Vol 34, No. 3
Student Government
by Amy L. Fleagle
Staff Reporter
Lack of interest in the Stu
dent Government Association (SGA)
has prompted the appointment, with
out provisions in the SGA constitu
tion, of two junior senators in two
academic divisions, Janet Widoff,
the SGA advisor said.
Widoff said no senior Hu
manities or Public Policy majors had
expressed an interest in being a mem
ber of the SGA Senate so in order to
get full representation two juniors
were appointed in each of the two
divisions after the spring elections.
SGA President Andrea
Poplawski said she screened and rec
ommended the junior applicants to
the Senate for approval.
Poplawski pointed to a sec-
Bruhn Named New Provost
by Jeff Wittmaier
Staff Reporter
Effective July 1, 1995 Penn
State Harrisburg will have a new pro
vost. Dr. John G. Bruhn, currently
vice president of academic affairs and
research at the University of Texas at
El Paso, was chosen by the search
committee and given approval by Penn
State's Board of Trustees.
"I have been at the Univer
sity of Texas at El Paso now for about
three and one half years," Dr. Bruhn
said. "One of my career goals is to
become president of a small college or
university, that is why I applied for the
position of provost at Penn State Har
risburg."
Dr. Bruhn said that the posi
tion of provost appealed to him in
three ways.
"One, it's a broader position
of greater responsibility over what I
have and would be a promotion over
what I have," Dr. Bruhn said. "Also
it's the size of institution which I feel
is manageable and really have some
personal contact with people. Also
Penn State is a high quality institu
tion. Career wise, it is also an appro
priate time for me to move on. I have
been in the University of Texas sys
tem for almost 25 years, so this gives
me an exposure to a different univer
sity system."
Dr. Bruhn said that he felt
that his previous positions in health
science centers would be helpful be
cause Hershey Medical Center is only
a few miles away from campus.
"A link with Hershey in terms
of future of health programs, like
health policy, health administration,
and other programs at the baccalaure
ate level, those would be areas of
growth in terms of degree programs,"
Dr. Bruhn said.
Dr. Bruhn said that other as
pects of his past will also help him in
his new position at Penn State Harris
burg. He has worked with professional
programs such as criminal justice,
social work, business, engineering,
education and the accreditation of all
of those programs. Most of those same
kinds of programs are at Penn State
Harrisburg.
Dr. Bruhn said that a third
thing that he has done in the past that
helped him prepare for this position is
that he has a strong background in
building cooperative programs with
other universities, so he feels that he
can do that here.
"I have already talked with
the head of student affairs, so that I
can meet regularly with the student
senate executive committee," Dr.
Bruhn said. "Also I would like to
make myself available for an how to
students each month. That would just
be 6 to 8 students randomly selected
through the computer, so I could get to
know the students and know what
there concerns are. It would not just
tion in the SGA constitution under
legislative membership in Article II
Section 1, which reads," Each aca
demic division, both graduate and un
dergraduate, shall be entitled to repre
sentation in the Senate...." as the basis
for the appointments.
"It (the constitution) does not
say 'entitled to but limited to,"' said
Poplawski. "If it was specifically just
one, it would be stated just one."
The SGA constitution does,
however, state that undergraduate rep
resentation is to be "one senator in
each of the senior and junior classes,
per academic division...."
Current members of the Sen
ate must approve any one who wants
to be appointed to open positions to
be a gripe session."
Dr. Bruhn said that he would
make himself visible on campus and
available to the students, so they know
that he cares about what is going on.
"I plan to be visible on cam-
Dr. John Bruhn will officially
become provost July 1, 1995.
photo by Darrell Peterson
pus. You will see me around in the
halls," Dr. Bruhn said. "I intend to be
accessible to the faculty as well that
way. I also I would like to hold peri
odic open forums, and they would be
open to anyone on campus, students,
faculty, staff. They would just be
information sessions, the only prob
lem is when to schedule them, because
we are a commuter campus. Also I
intend to eat in the Lions Den at noon
for lunch or in the dinning commons
and just sit randomly with students to
meet them and hear their concerns.
