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‘New direction” sought in SOU program study
Mail Tribune November 15, 2012
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Authorities serve search warrant at SOU family housing unit in connection with murder investigation
Mail Tribune November 15, 2012
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SOU students undaunted by pay scale study
November 13, 2012
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SOU student Simon Brooks. miraculously survives skateboard accident, urges skateboarders to wear helmet
Mail Tribune November 12, 2012
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121112/NEWS/211120304
Former Oregon secretary of state to discuss climate change at SOU tonight
Daily Tidings November 13, 2012
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121113/NEWS02/211130309/-1/NEWSMAP
Iranian to speak at SOU next week about his country’s future
Daily Tidings November 14, 2012
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121114/NEWS02/211140304/-1/NEWSMAP
Hal Cloer, SOU emeritus professor of psychology
Daily Tidings November 14, 2012
http://www.dailytidings.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121114/NEWS14/311149998/-1/NEWSMAP
Broadcast
Apartment in SOU family housing complex is searched as part of murder investigation
KOBI 5 November 15, 2012
http://www.kobi5.com/news/local-news/item/3-search-warrants-and-new-life-in-the-david-grubbs-murder-investigation.html
SOU Associate Professor of psychology Doug Smith on the problem of bullying
KOBI 5 November 15, 2012
http://www.kobi5.com/news/local-news/item/bullying-part-2.html
Raiders
SOU’s football opponent this Saturday has a similar story to the Raiders
Mail Tribune November 15, 2012
http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20121115/SPORTS/211150327/-1/SPORTS
Full version of print clips
‘New direction’ sought in SOU program study
Faculty, staff to evaluate current offerings with a focus on establishing priorities
By Sam Wheeler
for the Mail Tribune
November 15, 2012 2:00 AM
Southern Oregon University is embarking on a yearlong effort to evaluate and prioritize its academic programs and student support services to take a “new direction” academically and to ensure an optimal future for the institution, according to an SOU official leading the effort.
Two teams of about 20 faculty and staff members are carrying out most of the work, said Dan DeNeui, a psychology professor at SOU who is overseeing the effort.
The plan was announced to the campus community Nov. 6, a day after SOU President Mary Cullinan selected the two prioritization teams, DeNeui said.
The teams are slated to provide recommendations to Cullinan before June, according to a website established to disseminate information about the process to the campus community.
The university is still defining many of the details surrounding the effort, and the teams have yet to meet, said Chris Stanek, director of institutional research at SOU, who is overseeing the effort with DeNeui.
“We’re establishing priorities at the university “… this is not a cost-cutting type of initiative or endeavor,” said Stanek. “It’s a matter of making sure all of the programs that we have are the ones that we should have. “… We want to know where we would best be suited to put our resources in alignment with our new vision.”
The prioritization plan does not rule out cutting programs or services, according to the website.
DeNeui said the effort is a proactive response to the changing landscape of higher education in the United States — the ways in which it’s made available to students, and how it’s being funded.
“We’re consistently confronted with a pretty strong reality that we are going to continue to face budget challenges “… state support is always dwindling,” said DeNeui. “What we’ve decided to do is look at ways that we can transform the university to make us sustainable, and to make us attractive to students.”
Other initiatives that are part of the effort include strengthening ties between SOU and the Higher Education Center in Medford, remodeling SOU’s general education classes, bolstering student job opportunities on campus and developing a new four-year “house,” a program that groups students from their freshman through senior years for collaborative academic work and research.
“We’re trying to take one big look at all of our programs … and we’re going to try to create some consistent metrics to evaluate their relative contribution to the university,” said DeNeui. “We have to look at who we are, what we do and how we can do it better, and what we can do strategically to make the university distinct and recognized nationally, while still serving the needs of our regional students “… we’re breaking down the traditional barriers of higher education.”
Reach Ashland Daily Tidings reporter Sam Wheeler at 541-499-1470 or email swheeler@dailytidings.com
Authorities hunt Grubbs’ killer
Tip leads about a half-dozen agencies to search for evidence in David Michael Grubbs murder
By Sam Wheeler
for the Mail Tribune
November 15, 2012 2:00 AM
Police served three search warrants in Ashland and on the outskirts of Talent Wednesday looking for evidence related to the nearly year-old investigation into the brutal murder of David Grubbs.
Ashland police Chief Terry Holderness, who is leading the investigation, said police were acting on a tip but declined to say whether they were looking for anything specific or what may have been found during the searches.
