the CAPITOLIST Vol. VI, No. 7 Preamstraoon This week This past Monday, pre-registration advisment for the spring term began. Students can obtain registration materials (packet and master schedule) by requesting them at the counter in room E-106, February 21st through the 25th. Upon receipt of the packet, the student must contact his advisor for assistance and approval of course selections applicable to the spring term. With the aid of the advisor, the student will complete the packet. The student must leave the packet with his advisor. The Academic Services Office will collect packets from the advisors on Monday, February 28th. Students who have to revise their schedule due to conflicts or course closings will be notified by mail. New students and those returning students who were notified .must register on Tuesday morning, April 4th. Students who were not notified to reschedule their courses will register Tuesday afternoon. The times will be presented in the master schedule. There will be no fee for drop-adds performed at registration. Late registration will be Thursday, April 6th in room E-106. All late registrants after the deadline of 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, April 4th, will be subject to the $lO late privilege fee. If you do not intend to return for the spring term, you must present a written notice to the registration and scheduling officer. To receive a tuition refund• under the general policies of the University, your notice must be received by the scheduling officer no later than 4:30 p.m. on April 4th. Mr. Walter F. Slygh, Academic Services Officer, believes pre-registration advisment to be crucial. "It is imperative that students see their advisor during the week of counseling. About 90 per cent of student problems surrounding registration could be alleviated if students see their advisors and correctly complete registration forms. If a student can't see his advisor , he should go directly to the program chairman," asserts Slygh. Slygh also points to the reasons students will register on a Tuesday and classes don't start until Thursday. "Once everybody is registered, a final check on registration data is made. On Wednesday, the cards are put through the computer at University Park to finalize the records and to print class rosters." Many students question the reason for the charge of $lO for late registration. "Students can only register late on Thursday, April 6th, not on Wednesday. In order to offset additional computer expense caused by late registrants, the late fee is charged," Slygh responds. Classroom assignments appear in the master schedule which comes out this week. Limits on class size are specified by the program chairman. "Only the (continued on p .3) Head Shop Drug Conference The Capitol Campus Head Shop presented a conference on drug awareness on February 16th. The program revolved around an address by the Hon. Milton Berkes, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives. Berkes spoke to a small gathering in the auditorium about "Drug Legislation and Prospective Programs". He spoke of a desire to achieve total reform in drug rehabilitation. "To do this, a variety and flexibility of programs is necessary," he said. Rep. Berkes, a Democrat from Bucks County, is a co-author of a drug law reform bill. The bill would make a first offense of a marijuana conviction a misdemeanor with a maximum sentence of 30 days. It also provides far more reaching drug rehabilitation programs. Currently in Pennsylvania, people convicted of possession of marijuana on a first offense can be sentenced from 2-5 years and fined up to $2,000. The bill was recently approved by a legislative committee and will soon be tested in the House and Senate. Berkes emphasized, "Many people who are addicted are afraid to surrender to treatment because they are afraid of severe criminal prosecution and of withdrawal pains. We must establish programs to reach out and rehabilitate addicts." He pointed out, "There are plenty of studies that show marijuana should be legalized. Yet, there are just as many and just as competent surveys which say it should not be legalized. So, the legislature should conduct its own research and formulate its own conclusions." Berkes and his legislative colleagues plan to ask the Federal Government to launch a crash program to research drug problems and to develop real answers. "We must try to alleviate the causes of addiction; it is alienating and breaking up our society," he asserted. During the question and answer session, Berkes was asked if his committee studied drug reform • programs •in Great "All The News That Fits CAPITOL CAMPUS - MIDDLETOWN, PA. Britain. He said it did but the legalization of heroin was, in his opinion, a failure. "Heroin legalization has not wiped out the black market, it has only minimized its activity. Addicts get prescribed doses from their physicians then go to pushers for more. Also, since heroin was legalized in England, the number of addicts has steadily increased." Berkes mentioned that petty political haggling and red-tape delayed his reform bill for almost a year. Now that it is out of committee he expects the bill's enforcement powers to be revised, but "I expect it to pass." Berkes said under current state law a person's vehicle operation license is revoked for one year if he is arrested for possession of marijuana, even if the individual is not convicted of the charge. The Representative emphasized the drug reform bill pertains to marijuana, narcotics, and