Page 4 Thursday, October 18, 1984 The Capitol Times
Campus Forum
Elevator repair hurts
many
The sound of progress is in the air. Anyone venturing in
to the Olmsted building during the day can hear the all too
pervasive sounds of an elevator being built. Hammering,
sawing, banging. All the noises that go along with building
renovations abound throughout the entire mid-section of
the building.
What's that? You say you can't hear your professor lec
turing? Don't worry about it. It's only a minor inconve
nience. All the classes that have wheel-chair bound students
in them have been temporarily relocated to either the multi
purpose building or the new science and technology building
and the new elevator is scheduled to be completed by
January 10.
What's that? You say you have to carry large objects up
the staircase? Don't worry about it. It's only a minor in
convenience. The personnel servicing the soft drink machines
on each floor have to carry cases of soda to the third floor.
Instructional Services, those wonderful people who super
vise the audio-visual equipment used in classes, will have
to station an assortment of equipment on each of the floors
so that there is a chance that equipment will be available,
and on the right floor, when it is needed.
What's that you say? You think the project is more than
a minor inconvenience? Now you're talking. The old elevator
was a thorn in the side for many students, faculty and staff
members who relied on it for transportation of people and
freight. And, although it did not perform to current stan
dards for building accessibility by mobility-impaired in
dividuals, the project certainly could have been postponed
until the summer term, when fewer people could have been
inconvenienced by the construction work.
What? You say you can't wait to see the new elevator in
operation't You are not alone. The middle of the fall
semester was, without a doubt, the worst pdssible time to
leave the Olmsted building without an elevator. In fact, the
entire campus community will be so happy to see the doors
of the new elevator open that they probably will be willing
to accept a rope-ladder on the side of the building.
What? You want to know who is to blame. All credit goes
to the ever-popular Murphy and the Penn State version of
his famous law: If anything can be done badly, it will.
Capitol Times
Thursday, Oct. 18, 1984
Published by students of Penn State's Capitol
Campus, Middletown, Pa. 17057
The Capitol Times welcomes letters
from readers. Letters intended for publica
tion must be signed by the author and in
dicate his/her club or organizational af
filiation, if any. The Capitol Times
reserves the right to edit or reject letters
at its discretion.
Letters published do not necessarily
reflect the views of this newspaper or its
staff.
...Editor-in-chief
Co-Editor
Production Mgr.
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Sr. Reporter/
Tony Perry
Neil Myers
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Reviews Editor
Catherine Madigan Briefs Editor
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Lisa Mauss Photographer
Bob Price Photographer
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Vol. 19 No. 4
Staff Writers
Annette Childs
Mark Edquid
Michelle Lackey
Joseph L. Michalsky
Erik M. Morris
Bill Oshman
Ken Stiggers
Angelo Vecchio
Adviser Mark S. Guralnick
Photographer
Printed at the Press and Journal, Mid
dletown. Text disks processed Jednota
Printery, Middletown.
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b7110 1. " - H II MIIE
Hasty moves spell trouble
By Neil Myers
It was the chief of one of
Capitol's academic divisions
that hit the nail on the head. He
said that getting anything done
here is like moving a galcier--it
takes forever to get it started
but it's impossible to stop once
it's rolling.
The current round of musical
chairs with campus offices is a
prime example. Lots of people
seem to agree that a change is
in order. The provost thinks so.
S.G.A. thinks so. Some of the
clubs think so, too.
What nobody can agree on is
exactly what to change.
The current plan started last
summer as a way to move the
provost's office to the first
floor bookstore area in the
Olmsted Building. S.G.A.,
WNDR and club offices were
to move from their current site
across from the Gallery Lounge
to a large suite next to the
auditorium on the second floor.
Student Activities, now in
W-104, was to move in next to
the clubs in room 212.
Classrooms were to fill the
vacated space on the first floor.
But change isn't as easy as it
seems. There were problems
from the start. First, the XGI
veterans group was worried
that its lounge would be
eliminated or shrunk. Next,
WNDR decided it wanted room
211, across the hall, so that it
would get better exposure and
have fewer problems with
noise. The administration
refused, saying it had invested
too much money in audio
visual equipment in room 211.
The S.G.A., meanwhile,
grappled with the size of a pro
posed dressing room for the ad
jacent auditorium and
pondered the dimensions of a
conference room that seemed
more like a closet.
Then everything fell apart.
Someone discovered the
measurements were wrong and
the plans were meaningless.
WNPKmaclp ncw plans to ,stay
where it is on the first floor.
About that time, someone
remembered the newspaper and
yearbook offices out in the
boondocks at W-129. Were
they moving too? (So far the
word is they're not.)
This week, as the saga con
tinues, the XGl's are still wor
ried abouCtlieir lounge. - Dr.
James South from Student Af
fairs is touting the administra
tion plan, but a new twist ' :
moving WNDR to a third site
in the west wing of the third
While all of this negotiating
goes on, some important ques
tions are being overlooked.
Just last year the campus
came very close to doing
something really avant garde by
Capitol standards. It produced
a plan to put all of the student
activities, the Student Activities
Office, a snack bar, a TV
lounge and a game room under
one roof in the Multi-Purpose
Building. The plan would have
given Capitol Campus
something most other campuses
take for granted--a student
center that is entirely for the
students. It would have also
freed a lot of classroom space
in the Olmsted Building.
Unfortunately, the scheme
never got off the ground. The
S.G.A. decided it had to be
near the Student Affairs Office.
The Capitol Times and WNDR
objected to logistical problems
and space limitations. The TV
lounge and snack bar were
Letters
To the Editor
Your recent coverage of the proposal to change the Engineer
ing Technology degree (from B.T. to 8.5.E.T.) incorrectly claims
that this would be the first Bachelor of Science degree at The
Capitol Campus. Actually, this campus has already graduated
more than 100 alumni who have earned a B.S. in Mathematical
Sciences and who now possess not only a B.S. degree from the
Pennsylvania State University but also a broad education in
mathematics, statistics, and/or computer science.
Clifford Wagner
Associate Professor of Mathematics
l ~. ~
`~\
~~~~
deemed impractical by the
administration.
Instead of working to solve
the problems, those in charge
scrapped the plan and created
the disappointment we now call
a student center.
As several student leaders
have said, let's not make the
same mistake again. Let's
establish a few objectives and
stick to them.
For example, let's decide if
all of the clubs and organiza
tions need to be together or if
If's 0:K-: to - spread then
throughout the Olmsted
Building or around the campus.
Let's consider how much ex
posure to the campus com
munity the organizations will be
afforded at the various sites.
Will some clubs be hidden away
and left to die?
Let's decide whether we want
to keep classrooms separate
from non-instructional areas or
mix the two.
Finally, let's look at the
status quo and identify the
specific problems that need to
be addressed.
If it's not broken, then let's
leave it alone. If there are pro
blems, let's be sure we deal with
them in the final proposal.
Last spring's fiasco with the
student center should be the last
time we waste what limited
resources we have here at
Capitol. If we produce an un
workable mess, we'll have no
one to blame but ourselves.
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