Following a rally and march around Portland State campus on the afternoon of Sept. 24, a group of protesters associated with Portland State University Student Union announced an occupation of PSU’s Campus Public Safety Office to protest the fatal shooting of Jason Washington, a Portland man killed by campus police officers on June 29.
Protest organizers said they are calling for the immediate disarmament of PSU’s campus police, the construction of a permanent memorial for Washington to replace the one that was removed in August 2018 at the university’s request, and the firing of James Dewey and Shawn McKenzie, the two officers involved in the shooting. PSUSU organizer Olivia Pace said the occupiers will remain camped in front of CPSO until their demands are met.
“We see multiple people and entities as being responsible for the unjust murder of Jason, including the officers, the PSU Board of Trustees and both PSU’s past president Wim Wiewel, who saw armament through, and PSU’s current president Rahmat Shoureshi, who can now disarm the campus police,” organizers stated in a press release.
Vanguard investigation is still ongoing. We will continue to report new developments.
I am a fourth-year student in the University Honors College studying political science and Arabic. I started with Vanguard in August 2017 as a reporter for the international section before becoming international editor at the beginning of this year. I have been working with the news team since spring 2018. As news editor, I am responsible for curating, editing and reporting on content relating to the goings-on of PSU and its surrounding area while working with a team of reporters to accurately and responsibly inform the campus community.
There’s like 50 students protesting out of 28,000. Jesus give it up, no one really cares about your opinion and you are definitely the minority on campus. I feel much better having armed police on campus, if you don’t want to get shot don’t reach for a gun after being told not to by police.