C AREERS
Special
Edition
Supporting diversity in the workplace
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Volume XLVV • Number 8
‘City
of
Roses’
www.portlandobserver.com
Wednesday • April 21, 2021
Committed to Cultural Diversity
Ex Cop found Guilty
Verdict sets
off jubilation
around city
Former Minneapolis Officer Derek
Chauvin was convicted Tuesday of mur-
der and manslaughter for pinning George
Floyd to the pavement with his knee on the
Black man’s neck in a case that touched off
worldwide protests, violence and a furious
reexamination of racism and policing in
the U.S.
Chauvin, 45, could be sent to prison for
decades.
The verdict set off jubilation around the
Minneapolis. People instantly flooded the
surrounding streets downtown, running
through traffic with banners. Cars blared
their horns. Floyd family members who
had gathered at a Minneapolis conference
room could be heard cheering.
The jury of six white people and six
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People in Minneapolis cheer Tuesday after a guilty verdict was announced at the trial of former Minneapolis police Officer
Derek Chauvin for the 2020 death of George Floyd.
PSU Proposes Race Studies Mandate
‘This is something
that is needed,’
college professor says
b everly C orbell
T he P orTland o bserver
Advancing the understanding of hate
and committing a campus to racial justice
progress is being put to the test at Portland
State University.
A proposal coming before the PSU Fac-
ulty Senate in early May would require all
undergraduate students to complete cours-
es in race and ethnic studies.
“This is something that is needed,”
Ethan Johnson, chair of PSU’s Black Stud-
ies department told the Portland Observer.
“The university has touted itself as the most
diverse university in Oregon, and as one of
the largest institutions of higher learning in
Portland; it should lead in that area.”
by
Johnson said the proposal would require
all undergraduate students to take two
courses in race and ethnic studies and set
up a committee to administer the curric-
ulum. If passed, the added classes would
also build support for the creation of condi-
tions for a master’s degree program in the
PSU School of Gender, Race and Nations.
“We have a master’s certificate, but not
a master’s program,” he said.
Johnson says a vote for the proposal will
help fulfill a Senate resolution to promote
diversity on campus, not only by expand-
ing race and ethnic studies, but also gender
and sexuality studies.
The idea behind the new courses re-
quirement originated with the School of
Gender, Race and Nations in response to
the Black Lives Matter movement, and
suggestions for curriculum that can enrich
the students’ learning experiences, Johnson
said.
But the effects of broadening the access
Ethan Johnson
to racial and gender studies can be even
broader, according to experts.
California Board of Education Presi-
dent Linda Darling-Hammond, who led
President Biden’s education transition
team, was recently quoted in the New York
Times as saying ethnic studies is a remind-
er that education is an essential strategy for
combating hate.
“We are reminded daily that racism is
not only a legacy of the past but a clear and
present danger,” she said in the March 31
article. “We must understand this history if
we are to finally end it.”
Johnson hopes Portland State will fol-
low this national trend, as the California
state university system passed these re-
quirements in 2016 and Oregon recently
passed a K-12 requirement for all students
to take race and ethnic studies throughout
their studies.
According to the National Education
Association, early efforts a decade ago
around ethnic studies were often met with
opposition, but have gained traction in re-
cent years, and following California and
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