Holderness also declined to comment on whether a suspect had been identified in the case.
“We obviously have somebody in mind or we wouldn’t be serving search warrants,” Holderness said.
“Just because we’re searching doesn’t mean the person who did this lives at one of these locations,” he added. “We’ve issued several search warrants in this case already.”
About 50 police and search and rescue volunteers from across the region, using dogs and armed with diving gear and metal detectors, combed over wide fields and thick blackberry patches on an 18-acre parcel at 225 W. Rapp Road Wednesday morning. They searched a home, old barns and sheds, junk piles and an irrigation pond on the property.
Leonard Parrish, who owns the home with his wife, Sally Parrish, wasn’t present when searchers arrived at about 10:30 a.m.
“That’s my property, and I don’t have a clue what’s going on,” he said early in the search, adding he was on his way to the property.
Neighbors said the Parrishes were a nice family and cared for grandchildren at the home.
“What I know of them, they are really nice people,” said neighbor Michele Bashaw, 59.
Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, Jackson County Search and Rescue, Talent and Medford police departments, Klamath and Siskiyou county sheriff’s offices, Oregon State Police and FBI agents assisted in the search on Rapp Road, Holderness said.
In Ashland, about a half-dozen Ashland police and Southern Oregon University campus public safety officers searched an apartment at 72 Wightman St., just a few blocks from where Grubbs was murdered, starting just before noon. The apartment is part of SOU’s family student housing complex.
Phone records list Rebecca Jeanne Doran, 44, as a resident at the apartment, which a neighbor confirmed. It was unclear Wednesday how Doran might be related to the Parrishes, but she owns a 2006 Jeep Wagon registered to the 225 W. Rapp Road address, according to Driver and Motor Vehicle records. Phone and court records list her as a resident at the Rapp Road address as recently as 2011.
Serving another warrant, police seized a vehicle from the Ashland residence, said Kip Keeton, APD community service officer, but he declined to say who the vehicle belonged to or what type it was.
Grubbs was 23 when he was killed with a bladed weapon on Nov. 19, 2011, while walking home at dusk from his job at Shop’n Kart.
His body was found on the Central Ashland Bike Path near Hunter Park by a passer-by less than 30 minutes after he was murdered, police said.
Reach reporter Sam Wheeler at 541-499-1470 or email swheeler@dailytidings.com. Reporters Mark Freeman and Mandy Valencia contributed to this story.
SOU students undaunted by pay scale study
By John Darling
for the Mail Tribune
November 13, 2012 2:00 AM
In a survey of earnings of graduates from 95 West Coast colleges, Southern Oregon University has been ranked near the bottom at number 88, with grads in full-time employment earning an average starting pay of $37,000 and a mid-career income of $67,100.
Scientific and technical schools crowded the top ranks of the survey by PayScale College Salary Report, with Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls at No. 26 with starting incomes of $54,400 and mid-career salaries averaging $86,900.
Unfazed by the ranking, SOU spokesman Jim Beaver said the school attracts its students because it’s not a specialized science school but epitomizes the idea of liberal arts, with students able to get an “accessible and affordable” education at a place that’s “a college for everyone.”
Junior Lily Hammer, a business major, agreed.
Emerging from the Lenn Hannon Library on campus, she said, “I like SOU because it is liberal arts. It’s well-rounded and you can be involved in the community and lots of classes outside your major. It makes you a better candidate for jobs, in my opinion.”
Anthropology sophomore Sarah Lind dismissed the study, saying, “I know I can find a good job with no trouble. I have lots of interviews and volunteer experience and good self-advocacy training.”
Lind says she’s glad her studies are not highly specialized, as at OIT and that “My life is not going to be based on how much I can earn. I want a decent standard of living, where I’m comfortable and don’t have to worry. People with lots of money are not all that happy with their work.”
Chris Stanek, SOU’s director of institutional research, questioned the PayScale study. He said it is not comprehensive, uses “smaller data sets” and samples only those who return the survey, giving it a statistical reliability of plus or minus 10 percent.
“Their charts are plastered with ‘not enough data’ for all the large employers in the Rogue Valley,” he said. “In fact, that seems to be the case for many of the schools’ reports, including OIT.”
Beaver noted that the marketplace skews its financial rewards toward engineering, medical technology, science and math, while teachers are “unfortunately, notoriously underpaid.”
