Pennsylvania State University at Capitol Campus 10
11l al e
Volume 14, No. 1
Student - rvic
By Kathy Kern
Although resident life at Capitol
Campus is not often as exciting as it
could be, there are those who are quick
to say that there is never a dull moment.
Pat Murphy, Coordinator of the Resi
dence Living Program, is one of those
people.
Despite the placid facade of the job,
Ms. Murphy comments that in her work,
there is always a surprise. This opinion
is echoed by the Assistant Coordinator
of the Residence Living Program, John
Pellechia. "This is a job which requires
you to be ready for anything at any
time," comments John. He also adds
emergency situations during the night,
disciplinary problems, and giving assis
tance to the Resident Assistants (RAs)
as contributing to the variety of de
mands of the 24 hours-a-day, seven
days-a-week job.
there are 14 Resident Assistants in
the Residence Living Program. Cur
rently the dormatory RAs are Bill
Becker, Ray Forgione, Bob
Hessenthaler, Ed Carvell. Tish Whalen.
News Briefs
STORE-Y TIME
Many commuter students have ex
pressed a need for someplace to store
books, coats, and other articles. Resident
students as well have requested facilities
in which to place their belongings be
tween classes. In order to help accom
modate everyone, the storage lockers in
the Vendorville dining area will be
available for use at the beginning of
Spring Term.
Persons with articles to store will
choose a locker and place them inside.
Before closing the door, a deposit of 25
cents (one quarter) should be placed in
the slot. Once the door is closed, the unit
will lock and the key will be released.
The key will be needed for access to the
stored articles. When the locker is
reopened, the 25 cents will be automat
ically returned. However, students are
cautioned that there is a charge for lost
keys.
POLICE SERVICE REMINDERS
Student Patrol Positions—Applications
for students interested in Student Patrol
positions for Fall 1981 and Winter 1982
will be available in the Police Services
Office during the first few weeks of this
term.
Bicycles—Students are advised to park
their bicycles in the bike racks instead of
along the ramp or stairs in front of the
Main Building. If a fire or other emer
gency would occur, bicycles parked
along the entrance could create a serious
problem.
Inspection—Students, staff, and faculty
are reminded that vehicles bearing #3
State inspection stickers are due for
inspection no later than April 30, 1981.
eries
RA: Reliable Always
Construction on the renovation of
Vendorville started this Tuesday. Stu
dents are reminded that this will cause
some temporary inconvenience. Please
be patient. Construction will occur all of
spring term.
and Rob Russel. The Meade Heights
RAs are Joe De Santis, Bill Bertolet,
John Stepansky, Rick Joyce, Theresa
Mulac, Andrea Schrager, and Dave
Kinder. The University Apartment's RA
is Edgar Wright.
Ms. Murphy explains that each group
of RAs has a committee to manage
special programs. The Resident Student
Council, which is located in the residence
halls, is currently working on activities
such as the Spring Formal and the
Spring Olympics. The Married Student
Union, located in the University Apart
ments, is kept busy with organizing trips
to places such as the Reading outlets and
Gettysburg.
New items are also on the agenda for
the Residence Living Program, accord
ing to its coordinator. "The Meade
Heights Board of Govonors is working
with the Social Committee and SGA to
add to the 'Rites of Spring' activities,"
says Ms. Murphy. She also adds plani for
events such as mud wrestling, concerts,
fund raising, and a Gong Show are in the
works. Also, the Residence Living Pro
gram is in the process of preparing a
THE DARKER SIDE
OF CAPITOL CAMPUS
The electricity in the Olmsted (Main)
Building will be interrupted on April 14,
15, and 16 in order to service three main
transformers.
The power outages will affect separ
ate sections of the building each day.
Diagrams specifically outlining the af
fected areas will be posted_ throughout
the building.
No other buildings on campus will be
affected.
Questions concerning the outage
should be directed to Mr. Joseph Kemp
Manager, PPM&O, or Dr. Duane R
Smith, Associate Provost and Dean.
KNOW YOUR PLACE
To celebrate National Library Week,
Heindel Library is giving a free Miss
Piggy and Kermit bookmark to everyone
who checks out a book the week of April
5. In addition, readers are invited to
spend some time with the display "The
Names Around Us," a description of how
campus names came to be. Finally, check
around the library for some of our new
art works.
Capitol Campus, we have your
number!
Please Be Patient
Middletown, PA. 17057
booklet for students on what to bring
with them to live in the Heights, should
they choose to live there. Educational
programs, including trips to TMI, are
also planned by the Residence Living
Program.
Besides the scheduling of activities,
another item which is of importance to
the Residence Living Program is the
evaluation form. Each year every resi
dent student is given a form which
enables them to evaluate their RA and
other aspects of resident life. Ms.
Murphy notes that improvements in the
system usually come from ideas given by
students in the evaluations. She also
adds that is year's evaluation reveals
about 75% of the resident students are
satisfied with their RAs. She goes on to
say the evaluation is a useful tool for
everyone. "We try to adapt the RAs
function to the evaluation," she notes.
Also, if someone has a long list of
complaints on resident life, the evalua
tion form can act as an outlet. The
Assistant Coordinator explains the Res
idence Living Program has already
received "short stories" from students
on complaints and how to improve
resident life. "The standard method for
soliciting complaints is reveiwed
through the evaluation," Pellechia com
ments.
John notes that one drawback of the
evaluation is the fact that most of the
RAs are seniors and the evaluations are
sometimes too late for them to use, since
they will not be returning.
According to the Resident Assistant
Manual, the five major roles of the RA
include being a friendly source of in
formation and referral, ar of
social and educational activ e I ties , a source
of emergency assistance, an interpreter
and enforcer of policies and rules, and a
counselor. The Assistant Coordinator
4010 that the Me are dohs "as via a
job as they can," and the lack of
activities is not the fault of the RAs,
considering the weekend on-campus
2 April, 1981
isolated complaint on an RA is usually
overlooked as being a personality con
flict. However, he suggests that if a
person does have a gripe about his RA,
the individual should approach his RA,
and if the RA is sensitive to the issue and
is mature enough, he should realize that
this person took time to get up the nerve
to talk with him, and perhaps a solution
to the propleb can be reached without
involving others.
One of this year's major problems
concerning the Residence Living Pro
gram is the men on the second floor of
Church Hall. Both Ms. Murphy and John
cited lack of activities as being the major
cause of the disciplinary problems re
garding that floor. Ms. Murphy says the
Residence Living Program has tried to
improve the communication between the
RA and the people on the floor. "We
want them to be able to enjoy them
selves . . . but there are rules to obey and
they must be considerate of other
people." She also says the resposibility is
a shared one, but the RA can only do so
much. Pellechia agrees and adds that the
lack of programming is not attributed to
the RA there. Ray Forgione. and that he
himself would also like to see a variety of
programs established.
One RA who would like to see more
programs for the resident students is
Tish Whalen, who has the unique posi
tion of being the RA for the only
women's floor in the dorms. In handling
dorm life on her floor. Tish comments
that noise complaints and requests for
roommate changes are the most common
problems. Tish notes that the Residence
Living Program is currently working on
setting up counseling for roommates,
should there be any difficulties.
All in all, the Coordinator, Assistant
Coordinator, and other members of the
Residence Living Program may look
very care-free in a just-another-day
world. But ask them if they really are
carefree and bored and they will prob
ably reply with a grin and a "no way!"
Cents