Pennsylvania State University at Capitol Campus Vol. 9 No. 3 Admin, rejected rally because of facilities Fonda turned down The Jane Fonda --.Tom Hayden rally that was held at Penn Harris Motor Inn on Sept. 23, could have been added to Capitol Campus’ long list of pro-, con- and anti-nu clear activities the campus has hosted. Capitol came close to doing so; but it was finally decided that the campus would not host the Fonda - Hayden rally against nuclear power. On Sept. 4, Kay Pickering, a Three Mile Island Alert (TMIA) staff person, ap proached Bud Smitley, Athletic Director, about securing the gym for the Sept. 23 Fonda - Hayden anti-nuke rally. Pickering told the Reader that “Smitley said he didn’t think acoustics were great, but, it would be alright to use the gym.” Pickering told the reader that Smitley also ex plained to ner that it would be inconvenient for students to have the gym closed from setting up on Friday evening until take down on Monday afternoon, but he didn’t think students would mind. In a phone interview with the Reader, Smitley said that he told Pickering that he <|id not think the gym was a satisfactory place for the ral ly. “I was not in favor of it then, and I am still not in favor of it.” Smitley told the Reader. “I would have had more criticism for closing the gym then for having a rally,” he said. After talking with Smitley about the use of the gym, Pickering told the Reader that she contacted Betty Merkle, secretary to Ron Mel chiorre; Director of Contin uing Ed., about signing the proper papers in order to confirm TMIA’s use of the gym for the rally. “Betty Merkle said she would send the papers and cost rates in the mail,” Pick ering said. “The next day, Sept. 5,1 called Betty Merkle to see if the papers had been sent. Over the phone, we agreed on the process and costs. Betty Merkle said she would put the papers in the mail right away,” Pickering said. Merkle told the Reader that she did not confer com- pletely, the use of the gym. Merkle said that the only thing she could do was to check and see if the gyn was being used or not, and if it wasn’t, to send out the proper papers that needed to be signed before the gym could be used. After Pickering called Merkle on Sept 5, Pickering said that Ron Melchiorre called her about an hour later and told. her that it was not alright for TMIA to have the rally in the gym. Pickering said that Mel chiorre told her that he had talked with the administra tion they had decided that Capitol Campus had done Bookstore examined Due to the ever increasing concern over the Campus Book store, A Bookstore Task Force has been created to extensively check into the bookstore's opera tions. The task Force's main objective is to evaluate the book store's pricing system. The bookstore’s financial statement has been acquired by the task force. This is the first time a bookstore-oriented com mittee has been able to see the financial statement. The acquisi tion of the financial information is conditional ( by sworn oath) on the Task Force members keeping the information con- fidential. The task force compared prices on similar items from Capitol’s bookstore and HACC’s bookstore. The study showed that Capitol’s prices were higher in several cases than HACC’s prices on the same items. For example, E. Hemingway’s book For Whom The Bell Tolls (469 pages), cost $4.95 at Capitol’s bookstore and $3.95 at HACC’s bookstore. Michael Sheldon, President of SGA and member of the task force, said the reason for the book prices being the way they are is twofold. Sheldon explained that some faculty members wait until the last minute to give their book orders to William Kistler.. Thus Mr. Kistler has no time to shop enough in the realm of hosting nuclear related activities. Melchiorre told the Read er that “I told her no, they could not have the Fonda -- Hayden rally here. We don’t have the facilities or the se curity force to handle some thing like that. We also could not have accomadated the crowd. The gym only holds 900 people.” The Reader asked Mel chiorre about whose decision it was to reject the Fonda - Hayden rally. “It was my decision in consultation with Provost Gross,” Melchiorre said. Pickering said that after Melchiorre told her that around for the best deal. The bookstore has to take what it can get on short notice. Another reason is the way the pricing schedule runs. A suggested retail price is given for a book plus a twenty-five cent charge plus shipping. And once again, the earlier the book order is in, the better chance at a lower price. TMIA could not have the rally at campus, she was shocked, but had to accept the decision and try to find another place for the rally. Melchiorre also told the Reader that “Three Mile Is land Alert expected us to absorb some of the cost and we felt we couldn’t. When the NRC was here they paid for the entire cost and provided FBI Agents for security.” Pickering told the Reader that TMIA has its own inter nal security -- trained mar shalls, that they would have provided. She said that the State Police probably would have cooperated with them for security purposes since Items other than books in our bookstore were to a de gree higher than HACC’s. Capitol’s bookstore is inde pendent of the University and it also gets its items from one company. HACC is subsidized and also receives its items from different companies. Next term, a new pricing system for books will be used. 4 October 1979 the State Police had been very cooperative in other TMIA sponsored events, in cluding the Fonda - Hayden rally at Penn Harris. Pickering also told the reader thatTMIA had not ex pected the college to absorb any of the cost for the rally, but that they did think the campus would have been cheaper. Pickering said that it cost TMIA $6OO to have the rally at Penn Harris, and that it would have cost between $2OO and $4OO to have had it at Capitol Campus. The C.C. Reader also in terviewed Provost Gross about the decision of the ad ministration to reject the anti- cont. on pg. 15 The system was designed by the Task Force and in 3 out of 5 instances it will show less cost to the students. The savings will be between 16 and 18 cents. The Task Force is also going to remind the faculty to get their book orders in as soon as possible.
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