“Not everyone wants to be a med-tech or engineer,” he said. “We offer 36 majors to choose from. Some may not be the best pay, but pay isn’t the only measure of success in life. Happiness and challenge are the best measure of success for lots of people.”
SOU senior Chad Magruder, who is majoring in art, said he came home to Ashland, where he grew up, and gave up his corporate finance studies at an out-of-state university because “it didn’t have that passion and soul that art has.”
“I asked myself where I could get that passion and it’s here,” he said. “I love it and I’m much happier.”
OIT grads earn one of the highest starting salaries in the nation, placing the school 38th among 1,058 colleges in the U.S., with a starting salary of $54,600. That salary is also the highest in Oregon and the fourth highest in the western United States.
PayScale reports that OIT’s mid-career salaries average $86,900 per year, placing it first in Oregon and within the top 15 percent in the nation.
In Oregon, the mid-career rankings, in descending order, were: OIT, Oregon State University, Willamette, Reed, Pacific Lutheran, University of Portland, University of Oregon, Lewis & Clark, Portland State, Linfield, SOU, George Fox and Western Oregon University.
The top 10 majors for earnings were mostly in engineering, with a few in math, computer science or statistics, according to PayScale. The top earners in the nation came from Princeton.
The survey is at www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/west-coast-schools.
John Darling is a freelance writer living in Ashland. E-mail him at jdarling@jeffnet.org.
College grads average pay
Rank College Starting Mid-Career
26 Oregon Institute of Technology (OIT) $54,400 $86,900
27 Oregon State University (OSU) $47,000 $86,300
33 Willamette University $41,300 $84,800
36 Reed College $44,200 $84,400
37 Pacific Lutheran University $44,100 $83,500
39 University of Portland $47,700 $83,200
58 University of Oregon $39,500 $76,600
64 Lewis & Clark College $35,300 $75,700
82 Portland State University (PSU) $40,300 $69,400
85 Linfield College $45,800 $68,000
88 Southern Oregon University $37,000 $67,100
90 George Fox University $42,100 $65,100
93 Western Oregon University $39,200 $60,800
Chart is based upon PayScale Salary Survey data for bachelors’ degree graduates without higher degrees who are full-time employees in the United States. Salary is the sum of compensation from base salary, bonuses, profit sharing, commissions and overtime, if applicable, but does not include equity (stock) compensation.
Skateboarder lives to tell about necessity of helmets
By Greg Stiles
Mail Tribune
November 12, 2012 2:00 AM
When Simon Brooks stepped onto the Bear Creek Greenway to run a half-marathon on Sept. 23, he wasn’t just racing the clock.
Every stride the 20-year-old Southern Oregon University sophomore took was symbolic of the great lengths he’s covered in a remarkable comeback from the brink of eternity.
A year and a day earlier, on Sept. 22, 2011, Brooks was the focal point of two other races: One to extend his life after he suffered traumatic head injuries in a skateboarding accident, and the other by family and friends to reach Providence Medford Medical Center from hundreds of miles away before the clock timed out.
Simon Brooks doesn’t remember much about what he was doing on the Wednesday night a week before he was to begin his sophomore year at Southern Oregon University. There’s little doubt, however, that he was partying where alcohol and drugs were involved, obscuring the potential danger when he and a friend, Zach Lough, set off early Thursday morning on their longboards.
As they cruised down Mountain Avenue around 2 a.m., Lough dismounted because of the steep, curving nature of the road as they headed toward North Mountain Park.
“He decided to take it easy and didn’t realize I was less-skilled in my current state,” Brooks said.
Not only was Brooks careening out of control, he wasn’t wearing a helmet. As his friend walked down the hill, “he heard me make some unsettling noises,” Brooks related, as he lay bleeding on the concrete near Larkspur Lane.
Emergency responders took Brooks to Ashland Community Hospital, where triage was performed, but it was quickly apparent his head injuries required a higher level of response.
He was rushed to Providence, where a trauma team, including a neurosurgeon, awaited Brooks’ arrival. Louise Sakraida, who coordinates critical care activity, had just arrived for her shift when Brooks came in.
“It was a devastating head injury,” Sakraida said. “He was almost a certain donor candidate, and it’s not often you feel that certain right off the bat. The CT (computed tomography) scan showed pressures that were incredibly high.”
Initial readings and activity gave little hope to the medical team.
“With his injuries, we did not anticipate he would last more than a few days,” Sakraida said.
