PAGE TWO
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Francine Taylor, our new Public Information officer, brought
with her an infectious enthusiasm and undimmed optimism. She
was brimming with energy, and some of us more experienced old
salts of Capitol thought to ourselves (at least I did): "Just wait til
she's been here a while".
Francine came to us from New York and a stint with Time
magazine loaded with ideas and unbounded enthusiasm. She came
to us with grandiose schemes and insisted on calling us Penn
State-Capitol Campus, forcing the identification with the parent
University onus and on all of Pennsylvania.
She wasted no time in making her presence felt. She im
mediately began sending out regular, well-written press-releases
(many of which have graced these pages), and she scored an early
triumph with television and radio interviews covering the ac
tivities of the beginning of the year here at Capitol. Then she
helped set-up a most through orientation program.
However, the key to her success lay in her most ambitious
scheme of all. That scheme evolved as the first official academic
Convocation ever in the eight-year history of Capitol Campus. And
the real key lay in whether or not she could bring it off suc
cessfully.
To help her in the plot, she called on an old friend and associate
from Time, Hugh Sidey, perhaps the nation's top journalist. This
Coup d'Etat really began to get the ball rolling. The next step was
to get faculty to agree to cancelling classes during the ceremonies
(although, I understand there were those who didn't anyway).
Finally, she arranged major local press coverage, and put
together a relatively short and interesting program.
As the fateful day drew near, the Public Information office
bombarded the press and the school with news of the coming
event. Finally, Oct. 8 dawned bright and beautiful (I wonder if she
arranged that, too). The last act and final determinant was
whether or not she could induce the normally incredibly apathetic
Capitol students to show up for the spectacle.
I personally expected the Big Top on the front lawn to be much
less than half-full. To, I think, everyone's surprise, the tent was
packed, and there was almost Standing Room Only for most of the
affair. And this turned out to be no one-time fluke. At the open
forum later in the afternoon, the auditorium was also well-filled
with students and faculty alike.
I want to take this opportunity to heartily congratulate Francine
on the success of the affair, and to be the first to eat my own
thoughts. I wish her continued success, which I am sure she will
always enjoy. I also want to congratulate the Capitol Campus
students for showing everyone that this place may not be such a
hotbed of apathy by participating on such a large scale, and
making Francine's debut here such a resounding success. Lastly,
I want to congratulate all others involved with the Convocation
(especially those poor guys who had to pass out programs). I
sincerely hope that this portends of much better things to come for
Penn State-Capitol Campus.
Th• Capitol Campus Reader
The C. C. Reader is published by the students of the
Pennsylvania State University at Capitol Campus,
Middletown, Pa., and is printed by the Middletown
Press & Journal during the Fall, Winter and Spring
Terms.
Opinions expressed by the editors and staff are not
necessarily those of the University Administration,
Faculty or Students.
Editor-in-Chief
Associate Editor
Associate & Photography Editor
Business Manager
Sports Editor
Sports
Staff
Romeo Trajanus, Ronnie Wer, Lynn Kramer,
Frank Daloisio, Phyllis Schaeffer, Patrick McClune,
P.R.J. Smith, Mike Mitchell
Doug & Jim & Frank & Phyllis
Mike McAllister, Russ Hogg
... Dave Nicholas
.. Diane Cressler
Jim Ferrier
Dr. Betty Thorne
Layout
SGA Correspondents
Hot Lion Coordinator
Graphics
Advice
Faculty Advisor ....
ay TO Go,
Francine!
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Jim Bollinger
Doug Gibboney
Fred Prouser
Ken Hession
Horace Jones
Joe Minnici, Gene T. Eddy
C. C. READER
Save
Stony Creek
The people have a right to
clean air, pure water, and to
the preservation of the natural,
scenic, historic and esthetic
values of the environment.
Pennsylvania's public natural
resources are the common
property of all the people,
including generations yet to
come. As a trustee of these
resources, the Commonwealth
shall conserve and maintain
them for the benefit of all the
people.
Section 27, Article I
Pennsylvania Constitution
The people of Southeastern
Pennsylvania are threatened
with the destruction of their
last unspoiled, natural area,
known as Stony Creek Valley.