Also I would like to attend as many
student events as possible."
Dr. Bruhn said that he is very
excited about coming to Penn State
Harrisburg. He said he feels that it is
a top quality institution and that he is
very impressed with the faculty, staff
and students whom he has met.
He is going to come in at full
speed, he said
Dr. Bruhn indicated that he
has several areas that he wants to fo
cus on to make Penn State Harrisburg
a better university.
"I want to make sure that this
is a caring campus," Dr. Bruhn said,
"to make sure that the teaching-learn
ing environment is the best that we can
make it, not only from the humanistic
standpoint, but the expertise of the
people here and the learning technol
ogy. "I want to make the image of
Penn State Harrisburg positive," he
explained. "I want to make this insti
tution better known in this area and
make sure that the public knows what
they have got here in the way of re
sources. So some image building and
public relations will be in order and to
make use of our alumni in this respect
Also I would like to build new aca
demic programs that will help Penn
State Harrisburg grow academically,
in the area of graduate programs and
upper division courses. These are all
cwvwmim
represent their academic division in
the Senate, Poplawski said.
"If we had more people that
wanted to represent the students as
senators, that's when we'd screen them
and we make the recommendation to
the Senate and we approve them,"
Poplawski said.
No senior Public Policy or
Humanities majors ran for election to
the Senate last fall and none asked to
be appointed after the elections.
"We wanted to make sure we
could have as many students voices on
the Senate, then it was an alternative
to appoint somebody who was inter
ested and wanted to serve," Widoff
said.
If SGA is in violation of their
constitution, the votes of all four sena
tors would be invalidated, until a
clarification could be made on which
senators should rightfully hold the
"I think it is also a concern portions.
ways that can help Penn State Harris
burg to grow."
To make sure that Penn State
Harrisburg is a culturally diverse cam
pus, Dr. Bruhn said that a University
should be a leader in helping people
better understand people from differ
ent cultures, religions, races, and gen
ders.
"A university should be a
place where people tolerate different
views and discuss differences," Dr.
Bruhn said.
On the issue of the parking
fees, Dr. Bruhn said that he would
look into it and that he really wasn't
aware of it. He said that they do have
a $l5 per semester parking fee at
U.T.E.P. because of a lack of parking,
but that there are shuttle buses.
"I will certainly look into the
parking fees and find out why they
were implemented," Dr. Bruhn said.
"Also students are certainly entitled to
find out exactly where there money is
going, but right now I don't know
much about it."
Dr. Bruhn attended the Uni
versity of Nebraska and got his bach
elors degree in zoology. He then went
on to get his master's degree in Soci
ology and History from Nebraska.
Then he attended Yale University
where he got his doctorate in Sociol
ogy.
"I started out with a major in
zoology, because I was interested in
one time in medical school," Dr. Bruhn
said. "I changed my mind then to
move into the social aspects of medi
cine. I started out in research. Never
was administration in my plans, but
the opportunity to become a depart
mental chairman got me away from
research and I have stayed in adminis
tration all my career."
Dr. Bruhn said that to get
students involved in student organiza
tions, would be a way to get Penn State
Harrisburg to feel more like a univer
sity and not just a place where stu
dents come for their classes and then
leave right away. Dr. Bruhn said it is
tough to get students involved on a
commuter campus but that there are
ways of making a commuter campus
feel just as much like a regular univer
sity.
Dr. Bruhn said that his big
gest hobby is writing poetry and that
his fourth book of poetry will be printed
in May.
"Cycling, walking, and hik
ing are other areas of interest to me,"
Dr. Bruhn said. "I also like to go to
concerts and to the theater and plays."
Dr. Bruhn said that he is very
excited about moving to Pennsylva
nia, because there is a lot of culture
and history here.
Dr. Bruhn began his career at
University of Nebraska School of
Medicine as a researcher. He then
moved on to Yale University where he
Continued on Page 2
Violates Constitution
that we (SGA) have a full ranging
compliment of students who speak for
the concerns (of the students)," Widoff
said.
