'II PCH CAPITAL TIMES
£/ r iJll November 25, 1991
Bad economy spells trouble for everyone
Stacey Simmers
Capital Times Staff
Everyone is worried about it. Nobody
knows what to do about it. And graduating
seniors hope it goes away soon. A bad
economy affects everyone.
Professors at Penn State Harrisburg
agree that the economy is suffering.
"The economy is not picking up as
much as we expected it would," said
Mukund Kulkami, assistant professor of
finance. "But, it is not a recession."
William Mahar, head of division of
humanities, said otherwise.
"I think there is a recession going on,"
Mahar said, "And it's been going on for a
Library, from page 1
neglected for years." The group believes a
lot of this comes from the idea that a new
facility will be built in the future.
Students and faculty attending open
forums have expressed concern with the
campus being "neglected" by the
university.
"It's as if we're the bastard child of
Penn State," said Dave Dccima, a public
policy major. "We get all the hand-me
downs, and they pay attention to us when
they have to."
Faculty members shared their problems
with the library and supported the students’
appeal for changes.
"We're underfunded and neglected," said
Frank Swetz, professor of mathematics
and education. "We always have been and
we always will be unless there is a
university cry."
Speaking at an open forum held on
Nov. 21 by the PSH administration, SGA
Faculty Senate representative, Kevin
DcWitt, said student complaints about the
library have "fallen on deaf ears." DcWitt
said University Park officials seem to say
the library's inadequacies are the local
administation's problem.
According to Provost Ruth Levcnthal,
"Higher education, in general, is grossly
underfunded in Pennsylvania." Levcnthal
assured those at the forum the college is
"doing the paperwork required to get PSH
a new library."
Until then, Hcindel Library Division
Head Howard Shill said his office will
attempt to deal with some of the more
immediate problems. Shill said he is
checking into securing a fourth copy
machine by spring semester; adding an
upgraded change machine capable of
making change for $1 and $5 bills, as well
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long time."
Nobody knows when we can expect
some relief-whether it will come quickly
or the recession will linger on.
"We are in an upturn and things are
starting to look better," said Krishna Dhir,
director of the school of business
administration. "However, the progress is
slow."
The bad economy poses extra problems
for graduating seniors. In nearly all areas,
graduating seniors are finding the job
market tight. According to Karl Martz,
coordinator of career services, jobs are still
out there, but students need to work harder
to find them.
"Students need to take an active role in
as coins, by Dec. 6; and improving the
turnaround time of inter-library loan
materials.
The inter-library loan is not a sore spot
just for students, but for faculty and
library staff as well.
"As a student at U.P., my daughter can
get me research material faster than I can
through our inter-library loan," said Toni
Leggett, instructor of criminal justice.
For Ruth Runion, who works in inter
library loans, space is a major problem for
the program.
and Coins
Photo by T.J. Brightman
A Penn State Harrisburg student checks out books at the Heindel Library.
The manual checkout system is one of the problems to which Students For a
Quality Library are seeking a solution.
the job search," Martz said. "They need to
do more than just check the (bulletin)
board once a week."
According to Martz, students should
use all available resources in their job
searches.
"They have to network and use their
contacts-professors, friends, anyone,"
Martz said. "They have to keep listening
for any information about any company."
Derek Slocum, a senior engineering
technology major from Middletown,
agreed with Martz.
"There is a lot left to the individual to
go out and get it done," Slocum said.
For students who have already
graduated, the pressure is greater.
"There's just not enough room," she
said at the first open forum. "I have to
work off the floor. There's no way I can
work efficiently."
Another gripe of the student group is
the archaic check-out system. Shill said
alternatives arc being discussed, and that
the office put in a $27,000 request for an
automated circulation system. Shill has
set a "target date" for installation at
August of next year.
Shill said plans are also being made to
deal with the problem of space. He said
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Tom Kessler graduated from Penn State
Harrisburg in Aug. 1991 with a
communications degree. He is now a
bouncer at Rod's Roadhouse in Harrisburg.
Kessler said he has had interviews, but
he is competing with people with more
experience, who have been laid off.
"We're in a recession," Kessler said.
"Companies are cutting back. The first
thing to go are the luxuries—public
relations and advertising."
Senior business management major
Jerry Ross said he found other reasons
companies weren’t hiring.
”1 had two interviews during which the
interviewer said that they're waiting for
people to retire,” Ross said.
there's talk of requesting money to place
five, double-faced ranges of shelving in the
library's reading room. But the shelving
would eliminate 16 seats, dropping the
library's total seating capacity to 199.
"The administration is serious about
giving whatever support they can give
us," Shill said. "I'm cautiously opti
mistic about some of the temporary
improvements."
Faculty members speaking at the
forums said the promise of improvement
is nothing new.
"What we've been having for years
have been assurances, probably made in
good faith," said Bob Colman, assistant
professor of social science and
psychology. "What we need is concrete
outcomes."
Students doubt that any major changes
will occur. Manger said it comes down to
administration's "value system."
"I've sat in. that library, for. the past year
and a half and have watched administration
move ahead on the Eastgate Center, a
Child Care Center, Continuing Education
Center, a video up-link for job interviews
at main campus and on the auditorium,"
Manger said. "But, I've seen nothing done
in way of expenditures with the library.
That is wrong. It's not a reflection of our
values. Thai's their [administration]
agenda, not ours."
DeWitt said if students protest loudly
enough, there will be action.
"I don't think the University as a whole
can afford not to do the things we are
demanding them to do," Dewitt said. "If
you’re a student who's putting your money
out for an education that you're not
getting, that's where the real voice has got
to come from. It's really up to the
students to get the changes taken care of."
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