State law requires that hospital personnel who believe somebody may become brain dead to begin a review leading to organ donation.
“We did that, and we don’t often do that so early,” she said.
No surgeries were needed, but drugs to reduce swelling were applied, and Brooks was placed on a ventilator.
While the medical team fought for Brooks’ life, other hospital staff tried to reach his family — made more difficult because his cellphone was password protected.
“Three of his friends were there, and they were not able to offer information other than he was from Alaska,” said Alisia Howard, clinical coordinator for the Providence Emergency Department.
Eventually, with help from Ashland police, a Providence chaplain was able to track down Michael and Valerie Brooks, Simon’s parents, in Alaska at 5:30 in the morning.
“We knew when the chaplain called — and not a doctor — it was obviously a clue, but we weren’t told he wouldn’t survive,” said Valerie Brooks.
Was it serious enough for their older son, Andrew, to come? Yes.
Should his sisters in Portland and San Diego come? Yes.
“That’s how we knew it was bad,” she said.
Under the best of circumstances, Ketchikan to Medford is no easy task with iffy connecting flights. Standby flights are even less sure, but the Brookses found friends who were willing to swap out their seats to go standby.
“If we hadn’t made arrangements to trade tickets, we might not have made it that day,” Valerie Brooks said. “That was a marathon.”
Dealing with dying patients whose family members are hundreds of miles away is not unusual for Howard’s staff.
“I’ve held a phone to dying patients’ ears so their family members could tell them goodbye,” she said.
While older patients often have living-will instructions for medical staffs, that’s not the case with younger patients who have suffered traumatic injury.
“We’re using every life-saving measure available to us.” Howard said. “They don’t have a living will, per se, so we do everything.”
By noon, Kathryn, one of Simon’s two older sisters, arrived from Portland. Emily, who lives in San Diego, had hopscotched from Las Vegas to Portland and driven down from there.
Both were at Simon’s side when their parents arrived at 8 o’clock Thursday night.
While the medical staff didn’t share its prognosis with the sisters, Emily Brooks, a registered nurse, was able to size things up.
“She prepared us before we went in,” Valerie said. “It doesn’t look like him with the tubes and alarms. After we saw him quickly, that’s when we were told it was a nonsurvivable injury.”
Over the next couple of days, Simon’s parents faced a decision no parent wants to ponder.
“It’s a terrible process for parents to go through,” Michael Brooks said. “Simon is a strong, young man. If he was going to live, he had to have a chance to live on his own. We told the medical staff to take the breathing tube out.”
That step had to be delayed, however, because the sedatives first had to wear off, otherwise they might have kept him from breathing.
While the Brookses were away from the hospital at a friend’s house, the sedatives wore off, and Simon sat up and started removing his IV and other tubes.
“That was a definite sign things had turned,” Valerie Brooks said. “We had been sitting with the organ donor team all evening. Because he was so severely injured, we were told it could be involuntary sitting up and taking tubes off.”
Even though he wasn’t conscious, there was hope.
“We could clearly see he was attempting a comeback, and they removed his breathing tubes shortly after that,” she said.
In the days after that accident, Simon was attended by a dozen family members and friends. They had put together drawings and Facebook collections.
“The first thing I remember is waking up and looking at a picture my sisters had put on the wall,” he said. “Rodney Manabat, my good friend in high school, showed his graphic design skills when he made a silhouette based on a picture with blue hair and a red hat and ‘Go Simon’ on it.”
It was touch and go at times, but Brooks kept defying the odds. He remained under intensive care until Sept. 27 and left Medford long before anyone expected. By November, Brooks was heading north for rehab at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. What was supposed to be a monthlong ordeal was completed in two weeks.
Brooks returned to school last winter, becoming a creative writing major.
A few days ago, Brooks stopped by Providence with flowers in hand.
“It took a while, but his recovery was beyond anything we could have anticipated; it was off the charts,” said Sakraida. “He brought flowers … he’s back in college, has a job and a girlfriend. He’s totally articulate and can keep you laughing.”
Brooks retrieved his longboard from the police department, but he didn’t ride it. Instead, he parked it beneath his computer. These days he gets around on a Specialized mountain bike that has lights — and he wears a helmet.
There still are aspects of recovery ahead — his sense of smell hasn’t fully returned.
“If he simply would have been a breathing, functional young person,” his mother said, it would have been beyond great.
