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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 14, 2011)
WWW . THESkANNER . COM S EPTEMBER 14, 2011 P ORTlAND & S EATTlE V OluME XXXIII, N O . 46 25 CENTS I NSIDE Jobs Report: Bad page 4 Phil Walden: 1927-2011 page 5 Viola Davis C hallenging P eoPle to S haPe a B etter F uture n ow page 6 Jefferson Middle College New Year IN New partnership looks good but will students be able to qualify? JErry FoStEr photo S tudents at Jefferson High School Middle College for Advanced Studies, now attend classes for free at Portland Community College. Low-income students who keep a ‘B’ average can get full scholar- ships to UO once they have a year’s worth of college credits. The problem? Many are unprepared to take advantage of the offer. From now on, every student who attends Jefferson, in its new incarnation as Jefferson High School Middle College for Advanced Studies, will have the chance to take classes for free at Portland Community College’s Cascade campus. But that’s not all. Students who attain a 3.0 GPA (about a B-average), qualify for a federal Pell grant, and com- plete 45 credits – a year of classes – at PCC, will get a full scholarship to the University of Oregon. University of Oregon President, Richard Lariviere, said he was proud to be part of the partnership that will bring more homegrown talent to Eugene. “Oregonians spend a lot of time talking about natural resources, and the importance of preservation,” he said. “Our greatest nat- ural resource is our young people and when we waste it, we’re wasting our own futures.” Lariviere was speaking at a press confer- ence Wednesday at Jefferson, surrounded by the key players in the partnership that creat- ed the middle college program: Portland Public Schools Superintendent, Carole Smith; Portland Community College President, Algie Gatewood; Jefferson Principal Margaret Calvert and the President of Self Enhancement Inc., Tony Hopson. “When I told students what the University of Oregon was offering them their response was, ‘Wow, They really care about us; they are investing in us.’” Calvert said. “Every student who came into the class of 2015 made a commitment to earning 12 to 15 college credits.” About 130 freshman arrived in school this Members of the Portland Ethiopian community held an Ethiopian New Year celebration Sunday at Irving Park. The food, music and dancing was so fun that passersby joined in. Post-9/11 Discrimination — on Video Community members tell anecdotes of bullying, harassment lisa loving of The Skanner News W orking to document the day-to-day harass- ment and violence experienced by Americans of South Asian, Muslim and Sikh heritage, the Sikh Coalition of America last Friday launched a website of personal stories in video format designed to dispel myths about their communities. The “video wall,” Unheard Voices of 9/11 (www.unheard- voicesof911.org) is the civil See collEgE on page 3 INDEX News ...................2,3,5 Opinion .....................4 A & E ...................6,7,9 Seattle ..................8,10 Bids/Classifieds ........11 rights organization’s effort to document how peoples’ lives have been impacted by discrim- ination after 9/11, by inviting community members to tell their own anecdotes of bullying, harassment, and just plain being singled out as “potential terror- ists.” Anyone impacted by such dis- crimination is invited to upload their stories to the wall. “One year after the 9/11 attacks, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recorded a 1,600 percent increase in the number of reported hate crimes based on bias toward Muslims and those perceived to be Muslim,” the group says. “To this day, Sikhs continue to be targeted for hate crimes, employment discrimination, and school bullying by ordinary cit- izens, and profiling by law enforcement agencies.” “Members of the Arab, Muslim, Sikh, and South Asian American communities were twice victims of 9/11,” said Amardeep Singh, program director of the Coalition. “Like all Americans we endured a hor- rific attack on our country by terrorists. We also continue to endure backlash discrimination and violence by our fellow Americans. ‘The Unheard Voices’ project is designed to ensure that our history is docu- mented and that our voices are not ignored.” Singh spoke last week with The Skanner News about his work and the purpose behind “Unheard Voices of 9/11.” See Wall on page 3 Wanted: The Healthiest 90-year-old The Portland Clinic offers cash prizes, Alaskan cruise for winner W ho are the healthiest 90-year-olds in Portland, and what lessons can we learn from them? The Portland Clinic is holding a competition to find out. The clinic is offering cash prizes to three of the healthiest Portlanders who have attained the age of 90. The grand prize winner will win a cruise to Alaska for four. The idea for the contest came up when the Portland Clinic itself turned 90 years old on June 1, said Jim Schwab, CEO of the private clinic. “We thought it would be a good idea to emphasize health on our 90th birthday and see if we could identify any healthy 90- year-olds out there. And reward them for behaving themselves and living a healthy life.” Schwab said the clinic has learned from seeing patients that good genes are just part of the recipe for staying healthy into your 90s. Diabetes and coronary heart disease, for example, are linked to a poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle. “It’s basic things like: eating right, exer- cise, a good outlook on life. There are dis- ease processes that you can’t necessarily stop, but lifestyle issues play a big role in See SENIorS on page 10
