Friday, February 8, 2008
New Facebook application targets PSU students
By Angelica Stoltzfus
staff writer
anssls4@psu.edu
A new application on the popular social
networking site Facebook.com has made
research for Penn State students easier.
With the application, students can now
search The CAT, the Pro Quest database, get
help from a librarian.
Freshman Marc Powers said, "I can only
study and research for so long, then there's
Facebook."
The Penn State Librarian Staff is well
aware of students’ addiction to the site and
have made interesting accommodations to
help students like Powers.
Many students at Behrend were unaware of
this relatively new Facebook application and
student reaction was mixed. Some, like Selina
Chavez, argued that the application was not
“legitimate enough” for researching purposes.
Russ Hall, Reference Librarian at
Behrend’s Lilley Library, gave incite to the
advantages and disadvantages of using the
site. “We created the site hoping that it would
make researching easier for students [while
they were already on their Facebook
‘Sleeping Bag Weekend’ helps prospective students in the decision process
By Krista Jones
staff writer
kejs().W(fl psu.edu
For students who are trying to make their deci
sion on where to go to college, Penn State Behrend
offers a program referred to as the “Sleeping Bag
Weekend." Admissions and Student Affairs team
up to run this program —they coordinate an
overnight visit to Penn State Behrend to help show
high school seniors what a night living at Behrend
would be like.
There were 17 high school students —seven male
and ten female —scheduled to come up to Behrend
this past weekend to stay with volunteer hosts who
would take them and show them around campus.
Unfortunately, three students cancelled for poor
weather conditions, bringing the number down to
14. So, there were 14 Behrend students involved,
not to mention the roommates of the students who
volunteered to host.
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Landloard pays: Water, Sewer, Garbage, Natural Gas & Electric
accounts.]” The site is very basic and simple.
Start by typing in any key word on the search
button, which then displays all available
books and articles available from every Penn
State campus.
The problem with this researching tech
nique is that the site is not able to limit the
search to Behrend
College. Hall also
admitted that when typ
ing in a search for a
specific author “only 2
out of 12 findings"
were the author he had
searched.
Hall added that the
site is superb for “gen
eral researching top
ics." more than specific
ones. An important
thing to remember
about this Penn State
run application is that it only allows Penn
State students to access the application. If a
student attempts to use the site from home, it
will ask for the student's user ID and pass
word for clarification purposes.
south st.
814.434.2725
FULLY FURNISHED ~ APPLIANCES
Kitchen and living Room Furniture
Sophomore Michael Swarzel took advan-
The volunteers usually come from the RA classes,
and other students that scouts from Student Affairs
can find who would be willing to host the high
school seniors that sign up for this program.
"Freshman are usually the best suited to a program
like this," says Keith Cerroni from Student Affairs,
"They’re closer in age to the prospective students
coming up.” However, they do have students that
are not freshman who help out with the program by
hosting a senior.
When a student volunteers, they fill out a form
giving their name, what weekends they are avail
able to host, their gender, their intended major,
contact information, their roommate(s) name(s).
their own high school and home town, and a bit of
a personal description.
The schedule for the weekend was relatively
simple: seniors check in by 10:15 a.m. in Reed 113.
From 10:20 through noon they have a welcome
assembly by admissions, a leadership meeting
done by Leadership Unlimited, and a tour of the
buffalo id.
TEW-
“We created the site
hoping that it would
make researching easi
er for students,”
•Russ Hall
Reference Librarian
Lilley Library
tage of the application's access to Penn State
Libraries. After his first use, he said, "The site
was really cool and helped me find some very
useful information for my research papers."
The application is based on making it quick
and easy for all the Facebook users from Penn
State. In the same effort. Hall recently started
a Facebook group for
Behrend students called,
"Lilley Library of Penn
State Behrend."
Although Facebook is an
addicting entertainment
method for many students,
Penn State is finding ways
to create a more beneficial
side to the site, promoting
education using common
applications accessible to
all Penn Sate students.
Sine its premier in the fall
of 2007 the application has
over 1,300 users.
To access the application visit apps.face
book.com/psulibrary.
campus. They have lunch from 12:00 to 12:50 and time I've done
then a mandatory meeting from 1:00-1:20 done by says Armady.
a representative
from Residence
Life and Housing
in Reed 114. After
that are all the
optional meetings,
lasting from 1:20-
3:20 in Reed 114.
The host student
can pick up the
senior starting at
1:20 and. whether
they went to the
meetings or not. will have the student until some
time between 9 and 10 a.m. the next morning.
Elton Armady hosted Marcus Hollingsworth
from the Leonardo Da Vinci High School in
Buffalo, New York. "He was a really nice kid, and
it was fun selling the campus. This is the second
Alternative Spring Break gains popularity throughout the university
By Krista Jones
staff writer
kejso.W<?' psu.edu
In the spring of 2007. Penn State Behrend sent a
group of seven students and two faculty members
out into the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina to help
aid cities in dire need of reconstruction and rehabil-
In Sept. 2006. Hurricane Katrina was the deadlist
storm in the history of the United States with deaths
surpassing 1.800 people. The storm produced dev
astating damages throughout the coastlines of
Louisiana. Mississippi, and Alabama. The
Alternative Spring Break trip that Residence Life
and the College’s Center for Service Leadership
planned last year was "an awesome experience,"
said Craig Berger. Resident Life Cooridinator. The
team plans to take this year in the Spring of 2008 a
total of 72 volunteers, 23 being Penn State Behrend
students. “When we got back from the first trip.