alcohol, all classified as dtugs. "The program is for all drug users; young and old, black and white. It is unfortunate that it took the affliction of the white middle dm to define it as a problem, because for many years it has been a problem in the black ghetto." Berkes thinks it feasible to legalize drugs. "That way we can find out how much is being used, where it comes from and how we can control it," he said. Another part of the Head Shop's "Responses to the Drug Culture" was a display of narcotics at Troop H headquarters of the Penna. State Police in Harrisburg. There was a speech and a film about drug abuse presented by Help, Inc., the Walk-in Crisis Intervention Center and Free Clinic, Philadelphia. As part of the afternoon program, Dr. Michael McKee from the Dept. of Behavioral Science at the Hershey Medical Center discussed current research on drug abuse rehabilitation. That night, in the New Birth coffeehouse, Capitol's Dr. and Mrs. Ed Racey spoke of an existence that is "beyond drugs". . We Print" Director Herpel To Retire Coleman Herpel, Director of Capitol Campus, will retire July 1, 1972, after more than 35 years service with the University. Herpel, 60, has served as Director of Capitol Campus since its establishment. Penn State Capitol began classes in October, 1966, with 10 full-time faculty and 122 students. It has since grown to 112 faculty members and over 2,000 graduate and undergraduate students. A native of McKeesport, Herpel received his bachelor of arts degree from Penn State in 1932. He entered graduate study at Harvard University on a John W. White Fellowship from Penn State and earned his master of arts with a major in mathematics in 1933. He continued his studies at Harvard until 1936 when he joined the Penn State faculty as the Hazelton Campus, where he became administrative head in 1939. He combined active teaching and administrative responsibilities at Hazelton until 1943 when he went on active military duty, serving in the Navy. He is now retired as a commander in the Naval Reserve. Herpel returned to Penn State in 1946 at the Altoona Campus in dual capacity as teacher and administrator. When he left Altoona in 1955 to become Director of the University's Ognotz Campus in surburban Philadelphia, he ceased active classroom teaching, although he still holds faculty rank as associate professor of mathematics. Herpel served as Director of the Ognotz Campus until 1966 when he was selected to head the new Capitol Campus. Herpel, who feels he is "graduating, not retiring", has been affiliated with Penn State in some capacity since entering as a freshman in 1928. He has been with the University for 44 of its 117 years, over a third of See Nancy Anyone who is interested in working on the Senior Dinner Dance in the Spring is asked to contact Nancy Colnes in the Student Activities Office (W-105). I.T.E. Meeting A meeting of the 1.T.E., traffic engineers, will be held tonight, Feb. 24, at 7:30 in room E-315. A guest speaker, Mr. Gerald Shea of the Harrisburg Engineering firm known as TAMS, will speak, his subject being "Harrisburg Area Transportation Service". Anyone interested is invited to attend. Thursday, February 24, 1972 its existence. He has seen Penn State grow from a college of 4,000 to a university of over 48,000, including branch campuses. He has served under four different presidents, including Milton Eisenhower, brother of the late President of the United States. Under his leadership, Capitol has thrived and has firmly established itself as a fine institution of upper-division and graduate students. Herpel and his wife, the 'former Margaret Yotter of Easton, are the parents of four children: John, 29, a 1965 Penn State graduate, employed by a computer science consulting firm in Cleveland, Ohio; Dr. Gretchen Stein, 26, a graduate of Pembroke and of Stanford, presently pursuing research in molecular biology at Stanford; Anne, 22, a 1970 Penn State graduate now serving as an administrative aid in the office of undergraduate studies at University Park; and Karl, 20, who will graduate from Penn State this year. AUTONOMY! On March 7, the University Faculty Senate will vote on a petition to grant Capitol Campus more autonomy. If the proposal passes, Capitol will be able to devise its own curricula with no specific approval from the UFS. The question could be as important for Capitol's development as the appointment of Dr. McDermott to the Provost position. Last year, on behalf of the Capitol faculty organization, our Faculty Council petitioned the University Faculty Senate for the right to set up curricula with tacit, but not requiring direct approval of the UFS. Capitol was the first campus to request this autonomy in what will be a landmark vote. After introduction, the matter was referred to the Intra-University Relations Committee for study and recommendations. The committee, in considering the measure last fall, heard a presentation in support of the petition from a 'task force' of Capitol Campus faculty and administrators. Our representative on the committee is Dr. Winston Richards who is joined in the University Faculty Senate by Capitol Professors Knight, Lee, Lewis and Poore. University President Oswald, Vice President Ikenberry, and the late Provost Althouse all spoke in favor of the autonomy proposal. More recently the Intra-University Relations Committee has also recommended passage. Even so, according to one faculty member, the vote on March 7 may be a close one due to the precedent this might establish for other campuses.