Commonwealth shrinks
Penn State's budget
by .fen Henderson
staff writer
University Park recently decreased the
budget for all of the branch campuses in
the Penn State system, including the
Behrend College.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
withdrew a portion of the University's
appropriations, making the decrease
necessary.
The reduction thus far is 0.5 percent, but
may exceed 2 percent. Due to this
decrease, Behrend's budget will definitely
be tight this year and for as long as these
state appropriations are lowered.
The reductions could cost roughly
$llO,OOO to $440,000. Compared to the
2001-2002 total state appropriations,
approximately $335 million, the deductions
may seem rather miniscule, but many
offices will be asked to tighten their belts
this academic year.
The cut in budget will be administered
throughout the campus' various
departments, so no specific section will
have to give more money than another.
Because the budget decrease was caught
early, it will not cause as many problems
as may be expected.
Penn State is being asked to give back
appropriations due to the Commonwealth's
gap in taxes collected versus dollars spent.
The returned money will help bridge that
gap.
Generosity replacing luxury this Christmas
by Linda Shrieves
The Orlando Sentinel
It's beginning to look like a very
different kind of Christmas.
Forget about the Neiman Marcus
holiday catalog, which this year
features a $70,000 limited-edition
Lexus SC 430 or a special-edition
Indian motorcycle for the paltry price
of $24,500.
This year, at a time when many
Americans are thankful to spend time
with family and friends, people are
shifting their focus from the flashy,
expensive trinkets or luxury items of
holidays past to more meaningful
holiday presents.
Suddenly, Belgian chocolates seem
like a silly indulgence when you could
buy a handmade Christmas decoration
made by artisans in impoverished
nations, a gift that helps prevent
poverty by funneling money back into
villages.
Who needs the latest foil-lined
Hanukkah cards, when a gift of 10
UNICEF cards could immunize 30
children against polio?
And in a fruitcake-fractured society,
give fruitcake lovers the gift that gives
twice reward a friend with an $lB
fruitcake made by a Texas charity and
you can help the Houston-based Center
Serving Persons with Mental
Retardation, which has used past
fruitcake proceeds to purchase a
wheelchair-accessible bus.
This holiday season, Americans
have a chance to give back to the world
and many already are.
"People are looking for ways to give
of themselves," said Chris Raymond,
executive editor of the Boston-based
Web site Spirituality.coni. "Beyond
Thanksgiving, it's `thanks-living.'
People are really looking for
Charity for them ruining economy for us?
The mall's not exactly hopping, my husband says to the
saleswoman weeks after The Fact.
They tell us to be normal, to act normal, she says quietly.
But it's not normal. And it's not going to be for a long time.
And then David says, "normal" isn't going to be how we
remember it
The saleswoman nods, her every gesture as subdued as the
store. My grandchildren may never know what "normal" was.
This time of year is when Americans traditionally get loopy,
doing what they don't in saner moments during an extended
slide that finishes in a two-week crack-up of excess. It's a
necessity of sorts, getting all the stuff out of our systems,
preparing for the dark winter ahead. It's an exuberant way of
storing nuts.
But I don't think that's going to happen this holiday season,
not when opening greeting cards and mail-order catalogs may
be hazardous to your health and, to many, travel appears as
opportunities to share kindness, thanks
and love. I'd say this is a very different
time of year. I was thinking what a
contrast this is from this time last year.
We were a bitterly divided country after
the presidential election last year.
Today, we're seeing people united in
prayer."
According to UNICEF, which
produces greeting cards and spends the
proceeds on medicines for children,
card sales are up significantly this year,
as much as 50 percent at Pier 1 Imports.
"We're having an outstanding year
this year," said Anne-Marie Grey,
UNICEF's vice president of marketing.
Not only are card sales up, but she also
has seen an interesting shift.
Corporations are donating money to
the group this year in lieu of giving
corporate gifts to clients.
Grey thinks Americans have been
deeply moved by the Sept. I I tragedies,
causing them to re-examine their
holiday traditions.
"People want to do good. When you
give a UNICEF card, it's more than
saying, I'm thinking of you.' You're
also ensuring the lives of women and
children around the world are being
improved," Grey says. "A very, very
small amount of money can make a
significant difference in the life of a
child."
However, Grey says that Americans
also tend to buy Christmas cards when
the economy is shaky.
"Traditionally greeting cards always
do well in a downturn," she said. "The
bottom line is the greeting card is an
affordable way to reach out to tell
someone that you're thinking of them."
At Heifer Project International, a
nondenominational charity that
provides livestock to impoverished
countries to help make families self
sufficient, fundraisers don't know how
by Karen Heller
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Penn State Behrend has already returned
$lOB,OOO due to these cuts. This figure is
expected to increase, depending on tax
collections further cuts. The total may
exceed $324, 000.
"The state provides money to
universities based on a projected budget
which in turn is based upon projected tax
revenues. Due to the softening economy,
tax revenues are falling behind projections,
so the state had to adjust planned
expenditures downward," said Dr. Jack
Burke, interim provost and dean.
The circumstances now occurring also
happened in the early 19905, Burke added.
Penn State, along with many other
colleges and universities, is grateful for the
money the state donates for young adults'
educations. With all of the students who
apply at Penn State yearly, it is very hard
to make ends meet if there are not enough
funds to cover such necessary items as
housing, food services, medical needs, and
the ever-increasing need for new
technology.
The cuts in appropriations may affect the
educational programs that are in high
demand by students. Burke hopes these cuts
won't put education at risk.
