4 /EDITORIAL CAPITAL TIMES
October 25, 1993
Talking about a revolution
Students, it is about time you realize just whose campus
this is. This campus does not belong to you. In fact, it
may never have been yours.
The university has its way with you every semester and
you sit there, drawing a blank stare as they rape your
wallet, mollest your mind, and most importantly, never
ask your permission. Academic rape at its finest.
Do you not care that next semester, you will be taken
advantage of once again. You will be forced to pay a
parking fee - or the politically correct term, "Fee Based
Vehicle Registration Program?"
Are you not bothered that every semester more and
more students flock to this institution yet classes remain
crammed as sections decrease.
And the latest rape committed by administration - the
scheduling fee. Students will now have to purchase thin
PSH schedule books, at 90 cents, that list the classes that
you're already paying more than $2,274 a semester to
take. University Park's thickly-bound 128-page schedule
book costs just 50 cents.
Students should be asking "How are these decisions
made?" "Who decides to raise tuition and force me to pay
to park my car at a commuter campus? " "Just whose
campus is this?"
Wake up PSH. Get off your dusty behinds and protest.
We challenge and encourage you as angry students, to
rise up and take back your campus. Refuse to pay the
parking fee.
This campus is quickly becoming a
administration and investor interests first
Let Provost Lenthal know what you think about the
decisions that were made on your behalf without your
consent. Let her know that your wallet is not as fat as the
University thinks it is, that you cannot afford to spend
money on such trivial things as a scheduling book, or a
parking fee and, that you do care.
Gather outside Provost Leventhal's office and demand
answers. Make her listen to your concerns. Fight against
the very apathy that feeds the fire of Provost Leventhal
and her colleagues. ,
If college campuses are no longer a place that allows
free speach and encourages change, the very grounds
that our country was founded on risks falling to the way
side.
CAPITAL TIME
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Michele Loeper
ASSISTANT EDITOR Matt Hunt
PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Mike Starkey
ART DIRECTOR Trev Stair
LAYOUT DIRECTOR Mike Reteneller
COPY EDITOR Sue Jones-Yurkiewicz
Dawn Kopecki
ADVERTISING MANAGER Paula Eiland
BUSINESS MANAGER Amy DeCubellis
VOLUNTEER ADVISOR Mike Barber
STAFF
Sue Barger, Jen Brandt, Theresa Burkhart, Emily Damanskis, Ricardo
Duarte, Jennifer Esposito, Jeff Feeher, Mary Gates, Erik Hein, Ann
Knorr, J. Guthrie Mann, Anne Marie Miller, Ed Paukstis, Bob Regular,
Andrea Richardson, Stacey Rodin, Christopher Stine, Ashlie Watkins,
Michael Winter
Capital Times is published by the students of Penn State Harrisburg. You may reach the Capital Times
at Penn State Harrisburg, Olmsted Building, W-341, 777 W. Harrisburg Pike, Middletown, PA 17057, by
calling (717) 944-4970, or by fax at (717) 948-6008.
All materials--articles, photos and artwork--are property of the Capital Times. No parts of this paper
may be reprinted without permission.
Concerns regarding the content of any issue should be directed to the editor. Opinions expressed are
those of the author and are not representative of the college administration, faculty, or student body.
Capital Times welcomes signed letters from readers. No unsigned submissions will be printed; however, a
writer's name may be withheld upon request.
CAPITAL TIMES
STAFF MEETING
ATTENTION ALL STAFF:
There will be a mandatory meeting on:
Wednesday, October 27, at 12:20
in the Cap Times W-341
ANYONE INTERESTED IN JOINING THE FUN
If you are unable to attend, please call 944-4970
IS ENCOURAGED TO ATTEND!
business, with
students last.
PSH: unstoppable flood of fees
I. Guthrie Mann
Capital Times Staff
Ever hear of the unethical medical
practice of "unbundling" of costs? Me
neither, until about a year ago. That's
when a medical bill I received was
broken down, unbundled, into hundreds
of pieces instead of being billed as a
single procedure.
It's kind of like buying a car piece by
piece and is how the medical community
gets 30% more money from insurance
companies and, ultimately, from you and
me. This practice costs us about $7O
billion a year.
Angry? Me too. Now, suppose I told
you that our college education is being
"unbundled" in a similar fashion.
Don't believe me? Take a good look at
this spring's tuition bill when it comes.