Stony Creek Valley is nestled
between the Second Mountain
and Stony and Sharp Moun
tains approximately 12 miles
north of Harrisburg. The
uninhabited, contiguous
wilderness covers about 35,000
acres and is 18 miles long. A
free flowing natural trout
stream runs through the valley
and empties into the
Susquehanna River.
The Pennsylvania Power
and Light Company and the
Metropolitan Edison Company
are proposing to flood nearly
one-third of the valley floor and
denude and excavate a large
portion of Stony Mountain to
construct a hydroelectric
pumped storage plant. This
area is surrounded by public
hunting lands owned by the
Pennsylvania Game Com
mission who traded away the
interior to the utility com
panies.
STONY CREEK
VALLEY
The Stony Creek Valley
Coalition, Inc. was formed to
preserve Stony Creek Valley as
an unspoiled recreational and
educational natural area. This
coalition, consisting of 20
organizations as of June, 1974,
opposes the construction of
pumped storage or any other
facility in Stony Creek Valley.
The Coalition supports en
vironmentally sound and ef
ficient energy production and
storage.
- J .S.B
Natural Resource Destruction
The pumped storage facility
would cast irreparable
damage in the heart of one of
Pennsylvania's two most
important and highest quality
wilderness areas. 1700 acres of
interior natural area and 4 1 / 2
miles of cold water fishery
would be destroyed. Down
stream and surrounding area
would suffer damage during
and after construction. When
operational, about 58 percent
of the lower reservoir and 69
percent of the upper reservoir
would be exposed mud flats
during weekly draw down
periods. The utility companies
have additional flooding rights
of several miles that would
extend the lower reservoir and
mud flats into Lebanon County.
The 54 and 100 foot weekly
water level changes in the
lower and upper reservoirs
would create a turbulent
(Continued On Page 8)
Valley
MIME=
The Convocation:
A Symbol Of Our Identity
Convocation Day was a focal point in our existence as a
University. It served to unify faculty, staff and students and in a
broader sense - to say that we have arrived as an academic in
stitution. In these hard economic times, Capitol Campus has the
largest enrollment in its history, 2,200 students and plans for ex
pansion with the new multi-purpose building. In addition, twelve
new faculty members have been added to the staff this year.
Capitol is reaching out into the community, letting the public
know we exist. Be it through student teachers, urban term
students, conferences held on campus or coverage in the media;
Capitol Campus is making a conscious effort to promote its
existence as a useful institution within the community.
New programs have been instituted such as the Multi-media
Journalism option within the Humanities department. Through
further development such as this, Capitol can draw a more varied
student body.
The designation as a Servicemans Opportunity College draws
attention that twenty-five percent of our student body are veterans
and as such are important in the future of Capitol Campus. To
meet their needs, a special office has been instituted to offer
counseling on benefits available to them from the Veterans Ad
ministration.
All these plans are a start in the right direction. What we need
now is an awareness on the part of the individual here at Penn
State-Capitol Campus, that the individual is Penn State-Capitol
Campus. We are a campus of people, small enough to be personal
yet large enough to provide a quality education. As long as this
balance is maintained, we will continue to live up to the motto,
"Innovation in Higher Education."
Youse Can Get
A Ejucachun Here!
Has there been a recent decrease in the quality of education in
the American system? It is my observation that there are many
indications that point very strongly toward answering this
question in the affirmative.
Having come from a community college in eastern Penn
sylvania, I have noticed the emphasis on mass education s instead
of on quality education. However, this is not to imply that
everyone who attends a community college is an inferior student,
nor does it mean that it is impossible to get a good education at
such a school. Moreover, this problem is probably not limited only
to community colleges; in fact it may have originated in the major
universities of America, with the reduction and near removal of
requirements for a degree. It is my understanding that in some
universities a student is given carte blanche and can virtually
write his own program. This, under certain circumstances, is not a
bad idea, provided that it does not leave large gaps in his
education. A perfect example of such a gap, it seems to me, was
afforded by the announcement by a student government official
that "youse guys hafta come to us", during a speech to the student
body. If this is how a senior expresses himself, what are we to
expect our degrees to mean? Can anyone out there help me get a
good "ejucachun"?
OCTOBER 18, 1974
By Fred Prouser
by Frank Daloisio