“The fact that he could be at school and have the wherewithal to train himself and finish a race is really quite incredible. He’s a quiet guy with goofy sense of humor, but he’s really determined. I think the race was indicative of the way he’s going to approach everything in the future. He’ not a perfect kid, but he’s a really good kid.”
Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 541-776-4463 or business@mailtribune.com.
By Greg Stiles
Mail Tribune
Simon Brooks never gave helmets much thought before his near-fatal accident. Now he is a staunch proponent of helmet safety.
“I’m the epitome of a person who knows the importance of a helmet,” Brooks said. “My parents thought I was dead because of the lack of helmets. I want to tell whoever has the chance to ride a longboard or anything with wheels, they should definitely have a helmet, because there is no seatbelt.”
Last spring, Brooks participated in an Oregon State Public Interest Research Group safety campaign on the Southern Oregon University campus.
“I told the students I could think of only two reasons not to have a helmet,” Brooks said.
“One was a conscious decision not to buy one because they think it’s cooler not to wear one, or they can’t afford to buy one, and OSPIRG is selling discounted helmets.”
Skateboarders don’t like to be considered cowards and take severe risks to prevent that perception, he said.
“Recklessness is brave and cool,” Brooke said. “In my opinion, the most cowardly thing in the universe is disregard. If a person has the ability to easily take measures that can prevent his or her family’s pain and suffering, and these measures are not taken, this person is being really uncool. In society today, maybe we need to be brave against the people who think we are cowards for being safe. It is so much more cowardly to disregard the feelings of our loved ones so that our friends will think we look cool.”
Alisia Howard, clinical coordinator for Providence Emergency Services, has dealt with severe, disabling injuries involving skate- and longboarders in recent years. As a result, she is spearheading an effort by nurses to reach students before they suffer traumatic injuries. She was part of a group trained at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, and hopes to launch a program here early next year, going into classrooms with presentations and videos to share with children.
“Simon has said he would work with us, which is really good,” Howard said. “Because it’s most impactful when it’s coming from someone who had it happen to them.”
— Greg Stiles
Former Oregon secretary of state to discuss climate change
Bill Bradbury says he’s seen skepticism diminish over time
By Paul Fattig
For the Tidings
November 13, 2012 2:00 AM
Bill Bradbury figures you don’t have to be a climate-change expert to know which way the wind is blowing.
The former Oregon secretary of state, who will discuss “Climate Reality” Thursday evening at Southern Oregon University, said he has seen denial over climate change slowly fade since he began giving talks about it in 2006.
“When I first started giving presentations, it was very normal to have a small group of deniers attending,” said Bradbury, 63. “Now I don’t need to convince anyone that climate change is happening.
“The focus has changed to, ‘OK, so what are we going to do about it?’ ” he added. “There are some who believe there is not much we can do to change the direction we are going. But most believe we can change how we act and effect climate change.”
Bradbury was one of the first 50 people trained in Nashville to spread the climate-change gospel according to former Vice President Al Gore. Bradbury has given about 300 presentations on climate change in Oregon, outlining the need to reduce carbon pollution caused by dependence on oil and coal.
In addition to recent weather extremes, including the fact this past July was the hottest on record for the nation, Bradbury will talk about energy needs in Oregon and strategies to reduce carbon pollution. As part of Gore’s Climate Reality Project, he met with leading climate change scientists this past summer.
Recent nationwide polls indicate that about 70 percent of the population believes the global climate is changing because of human activity.
“Those polls are very encouraging,” he said. “Everyone acknowledges the severe weather we are having, that this is exactly what climate scientists have been talking about. Sandy is just the latest horrible example.”
Hurricane Sandy slammed into New York and New Jersey just before the general election, killing about 90 people and leaving some 7 million without power.
Although climate change was seldom mentioned by either President Obama or Mitt Romney during the presidential race, Obama has demonstrated he wants to reduce the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels, Bradbury believes.
“Obama very rarely mentioned the words ‘climate change,’ but if you look at his recovery program and strategies in terms of energy, about 90 percent is the kinds of steps we need to take in terms of reducing climate change,” he said.
“He is very committed,” Bradbury added. “He just has learned politically not to wrap the issue in climate-change paper. He just wraps the issue in energy-independence paper. I’m OK with that.”
Bradbury, who was a Democratic state representative from the Southern Oregon coast for 14 years, including serving as state Senate president in 1993, was appointed to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council in 2010, as one of two representatives from Oregon.
