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
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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
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