R ES S AT E H AR DiSbU TIM q •.,,. . . ...,.................. ..,.,,......... ... Vol. 30, No. 4 Chronology: An overview of campus safety Michele Loeper and victim confirming that a rape October 26 - Channel 28, addressed concerns and made Matt Hunt actually occurred. Channel 27, Channel 8, and Patriot recommendations regarding campus Capital Times Reporters October 4 -the university News reporters arrived at campus to safety. released the information in This interview students about the two The following overview chronicles Week, the first time the University attacks. A safety meeting was also November 1- crime prevention the series of events which took place referred to it as a rape. Provost held with female resident students in seminar was held in dining in the past nine weeks responding to Leventhal left voice-mail messages the dorms. commons, presented by Citizens the rape and alleged attack that with faculty informing them of the __Against Crime. _ .... occurred to two separate PSH rape. students. October 5 petition demanding increased report on ways to improve campus November 9 - A personal September 23 - Police security, better lighting, and access safety. The report was then defense demonstration was held in Services received a phone call from a to police records. presented to Provost Leventhal. the Gallery Lounge by a campus nurse at a local hospital informing October 15 - The Capital That same evening a composite self-defense group. them that a female student from Times filed an Open Records request sketch of the second attacker was PSH was admitted as a rape victim. with the university, asking for the distributed throughout camps and to November 10 - Provost Administration was informed release of public information the local community. Leventhal held a campus open hours immediately and within four hours a regarding the case. The university October 28 - Student session where students gathered to memo was posted throughout denied the request. Government Association sent a express their approval and concerns campus informing students that a memo to Provost Leventhal listing for the changes made after the open female student was "accosted" October 23 -,a female student their recommendations to improve forum sessions. earlier that day and further was attacked walking between the public safety, this memo was then information was unavailable since Wrisburg and Church Halls. Police released to campus community. For an in-depth look at issues the sources were second hand. services and Community Relations October 28, and 29 - Provost surrounding campus safety, see the October 2 - police services posted another memo, informing Leventhal resided over two forums Public Safety Supplement inside had their first meeting with the students of the second assault. where students, faculty and staff this issue. He's Back: University provost discusses faculty concerns during second visit Ricardo Duarte Capital Times Reporter Penn State's executive vice-president, John A. Brighton, met with disgruntled faculty members recently to address their complaints and concerns regarding administrative policies. Brighton received a personal invitation from Provost and Dean Ruth Leventhal "to talk to the faculty regarding their overall problems with this campus," the invitation stated. SGA forms committee on firearms Matt Hunt Capital Times Reporter The Student Government Association issue, Todd Deßoard, SGA president, is forming a new committee to explore moved that a committee be formed to the issue of allowing Campus Police study the problem. officers to bear firearms in response to ~T he committee will survey the recent events on campus. students and see if they would be in On Oct. 28, the SGA sent a memo to favor of doing it (allowing Police Provost Ruth Leventhal listing their Services to bear firearms)," Deßoard recommendations for improving campus said. safety. The memo was written in The motion passed. response to offical univeristy reports of an alleged rape and assault on campus. Once the committee finishes Among the times listed on the memo surveying the student body, it will make was a suggestion that all qualified a report to the administration, Deßoard officers be allowed to carry firearms. said. At the Nov. 2 meeting of SGA the The committee is still being formed at issue of arming Police Services was present. Jim Bostick defends his photo exhibit "Postmodern Metamorphoses" after it spawned criticism and censorship attempts from PSH administrators. Stephan Salisbury, Arts Writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, and David Accosta, founder of the Arts Emergency Coalition in Philadelphia, were among the panelists at this symposium. October 27 - Student Affairs - Students filed a met with faculty senate to present a The invitation was prompted after an unsettling encounter between Brighton and the faculty a few weeks ago, according to faculty members. "Brighton was visibly shaken and unnerved by the faculty at the initial general meeting," said Associate Professor of Humanities and Art History Troy Thomas. "He felt he had to come back and deal with our concerns in a more detailed way," Thomas said. Many of the faculty members hoped the meeting would improve the overall discussed at length. After much debate back and forth evaluating the pros and cons of the Photo by Michael Starkey situation between the faculty and the administration by opeding communication lines. "The importance of the administration communicating more with the faculty on a regular basis is paramount," Thomas said. "They have to make us more aware of what's going on here and at University Park so we can work together on our problems." Along with better communication, Thomas stressed the need to end "red tape" and bureaucracy. Too much paperwork and too many meetings keep a lot of decisions from ever being finalized, he said. "Penn State Harrisburg has to deal with the entire bureaucratic structure of University Park, in addition to its own structure," he said. "For a campus this size, it is almost unworkable." Many professors in the Humanities department echoed Thomas' opinion. They also felt that University Park's administration was too judgmental. "As far