the CAPITOLIST
Vol. VI, No. 2
STATE EXECUTIVE
ADDRESSES CAPITOL
by Bob Bonaker
Last Thursday evening,
January 13, the Honorable
Ronald Lench, Pennsylvania
Secretary of Administration,
addressed a group of students
representing the Business Club
and Delta Tau Kappa, the Social
Science Honor Society.
Mr. Lench spoke about what
he considered were the
important accomplishments of
the first year of the
Administration of Governor
Shapp. Lench said it was a year
in which the Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette was quoted as
saying, “The Shapp team had a
remarkable record.”
Lench is responsible for
managing the Office of
Administration which handles
matters concerning personnel,
labor relations, accounting, and
data processing. His office is
often described as the most
important and powerful cabinet
post in the Executive Branch of
the Commonwealth.
The Secretary originates from
Beaver Falls in Western
Pennsylvania. He is a graduate of
Penn State and received his law
degree from the University of
Pittsburgh. He is currently a
member of the American Bar
Association and was an officer in
the Army Reserves.
Lench thought the biggest
story of the year in Pennsylvania
was, “The income tax hassle
where the Governor got the state
on a firm fiscal foundation.” He
explained that after the 3.5%
graduated income tax was
declared unconstitutional,
Shapp, “Was desperate to
terminate the use of stop-gap
funding and end the economic
crisis, so he gpve in to the
passage of the 2.3% flat levy,
which meant that numerous
programs would suffer.”
Another major
accomplishment of the Shapp
Administration was the passage
of a state lottery. The initial
drawing is scheduled for
February Ist. The lottery is
expected to raise over $6O
million in the coming year. Its
proceeds will go to a senior
citizens tax relief fund.
Lench has much political and
professional experience. He
served as the Assistant District
Attorney in Beaver County and
was a counselor and officer in
local government in that area.
More recently he was the
legislative assistant to K. Leroy
Irvis, Pennsylvania Senate
Majority Leader.
The Secretary continued to
tell the audience of about 120
the achievements of Gov. Shapp.
He felt that giving 18 to 20 year
olds the vote franchise before
the passage of the federal
amendment to the Constitution
was, “a significant
demonstration of the
progressiveness of the Shapp
Administration.”
Among the other
achievements mentioned by
Lench were: The passage of tax
exemptions on 200
miscellaneous items; an increase
in state aid to public schools; the
passage of a bill to allow Sunday
liquor sales; the creation of a
task force on civil rights to give
more jobs to members of
minority groups; a collective
bargaining guarantee to state
blue-collar workers; and ecology
reform along state highways.
As for future legislation, he
saw some tax relief for business,
“as Gov. Shapp, as a former
businessman, tries to keep a
good rapport with
businessmen.” He also predicted
property tax reform for
Harrisburg residents: “Because
of the existence of so much tax
free property in the city,
Harrisburg citizens are shackled
with a tremendous burden. We
must do something to change
this situation.” Lench believed
something will be done to
reimburse the capitol city for
Fire Department services
rendered to the state.
“Allocating only $1,500 is
ludicrus; It’s like a dap in the
face”, he asserted. Among other
legislation in the works is a
program to hire more Vietnam
veterans.
Lench also expressed his views
on how the state legislature
operates. He stated, “While I was
working in the legislature and a
bill was passed the governor
usually got the credit. I was
angry with that procedure. But
now that Pm in the Executive
Branch I like the idea,” he added
jokingly. He also explained the
most important difficulty which
a legislator constantly faces; the
conflict between the interests of
his constituents and the
remainder of the state. He
related how tough his present
job is by saying, “previously I
was just a politician. Now I am a
politician and an administrator.”
Public Interest Group Formed
HARRISBURG - The Penna.
Assn, of College and University
Student Governments
announced today unanimous
approval of formation of the
first Pa. Public Interest Research
Group, fashioned at the request
and on guidelines of consumer
advocate Ralph Nader.
The group met at Harrisburg
Area Community College before
Christmas in their first major
student body leader meeting
since the Association’s founding
earlier this year.
State Chairman Stephen R.
Reed stated that a petition drive
on major campuses in the state
will start almost immediately to
garner student body support
before approaching Boards of
Trustees for permission to raise
student activities fees to pay for
the new venture.
He said the plan is working
very successful in Minnesota and
that new PIRG’s are starting in
Oregon, Wisconsin and Vermont.
“The petition specifically asks
for an increase in student
activities fees for this purpose in
the amount of two dollars per
semester. This amount is
“All The News That Fits
CAPITOL CAMPUS - MIDDLETOWN, PA
lIBRRRY FACES A CKITICiI SITUATION
Interviewer: Tom Black
Our library, however small or
inadequate it may seem to some,
is growing at a fast pace and may
soon burst its physical seams if
nothing is done in the immediate
future. To get an accurate
picture of exactly what the
present situation is and what the
future holds in store for the
library, this paper held a candid
interview with Dr. Jacob, Head
Librarian.
