Rob the Journalist

I am a 20 year old video production student currently attending Southern Oregon University

[robsjournalism]

By: Robbie Wilkins

Myself and a team of three other individuals, Jake Coburn, Miranda Duggan, and Devin Shea worked diligently over the period of a term to collect a large amount of information about the ever changing landscape of the facilities on the campus of Southern Oregon University. Many things are changing at SOU and will continue to change to better not only the school community, but the community of Ashland Oregon as a whole. Below is a link to our collective page of information about the building landscape at SOU.

http://buildingsou.tumblr.com

[robsjournalism]

Donald Kay is one of the longest remaining professors on the campus of Southern Oregon University, having been here on campus for 37 years now. Donald currently teaches in the Art department but after this year he will be retiring and will not be replaced (for the time being). Because he has been at SOU for so long, I thought whom better to ask about how the campus facilities have changed over the years.  I asked Donald if the conditions of the facilities and the overall campus have improved or worsened since he has been here, he responded very positively by saying, “I think the campus has greatly improved since I have been here, there is more of a sense of unity, for example the art department classes used to be taught all over campus instead of in two centralized buildings as they are now”.  I asked Donald what has been the biggest improvement to the campus since he has been here and without pause he said, “The Marion Ady and the Art Building for me have been the most important addition to the facilities because it gave a permanent home for the art students to be able to create more efficiently”. Lastly I asked Donald What building in particular needs priority for improvement, Donald having sat on the board when this was up for primary discussion said, “I know the science building has needed improvement for years now, the science programs have all expanded to bring in more students and many of the classrooms are inadequate to hold enough students, I was part of the board that talked about expanding and improving the science building, but they have decided to put the money elsewhere”. Donald raised an important point here, the science building is currently in the process of being moved to the old Cascade residence hall and nothing is being done currently to truly improve the facility.

[robsjournalism]

SOAR (Southern Oregon Arts and Research) took flight this past week/weekend at Southern Oregon University. One of the featured events of SOAR is the Student Film Festival, where students of Southern Oregon University can showcase the videos they have created this school year. The event took place over a period of two days, the first showing at the Varsity Theator took place on Wednesday, and the second showing was at the Meese Auditorium. Students could submit films into 4 categories, promo videos, comedy, drama, and documentaries. Day one at the Varsity was where the promo videos, comedy, and drama categories were shown with a great turnout and great videos that reflected the skill of those in the video production program. Day two at the Meese Auditorium was where the documentaries were shown and where the awards ceremony/after party took place. The turnout of day 2 was even better then day 1 so they decided to reshow the videos from Wednesday night at the varsity, filling people in on what they missed. This whole event was a great success for SOAR and for SOU. The skill and professionalism of the videos shed a positive light on our talented students and our campus as a whole.

[robsjournalism]

Here is an online PDF document titled the Capital Construction Program, it was created in 2006 by Elisabeth Zinzer for the OSBHE. This document is full of proposed changes that would take place on the campus of Southern Oregon University between 2007 and 2009, some of the buildings mentioned specifically are the theater building and the science building. Through this document there are multiple problems with the theater building and the science building that are exposed, this document was created in 2006, it is now 2014 and still very few things have changed with these buildings. There is no current operations taking place to build a new, or add to the current theater building, however, the science building is currently in the process of being moved to the old Cascade complex that was in use as a residence and dining hall until last year. Moving the Science building into Cascade is only a temporary solution to a problem that the school has been having for years, limited space because of the number of students at Southern Oregon University has greatly increased and more majors have been added. 

[robsjournalism]

Interview with Jimmy Leavens

Here is a short video i conducted with Jimmy Leavens, a sophomore student at Southern Oregon University about the residence halls on campus. Last year Jimmy lived in Ivy hall which is a part of the Cascade dorm and dining hall complex that is no longer in use. He now lives in McLoughlin hall which is one of the two brand new residence halls on campus that students have been calling antisocial and more closed off to community building then other residence halls have been in the past. 

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I did a short interview with Morgan Greer, a sophomore student, outside of the library at Southern Oregon University. I asked he how she felt on the latest news that Mary Cullinan, the school president, could be leaving the school at the end of this school year. Her response is clear in saying that she believes Mary is leaving at a bad time of crisis  and trying to find "greener pastures" instead of seeing this problem through. 

