The Capital Times NEWS Monday, October 26,1998 5 | lIT considers charges for all computer printing Students' online and mutiple printouts have sent paper costs skyrocketing By Tracy Motes Staff Writer Penn State Harrisburg students might soon have to pay for all their printing in the com puter labs. Robert C. Brinkley, Director of Instruc tional and Information Technologies, said college officials are considering imposing fees and regulations for online printing in the computer labs unless students voluntarily Alumni mentor program puts students on right track By Diane Finnefrock Staff Writer Students today lead very busy lives between classes, work and social activities. So some students rarely find the time to seek guid ance or contacts in their field of choice a simple step that can be quite beneficial in landing their first job. Penn State Harrisburg offers stu dents many opportunities to do this. One such program, the Mentor Pro gram, is sponsored by the Penn State Harrisburg Alumni Society. The program was established in 1992 to bring students together with successful alumni in their field of interest. It’s not meant to provide students with a job, but designed to give the students a view of the working world and help them down Spanier to meet PSH community Continued from page 1 Spanier leaving for the York Cam pus afterward. At this point, all schedules are subject to change. Spanier is making another round through the commonwealth cam puses this year, hoping to get a handle on what students feel away from University Park. Plans are to visit 13 campuses this fall, the rest in spring. Casual forums are planned at each stop, during which students, faculty and staff can air their concerns, sug gestions or criticisms. curb printing. The measures might be needed because paper use, due in large part to online printing and printing of multiple documents, has skyrocketed to 100,000 pages per month on the labs’ new laser printers, Brinkley said. It would take $15,000 from the lIT budget to cover the cost of paper and toner next year if paper use continues at its current pace, Brinkley estimated. He also said funds from the lIT computer center, not the student com puter fee, are covering the cost of paper. their career path. It can also help them explore a lot of options they might not be aware of. According to the program Com mittee Chairwoman Michele Hart- Henry: “Mentoring is important because it gives someone who is objective the ability to see if the stu dent is on the right track academi cally. Mentors show students what the working world is like, and can help students start a networking base. Students can walk away from the program thinking, yes this is the right career path for me. “We decided to let the students pick their mentors, rather than match them as we did in the past, because they know what they are looking for. We want the program to be flexible and responsive to the students.” Tentative schedule for Penn State University President Dr. Graham Spanier’s visit to the Capital Campus: Schuykill Campus Spanier will spend the morning at the Schuykill Campus, meeting with faculty and students. Harrisburg Campus 3:00 p.m. Forum with faculty/staff. 4:00 p.m. Forum with students. 5:30 p.m. Closed-door dinner before leaving for York Campus “lIT will make every effort to avoid this, but we need students to make every effort to reduce the amount of paper they are printing because the student computer fee supports teaching, learning and research for student work and classroom instruction at the col lege,” Brinkley said. Any decision would be discussed with SGA, lIT staff and the lIT Advisory Com mittee before PSH implements a system to regulate printing, he said. The system would probably mirror the one used at the Center for Academic Computing (CAC) lab at Uni versity Park called the Page Accounting and Login Server (PALS). The program has undergone many changes in the past few years to regain that flexibility. PSH alumni, who served as mentors in the past, formed a committee to re view and revitalize the program. It has switched from a very strict, very formal program to a loose, informal one. Today’s program has compo nents of both. The stricter part of the program is the guidelines the committee must follow to recruit students and Election draws poor voter turnout Continued from page 1 “I guess I am used to people campaigning for a vote and when they don’t, I forget about it,” junior Megan Lewis said. “I didn’t attend the elections because I wasn’t aware of when or where they were being held,” student Jeremiah Sensenig said. Despite the low turnout, four new senators were elected. They are: Theresa Celauro, junior senator-at-large; Shirlene “Rene” Betha, junior senator Science, Engineering & Technology; Alvin “Chip” Black, junior senator Pub- UofM protest responds to recent column and Wyoming From the Associated Press COLLEGE PARK, Md. About 200 people rallied at the University of Maryland to protest a column in the campus newspaper condemning homosexuality. The demonstrators on Monday also observed 30 seconds of silence for Matthew Shepard, the gay Uni versity of Wyoming student who died from injuries he suffered last week when he was beaten and Students at University Park can print 110 mentors. There must be a two-se mester commitment on part of the mentor and student, unless the stu dent is graduating the same semes ter that they joined. At the end of the two semester time period, there will be an evaluation of the program by the mentor and student. The informal part of the program is how the students and mentors interact. There must be at least five contacts or interactions between the mentors and students over two se lashed to a fence. The attack has been denounced as a hate crime. The guest column, published in the university’s Diamondback newspaper, characterized homo sexuality as a “genetically defective state.” It also criticized what it said was the gay community’s “nonstop effort to push their ‘twisted and perverted’ views on everyone.” The newspaper acknowledged it didn’t know the identity of the au thor, who apparently wrote under a pseudonym. sheets of paper per semester. After a student reaches their limit, a charge of 7 cents per sheet is assessed. This charge at University Park has reduced paper waste and increased the amount of sheets allocated to each stu dent per semester from 85 to 110 pages. It has also helped lower the charge for paper from 8 to 7 cents per sheet. Signs posted on the printers asking students not to make multiple copies are the only guidelines for online printing and printing multiple documents in the computer labs now. “We are asking that users in the labs coop erate by observing the signs posted on the printers and do not print multiple copies or online documentation,” Brinkley said. mesters. Contacts can include e mails, visits to the work site or phone calls. Hart-Henry explained, “We’re not saying how anymore, we’re let ting people decide how for them selves, and what works for them.” Readers interested in more infor mation may contact Laura Davis, Alumni Coordinator, at the Alumni Relations Office, WlO6 Olmsted Building. lie Affairs; and Pete Karpew, junior senator Behav ioral Sciences and Education. There are still three open positions: junior senator at-large; junior senator Business Administration; and junior senator Humanities. The position of secretary is also vacant. SGA President Sean Limric, with the approval of the SGA Senate, can appoint students to these positions. Eligible candidates for the position of a junior sena tor, “must be a registered student, not be on disciplin ary probation, and must be in good standing with the University to qualify and remain in office,” according to the SGA Constitution. murder Commentary editor Joshua M. Kross defended the publication as a matter of free speech. He also said people needed to be reminded there are individuals with racist and in tolerant views. A university spokesman said no action will be taken against the Dia mondback. “We like to pride ourselves on fostering a diverse climate,” George Cathcart said. The column, as well as the rally, marked a “very healthy expression of that.”
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