Portland State Magazine Fall 2021

ENTERTAINED AND EXASPERATED Hats off to the creative editors and writers of Portland State Magazine’s 75th Anniversary issue. It was clever, entertaining and informa- tive. However, I was equal parts exasperated with and embarrassed by the latter part of President Percy’s introductory statement and could only wonder who wrote this sopho- moric, cut-and-paste pablum for him (what does “decolonizing ourselves” even mean?). As president of a school of PSU’s caliber, he should stick to spotlighting the university’s academic, artistic, research, philanthropic and even athletic successes. —Jeanne Kurzenhauser ’80, MST ’81 REACTIONS TO FACULTY VOICES I read the three responses in Faculty Voices [“What Have We Learned from COVID- 19”] with great pleasure. As each professor correctly points out, if we do not learn the societal lesson of this pandemic, the medical lessons are all for naught. Believe it or not, like it or not, everything in life is intercon- nected. Similar to viruses not respecting the invisible lines on the ground humans revere as “national borders,” the social issues of health, climate, justice and equality do not respect the separate, invisible silos many have attempted to place them in. On the contrary, they greatly impact each other, along with everyone and everything else throughout society. Ironically or cynically, the greatest teaching on the interdependence of humanity is ignored by many: “Love your neighbor as yourself ” (Mark 12:31).The only way to live this powerful admonition is to realize there are no “others”—we are all in this together. — Brad Stephan ’77 What a great thinkpiece you published from Dilafruz Williams [in Faculty Voices]. I’ve shared it with others, including on my Face- book account, so that my fellow professors across the country and world could see her reflections. She turned our challenges into opportunities in such wise ways. —Prof. Tom Hastings, Conflict Resolution After reading the recent edition of Portland State Magazine, I am reminded of all the discussions I had with my over-the-top liberal professors, defending my conservative perspective.This idea that structural racism is the problem in the U.S. is phony. It’s causing class warfare and hatred.This continual blaming everything on the “system” or blaming the rich guys just breeds contempt and hatred. Look at the cities in this country where the leadership is the most progressive. How have these progressive ideas improved crime, poverty and drug abuse? Where is the success of this leadership? The cities that these liberal politicians lead, that continually push the victim mentality, are the worst off in nearly every category of measured prosperity. It is time for leaders like [Professors Pette- way, Williams and Golub] to embrace the principles that made this country great. I’m not saying that things are perfect. I’m saying change your focus if you want a different result. —Charles Blatner ’85 THE CHANGING NORTHWEST “The Changing Northwest” confirmed the tragic trajectory of climate crises and what we’re experiencing here in the Pacific North- west. Our beloved Northwest of mild climate and nature’s beauty is fast changing to dry and hot summers resulting in ever-worsening wildfires.The disappearing glaciers are not only sad to see but contribute to the worsen- ing fire season. We have piled the kindling; just a spark is needed to set it off. —Janet Liu I was delighted to read “The Changing Northwest.” I had some experience with the Eugene Bureau of Land Management office (six summer jobs) during my profession as a science teacher. [One fire] (started by a road grader!) burned up 40,000 acres west of Eugene in the 1960s. Also, my daughter Karen Nielsen MS ’82 lost her lovely cabin up the Breitenbush River where 70-plus other cabins burned, too. She had the cabin for over 40 years. I hope we can get better fire control in our beautiful forests. —Victor D. Nielsen MORE MEMORIES OF 1970 To read [the Spring 2020 story, “1970: The Year that Shaped PSU”], one might get the idea that PSU was a cauldron of political activism sparked by the U.S. National Guard actions against student protestors on the Kent State campus. A more balanced narra- tive about May 1970 on the PSU campus is a story of a minority of off-campus radical activists who tried to engage a vulnerable student body which was countered by a few non-violent students who showed a more peaceful way to preserve a campus climate for calm deliberation. Students who have not experienced the hyper-emotion of group protests or riots orchestrated by trained rad- icals unfortunately will learn from their own destructive actions that they are culpable to being led like sheep to the slaughter by those who have another agenda. —Bob Jones ’70 [The May 11th Committee is] happy to report that our commemorative gathering has been rescheduled for May 11, 2022. We’re officially calling it “50+2.”Much has occurred since spring of 2020, from the pandemic to the mass protests over the murder of George Floyd to the defeat of Trump to the danger- ous right-wing insurrection on Jan. 6. We no doubt can expect many more upheavals and changes between now and next May 11. Those of us who are still around from May 1970 when we were youthful PSU students look forward to returning to the Park Blocks to reconnect with each other and try to say something useful to today’s generation of young people. —Doug Weiskopf ’71 inbox WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU! Send your letters and comments to psumag@ pdx.edu . We reserve the right to determine the suitability of letters for publication and to edit them for clarity, accuracy and length. CORRECTIONS In the feature “Pieces of History,” the last name of Charles W. and Julia Bursch, mentioned in “No. 5: Clay and Community,” was misspelled. We apologize for the error. Construction began on Portland State’s first skybridge in 1968, not 1970. U.S. FOREST SERVICE