Portland State University's Homeless Problem: Insensitive Students

Portland State University has a homeless problem. A recent opinion piece in the student newspaper, the Vanguard, laments the intrusion of so-called "transients" into the university's libraries and other buildings. The author of the piece, Janieve Schnabel, fears that "as the weather gets colder and the rains come, the problem is only going to get worse."

Indeed, Portland State has a homeless problem. It seems their student newspaper is grossly insensitive toward the homeless. Tell Portland State's newspaper to retract these stereotypes of the homeless!

Schnabel tries to excuse her bigotry by writing, "Don't get me wrong — this is not about inherent prejudice directed at the homeless."

She's right. Her prejudice is not inherent; it is learned. She probably picked it up from the same sources that so many people do: inaccurate media portrayals of the homeless. The media seems fixated on a stubborn adherence to the misnomer that homelessness is almost exclusively the result of "mental illness or the direct consequence of substance abuse."

Ironically, the author argues positive representation of homelessness in the media paralyzes Portland State University from cracking down on the nefariously unhoused. She writes, "The media has long glorified the plight of the homeless, from such depictions as the 'wise vagabond' character in many shows to the story of Nathaniel Ayers, a schizophrenic cellist who dropped out of Julliard and lived on the streets. These people are portrayed as humble, worldly and misunderstood."

So apparently the homeless are instead arrogant, small-minded and simple?

The homeless are neither uniformly humble nor arrogant. They are not all worldly or small-minded.  They are people, and they are different not only from you and me, but from each other as well.

Schnabel seems to believe the homeless are more homogeneous than they are, and more dissimilar from the domiciled masses than is true. The core of her piece relies on the baseless assumption that the homeless are dangerous.

On the premise that the homeless are violent predators scheming on Portland State University students, she calls for the university to draft "a better policy regarding transients in our buildings."

To Schnabel's credit, there is a bit of nuance here worth pulling out. She argues that unhoused persons should not be able to enter student residential buildings. And I agree. Only students and authorized personnel should have access to restricted areas. But I don't see this as a homeless problem. This is a security issue, plain and simple. Yet when a homeless person is involved in anything, it unnecessarily becomes a homeless issue.

When I was an undergraduate, we had people unlawfully enter restricted student residential areas on many occasions. This certainly was unsafe, as most of these people entered to commit crimes rather than stay dry. A more intelligible and to the point piece would have focused on campus safety, not beating up on people who are already down.

To the Vanguard, you really should be ashamed of running this piece. I'm all for varying opinions and don't believe in censorship by any means. But this piece is not a reasoned, researched argument. It is offensive and misinformed.

To the student writer, perhaps you could pick up a course on sensitivity next semester.

Photo credit: Martin Bravenboer