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Visit Original Link

The audio track posted above is an interview i conducted with Wander Boesjes, a sophomore student at Southern Oregon University. Last year Wander lived in Emerald Hall of the Cascade dorm/food services complex which is no longer in use as a residence hall. Wander in this interview commented on the deteriorating and sometimes unsanitary conditions of Emerald hall. Having to share a bathroom and being so close with many others can cause sanitary issues and can easily spread sickness between students.

Problems like the issue of a student breaking a mirror and it going unfixed for a time is not uncommon. This is not the only hall with issues like this on the campus of Southern Oregon University. I personally experienced this kind of problem when a shared  floor toilet in the mens restroom went unfixed for days in the Greensprings residence hall.

Wander commented on the fact that the community of Emerald was nice but the living conditions were not ideal. The new dorms on the campus of Southern Oregon University (Shasta, McLaughlin, and Madrone) tend to be less of an open community for making friends and being involved in the community. The communities of Greensprings and Cascade may have been more open to student interaction and community building in the past, but at what price? A lot of the time students would not clean up after themselves after being around many other students they can blame it on and will not take the blame themselves. 

There needs to be a compromise on the Campus of Southern Oregon University, there has to be a way to open the newer dorms up to more student interaction and community building without compromising sanitation and cleanliness.  

[robsjournalism]

Pictured above is Steven Perry, a senior student a Southern Oregon University. I asked Steven what should change at SOU and what he would do personally if he had the chance. His response to my question was, "i would continue to make sure SOU improves their goals towards sustainability and becoming one of the most environmentally friendly university in Oregon. I would also make sure that SOU starts a compost pile, reducing the amount of waste we are putting into landfills and creating useable compost for the school".

[robsjournalism]

The new dorms at Southern Oregon University are quite a treat to both freshman students and upperclassmen alike. The construction of McLaughlin and Shasta dorms are the first step in many of the improvements taking place all over the campus of Southern Oregon University within the next few years. Whitney Graham and Chelsea Carroll pictured here love living in Shasta hall and they were quoted saying “it is a fun and safe community we love being a part of”.

[thepeoplesrecord]

Enough is enough! Hundreds of thousands flood streets in cities across Brazil June 18, 2013

In some of the biggest protests since the end of Brazil’s 1964-85 dictatorship, demonstrations have spread across this continent-sized country and united people from all walks of life behind frustrations over poor transportation, health services, education and security despite a heavy tax burden.

More than 100,000 people were in the streets Monday for largely peaceful protests in at least eight big cities. They were in large part motivated by widespread images of Sao Paulo police last week beating demonstrators and firing rubber bullets into groups during a march that drew 5,000.

There was some violence, with police and protesters clashing in Rio de Janeiro, Porto Alegre and Belo Horizonte. The newspaper O Globo, citing Rio state security officials, said at least 20 officers and 10 protesters were injured there.

Monday’s protests come after the opening matches of soccer’s Confederations Cup over the weekend, just one month before a papal visit, a year before the World Cup and three years ahead of the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The unrest is raising some security concerns, especially after the earlier protests produced injury-causing clashes with police.

In Sao Paulo, Brazil’s economic hub, at least 65,000 protesters gathered Monday at a small, treeless plaza then broke into three directions in a Carnival atmosphere, with drummers beating out samba rhythms as people chanted anti-corruption jingles. They also railed against the matter that sparked the first protests last week — a 10-cent hike in bus and subway fares.

Thousands of protesters in the capital, Brasilia, peacefully marched on Congress. Dozens scrambled up a ramp to a low-lying roof, clasping hands and raising their arms, the light from below sending their elongated shadows onto the structure’s large, hallmark upward-turned bowl designed by famed architect Oscar Niemeyer. Some congressional windows were broken, but police did not use force to contain the damage.

"This is a communal cry saying: ‘We’re not satisfied,’" Maria Claudia Cardoso said on a Sao Paulo avenue, taking turns waving a sign reading "#revolution" with her 16-year-old son, Fernando, as protesters streamed by.

"We’re massacred by the government’s taxes — yet when we leave home in the morning to go to work, we don’t know if we’ll make it home alive because of the violence," she added. "We don’t have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact that we’re not taking it anymore!"

Protest leaders went to pains to tell marchers that damaging public or private property would only hurt their cause. In Sao Paulo, sentiments were at first against the protests last week after windows were broken and buildings spray painted during the demonstrations.

Source (Article & Photos)