Created by Congress in 1980, the council is charged with developing an electric energy supply plan for Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Montana. Its mandate is to issue a 20-year plan every five years that guarantees adequate and reliable energy at the lowest economic and environmental cost to the Northwest.
He also serves on the board of the Ashland-based Geos Institute, a nonprofit group dedicated to educating the public about climate change issues.
In addition to finding alternatives to power sources relying on fossil fuels, there is a need to cut back on energy consumption, he said.
“The Northwest in general, Oregon in specific, has done more in energy conservation than most of the rest of the country,” he said. “We have become national leaders in terms of energy efficiency.”
However, while describing himself as an eternal optimist, Bradbury sees solving the climate change problem as extremely difficult.
“The challenges are quite daunting, both for the country and the world,” he said, noting that the U.S. uses 25 percent of the energy consumed worldwide.
“There are those in the rest of the world who haven’t enjoyed the economic success the U.S. has had over the years,” he added. “They want a taste of that, too. But the world cannot survive if everybody uses energy like we do. We have to change.”
Bradbury also will give presentations in Grants Pass and Klamath Falls this week.
Reach Mail Tribune reporter Paul Fattig at 541-776-4496 or email him at pfattig@mailtribune.com.
If you go
What: “Climate Reality,” a presentation by Bill Bradbury, former Oregon secretary of state
When: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15
Where: Room 330, Stevenson Union, Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland
Cost: Free
Sponsors: Ecology Center of the Siskiyous at SOU, Geos Institute, Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center and Rogue Valley Climate Protection Organization
Environment
‘I want my country to be free’
Iranian to speak at SOU about his hopes for that nation’s future
By Teresa Ristow
For the Tidings
November 14, 2012 2:00 AM
Reza Mohajerinejad was a 26-year-old student at Iran’s Tehran University in 1999 when he and a small group of students began protesting the closure of the region’s reformist newspaper.
The newspaper supported the reformist beliefs of the country’s president, and organized opponents of the president had ordered the newspaper closed.
After the protest, more than 300 military opponents of the president came to the Tehran University dorms in response to the demonstration.
“After our peaceful demonstration, the dormitories of Tehran University were attacked by government-backed militia who ransacked the dorms, beating, terrorizing and shooting students,” wrote Mohajerinejad in his 2010 memoir, “Live Generation.”
Because the police and military in Iran are not controlled by the president, but by a greater political organization, similar attacks on universities in nearby cities took place, beginning the region’s first student uprising and showcasing a large divide in the country between Iranian youth and those in political power.
“In my mind, the Islamic regime had sunk to a new low in what they were willing to do to control the people of Iran, and particularly the youth,” Mohajerinejad wrote.
A few days after the original protest, Mohajerinejad was arrested and spent more than four months in prison, where he was tortured and nearly died, he said.
After escaping prison and leaving Iran, Mohajerinejad traveled through Turkey and Germany and sought refuge and protection in the United States.
He has remained in the U.S. since, where he continued his schooling at San Francisco State University, earning a master’s degree in political science last spring.
Mohajerinejad will speak Monday evening at SOU in an attempt to bring awareness to the current situation in Iran and conflicts between the country and the United States in a talk called “The Case for Not Bombing Iran: The Case for Peace.”
Mohajerinejad said though he can’t return to Iran and hasn’t seen his family for more than 12 years, he is determined to spread awareness about the country’s political state and the citizens’ desire for democracy.
Since the original uprising in 1999 and another, more widespread social uprising in 2009, Mohajerinejad said it’s clear that the people of Iran want to change the way the country is operated.
“This new generation showed they wanted a democracy,” said Mohajerinejad, now 40.
Bombing the country would mean that students and all citizens would be legally required to support the government, and acting out against the government or advocating for a regime change would be illegal, according to Kathleen Gamer, an SOU master’s student who helped organize Mohajerinejad’s visit.
“We have so much hype about the idea of bombing Iran,” said Gamer, who founded SOU’s United Nations Club six years ago.
Gamer said that SOU students should be better informed about international issues such as what is happening in Iran, especially because the uprisings there were led by students.
“We’re very far away from what’s really happening,” said Gamer, who lived in Tehran in the 1990s while her parents were in the U.S. diplomatic service.
Hosting a talk by Mohajerinejad shows that students from SOU support the students of Iran, Gamer said.
“We’re backing the students of that country,” she said.
Mohajerinejad said in “Live Generation” that he hopes to one day return to a different Iran than the place he left.
