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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