Wael Elasady

In Portland, Ore., 500 Occupy supporters participated throughout the day in the protest against "Wall Street on the Waterfront," which was organized around an early morning mobilization and a rally later in the day. The demonstrators shut down operations at the largest terminals at the port.

The Portland mayor’s race is heating up but at this stage it is unknown who will be the next to hold that office. However, it is reasonably clear who the likely choices will be when the final election is held: Eileen Brady or Charlie Hales. The City of Portland and the University have a close relationship, making this race especially important for all students at PSU, not just those who live in Portland. Briefly, each candidate’s connections to the University made clear, since neither Hales nor Brady specifically address higher education in campaign literature.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but the public approval rating for Occupy Wall Street is sinking faster than Donald Trump’s chances of being president. According to a November 16, 2011 poll conducted by Public Policy Polling has approval of OWS standing at 33% among the general public; perhaps most disturbing is the increase in public disapproval, which has increased from 38% to 45% at the time the poll was taken. If you need a better illustration of the problem, Republican professional liar Newt Gingrich recently told Occupiers "Go get a job right after you take a bath,” – a statement that 43% of Americans apparently agree with. The Occupy movement seems to be losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the public. Why?

In University Gouging: Part 1, I discussed PSU’s relationship with private developer and equity firm American Campus Communities (ACC). The institutions are jointly building University Pointe, the new “residence hall” going up at SW 6^th and College. The quotation marks are warranted because University Pointe (UP) is not a dorm in the traditional sense. The building will be owned and operated by ACC, seemingly in direct competition with PSU’s University Housing department. University Housing might end up facing layoffs and cuts to services because of the for-profit project. Sound familiar? It should. The trend toward privatization at public universities has been well documented (The Public University Goes to the Marketplace, Patricia L. Farrell, www.aaup.org), and we have our share of it at PSU—think shitty Aramark food. The question with UP, as with the dubious, prison-quality burgers served on the first floor of Smith, is: are the students being sold out here? If so, to whom?

The Wednesday, November 16^th PSU student walk-out enjoyed all the necessary components to a true blue march-and-rally-hullaballoo: Chants, drums, students, faculty--the entire group numbering around 500-1,000 in all, as well as riot cops, riot horses, Bank of America employees cowering behind the bank’s locked doors due to the crowd (an unintended benefit), and, most importantly, not “business as usual.”

The public response to the Saturday, November 12^th eviction of both Portland Occupation parks, Chapman and Lownsdale, was comparable to the first day of the Portland Occupation on October 6^th , both in excitement and in numbers. Unofficial estimates calculated attendance, at the height of the event (between 12am and 4am), to be at around 10,000 people (the numbers of viewers of the Occupy Portland Livestream was witnessed to also be around 10,000 people between 12am and 2am). Sam Adams’ call to evict the Occupiers, and the Portland Police Bureau’s subsequent arrival--riot gear, chemical “agents”, and horses in tow--served not only as further evidence that this movement shall not be easily halted, but also as an electrical jolt that surged through the city of Portland, reminding numerous residents of the core importance and values of the movement, leading them to go to the eviction resistance--the so-called “Occu-fest”--and show their support.

On November 8^th, citizens in the first Congressional district in Oregon selected their candidates of choice to run for the seat being vacated by disgraced and unbalanced Congressman David Wu. Democrats chose by an overwhelming majority State Senator Suzanne Bonamici, while Republicans chose by a similar margin Tualitan businessman Rob Cornilles, who lost to David Wu in 2010 amidst Wu's emerging scandals.