“I want for Iran a world where people don’t live in fear of their government,” Mohajerinejad wrote. “I want a secular, democratic government for Iran. I want to return to my home in Babol. I want to smell the salt air as it blows in from the Caspian Sea. I want my country to be free.”
Reach Mail Tribune reporter Teresa Ristow at 541-776-4459 or tristow@mailtribune.com.
If you go:
What: “The Case for Not Bombing Iran: The Case for Peace,” talk and discussion with Reza Mohajerinejad, author and participant in the 1999 Iranian student uprising
When: 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 19
Where: Rogue River Room, Stevenson Union, Southern Oregon University, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd.
Admission: Free
Harold Angus Cloer
November 14, 2012 2:00 AM
Hal Cloer, 89, passed away October 5, 2012. Hal was an emeritus professor of psychology at Southern Oregon University. He resided in Ashland for 56 years. He grew up on a farm in Central California during the Depression. He attended the College of Pacific, joined the U.S. Navy after Pearl Harbor, was sent to the University of Oklahoma to complete a degree in electrical engineering, was commissioned an ensign at the U.S. Naval Academy, was sent to Bowdoin College for additional training in electronics, then served as communications and division officer on an attack cargo ship in the Pacific.
After discharge from the Navy, Hal obtained a master’s degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University and taught electronics at Eastern Arizona Junior College. He later returned to Stanford to obtain a doctorate in counseling and higher education. In 1952, he accepted the position of Director of Guidance Services and Testing at Southern Oregon College of Education. His professional focus was career counseling, social psychology, and adult development. His research in those areas resulted in presentations at regional and national psychology conventions. He attended international psychology conventions in Moscow and in London.
Hal spent a sabbatical year in Europe, attending the University of Grenada in Spain, skiing in Austria, and touring Western Europe in a Karman Ghia. He and Barbara Rankin were married in Carmel, Calif. in 1968, and spent a month touring Mexico. After his marriage to Barbara, and for a number of years before they both retired, Hal was a silent partner in Barbara’s gift shop in Medford. The couple made a three-month, 15,000-mile trip around the U.S. in a travel trailer; made six trips to Europe; five trips to Mexico; two to Asia; three to Canada; and cruised the Panama Canal.
Hal was president of the Ashland Library Board when it was a city department, then served on the board that set up the county library system. He was interim chairman of the committee of 50 that set policy for the $5.4 million Ashland Redevelopment Project; served on the Citizens Planning Advisory Committee that updated Ashland’s Comprehensive Plan; was a member of the Historic and Planning Commissions; and served as treasurer for several civic funding measures. In 2001, Hal received the Ragland Community Service Award. He was a member of the Ashland League of Women Voters, Rotary Club, and Ashland’s Charter Revision Committee.
Surviving are his wife, Barbara Cloer; brother, Bob Cloer; sister, Pat Chambers; sister-in-law, Jean Gorton; stepson, Bill Rankin and wife, Denise; and Rankin grandsons, Brian, Pat, Chad, Craig, and Will. Hal was a humble and kind man, who will be truly missed.
No services are planned. Memorial donations can be made to the scholarship funds, Southern Oregon University Foundation, 1250 Siskiyou Blvd, Ashland, OR 97520, www.soufoundation.org.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
SOU’s opponent has similar story
By By Joe Zavala
for the Mail Tribune
November 15, 2012 2:00 AM
Southern Oregon’s season-long comeback from unranked and 2-2 all the way to 10th-ranked and playoff bound behind six straight wins is one of the feel-good stories of the NAIA Football Championship Series.
But the Raiders’ first-round opponent — the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees of Davenport, Iowa — has a pretty good story going in its own right.
The eighth-ranked Bees, like the Raiders, suffered a painful double-overtime loss in Week 4, to Grand View, but also like the Raiders won their final six regular-season games to secure a spot in the 16-team playoffs. Now, the two comeback artists will square off in a first-round game Saturday, at Brady Street Stadium in Davenport, Iowa.
“I think it’ll be a very competitive game,” St. Ambrose sixth-year head coach Mike Magistrelli said. “It’s hard to predict, but I know we’ll come out and compete and put our best out there.”
St. Ambrose (9-1), which finished in a three-way tie for first place in the Mid-States Football Association Midwest League, was riding high following two straight wins over ranked teams when it hosted then No. 18 Grand View on Sept. 29. The Bees were in good position after Eric Williamson threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Zach Grant midway through the second quarter to give St. Ambrose a 15-3 lead.
