iti zens we know too little about cience and its relati onship to our li ves. This low leve l of science literacy has its roots, I believe, in the way sc ience is presented and ta ught in our ·chools and colleges-a requirement for gradu ation that' complex, d ifficul t, and nm very interesting. In short, we' ve made science something to be avo ideJ . PSU is changing the way it in troduces stude nts to c ience. Sc ience in the Liberal A rts (SLA ) is a new set of interdisc i– plinary courses giving non-sc ience major· an alte rn ative way to meet Genera l Education science requiremen ts . LA courses a re bu il t arou nd communi t ies of inquiry in which students, guid ed by facu lty from a va riety of disc iplines, work toge ther in laboratori es, field studies, and resea rch projects foc using on the scie n t ific processes of prob lem-r o ·ing, problem-solving, and persua ion . The emphas is will be on the abi li ty to work with facts, rather than on the fac ts themse lves. Stud ents will be encouraged to clehme interpreta ti ons of data as well as the ir pos ition on press ing sc ienti fic, politica l, and soc ial issues. Many of the projects will or iginate as problems in the metropoli tan area. The problem i , we don't teach sc ience th e way it's actually done. We teach the results of an experiment that's been done over and O\'er again. We ask students to answer a few que tion in a ·cience note book about when the ice melted or the water bo iled or to repeat back to us what someone else di CO\'er d or thought. We shouldn't rea lly be "teaching" sc ience at a ll. We houlJ allow our tudents to do science. That way, they can learn wh at sc ience rea lly b , by experienc ing sc ienti fic discovery for themsel ves as a way of arproaching problems and que tion ·; as a way of lea rning about th e world; as a way of testing ideas. z P u Magazine We' re exc ited about this new aprroach to the teaching of sc ience \\'h ich is supporreJ in pa rt by the National Sc ience Founda ti on . T n hea r more about it, con tac t Bill Becker or M ic hael Flower at our Center fo r cie nce Education , 725-424 3. Judith A. Ramaley, President