News

This week, The Portland Tribune featured a story on the Ballot Measure Archive Project. Each term PSU students help the project, headed by Josh Binus, through the Ballot Initiatives, Society and the Environment Capstone.

To read the story visit: http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=118401981950656200.

About the Capstone
Students in the capstone explore and analyze the use of ballot initiatives in Oregon's past that have attempted to regulate government, society and the natural environment. During the term, students are introduced to various research, writing and editing strategies and then work as researchers for the Ballot Measure Archive Project, a collaborative effort to document Oregon's most important ballot measures.

Specifically, students actively gather campaign-related historical materials such as photographs, manuscript records, audio and video recordings, maps, ephemera and artifacts for preservation in the archives of the Oregon Historical Society. Different ballot measures are researched each term, with a wide variety of topics available for study. A sample of issues covered includes: environmental (fishing, forestry, land use, water quality, hunting and trapping, recycling, and nuclear power), criminal justice (mandatory minimums, victim's rights, sentencing guidelines, evidence and parole, and death penalty), social justice (gay rights, right-to-die, and abortion rights), education, public utility regulation, campaign financing, taxes, and more.