April 26, 1973
SGA Presidential Candidate Position
BILL MATTHEWS
Before answering the
questions posed by Mr. Bonaker
I would like to introduce myself
to you. My name is Bill
Matthews and I am currently
seeking the office of President.
My past consists of serving time
in the U.S. Marines and a two
year stint at Northampton
County Community College
where I served as a senator, Vice
President and finally President
of the SGA along with serving
on numerous committees.
Presently I am involved in the
SGA at Capitol Campus in the
capicity of senator along with
serving on such committees as
Academic/Campus Concerns,
Parking and Student
Program/Activities Fees
Committees, and the HACC
Relations Committee.
With three years of
experience in college
government I feel that I can
represent your interests in the
best possible manner and I hope
you will give me the opportunity
to do so.
1. What is your position
on a mandatory activities
fee?
My position on the
mandatory activity fee is fairly
hard line. I personally feel no
matter what the Provost states
that without a mandatory
activity fee we will be without
funds. I feel that zero budget or
not we should receive some type
of compensation from Penn
State University Park. The
student at Capitol is faced with
tuition increases, possible
housing increases and no extra
benefits for himself. No new
facilities, no new improvement
to current facilities, possibly less
professors and class options, a
marginal social activities
program and we should tax the
student at an optimum for
funds? Hardly. You see, once you
institute a mandatory activity
fee there is no turning back,
you've got to stick with it. You
would hardly expect that if Penn
State ever gets over these hard
times to give us a tuition cut or
more funds for SGA would you?
A mandatory activity fee should
be a last, out of desperation
measure with University Park
contributing like funding.
2. How would you
evaluate the performance of
this year's SGA ?
I think this year's SGA
although hindered by the loss of
several senators, accomplished
the objectives it set out to
accomplish. The SGA came
under fire several times this year,
concerning such issues as
funding, parking,
commencement and elections
and the members handled these
situtations notably well. Even
faced with "hot issues which
biased groups of individuals;
members of the 4enate never lost
the spirit of compromise and I
think this is extremely
important to run an effective
student government.
3. Do you foresee any
reorganization of the
operation of student
government on campus?
On this page, articles written by the two candidates for
SGA President appear. Each was asked to present his
position on a few of the issues in the election as well as
giving qualifications they deem relevant to their
candidacies.
Following are the statements by the candidates and the
questions they were asked.
Yes, I see much needed
reorganization. I feel that we
first have to do away with a bulk
of our committees either by
termination or by channeling the
thrust of their jobs into other
standing committees. I feel the
SGA's constitution needs a total
revamping to help streamline the
process of governance at Capitol.
We are about ten years behind
the times in the area of college
governance and for no reason
other than nearsightedness and
biasness on the part of a number
of individuals in our
administration at Capitol
Campus.
4. What is your position
on the recent agreement to
"formally cooperate" with
Harrisburg Area
Community College?
I feel the upcoming
agreement with HACC
concerning educational
cooperation could be a boon in
the field of education. I feel that
this is a statewide trend to help
promote growth and
cooperation among the
insitutions within the state, and
rather than fractionalizing the
institutions of higher learning as
we have in the past I feel that
this movement will help to unify
our campuses in the area of
promoting both growth and a
healthy exchange of ideas.
5. What is your position
on the recent SGA proposal
to grant academic credit to
SGA members?
Although many feel that
credit or compensation to a
select group of individuals is
discriminating and will only
serve to propigate unprofessional
candidates seeking personal gain
and glory. I think that properly
regulated and administered
Academic Credit could serve to
"weed out" the lax, the absentee
and the person not doing their
respective job. Imposing
restrictions and regulations of
some type on this proposal
would have the tendency to
motivate the individuals
receiving it. We all strive for a
reward of some type, be it an
"A", a ten dollar bill, or a pat on
the back. To say we are not
reward oriented to some extent
is naive. Many people can
operate and are motivated by
self-satisfaction and ideally this
is how a person in office should
work, but realistically it is a
different story. It's very difficult
to ask a person to volunteer his
services for hours of work a day
without receiving some type of
compensation no matter what it
is. This type of program isn't
necessarily limited to SGA
either, it is applicable to other
campus organizations as well.
I can't and won't promise the
student body at Capitol that I
will drastically change the
entirety of campus life here but
maybe if we work together we
can improve our situation and
maybe if we all generate some
plans for improvement we can
lay the groundwork for the
future SGA's to follow.
EZZE
Research
Symposium
There will be a faculty
Research Council luncheon
symposium on May 1 at 12:00
noon in room 216-228.
All are invited to hear Dr.
Ken Masters discuss research
possibilities and his current
research. Bring a brown bag '
lunch.
THE CAPITO LIST
YWCA Celebrates
801 h Anniversary
The Greater Harrisburg
YWCA will celebrate National
YWCA Week and their own 80th
anniversary beginning Tuesday,
April 24 and concluding
Monday, April 30.
Highlighting the week's
activities will be the traditional
Annual Dinner and Open House,
joined this year by a luncheon
program, the "Grand Opening"
of the Women's Center, and a
special "Crime Seminar". The
staff and membership of the
YWCA invite members of the
community to join them in
celebrating their anniversary.
A reunion with former
members of the "International
Kaffee Klatch" will kick off the
weeks activities on Tuesday
morning.
The Annual Dinner, to be
held Tuesday evening at 6:30
p.m., will feature a panel
discussion entitled "From
Whence to Where?", moderated
by Mabel Burkholder. Panelists
will include Carroll Sandnes,
President of the Harrisburg
YWCA, Carolyn Dismond, YW
Board Member, and Barbara
Ross, Staff. These women have
recently returned from the
National YWCA Convention and
will speak to the issues raised at
the meeting. Ida Sydnor, also on
the YW staff, will be the
featured soloist. Reservations are
being taken at the YW desk.
