Inside: Capitol minority students feel cheated Thursday, Oct. 18, 1984 S.G.A. OK's revised club move plan By Tony Perry A proposal to relocate the Student Government Associa tion and its entourage of 27 stu dent clubs and organizations will reach the provost's desk tomorrow, following S.G.A.'s approval of the move earlier this week. The S.G.A. membership agreed to move from their pre sent location on the first floor of the Olmsted building to room 216 despite allegations contending that the new loca tion would be too small and that certain clubs would wind up with less space than they currently use. "We have verified that in deed it is larger than the space now occupied," James South, Director of Student Affairs, said. Last week, President's Council rejected a plan to move the student organizations to Room 216 because of dissatisfaction with a scale drawing of the area that. wag later found to be inaccurate. "[The move] provides an op portunity to create an open SGA to test Capitol Campus water supply By Neil Myers and Tony Perry The Student Government Association voted unanimous ly Tuesday to fund its own analysis of campus drinking water to determine if toxic chemicals are present. "You're showering in chemical waste. That's what it boils down to. It seems the Air Force, in its infinite wisdom, dumped chemicals all over the place," said Pete Mekosh, S.G.A. president. The decision comes in the wake of a delay in the start of water and soil sampling at the Meade Heights and Fruehauf waste burial sites identified last year by the Air Force, former owner of the Olmsted Air Base. Frank Fair, an official of the state Department of En vironmental Resources (D.E.R.), said the testing is now tentatively scheduled to begin in mid-November instead of Oc tober 1. S.G.A. president Pete Mekosh said the private testing Capitol Times The S.G.A.Lounge is one of the facilities scheduled to move. lounge area," South told the group during the Oct. 16 meeting, "and to create an am biance tlukt igload interim of creating a traffic "flow." Questions arose earlier this week about whether or not the planned by S.G.A. is intended to confirm or deny D.E.R. assurances that the drinking water is safe. D.E.R. has in the past said that mixing water from wells contaminated with T.C.E. and other chemicals with clean water keeps the con centration below dangerous levels. Capitol Campus and Fruehauf both receive water from the Harrisburg Interna tional Airport, where several of the waste dumps are located. Mekosh said some students buy bottled water rather than use the campus supply. He said the test should cost about $B3 and will check for both biological and chemical contamination. The Air Force is currently coordinating "Phase II" testing of five of six sites that were us ed by the Air Force in the late fifties and early sixties to bury toxic and other wastes. According to an Air Force report dated July 24, 1984, the excavation at Meade Heights path area will involve sampling (continued on pg. 2) amount of space currently oc cupied by Chi Gamma lota -- referred to as the XGl's -- - would be _retained by that fraternity in the new area. South said that because of the "open office concept" current ly being considered for the design of the new area, there would be "no floor-to-ceiling walls to enclose any of the organizations in Room 216. He added that he would be in favor of an open lounge of some kind that would be available to the entire student population and that a totally enclosed area would do "evil things" to the problem of heating the area. "Some specifics do not need to be fleshed out now," he said, although original plans to in clude the student radio station, WNDR, in the move to Room 216 have been scrubbed and plans to move the station to Room W-3** are now being considered. South said that following S.G.A.'s approval he will draft Vol. 19 No. 4 a proposal for the move to be submitted to the provost no later than Friday afternoon. After the provost accepts or re jects the offer, the decision that she makes will be discussed with the S.G.A planning com mittee that is currently looking for ways to design the new area to the best advantage of the clubs. South said a number of steel case partitions will be used to separate various desk areas and will provide a level of privacy without giving a "closed-in feeling" to the room. The room is also scheduled to include a dressing area for acts using the stage in the auditorium, which is next door to Room 216, an S.G.A office for the treasurer and president which will house a long distance phone, and filing areas where file cabinets will be grouped together. The S.G.A. membership is also weighing possibilities of establishing a local call-only telephone in the office but is concerned about the security of such a phone. In other action, S.G.A. agreed 12 - 3 to revoke the charters of five student organizations who have been inactive for "two years or longer." The dormant clubs af- (continued on pg. 9)
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