DECEMBER 14, 1984 Editorial Opinion Quiet Study Lounge Needs Policies Finals week is finally here and running at full speed. For some of us the week will pass by too fast and for others of us, not fast enough. You are currently reading the last issue of the Behrend Collegian for this semester. Traditionally, it is in this last issue that the Editorial Opinion focuses on the holiday season. However, I feel the need to break that tradition to ex press my views concerning the recently approved “Quiet Study Lounge” located in the Niagara Residence Hall basement. Any Behrend student, including commuters, may use this lounge. One day last week I ventured from my room in Niagara down to this lounge. I sat in the corner and observed the room. It hasn’t changed much within the past two years that I have lived in Niagara Hall. It is still cold, musty and dark. The only changes I was able to find were the newly painted walls and the addition of tables and chairs scattered neatly throughout the room. I looked around and saw a sign posted to a column in the basement. It said: “This is a Quiet Study Area! No: noisemakers (radios, typewriters, tape players). Please clean up after yourself. Observe smoking areas.” I then noticed a sign designating one side of the room as the smoking section and the other side as the non-smoking section. I sat in the non smoking section, pondering over the single advantage of this lounge. Residence hall students have finally been given a quiet place to study away from the noisy commotion of their residence hall floors. I thought much longer about the disadvantages. At present, any vandalism occurring in the residence halls is paid for by the residents of that hall. There is no vandalism policy in effect for this quiet study lounge. As a result, if the lounge is damaged in any way, it is paid for by all of us that live in Niagara Hall. This lounge should not have been opened for use until a vandalism policy had been implemented, for the protection of Niagara residents. Secondly, many commuters argue that there is no place on campus where it is quiet to study. The purpose of a library is to study quietly. Those people who do not want to use the library for this purpose should go elsewhere to do their socializing. Students should show some responsibility in using the library for quiet study and the library employees should inform ir responsible students of the library’s purpose. The library should be “revamped” into a quiet study area instead of “revamping” the basement of a private residence. The residence halls on campus have stickers on the front door of the hall stating the fact that they are private residence halls. Private for the people paying to live in them and not for commuters to study in them. The residence halls should be us ed by on-campus residents only. Security measures for this quiet study lounge are anything but safe and secure. The lounge has two exits. One leads to the male side of the residence hall, the other to the female side. Males are not permitted on the female side unescorted by a female. To avoid any security conflicts, the exit leading from the lounge to the female side is supposed to be locked from the inside as well as the outside 24 hours a day. When I left the lounge I checked to make sure the door was locked and not to my surprise it wasn’t. Males could easily walk unescorted throughout the female side of the Niagara Hall. These security measures should be enforced to ensure the safety of the students paying a room fee to live in Niagara Hall and use the Quiet Study Lounge. Commuters are using that lounge at our expense. This lounge is temporary. Either school rules and regulatons including a vandalism policy should be enforced or an area other than a private residence hall should be used for a quiet study lounge. In spite of my disapproval for the Quiet Study Lounge, I wish all Behrend students, faculty and staff a very safe and happy holiday season. OPINION Risa Glick Collegian Editor THE COLLEGIAN What is College? What is a college? Is a college someplace to go to simply pass the time, or is it an institution made of students, for the use of the students? Is a college for good times, or is it for an education? Is a college something which is to be used or is it something to be work ed for? What role does a college Commenta Chariots Too Stiff At a showing of Chariots of Fire sponsored by Campus Ministry on Thursday evening, Nov. 29, students, staff and public stayed away in droves. The price was too stiff. True, it cost nothing to see the movie, there were even refreshments after, but apparently the risk of being seen at a “religious” function was too much for the frail faith of the community at large. The key theme of the movie is exactly that: to make a commit ment and stand by it, even in the face of severe disapproval from peers and superiors. An excellent opportunity to ar Penn State Behrend Collegian Member of The Press Association Editors Risa Glick Rod Luery News Editor Thad Wawro Feature Editor. Lisa Pavadore Sports Editor. Richard Larson Business Manager. Daniel King Photo Coordinator. Napoleon Birch Advisor Robert DiNicola Staff Jill Bedford Barrett Parker Marge Tomczak Robbie Colville Paula Penco Anne Waskowitz Kimberly Ford Julie Potochny Roger Whelan Gregory Goldsmith Steve Roney Tricia Wood Paula Maus Michael Ross Jackie Wroblewski Thomas Milley Lorie Starcher Mark Yeager Kevin Moore Tammie Starcher REPRESENTED FOR NATIONAL ADVERTISING BY CASS Student Advertising, Incorporated 1633 West Central St. Evanston, Illinois 60201 Mailing Address - Behrend Collegian, Station Road, Erie, PA 16563 Office located in Reed Union Building Office Hours - 9 a.m. - 5 p.m.; Monday through Friday • Phone: 898-6221 Opinions expressed by the editors and staff of the Penn State-Behrend Collegian are not necessarily those of the University Administration, faculty, or the student body. Commentary play in the lives of the students that attend it? Is college really the valuable experience that it’s made up to be? Is college necessary for a productive life? Just what are the limitations that a college has? Does it make any difference if the student body supports its college, academically as well as socially, Price ticulate faith and non-faith; belief and non-belief in a non institutional, non-threatening set ting failed with a resounding non involvement. For the dozens or so persons in attendance, the movie provided an excellent springboard for discussion on integrity, committ ment, changes in mores, expecta tions and rewards, purpose and direction. A good exchange of perspectives was enjoyed by all; too bad more people were not there. Pat Via Seventh Semester Communications not to speak of politically? A college is the student body. It cannot survive or progress without the support of students, concerned students working with faculty and administration to achieve worthwhile goals. In an old edition of the Behrend student handbook Walker Moore wrote a letter stating: “Never will you ex perience the almost total freedom of choice again.” He used this statement to describe college life. It is just this freedon which is the right of every student. Whether a student chooses to use that freedom for constructive progress on campus, progress that in ac tuality benefits him, is entirely up to the individual. Editors’ Note: This com mentary first appeared in the Oct. 5, 1972 edition of the Behrend Collegian Got Something on your mind? Write a letter to the editor. PAGE 7
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