But Grand View, thanks in part to St. Ambrose’s turnover woes, battled back to take a 26-23 lead with 1:12 to go. St. Ambrose, showing some of the poise that would come to define its regular season, forced overtime when Quinn Treiber drilled a 48-yard field goal as time expired, but eventually succumbed in overtime, 29-26.
St. Ambrose ran the table from that point on, dominating most of its opponents with a balanced offense that ranks 13th in the nation in yards per game (437.4). Williamson has been one of the main reasons. The 6-foot-1, 220-pound junior out of Springfield, Ill., has completed 63 percent of his passes for 2,676 yards and 34 touchdowns with only eight interceptions to rank third in the nation in passing efficiency.
Grant, Williamson’s top target, is also having a banner year. The 6-foot-1, 190-pound freshman out of Rochester, Ill., leads the nation with 87 receptions and ranks fifth with 1,132 yards receiving.
That, combined with St. Ambrose’s more-than-adequate rushing attack — the Bees average 164 yards rushing per game — makes the Bees one of the most difficult teams in the nation to defend.
“We’ll have to continue to maintain some of that balance we have in our passing and running game (Saturday),” said Magistrelli, whose team is scoring 33 points per game. “It’ll be a good matchup for us. And I think Southern Oregon, when they chose to bring pressure (on defense), they do it pretty well. So that’s something we’ll have to be prepared for.”
The Raiders’ defense certainly brought timely pressure last Saturday against Montana Tech, sacking Orediggers’ quarterback Nick Baker six times and forcing several hurried throws under pressure. SOU (8-2), which is surrendering 32.5 points per game, is hoping for more of the same Saturday.
“We’ve watched the film, we’ve analyzed it and we’ve been breaking it down to the point where we can see where their weaknesses are and where our defense can fit and what our strong points will be,” SOU sophomore linebacker Daniel Breaux said. “They’re a run-first team and our run defense has shown lots of prominence in the past. We’re really confident in that. We’re going to try to force them to throw the ball and our secondary will do their best to keep those receivers covered.”
The St. Ambrose defense allowed 16.3 points per game during the regular season and is led by junior linebacker Jeremy Wallace (6-foot-1, 215), who has 123 tackles to rank fourth in the nation.
The Bees appear to be well equipped to deal with Southern Oregon’s high-octane offense, which ranks No. 1 in the nation in both yards per game (657) and points per game (54.4). That’s because St. Ambrose has roughed up opposing quarterbacks to the tune of 27 sacks, good enough to rank 19th nationally.
Not that Magistrelli believes the Bees will be spending lots of time in SOU’s backfield — Raiders quarterback Austin Dodge, the nation’s leading passer, has only been sacked once this season.
“I don’t know that you’re going to sack (Dodge),” Magistrelli said. “He does a really good job getting rid of the ball quickly, so I’d be surprised. But I think what we’ve got to do more is just put pressure on him, make him have to make decisions a little faster than he wants to. At least try and pressure him.”
The Bees will be making their 12th playoff appearance and first since 2008. They last hosted a postseason game in 2006.
The Raiders will be making their first playoff appearance since 2002.
“I don’t think that’s a factor,” Magistrelli said. “We don’t have a kid in our program that’s been in the playoffs.”
There’s no telling how much of a home-field advantage the Bees will have at Brady Street Stadium, a gorgeous 10,000-capacity facility that has synthetic turf. The weather report calls for temperatures in the low 50s and sunny, so SOU’s pass-happy offense — Dodge throws 45 passes per game on average — will likely be unaffected by the elements.
The Raiders will take a charter plane Friday morning and practice at the stadium in the afternoon. To prepare for playing on synthetic turf, which SOU has yet to experience this season, the Raiders have been practicing this week at U.S. Cellular Community Park.
All things being equal, Magistrelli believes that the team that keeps its emotions in check will probably win.
“I think these are two good teams,” he said, “and any time two good teams play like this I think the team that handles some of the highs and lows the best will have an advantage. We talk to our kids about not getting too high and not getting too low and continuing to stay focused.”
SOUTHERN OREGON
AT ST. AMBROSE
- WHAT: First-round NAIA playoff game.
- WHEN, WHERE: Saturday, 1 p.m., at Davenport, Iowa.
- OF NOTE: This is Southern Oregon’s first trip to the postseason since the 2002 season.