Kelly [Shrout, interim associate director of student
affairs, who also attended last year] and I [Berger],
really had a chance to promote the trip and try to get
more students excited about it.”
The volunteers are only required to committ to the
trip by Feb. 8 with a fee of $3OO per student for a
week long experience. This affordable cost was due
to each campus' Student Activity Fee organization
taking care of lodging and travel expenses. This was
Endowments keep PSU in the front of the pack
Continued from page 1
Washington University - $4.08
billion, Emory University -
$4.09 billion, University of
Michigan - Ann Arbor - $4.2 bil
lion, Columbia University - $4.4
billion, M.I.T. - $5.8 billion,
Stanford University - $9.9 bil
lion, Princeton - $9.9 billion,
Yale university - $12.7 billion
and coming in first place with a
whopping endowment at $22.6
billion, Harvard University.
Some of the wealthier univer
sities are undergoing great
scrutiny though, due to their
large increase in endowments
and their ever increasing astro
nomical tuition fees. It was stat
ed among the Penn State Board
of Trustees that Penn State’s
endowment is the only thing
stopping the university from
competing with a lot of the
wealthier universities, but to
increase Penn State’s endow
ment, the university would need
to increase state appropriations.
Activity fees could
be increasing again
Continued from page 1
we only have about $35,000-
$40,000 to allocate to them."
Since there are not enough
funds to go around, the CCSG is
looking into a resolution to raise
the activity fee so that campuses
like Behrend have more to give
to the students who want to hold
an activity. These numbers have
been fairly consistent over the
course of one academic year, but
unfortunately, some requests are
not eligible to be funded. Not all
requests come from clubs and
organizations
Sometimes, students who want
to hold events on campus simply
come in groups to ask for fund
ing so they can hold an activity
on campus.
According to Ben Gilson
Student
Association (SGA) President,
students pay $64 a semester. The
“[Marcus Hallingsowrth]
was a really nice kid, and
it was fun selling the
campus.”
-Elton Armady
Student host
The university, according to
Penn State spokesperson, Linda
Powers, has been receiving dis
proportionate state funds over
the years. This concern will be
brought to the attention of the
state’s House of Appropriations
Committee on Feb. 26 and a
request for more state funding
will be made.
In Sep. 2004, a request was
made and approved for the same
reason. The appropriations for
Penn State increased about $17.6
million that year, and though this
was a generous increase,
President of Penn State Graham
B. Spanier stated that “we will
begin the next year’s budget
cycle continuing to feel the
effects of the steep reductions
that were levied at the start of
this decade”. So it seems the
fight for higher state appropria
tions has been an ongoing, stag
nant battle for many years now,
and still today Penn State needs
to struggle to increase their state
The Behrend Beacon I
increase would be three percent
plus two dollars to match infla
tion—if the fee is not raised.
then our buying power as a cam
pus will change for next year. It
is almost like losing money,
because we will not be matching
inflation.
“The fee will keep up student
funding, and keep student activ
ities going.” said Gilson.
“Personally, I’m fine with pitch
ing in an extra five dollars, but
the decision isn't up to me.”
Ultimately, it comes down to
the students anyhow. Students
can expect a referendum on the
next SGA election on where the
fee will be in terms of. price.
Depending on the student vote,
the fee may or may not be
increased after the next SGA
election in April.
Government
this, and I'd love to do it again,”
His student plans on attending
Behrend in the fall of 2008.
Freshmen enrollment numbers
for this year beginning in fall of
2007 were higher than usual, at
1,129 students —721 of which
are male, and 408 of which are
female. So does Behrend really
need a program like this?
“As far as numbers go, no,”
says Felicia Williams in
Admissions. "What we’re trying
to do is bring in students from
out-of-state. As far as the region
goes, we're looking to increase the number o
dents attending Behrend whose permanent resi
dence is not in Pennsylvania.” There will be anoth
er sleeping bag weekend on April 4 to the 5.
applicable to all Penn State students interested in
the oureach program.
Pennsylvania 4-H is nationwide community
organization committed to helping young people
build leadership, citizenship, and life skills. In the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, 4-H club members
from all across Pennsylvania took their lessons to
heart and worked to raise money and aid packages
for displaced Gulf residents. Berger acknowledged
that "he nor any other members even know of the
University Park’s students" who also took part in
the Alternative Srping Break trip. The Resident Life
and Leadership groups at Penn State Behrend com
pletely organized this trip in 2007 without any prior
knowledge to the 4-H club affiliated with
Universtiy Park.
This spring, the coordinators were able to take the
whole year for preparation. Berger explained that
the students were very wiling to join the cause and
"acted positively.” The jobs the volunteers are
assigned to are random but as Berger said, "We do
what they need done." The lodging for the Behrend
students is nothing exceptionally wonderful but
there are "hot showers on demand." The beds them
selves are “interesting" as Berger described them,
but the volunteers accept what the are given with
positive attitudes. Katrina took the lives of many
individuals and the importance of this Alternative
Spring Break trip does not go over looked.
funding and endowments in
order to compete with the
wealthier universities across the
nation
Endowment Rankings
of Big Ten Schools
(in billions)
8. Michigan $7.09
11. Northwestern $6.5
24. Minnesota $2.8
27. Ohio State $2.3
36. Purdue $1.79
45. Wisconsin $1.65
46. Penn State $1.6
47. Indiana $1.56
48. Illinois $1.52
59. MSU $1.25
79. lowa $9.82 (millions)
Source: National Association
of College and University
Business Officers, in a study
for the U.S. Senate Finance
Committee