'Capital Times
Vol. 22, No. 6
The Writing Lab Due For Expansion in Spring
By Kathleen Riley-King
Soon the walls of The Writing
Lab will burst! Literally.
According to Joanne Smith,
director, The Writing Lab, the provost
recently approved plans to enlarge The
Lab. To do so, one of the walls will be
taken out, Smith says.
When Smith started The Lab in
1981, she was given W-162, a faculty
office, to work from. The office had an
inner hallway and an outer hallway.
"We had so many students the
first semester . . . I had them lined up ...
in the inner hallway, and I had them
lined up in the outer hallway trying to
get into The Writing Lab," she says.
When some faculty members
disapproved of having the students in the
faculty suite, a new room, W-242, was
made by combining a storeroom and a
closet, and The Lab was moved there.
Instantly, The Lab filled again,
says Smith. By September 1986, she
and Ronda Graby, a student worker in
The Lab, were overwhelmed with work--
and they had no help.
"We were disappointed because
we had to turn students away," says
Graby.
Buckle Up!
By Rhonda Peterman
The car is packed and you are
ready to drive home for Christmas
vacation. Don't drive away before you
reach, pull and click. Buckle-up-it's the
law.
On November 23, Senate Bill
637 became a law. Governor Casey
signed the mandatory safety belt bill,
which requires all front seat passengers
to wear a safety belt.
"Nearly 2,000 people died in
accidents on Pennsylvania roads last
year," said Casey. "If the seat belt law
saves a single life, then it will be a
success. But we know that the law's
Werry 'Pli
But last January Smith was
able to employ two tutors, and this
October she got emergency funding,
which enabled her to employ more
tutors. Currently, there are seven tutors
working in The Lab--Janice Barnes,
Sunshine Brown, Philip Clark, Joan
Klein, Kendall Marcocci, Barbara Myers,
Seat Belt Law Aimed to
benefits will be broader than that."
The law went into effect on
November 23, however, motorists have
a 120 day grace period. State and local
police officers will issue verbal warnings
during the grace period. In March a $lO
fine will be imposed 'on all violators
who have been stopped and convicted for
some other vehicular offense. A driver
cannot be stopped for pot wearing a seat
belt.
The driver is responsible for
adjusting and securing the safety belt of
front seat passengers under the age of 18.
The law also requires all adults to make
sure children under 4 years are buckled
Penn State University at Harrisburg
ristrnas
and Kate Philbin
In addition to the tutors, Smith
obtained two more student workers--Lisa
Ridley and Felicia Loreto.
With more workers, Smith's
team is now able to help an even greater
number of students who want to im
prove their writing skills.
into approved child safety seats.
Previously, only parents or legal
guardians were covered by the
legislation.
The legislation, which was
passed by 73 percent of the House and
81 percent of the Senate, approved
exemptions to the law. The law does
not apply to a driver or front seat
passenger of any vehicle manufactured
before July 1, 1966. A driver or front
seat occupant can receive a medical
exemption from a physician. A driver
who makes frequent stops and is
traveling less than 15 miles per hour for
the purpose of deliveries is exempt from
"This year, we want the
students to know that The Lab is very
accessible . . ." says Graby. "We want
people not to feel hesitation [about]
coming to The Writing Lab."
About The Lab, Smith says, "It
just grows by leaps and bounds. It's just
been unbelievable."
In a one-month period this fall,
Smith says, The Lab had 192 students
with regular appointments. This figure
does not include those students who
went to The Lab without appointments
or who had one-time appointments.
With so many students coming
and going from W-242, Smith says that
The Lab gets "chaotic at times." She
even jokingly refers to it as "The Zoo."
Smith is grateful for the ex
pansion right now, since she has been
trying to get approval for expansion for
a year-and-half, but since The Lab is
growing so rapidly, Smith says that
even with the expansion, The Lab is
"still not going to be big enough." She
also says that she needs to double the
number of tutors.
Smith says that she hopes the
expansion will begin by the middle of
spring semester.
Save Lives
the law
"This important legislation will
bring with it a reduction of injuries and
fatalities," said Dr. Howard Huges,
Keystone Safety Belt Network chairman.
"With the passage of this law and 70
percent or higher compliance rate by
Pennsylvania drivers, we could save an
average of one life per day."
Buckle-up Penn State. Making
it home alive for Christmas is the most
precious gift you can give.
Dec. 9, 1987