"As for the impact on students, I hope
there is very little, if any," said Burke. "The
college plans to defer physical plan
projects to next year. Thus, students won't
really notice much difference since we
don't expect any reductions in services."
arduous as it did a century ago.
The president wants us to spend. People are not spending.
Thanks to digital photographs, at no time in history have
Americans been more cognizant of the gap between their living
standards and those of the country their government is bombing.
It's hard to say we need a new pair of shoes while looking at
children without any.
I used to be in awe of the way the French and Italians live,
their long superior meals, their preference for pleasure over
industry when we confine such behavior to a few weeks of the
year, requiring institutionalized holidays as an excuse. Then a
few historians set me straight. They're depressed peoples, they
pointed out. Americans might behave like that, too, if their soil
had been strafed twice in 25 years. Besides, they added, lots of
Europeans don't act like that anymore. They've discovered the
10-minute lunch hour.
America was founded without fun. Pilgrims and Puritans and
Quakers believed every day was devoted to God's work, every
day worthy of the same celebration. The Christmas we know is
a relatively recent phenomenon birthed in the 19th century,
though many people were still having a miserable time.
BOOK BUYBACK-
much they'll make from holiday gifts
But this year, they've issued a special
plea to help Afghan refugees,
particularly widows, in Pakistani
refugee camps.
"We've put out a request to the
public: We need
to increase our
aid to Pakistani
refugee camps
significantly," said
Christine Volkmer, a
spokeswoman for the f
charity. "When disasters
like that happen, we try to $4
get the public's awareness
to those
eople
n feel
ally
olved
the
lution."
Want
be
Ived in
e are
National
Mb'lntainmail
~~ ..... _.
E~~ .~ w
WHERE:
BEHREND BOOKSTORE
WHEN: STARTS NOW
EXTENDED HOURS FOR FINALS WEEK:
MON THURS BAM - 6:30 PM
FRIDAY BAM - 4:30 PM
SATURDAY 10 AM -2 PM
BRING US YOUR BOOKS:
IN CURRENT EDITION
IN GOOD RESALABLE CONDITION
fruitcake lovers out there, here's a cake
that gives back. Willow River Farms
of Brookshire, Texas, produces two
fruitcakes, a brandied nut cake and
a traditional fruitcake.
Packed with fruit and nuts and
laced with
brandy, the
brandied cake may
be just the gift for the
person who resists fruitcake.
The New York Times has
RA, called it "a fruitcake
~. .'-' anyone could
~.. *,
'
.. love."
The fruitcakes are
made by volunteers.
Proceeds go to the Center
Serving Persons
.4*
~..- with
--1... - -4 4 Mental
Retaniition,
f
,:, a nonprofit
organization
that operates
a residential
high-rise in
Houston and
a rural
farming
* artisan's
ccmmunity
5 0
Freedom helps. Money, too. When that fails: plastic.
I'm imagining, hoping really, that charitable giving will
be up this season, not only to 9-11 funds but everywhere,
locally, internationally, and that will help salve our pain.
Giving, after all, is a form of spending. But we may be in
for some very ascetic holidays. A few people were already
indulging in denial, self-righteous pride always the last
sin to go. Our food co-op sells seasonal turkey-shaped
tofu, which is too weird on so many levels. Why eat food
specifically designed to look like the food you chose not
to eat?
But I digress. We "need" to celebrate. We need to
experience joy, and not just the turkey-shaped tofu kind.
We need to sing, to hike in the woods, to eat cheese, to
crank up the stereo and to dance to Aretha. We need to
gather together with our loved ones that is, the people
we love, as opposed to the relatives who show up at the
holidays, and only the holidays (but, wonder of wonders,
aren't coming this year because of concerns about travel).
We need to celebrate all that we have, including the
shoes. It may not be normal, but it's a start.
Commentary
OKS
A 2-pound fruitcake or brandied nut
cake costs $lB, a 3-pound cake costs
$27. Shipping is extra. To order, go to
http.//fruitcakes.org/or call 1-800-939-
3720.
Want to help Afghan refugees? Buy
chickens. Heifer Project International
has been helping Afghan refugees
living in Pakistani refugee camps since
1994. Because there are so many war
widows, Heifer is concentrating on
helping women, providing them with
10 Fayoumi poultry. The animals are
small and easy to manage, are adapted
to the local environment and produce
meat and eggs for the families. Because
of this, they arc ideal for women and
their families as sources of food, and
they can easily he transported back to
Afghanistan when the families are able
to move back to their homeland.
For $2O, you can buy a flock of
chicks in a friend's name and send a
gift card. To order, or to get more
information on other Heifer projects
around the world, go to http://
hetfrrorgl or call 1-800-422-0474.
How important is a small gift,
whether it's the choice of a greeting
card or a tie for Dad or a teddy bear for
a child? Consider this. If you buy 10
UNICEF Christmas cards, the money
will he used to immunize 30 children
against polio. Twenty cards can provide
enough vitamin A to prevent blindness
in 250 children each year.
In addition to the cards, the UNICEF
catalog also features ties and teddy
bears, including UNICEF Teddy
Mawuena, which means "Gift of God"
in Ghana. Teddy Mawuena is 14 inches
tall and costs $l5. He's available only
by ordering directly from the catalog
at 1-800-553-1200. UNICEF cards can
be ordered online at http://
un:cefiusa.org/or you can find them at
Pier 1 Imports and Staples stores.