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)