Portland State Magazine, Spring 2021

inbox LOVING AND … NOT LOVING THE FALL ISSUE Your Fall 2020 issue was so informative and enlightening that it persuaded me to write to you for the frst time. I appreciated the “One Year, Many Points of View” Inbox article with its many historical and personal perspectives. Of particular interest to me, as a retired educator and PSU alumnus, were the graduating students highlighted in “Te Class of COVID-19.”Tis article portrayed the struggles and strengths of these young graduates in their unique voices.Te Alumni Life and the Looking Back articles defned the possibilities of the future for PSU and its graduates.Tank you for an enlightening, joyous read. —Linda Strode ’92 Te left-leaning bias [of the Fall 2020 issue] was overwhelming. Katy Swordfsk writes “Data Science Provides Election Protection.” We must recognize in 2016 the Democratic Party chalked up Trump’s electoral victory to Russian meddling. Later, Scholle McFarland highlights Joseph Blake Jr.’s participation in activism for Black Lives Matter [in “Te Class of COVID-19”] and Christina Rojas highlights local Democratic candidates [in “From Portland State to Public Ofce”]. Of the candidates Rojas cites, fve are Democrats, two are Republicans, and one is nonpartisan. Tese inclusions are not representative of my own politics, nor are they representative of the American public at large. I’ve veered away from the liberalism of my college days and have embraced the holistic conservatism of individuals such as Dr. E. Michael Jones, the editorial board of Te American Conservative Magazine , and, gasp, voted for President Donald J. Trump, as did nearly 72 million Americans, with 40% of votes from Oregon voters. Most importantly, editor Scholle McFarland and the Portland State Alumni Association need to recognize pushing a hard-left agenda, including Black Lives Matter, will not resonate with conservative alumni readers (read “donors”) such as myself. —Mark Abell ’11 I am ashamed of this school and your biased liberal views. I think you’re part of the problem of the demise of our beautiful City of Roses. —Marlene Singlehurst ’62 MORE SECRETS TO SHARE I’d like to share some of the work surround- ing Portland State’s 15th-century codex [featured in “Hands-on History”]. On Jan. 13, two student-led organizations, the History Club and the PSU chapter of Phi Alpha Teta, hosted a webinar, “Witch-hunting, Dog-men and a World Chronicle: Research- ing a 500-Year-Old Codex at PSU,” in which a panel of graduate and undergraduate stu- dents shared their fndings with 75 attendees. Te students’ work caught the attention of a colleague in Germany, whose own students are researching a book from the same period, opening the way for future collaboration and sharing of information. Once we resume face-to-face teaching, I hope to launch another practicum, as the codex has by no means revealed all its secrets! —Prof. John Ott, chair, History Department MEMORIES OF 1970 I was a student on the PSU campus in May of 1970, and as a Vietnam-era veteran and a member of the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, I participated in the protests those days on campus. I vividly remember what was obviously an undercover police car with two ofcers in it sitting curbside all day on cam- pus, oblivious to the “Stop the War” sign bal- anced on their rear bumper that some student had placed there. Although I was a veteran, I never experienced any disrespect because of it. I was asked by one of my professors to speak to the downtown Portland Rotary Club (which I did) about why I was opposed to the war, which by then I had realized had no end game and the “domino theory” on which it was based had been discredited. I traveled in uniform many times during my time of service and was never treated disrespectfully. In addition, I was never thanked for my service, which I am aforded on an almost daily basis now. I believe a lot of stories about service members being treated disrespectfully, however ugly they sound, never happened. It was a momentous time in our country’s his- tory, much like recent times, that will be long remembered. It was a privilege to be a part of those times. —Steven F. Scanlin MSW ’71 “Thank you for an enlightening, joyous read.” I would like to respond to Jim Knoll’s letter [in the Fall Inbox] that falsely charged Viet- nam War protesters as spitting upon veterans and singling them out as “Neanderthal relics.” On the contrary, our protest group worked closely with the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW) during the May 1970 PSU student strike and the summer protests against President Nixon coming to Portland as the keynote speaker at the American Legion Convention, which Nixon ultimately canceled due to the threat of large marches. Former U.S. Marine Sgt. Mike McCusker of the VVAW was our media spokesman for the planned protests. —Doug Weiskopf ’71 MARKING THE STUDENT STRIKE Te May 11th Committee, which is com- posed of alumni and faculty who participated in the PSU strike against the escalation of the Vietnam War in the spring of 1970, has postponed the installment and dedication of a memorial commemorating the Portland Police attack on nonviolent demonstrators in the Park Blocks, until Oct. 13. Funded completely by the Committee, the plaque will SPRING 2021 // 3