NEW BASIC NEEDS HUB OPENS WHETHER THEY’RE SHORT on funds or food, students in need can now find resources in one place: Portland State’s Basic Needs Hub.The supports aren’t new, but the easy access is. “It is very confusing trying to navigate all the many services PSU offers,” said Lee Phillips ’08 MSW ’10, PSU’s newly hired Basic Needs Navigator. Phillips was once a first-generation, nontraditional student herself. Her goal is to make it simple for students to get help, so they can focus on their studies.The Basic Needs Hub, which opened in February in Smith Memorial Student Union, offers a mini food pantry, diapers and sleep care kits, complete with ear plugs, an eye mask and other essentials. Phillips connects students to emergency supports like hardship funds, housing resources, and food assistance on campus—such as the PSU Food Pantry, meal vouchers and the Free Food Market—as well as to outside benefits from county, state and federal resources. Funding for the Basic Needs Navigator is supported by House Bill 2835, which provided funding to Oregon’s public universities and community colleges to hire navigators to help students access resources. A 2020 report from PSU’s Homelessness Research and Action Collaborative showed that 45% of PSU students had experienced housing insecurity in the previous year and 47% had experienced food insecurity in the past month. —KATY SWORDFISK park blocks The Basic Needs Hub in Smith Memorial Student Union helps students navigate Portland State’s many services for emergency food, housing and funding. BIG GUY HITS THE BIG TIME PROFESSIONAL WRESTLERS might soon need to grapple with a lion-sized Viking. Former Portland State offensive lineman John Krahn has signed a promotional deal with World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE). Krahn stands 7 feet tall and weighs 400 pounds. By comparison, the average male lion weighs up to 420 pounds, according to the Zoological Society of London.That also makes Krahn 7 inches taller (and 140 pounds heavier) than another college football player turned WWE wrestler—Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.Though, Krahn is not quite as imposing as one of the sport’s biggest competitors of all time—André the Giant, at 7 feet 4 inches tall and 520 pounds. Krahn’s two-year career with the Vikings came after he gained national notoriety in high school for dismissing opposing linemen from the line of scrimmage. New NCAA rules allow for “name, image and likeness” (NIL) deals that enable college athletes to receive payment in exchange for promotional work. Krahn signed with the WWE while completing his degree in criminal justice this March. The largest player in Portland State history will travel to the WWE’s training facility in Orlando to meet with executives and discuss opportunities. —JACK HEFFERNAN EDIS JURCYS CRAVEN WHITLOW 8 // PORTLAND STATE MAGAZINE
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