Not only will it contain your tuition
itself, but a host of other fees like a
computer fee, binding fee, residential life
fee, late registration fee, a surcharge, a
student parking fee and possibly twenty
odd others. And if those wonderful folks
at U. Park have their way with us again,
a new student activities fee.
The student activities fee is proposed
to reinstate some of those things the
school lost when the administration faced
.r.ygrivij A. 4,
Mindless mutilation mortifies prof
Dear Editor,
The mindless mutilation of Oliver
LaGrone's sculpture, newly placed at
the center-rear entrance to the Olmsted
building, has left me in a state of shock.
A polygon was ripped from the hand
of the male figure who held it as a
symbol of the incompleteness of unity
among humankind. At the dedication of
the artwork a couple of weeks ago, the
sculptor, now aged and in need of a
cane as he stood to give his short but
eloquent speech, spoke of the circle as
the perfect symbol of oneness.
He said he found it necessary to
withold the circle and to use in its place
the polygon, because human beings had
not yet achieved the harmony the circle
requires.
How ironic that those who senselessly
destroyed his sculpture are now
themselves a symbol of those whose
malicious thoughts prevent the oneness
that oliver held up as the ultimate goal
to which human beings should aspire.
Oliver, whom I believe by now must
be in his 80s lives in Detroit, but for
I
V' pinion in the Capital Times
()ice your o
Submit your letter to our office in W. 341 or , place It in our mailbox In
budget restraints and had to cut what
they didn't think was necessary.
You know...COLLEGE LIFE. The
funding that helped post graduates look
back on PSH as a place where they
became who they are, not just a brand X
college to get a piece of paper so they
could make more money in the working
world (sound familiar?).
I can hear that head honcho at U. Park
say, "just relax, this won't hurt a bit. It'll
just be added to your semester bill and be
absorbed into the rest of your tuition bill,
becoming a problem answered by your
financial aid." The assistant head
honcho then chimes, "it's the way every
college does business."
Won't hurt? No, not now. We'll check
back with you six months after
graduation when Mr. PHEAA starts
sending you those nice letters of
responsibility to PAY UP NOW!
It may be the way all colleges do
business, but that doesn't make it any
more ethical.
Every time there is a new fee, I can't
help but wonder what happens to the
$4,548.00 in tuition per student the
r A ii„,J
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many years was a distinguished resident
of Harrisburg. He is an African-
American whose life and
accomplishments stand as a high
example of the hope for healing among
races and peoples.
Oliver was and is a great moral
leader, an eloquent spokesman for
harmony and love. his presence is
magnetic. With his deep bass voice and
Dear Editor,
Upon rushing to meet the Capital
Times deadline, I am left with a burning
question. Reference upon reference has
been made recently to our Provost Dr.
Ruth Leventhal. Feeling like a child
glued to a Where's Waldo book, I am
left wondering, "who is Dr. Leventhal?"
I am not alone in my question. I
have been hard pressed to find any
student who can actually tell me who
or what she is. Obviously we could
LITTLE <MANN
ON AMPUS
Where's Dr. Leventhal?
university gets each year (over $3OO
million total tuition). We will probably
never know. PSU's financial records are
sealed tighter than the rest of the JFK
assassination files.
Truth be known, I don't care how
much our professors are making, most of
them are probably underpaid for the job
they do. You probably feel that way too,
yet it seems that the PSU administration
feels that revealing professors' salaries
would wreak such havoc that the budget
must remain closed. They either think
that, or that we're much too simple to
understand such a complicated budget.
When I get a condensed medical bill, I
have the right to review a detailed listing
of services rendered. Why should my
semester bill be any different?
Did I ever tell you about the time the
08/GYN doctor tried to charge me for a
circumcision on my newborn baby girl?
So pay your computer fee - although
most have their own computers, pay your
parking fee - sure Doc, it's a parking fee,
pay your binding, your surcharge, your
diploma mailing fee, etc....
What choice do you have?
None.
Let's lay here and wait for the next fee
to come looking for blood. Maybe it will
go away if we're real quiet.
warm smile, he could, and did, move his
audiences to tears.
With the wanton destruction of his
sculpture, he now has another reason to
cry.
Troy Thomas
Associate Professor Humanities and Art
History
refer to her job description to find our
her responsibilities. My concern, as
well as others', however, deals with her
invisibility.
With all of the negative publicity
coming her way these days, instead of
laying low and ignoring the voices of
students and faculty, I feel she owes it
to all of us to emerge from hiding and
justify herself as Provost of PSH.
Erik M. Hein
Junior, General Humanities