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About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (March 19, 2014)
WWW . THESKANNER . COM M ARCH 19, 2014 P ORTLAND AND S EATTLE V OLUME XXXVI, N O . 24 For The Skanner website scan this QR code CENTS Pacific NW The Skanner News presents our new regional edition, featuring more news and local information. C HALLENGING P EOPLE TO S HAPE A B ETTER F UTURE N OW Passage Program in Limbo 25 WINNERS PCC officials pull plug on respected community educator Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News PHOTO BY SUSAN FRIED S ome 300 students attended the first- ever Portland Community College Black Student Success Summit on March 1 – a resounding victory for organiz- er Noni Causey, director of the Passage to Higher Education program. Both the conference and the Passage pro- gram are Causey’s brainchildren, developed over the past four years to help students of color navigate the college system and stay in school. Imagine Causey’s dismay, then, when she reported to work on Monday, March 3, to be told that all her funding was used up and that her services with the program are no longer required. In fact, PCC officials say the program is not dead and that Causey has not been fired; they do however admit that there is no fund- ing for its activities, and the rest of its cur- rent staff are on the verge of running through their funding as well. The Passage program, as profiled in PCC’s magazine, offers tutoring, mentoring and scholarship application help to students, free of charge, on the Cascade Campus. Designed specifically as a culturally com- petent focus on African and African Ameri- can college students, the program was named for the Middle Passage that kid- napped Africans endured during the Trans- Atlantic Slave Trade. “The Passage grew out of a focus group of female students of color that Causey assem- bled in 2010,” according to PCC’s article. “’It’s really about, ‘Can I please have a place where I can talk about my fears and insecurities? Can I have a safe place where I can say I’m scared without being judged?’” Causey says in the article. The notice to Causey came about 72 hours after newly-hired PCC President Jeremy Brown assured The Skanner News of his commitment to students of color and diver- sity at the institution as he seeks to fill the Garfield High School Basketball coach Ed Haskins and senior point guard Tramaine Isabell stand by the trophy they won as Washington State 4A champs. Isabell was also the MVP of the State tournament. Experts say that Black teens and preteens targeted by racist cyberbullying are vulnerable to depression, anxiety, and related problems over time. Racial Bullying Impacts Youth Expert on racist cyberbullying seeks solutions for kids and families Lisa Loving Of The Skanner News N ews last week that Garfield High School’s varsity basketball team was targeted with racist Twit- ter comments from students at an opposing team’s school caused outrage, followed by shrugging. What is there to do about such things? It happens every day in modern society so – why worry about it? It turns out that for kids and their fam- ilies there are plenty of reasons to worry, including poor aca- demic performance and depression. Brendesha Tynes, PhD, of the Rossier School of Educa- tion at the University of South- ern California, is one of the nation’s foremost experts on racist cyberbullying and the role the internet plays in child development. A researcher on educational psychology since the early 1990s, Tynes’ work on the issue offers a fascinat- ing glimpse at the long-term mental health impacts online racist harassment has on chil- dren and youths. The Skanner News: This is the kind of topic that many of us assume is more researched than it is. Can you talk about your work and how you are digging into this growing problem? Brendesha Tynes: I have conducted a longitudinal study of online racial discrimination, and we can now look at three waves of data and see if over time these experiences are impacting our kids’ academic performance, their mental health, and their behavior. Interestingly we’ve just ana- lyzed waves one and two, and we showed that experiencing online racial discrimination at time one, is associated with increased depressive symp- toms at time two, which is one year later. Increased anxiety, and increased problem behavior – aggressive behavior. It’s not longitudinally related to GPA, See RACISM on page 6 See PCC on page 6 INDEX News ...................3,5,6 Calendars .................3 Opinion .....................2 A & E ...................4,7,8 Bids/Classifieds ..........7 ACA Cuts Best Quality Cancer Centers Hospitals in a quandary over lack of Affordable Care Act coverage Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Some of Ameri- ca’s best cancer hospitals are off-limits to many of the people now signing up for cov- erage under the nation’s new health care program. Doctors and administrators say they’re concerned. So are some state insurance reg- ulators. An Associated Press survey found exam- ples coast to coast. Seattle Cancer Care Alliance is excluded by five out of eight insurers in Washington’s insurance exchange. MD Anderson Cancer Center says it’s in less than half of the plans in the Houston area. Memorial Sloan-Kettering is included by two of nine insurers in New York City and has out-of-network agree- ments with two more. In all, only four of 19 nationally recog- nized comprehensive cancer centers that responded to AP’s survey said patients have access through all the insurance companies in their states’ exchanges. Some state insurance regulators see a problem. See HEALTH on page 6
