MCOIIIIII Stude nt
> Underage drinking policies on campus thicken
CAROLYN ZAFFINO
senior reporter
Penn State University de
cided that alcohol consump
tion is a major issue and
that they need to make some
changes in order to protect
the students. Since the be
ginning of this year Penn
State has had a new policy
in place for people who get
caught drinking on campus.
The office of Student Af
fairs has started notifying
the parents of dependent
students after the first alco
hol offense, instead of after
the second.
The point of this policy is
to make the parents aware
that they should get involved
and help prevent future in
cidents. This also helps the
student to find a support sys
tem with both the school and
with their parents, because it
gives them some comfort.
According to the Paren
tal Notification Policy issued
by Penn State Judicial Af-
_.ide of
on June 3,
In a special to the Observ
er, Dennis Phillips writes
that Peek n Peak owes more
than $3O million to creditors
including over $1.2 million
in unpaid property taxes.
Paul Kiebler IV, the owner
of the property, has report
fairs, the goal of parental
notification is to "Identify
additional supportive points
of intervention for students;
identify at risk behavior
thresholds for which notifi
cation would be effectively
applied; and to educate stu
dents about the negative
impact that dangerous, un
healthy and inappropriate
choices have on their educa
tion and on others."
"I know it's different, but
we are just trying to prevent
serious trouble," said Kelly
Shrout Associate Director of
Student Affairs, "it is meant
to be more of an aid than a
discipline."
Before the letter gets sent
to the parents, the students
are given a chance to warn
their parents.
On-campus students are
required to meet with their
Resident Coordinator and
commuters with Shrout, to
talk about what happened.
Through these series of
various steps, the students
prii*ouS .ownensi
lion to 1 0 14 C Bank, $1 Million
to taxing authorities, and $1
million for their leases.
A marketipg group of
Rambaldo Gonda Media of
Erie, Pa., issued a news re
lease stating that the bank
ruptcy is mainly "a result
DENIED
)GA president Steven
Burger exercises the
. arely power to veto a
-ge funding request by
the Society
of Undergraduate
Economists.
Page 2
Produced by the students of
enn State Behrend since 1948
t e 11
themselves are highly en
couraged to be the ones to
break the news to their par
ents first, instead of a suprise
letter home from administra
tion.
"All that is sent home is
a letter saying there was a
violation of the alcohol poli
cy," said Shrout. "We cannot
send home the incident re
port until a waver has been
signed saying yes we can."
The violations include
consuming, providing, or
even being in a room where
alcohol consumption takes
place.
"If your parent fills out a
FAFSA for you, they will get
a letter," said Shrout. In the
long run, this will help a lot
of students stay out of seri
ous trouble.
For more information,
on guidelines the sanction
ing guidelines can be found
at http://studentaffairs.psu.
edu/judicial/pdf/Sanctioning
Guidelines.PDF.
"hinhor7 k 3 lOl restructuv ,
h4l.*
The resort will still open
and operate despite the
bik*rs*cy report. In a
statement to Buffalonews.
com, Robert Swenson, Pres
ident of Peek'n Peak ex
pressed the current season.
"We're open and operat-
oals o the Parental Noti cation Policy
(Page 17 of the Procedural Guidelines for the University Discipline Process)
IdentifY additional supportive points of intervention for
students.
0r- t Become better partners with parents/guardians in support of
' ' their student.
' - To identify at risk behavior thresholds for which notification
would be effectively applied.
- ' To education students about the negative impact that
dangerous, unhealthy and inappropriate choices have on
)
their education and on others.
. - 1
`, _ To utilize the impacts of family/guardian intervention for de
terring further misconduct.
Aettvithairta the case
from the US bankruptcy
court for the northern dis
trict of Ohio Eastern divi
sion, the court filed chapter
11 which will allow them to
still rebuild the company.
Chapter 11 allows the resort
to rebuild itself and to con
tinue daily operations while
they repay some of their
SPORTS
Penn State Behrend
Men's Basketball
'egins the season with
a 6-0 record, winning
this weekend's game
against Penn State
Altoona.
Page B 1
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7, 2010
CdCOtt
ffai rs
to to service
people in the area. The re
sort will continue to func
tion on a day-to-day basis
without having to shut down
completely.
The slopes at Peek'n Peak
open this coming Fri. Dec.
10. Swenson expects the
resorts to continue to make
enough money to eventually
come out of and get through
_MIIMIL
SGA gets
heat over
SRTE fliers
• "Got a bad teacher? Rip him/her
• • a
new one with the SRTEs!"
. These words, adorning the top
of small flyers distributed across
campus, has the Penn State Beh
• rend Student Government Asso
• ciation (SGA) in hot water from
: faculty and staff at the college
The flyers were distributed as
part of an effort by the Academic
•. Affairs Committee of SGA to pro
• mote student feedback on their
teachers. The SRTEs - Student
Reviews of Teaching Effective -
are distributed at the end of each
semester and provide students a
chance to review how good or bad
their teachers have been.
The way in which the SRTEs were
promoted, though, has raised criti
cism across the college.
"I think it's a case of good inten
tions with poor execution," said
Ken Miller, Director of Student Af
fairs and the advisor of the SGA.
"They were trying to increase
student participation,
story continued on PAGE 3
Club Rush
Club Rush, an event usually re
: served for the first few weeks of
• fall semester, will have an encore
• performance this year. Penn State
: Behrend's Student Government
: Association (SGA), in conjunc
t tion with Student Activities plans
• to hold a Spring Club Rush event
• to get students involved with clubs
: and organizations on-campus
The event, planned for Jan 13,
the first week of Spring semester,
•• was spurred by a motivation to get
• more first-year students involved
on-campus
,;~ °`~,
"A lot of first-year students told
me they didn't get involved with a
club because they just wanted to
get acclimated to college," said Ni
cole Fedders, Coordinator of Stu
dent Organizations and Program
Developments.
"When they were ready to join
clubs in the spring, they really
didn't know how to go about it,
so they didn't join anything. Some
of them joined a club their sopho
more year, while others didn't join
at all."
The event will utilize the entire
Reed building, says Fedders.
story continued on PAGE 3
Check out a student's
•
survey of campus
housing, including
Pro's and Con's of each
building and the
difficulty of each
housing process.
TOBY KELLER
assistant /11'll` , editor
be held
Spring
CONNOR SATTELY
DORMS
Page 6