** * *
BOOKSTORE
OPERATIONS
Ed Note: Everyone
complains about the
operation of the Capitol
Campus bookstore. We
know the facts surrounding
book shortages and high
prices. But there are many
other facets of its operation
of which many are not
aware. In an effort to grant
"equal time", The
Capitolist contacted
Bookstore Manager William
Kistler. Following is his
account of the store's
operation.
By its nature, the
Bookstore like any other store is
often the focal point for
criticism, and to be sure,
criticism is expected. However,
criticism often stems from
nothing more than not
understanding or realizing
exactly what the problem might
be. Therefore, to each of you,
we would like to present a few
thoughts. We are confident that
when you have had the
opportunity to gain a few
insights into our operation, to
observe ,the efforts of the
Bookstore staff, and to
understand our goals and
objectives, you will find little
that is a problem.
The bookstore is wholly
owned and operated by the
Pennsylvania State University.
Its purpose is to furnish all the
tools needed in the educational
process for its students and as a
service for faculty and staff as
well. Income from the operation
of the Bookstore is used to pay
expenses such as cost of goods,
salaries and wages. Any excess
above expense is put into a
cont. on page 6
808 "FISH"
MONATH
I served two years as
chairman of the social
committee of Upsilon , Sigma
Beta fraternity at Bucks County
Community College. I was a
member of the Board of
Governors of the frat, which had
full charge of activities during
the summer break. Our base of
operations was located at Beach
Haven, N.J., the location of the
fraternity's summer house. I
served on the board for . three
summer terms. We had full
authority over all of the
fraternity's social, cultural and
academic affairs.
1. What is your position
on a mandatory activities
fee?
I am in favor of a mandatory
activity fee for several reasons
but only under certain
conditions. First of all, we will
not be getting any money from
Main Campus. We will need
some sort of funding procedure
in order to operate effectively, if
at all. a mandatory activities fee
is obviously a solution, but it
does raise several questions. The
proposed fee would, according
to existing projections, almost
triple our budget, meaning we
will have a healthy chunk of
money to spend, and the
question arises as to just how
this money will be used. Also
the question exists as to what
changes we should make to
adjust to this new budget. In
answer to these questions, I feel
that we should have more and
better social and cultural
activities than we could afford in
the past. We should have better
movies (such as Gimme' Shelter,
Woodstock and movies currently
on the theatre circuit) and a
special committee set up to
arrange for these films. There
should be Keggars in the Student
Union, the New Birth and
possibly Vendorville if the
current bill before the State
Legislature to lower the drinking
age to 18 is passed. Also we
should have Block Parties and
Lawn Parties both on and off
campus. All of these proposals
would hardly cost the students
much since they have already
paid for it by paying an activities
fee at the beginning of the year.
This would also make the whole
thing around activities cards
unnecessary.
2. How would you
evaluate the performance of
this year's SGA ?
In order to answer this
question I found it desirable to
check my impressions of SGA's
performance with the other
students I meet daily. The major
portion of the students felt that
the performance was not really
that good, some adding that
there was much room for
improvement. One answered by
simply saying, "What
performance?". I find myself in
agreement with the student's
opinion --if I had to grade this
year's SGA the best that they
could receive would be a C.
Page 3
Papers
3. Do you foresee any
reorganization of the
operation of student
government on campus?
Yes, I feel there is a great
need for the reorganization of
SGA. I would like to see more
involvement on the part of the
commuting students in both on
and off campus activities. There
should be a committee formed
of commuters to evaluate the
student government and the
social committee as well as the
other organizations on campus,
proposing new ideas and
resolutions and giving the
commuters a larger voice in
social, cultural and governmental
affairs.
Also, I would like to see the
control strings attached to the
SGA, the MHBG and the RSC
by the present administration
cut. If this is not accomplished
student government will
continue to be a puppet
governmental body of the
administration.
4. What is your position
on the recent agreement to
"formally cooperate" with
Harrisburg Area
Community College?
I am in favor of the
agreement as I feel that this
semi-merger will greatly benefit
both institutions socially and
academically. The students that
transfer from HACC will have a
better understanding of our
school and will, therefore, be
much more able at functioning
in our environment.
And, of course, there is the
obvious benefit of sharing
instructional facilities as well as
social and cultural events.
5. What is your position
on the recent SGA proposal
to grant academic credit to
SGA members?
I feel, that this measure
needs further evaluation by the
faculty in order to ascertain a.)
that this is a fair and just
measure for all members of
SGA, and b.) the stude:nt
attitude towards this proposal. If
the said proposal is approved, I
feel that it should be extended
to include other student
governmental and social
organizations whose members do
just about as much work (if not,
in many cases, more) for the
student body.
First of all, I would like to
see the control that the
administration of main campus
has upon residence living here
completely eliminated,
particularly with regards to the
food service. Secondly, I would
like to see an abridgement of our
own administration's power to
veto measures proposed by the
student governmental
organizations dealing with
housing on campus. Thirdly,
there have been numerous
complaints regarding security
action on matters concerning
student housing. These
complaints should be
investigated and the appropriate
action taken. Also, on the issue
of the pet policy, there has been
approved an addition deposit of
$30.00 for damage insurance,
bringing the total deposit of
Heights residents desiring to
have a pet to $55.00 . This is too
high; students should be assessed
for the damage done during the
usual house checks.
* * *
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