Doctor Jacob, what is the
present situation concerning
available space in the library and
what will it be in the near
future?
I would say that the library
does face a somewhat critical
space situation. Now and within
the next two years the library
will face an increasingly grave
situation with respect to space
accommodation fot its various
operations.
What has and is the cause of
this situation?
Basically the facts are we
presently hold 60,000 volumes.
Our total capacity in our present
physical setting is approximately
80,000 volumes. We are growing
at a rate of 13,000 to 14,000
volumes a year. Also, our library
owns about 50,000 volumes that
were recently acquired through
the purchase of several New
York book stores by the main
library at University Park. These
books will be filtering in over
the next three years. It can
easily be determined that at our
present growth rate and the
addition of books we will be
adding from the New York book
store purchases, we will be
straining our physical seams
within a very short period of
time. In periodicals for example,
we have less than one year to go.
The room used for the periodical
collection can support
refundable in the third week of
the semester to any student. If a
majority of students seek a
refund, the participating
campus, which would have had
to given permission for this
project to begin with,
immediately drops from the
PIRG program.”
Reed announced formation of
a PIRG Organizing Committee
which will develop plans for
three PIRG’s in three major
regions of the state; the
committee will then break into
regional organizing groups.
The Committee has set up a
Speaker’s Bureau of student
leaders as well as Nader’s
Washington staff. Government
and public leaders will be asked
to endorse the program and
some may well be speaking
statewide in support of the new
venture designed to seek action
on consumer, environmental and
other major issues in the state.
A statewide campaign and
campus education program starts
this month.
He also reported other actions
of the conference including:
approval to Kennedy-Griffith
We Print"
approximately 16,000 volumes.
At present we have somewhere
in the neighborhood of 13,000
volumes already contained.
Therefore, the situation in
periodicals is near critical.
Doctor Jacob, what would
you consider the basic space
requirements of the library?
The first obviously is space to
contain the collection. Shelving
and other facilities are needed to
contain the collection of books,
periodicals, and other kinds of
materials (such as; microfilm,
government documents,
reference material, college
catalogues, etc.) that a library is
normall expected to carry.
The second is seating space
for those who use the library.
With our present facility we can
seat 133 people. The least
generous allowance in library
formulas is 25% of the student
body which in our case would
mean that we should be able to
seat at least 375. The seating
National Health Society Plan bill
now before the U.S. House Ways
and Means Committee.
formation of State
Consumer Protection Committee
with campuses forming
individual units; they will have a
direct tie-in with the Penna.
Bureau under Dept, of Justice to
work on student as well as
citizen complaints and problems.
named Harrisburg
entertainment promoter Robert
Hubbard, Jr., as state
entertainment consultant.
- electing Steering
Committee members Blake
Markes, Muhlenberg College,
David Cargill, Elizabethtown
College, Thomas Gingrich,
Philadelphia College of
Pharmacy and Science, and
Keith Walbom, Williams Area
Comm. Col.
- established first statewide
collegiate newspaper.
- called for Gov. Shapp to
substantially increase resources
and staff of Penna. Bureau of
Consumer Protection from
present 13 field investigators,
who last year had 13,000
complaints to investigate, to 50
(Continued on Page 2 )
Thursday, January 20,1972
Dr. 3fccob
capacity is the most vulnerable
area. We are planning to
rearrange our periodical room to
make the bound journal
collection an open stack affair.
In doing this we may have to
remove the six study carrols
presently contained in the
periodical room. I really do not
know where, if anywhere, we
will be able to relocate them.
This is only an illustration that,
as other problems manifest
themselves, seating space is the
component which is likely to
suffer. In our present facilities,
even if the student enrollment
were to remain constant, the
library will continue to loose
seating space due to the already
stated demand on that space.
The third consideration is
staff work space. To provide
sufficient service to the patrons,
the library staff must have not
only work space, such as desks,
typewriters, etc. but also
adequate support facilities for
example; reference facilities,
technical operations facilities,
card catalogues, microfilm
readers and so forth. These
valuable facilities do consume a
portion of the library’s physical
layout.
How long do you think the
library could survive without
any additional space?
We will survive, but without
any additional space the
situation will become awkward
within two years. It all depends
how bad you want the situation
to become? We could put the
books on the floor.
What could be done to
alleviate the present situation
and what have you done?
The faculty library committee
has had several reports from me
and they have these under
consideration. There has been no
direct contact between
the physical planning committee
and me, but I’m sure they will
become involved with this
before too long. Besides
informal meetins between
myself and certain concerned
individuals there has been no
action taken, but perhaps it is
time that serious consideration
be given to this problem. I’m
sure the administration is
concerned, but I don’t know
what can be done other than
making all members of the
campus community aware of
how serious the problem is. It is
imperative that something be
done as soon as possible.