as the Humanities Department goes, the Park's administration doesn't seem to realize that we're interdisciplinary," said Dr. Glen Mazis of the Humanities Department. "Being interdisciplinary not only makes us Nudity Dawn Kopecki Capital Times Reporter Controversy over male nudity in the recent exhibition "Postmodern Metamorphoses" culminated in a symposium headed by a panel of art experts and humanities faculty members in the Gallery Lounge on Oct. 28th. Jim Bostick's photographic exhibit spawned criticism 'and censorship attempts from administrators, panelists said. Panelists included photographer and art historian Melody Davis, who recently published The Male Nude in Contemporary Photography, Stephan Salisbury, arts writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, David Accosta, founder of the Arts Emergency Coalition in Philadelphia and humanities faculty members Dr. Tace Hedrick, Dr. Suren Lalvani and Dr. Troy Thomas. what to think before you have a "Nudity generally makes people chance to think," Davis said. feel uneasy, especially mal e Administrators also moved nudity," said Accosta, who also special events to other areas on represents the board of directors of campus. the National Campaign for Freedom But many faculty, staff, students of Expression, a national, non profit advocacy group for the arts. and the artist himself disagree. "(The Gallery Lounge) needs to be just a gallery. The idea of a issues in art discussed at symposium "However, this (the Gallery Lounge) is a university gallery. "I guess the university has to decide whether their gallery is going to be a free gallery or something else determined by bureaucrats," he added. According to Janet Widoff, coordinator of student activities, the Gallery Lounge is a multi-purpose facility and falls outside of the constraints of a traditional art gallery. Once administrators found out that the exhibit was all nudes, they considered prohibited its showing, then they suggested moving the exhibit to a classroom. But Bostick resisted any censorship, and administrators finally decided to post warnings outside the Gallery Lounge. "That label tells you to shut off part of your mind...lt's telling you Wrisberg and Church Halls proved to be poorly lit when a second attack occurred between the two dorms. The university responded by increasing the amount of light and trimming the bushes that lined the walkway. unique to other universities across the state, but across the country as well." In light of recent cutbacks and reduced funds to the University, many faculty members were also displeased with the progress of the Physical Plant. "The Physical Plant hasn't changed much for a campus that services more than 3500 students," said Thomas. "Messiah, Lebanon Valley , Elizabethtown, even HACC all have far greater plants than we do. It still has a long way to go before students get their money's worth." In addition, professors felt they don't have the proper equipment to teach the students. "We have computers, but we essentially have no budget for CD- ROMS, videotapes or laser discs," explained Thomas. "In art we have no facilities for sculptures or printmaking. There is still so much we lack." Thomas also said that the PSI-I administration needs to deal more with the day-to-day problems that arise in the classroom. "One of the faculty suggestions to Brighton was that administrators teach at least one course a year. They'd become much more sensitized to what needs to be done." multi-purpose space is fine, but art vulnerable," said Hedrick, asst. shouldn't be something that professor of comparative literature enhances an assembly room," and humanities. Bostick said Male nude photography has come to the forefront with the rise of feminism, panelists said. Homo erotic images like "It is men who were the producers, purchases and ideal Bostick's "Apollo and Hyacinthus" viewers of the female nude.... From illicit outrage among many male the 19th century onward, the female viewers, panelists said body is the primary spectacle," Davis said The outrage felt in regards to male nudes "is an expression of Panelists explained that men have perceived injustice," Davis said. always controlled various perceptions of women, and women For years the phallus was have been subjected to the "male symbolized through masculine gaze. imagery, she added. But it was The discomfort caused by male recent years when photographers nudes stems from a power struggle like Robert Maplethorpe between genders. Subjecting men to revolutionized the male nude the female gaze disempowers them, panelists said "Real genitals we were taught do not belong in art," she said. "They are pornography, part of the taboo "The penis is the seed of power which consume cultures peddle in a patriarchal society... When the through billion dollar industries male is up there being looked at, which feed what we want to see as that opens up its gaze...making it dirty." e su PUBLIC SAFETY: IN-DEPTH LOOK pages 4 and 5. November 15, 1993 Faculty members said that Brighton listened to their concerns and tried to understand their perspective, but he became somewhat defensive when they complained about the library, Mazis said. "He thought we were being too pushy. We had a right to be upset though, we really need to get the ball rolling on a new library," he said. "In Brighton's view, Provost Leventhal is a very strong advocate for the library. Many of the faculty did not realize that she was pushing hard for its development," Brighton said. There is an overall feeling of hope and optimism among many members of the faculty that some of their needs will finally be addressed, faculty said. Whatever actions the administration takes to make improvement, however remains to be seen. "The first test to see if Brighton listened will be whether or not the faculty has a say in the process of finding a new Dean of the Faculty, in light of Dishner's resignation," added Mazis. "After all, that is the person who should best represent our needs." "A man in a visually feminine position is most commonly perceived either as a joke or a threat," Davis said. never brought to the forefront until Photo by Mary Gates
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