PSU Magazine Winter 1993

Spikers win national title The Vikings laid claim to the NCAA Division II national volleyball cham– pionship when they beat Northern Michigan before a hometown crowd on Dec. 7. It was a record-setting fourth nation– al title for the team and Coach Jeffrey Mozzochi. Portland State won titles in 1984, 1985 and 1988. The Vikings placed second in last year's trophy race and were ranked No. 1 all this season, while Northern Michigan was ranked No. 2. Appropriately, the final point of the winning game was served by starring setter Suzy Hall, the lone senior on the team. Allen leaves University The winningest coach in Portland State's history, Pokey Allen, has left the University after seven years to be head football coach at NCAA Division I-AA Boi e State. Allen guided the Division II PSU team to five national playoff appearan– ces, including two shots at the national champion hip game. Thi past season the Vikings (9-4) made it to the NCAA Division II semi– finals but lost to top-ranked Pittsburgh State on Dec. 5. "Coaching at Portland State was the most fun I've ever had," Allen said to the media. "But it's time to move on and accept another challenge. There aren't a lot of places I'd leave Portland State for." PSU's new head football coach is Tim Walsh from Sonoma State. His California team beat the Viking 37-27 last September. Coastal focus on campus The well-being of American com– munities along the Atlantic, Pacific, Gulf of Mexico, and Great Lakes coasts are the concern of the newe t institute to join the Portland State campus. The National Coastal Resources Research and Development Institute (NCRI) moved to the Mill Street Building last year from the Hatfield 4 PSU Marine Science Center in Newport. The institute, which comes under the purview of the Oregon State System of Higher Education, rents space and also receives administrative service from the University. The U.S. Congress established NCR! in 1984 to help the economies of coastal communities. Through a national grants program, NCRI funds projects that enhance the competitive– ness of coastal businesses in six areas: aquaculture, commercial fisheries, eafood technology, marine technology and project development, coastal busi– ness and community development, and coastal tourism and recreation. During the past five years, NCRI has provided more than $4.5 million in federal assistance to support 67 projects in 22 coa tal states, including an $80,000 grant awarded to Curt Peter– son, PSU Geology faculty, in 1991 to monitor Pacific Northwest shoreline erosion. Foundation appointments The PSU Foundation Board has elected one new director to its member– ship, John Rickman, senior vice presi– dent and manager of the commercial banking division at U.S. Bank. In addition, the board elected officers for 1992-93. They are: John Runyan, Piper Jaffray & Hopwood, president; Roberta McEniry '76, vice– president of admin– istration; C.D. Hobbs, Career Logic International, vice president of John Runyan development; R. Jay Lewis Ill, Marsh & Mclennan, vice president of develop– ment; Jerry Parsons '62, Willamette Industries, treasurer; and Stella Lillicrop, secretary. The 33-member Foundation Board was founded in 1963 and is the primary fund-raising organization of the Univer– sity. Its members include civic, business, and cultural leaders from the community. Change prompts protest A rally and a sit-in in the president's office garnered the attention of the news media this fall when approximate– ly 40 students showed their support for a part-time instructor in the Black Studies Department. Abdi Hassan has been teaching the department's class on racism since 1989. Darrell Millner, chair ofBlack Studies, eliminated the class for winter term, and thus Ha san's position. Millner expects to offer the racism class once a year beginning spring term, and has indicated that he may teach it since it is a course he originated in 1978 and has taught before. "It is appropriate that, where pos– sible, core courses be taught by full– time faculty," Millner said. Hassan, a former doctoral student in urban studies, has accused the Univer– sity of "racial harassment because of my activism and my stand on issues." Hassan's activism at PSU includes founding the African Students Associa– tion and Students Against Apartheid. He has also taken issue with the University on many occasions, par– ticularly over services for minorities and the issue of cultural bias in stand– ardized testing. "The situation with Abdi Hassan has nothing to do with statements he has made about the University," said Millner. "It was a decision made at the departmental level with no inter– ference from the upper administration in any way." Millner told rallying students, most of whom have taken the racism class from Hassan, that the Black Studies Department has added a third full-time faculty member. That fact and the realities of Measure 5 limited the num– ber of courses that could be taught by part-time instructors, said Millner. President Judith Ramaley, Millner, and other faculty and administrators met with students several days later to discuss student concerns. They recon– firmed that it is the department's prerogative to make teaching assign– ments, and that the racism class will continue to be an integral part of the department's core curriculum.