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Behrend Family Honored at Annual Ceremony
by Kevin Moore
Collegian Staff Writer
The 36th Annual Hanging of
the Greens was performed in the
Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery on
Friday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
The Hanging of the Greens is a
ritual designed to give thanks to
the Behrend Family who
generously contributed to the
Penn State University.
This ceremony takes place each
year in the Wintergreen Gorge
Cemetery located on Shannon
Road. The Wintergreen Gorge
Chapel was built for the
Behrend’s many, many years ago.
There is a crypt in the chapel
where the bodies of several
members of the Behrend family
are laid to rest, including that of
Mary Behrend, whose donation
made Penn State-Behrend possi
ble.
Your Turn to Grade
by Gregory Goldsmith
Collegian Staff Writer
In order for the administration
to learn students’ views of the
faculty and their teaching abilites,
it asks students to fill out faculty
evaluation forms (lEF) at the end
of each semester. The purpose of
these forms is to evaluate the in
structor’s performance in and out
of the classroom. These are also
used as part of the divisional
evaluation of each college to
determine how effective and effi
cient the material is and how well
it is presented to students.
Although students may not
realize it, these forms play a
significant part in whether the in
structor receives tenure. This is
not to say that if an instructor
receives poor evaluations he won’t
be tenured, but the results will be
taken into consideration when he
is reviewed by the division head of
his respective college.
Another purpose of the lEF is
to give students the opportunity to
voice their formal opinion of the
instructor, the materials used for
the course, and the instructional
process toward courses such as
possible additions to and subtrac
tions from the courses.
After the evaluations have been
completed, they are reviewed by
the administrators and the divi
sion heads of each college within
the Pennsylvania State University
system. Instructors are not per
mitted to review lEF’s until final
grades have been filed so as not to
influence their issuing of students’
The candles situated oh the
lecterns and windowsills were the
only source of light in the chapel.
All the warmth there seemed to
emanate from those attending the
ceremony. That warmth was not
only physical, but spiritual as
well.
Professor Benjamin Lane
began the ceremony by providing
a brief history and background
for the ritual. The Penn State-
Behrend chorus, under the direc
tion of David Stuntz, sang several
Christmas hymns, including
Silent Night and Good King
Wenceslas between each of these
readings. SGA President Dann
Johns, SGA Vice-President Doug
Gerow, SUB President Ed Bailey,
and Doug Saltzman each recited
various biblical Christmas stories
final grades.
In an attempt to prepare the
students and faculty for the lEF
period, the Student Government
Association planned an “lEF
Awareness Week,” that was held
Dec. 3-8. During the week, a com
mittee of students and faculty ex
plained to classrooms of students
and faculty the purpose of the
evaluations and exactly what they
are used for, who reads them and
what happens after they are
reviewed. It is necessary that all
students give an honest evaluation
since they have a strong bearing
on the decisions made by the lEF
review boards.
On the lEF, there are multiple
questions that students use as a
basis for their evaluation. Among
these questions, at the bottom of
the lEF there are three in which
students write responses. These
allow the instructor and the
evaluation review boards to see
what the general feelings of the
students are about each instructor
and the course. It also gives the
students the opportunity to
answer in a manner other than
filling in the circles standing for
Poor, Average, Above Average,
Good, Excellent and Top Two
Percent.
Students are reminded that
these evaluations should be taken
seriously when filling them out.
The' lEF acts as a liason between
the students and the faculty for
changes that may need to be made
within a division to improve the
course and to communicate the
ideas of the instructors.
THE COLLEGIAN
NEWS
and messages of thanks.
Come, All Ye Faithful, and tradition that a very small percen
departed. tage of students participate in, but
Everyone wished a “Merry remember that there’s always next
Christmas” to all, then sang O The Hanging of the Greens is a year! Merry Christmas!
SGA Elects New Advisor
by Paula Maus
Collegian Staff Writer
The Student Senate of the Stu
dent Government Association
recently appointed Dr. Richard
Mester as the SGA faculty ad
visor. Dr. Mester, Assistant
Director of the Division of
Humanities and Communica
tions, is happy about the appoint
ment and feels honored because,
“SGA has a very vital and central
role in the collegiate at
mosphere.”
This is the first time in approx
imately one and one-half years the
SGA has had a formal advisor.
Dr. James Kurre, Assistant Pro
fessor of Economics, was the ad
visor for the 1982-83 term. Since
then, Dohn Harshbarger, Dean of
Student Affairs, has acted as an
informal staff advisor.
SGA Vice President Doug
Gerow says, “We didn’t feel an
immediate need to elect a new
faculty advisor. Dean Har
shbarger served more than effi
ciently. But at this point, SGA
needs faculty input for an alter
native point of view.”
Mester is the first SGA faculty
advisor from the Division of
Humanities and Communica
tions. The most recent SGA ad
visors have come from Political or
Business backgrounds.
To elect a faculty advisor, a
member of Student Senate must
nominate a candidate whom he or
she supports. Student Senate then
votes on nominees. Michael Kit
chen, the Student Senate member
who elected Mester serves on the
Student Activities Hotline
by Julie Potochny
Collegian Staff Writer
Jamie Grimm, Assistant Dean
of Student Affairs, has im
plemented a Student Activities
Hot Line. A 25 second message
concerning activities scheduled
that day is available to anyone
calling 898-6211 after 5 p.m. on
weekdays and all day on
SGA Budget Committee. Kitchen
says that he, “...wanted to see so-
~y~ ! ;
Dr. Richard Mester
New SGA Advisor
meone from the Humanities and
Communications in that posi
tion.” Kitchen also notes that,
“Since Dr. Mester is a
philosopher, his approach is very
unique and focuses on different
angles.”
SGA’s primary objective is to,
“Represent the student’s interests
weekends.
The Hot Line has been in effect
since Dec. 1. Student response is
averaging 20 calls each night. Stu
dent Activities bought the answer
ing machine from Paul Bailey,
head of the Instructional Com
munications Center. This was the
only real expense in the project.
DECEMBER 14,1984
to the administration at Behrend
and University Park,” says
Gerow. Gerow feels that Mester
will serve as an asset to the
organization because, “He can
provide alternative viewpoints to
issues and that will be beneficial
not only because he is a
philosopher, but because Dr.
Mester is very dynamic.”
As the faculty advisor, Mester
has control of a vote in the Budget
Committee. This ,is an important
part of his job because the Budget
Committee recommends alloca
tions to all chartered campus
clubs and organizations. Kitchen
is curious concerning this facet of
Mester’s role, because, “It will be
interesting to see his stance on the
Budget Committee...l don’t know
if he will be monetarily liberal or
conservative with funding.”
Mester, however, believes that he
is to, “Assist in the fair and
equitable distribution of student
activity funds.”
Mester says his role is, “To act
as a liason between students,
faculty and administration in mat
ters of student concern.” Mester
also states, “My role is to serve
the SGA in an advisory capacity
as it fulfills its role coordinating
and implementing its constitu
tionals responsibilities. ’ ’
Dr. Mester received his BA and
MA from the Aquinas Institute of
Philosophy in River Forest, IL
and earned a doctorate in
Philosophy at University Park.
His term as SGA faculty advisor
will begin in January and continue
for the remainder of the semester.
Grimm records the messages
every day and hopes to expand the
messages to two or three minutes
to provide more information. If
any club or organization has an
event to publicize, they should
submit a brief description of the
event to Jamie Grimm, located in
the Office of Student Affairs.