The appointment of two jun
ior senators in the Humanities and
Public Policy divisions, instead of one
junior and one senior, possibly puts
the SGA in violation of their constitu
tion. Any decisions made by the SGA
since the appointment of these two
officers may be void and could be
questioned.
Student Court Voids SGA
By Cathy Nolan
and Amy L. Fleagle
Staff Reporters
The Student Court of Penn
State Harrisburg ruled at a Monday
night meeting that due to impropri
eties on the part of the election screen-
Mg committee and several candidates
last week's election results are null
and void.
The Jordan Award, which is
given to the professor at PSH who is
chosen by the students for their aca
demic excellence, and is determined
by ballots placed at the same time as
the SGA election ballots, will not be
affected.
A new election screening
committee must be formed and all
candidates for SGA offices must be
informed of the specific procedures of
the election, according to a verdict
handed down by Michael Flory, Chief
Justice of the Student Court. A meet
ing of the new committee and the
candidates must be held before the
new elections take place, next Mon
day and Tuesday, April 24 and 25.
All members of the new elec
tion screening committee must be ac
tive in the screening process, Flory
said.
The Student Court deter
mined that the previous election
screening committee failed to ensure
the candidates running for the offices
of president and vice president under
stood the procedures outlined in the
SGA Constitution and By-laws.
Several of the candidates,
although not specifically named by
the court, were found to have violated
procedures laid out for the elections.
The investigation centered
around charges brought to the Student
Court by Jen Wilson, candidate for
SGA vice-president. Wilson alleged
A Constitution and By-Law
Revision Committee has been formed
to review the SGA constitution, which
has not been updated since its original
drafting over 20 years ago.
Widoff said the committee
has expressed concerns about the con
stitution and the provisions it makes
for the appointment to senatorial posi
tions.
The committee will "review,
tecluiically correct, and make any nec
essary amendments and changes to
the constitution and by-laws...in ac
cordance with the current constitu
tion," according to the proposal ac
cepted at the January 17 meeting.
A sample change to the con
stitution distributed to the SGA mem-
Election Results
her opponent in the election, Felicia
Wallace, violated campaign guidelines
that restrict candidates from election
eering within 20 feet of the polls.
Flory was contacted by Wil
son the evening of Thursday, April 13,
at which time an investigation into the
charges was requested.
During the hearing charges
against Duane Brooks and Wilson
were also debated. Brooks, candidate
for president, was questioned about
the number of campaign signs he
posted in the campus buildings of PSII.
Candidates are limited to 15 2x3
campaign posters according to the elec
tion procedures.
Wilson, candidate for vice
president, was also said to have been
campaigning within 20 feet of the
polls, on Thursday, April 13.
Flory said the main break
down in the election process was with
the election screening committee and,
because four of the five candidates
were not aware of the full definition of
electioneering, they cannot be fully
accountable for the violations.
Andrea Poplawski, SGA
President and head of the election
screening committee, defended the
actions of the screening committee
during the hearing, saying they fol
lowed the guidelines set for them by
the SGA Constitution.
"The Constitution says the
screening committee is to conduct the
elections," Poplawski said during the
hearing. "It doesn't say they are to
enforce the rules."
After the verdict, Flory said
he made the only decision he felt he
could, under the circumstances.
"This may not be the best
solution to the situation, but it is the
fairest," Boxy said.
As for the candidates in
volved, the verdict wasn't met with
April 19, 1995
bers and discussed at the January 17
meeting was to "eliminate the class
restriction placed on senatorial seats."
This change, if recom
mended by the committee, passed by
the Senate and voted on by the student
body, would allow two students per
division to have positions on the SGA
Senate regardless of their class.
Widoff said the SGA cur
rently has no provisions for the situa
tion that occured during this semester,
when no seniors were interested in
representing their division on the Sen
ate.
Continued on Page 2
enthusiasm
"I just want this ordeal to be
over," Brooks said, adding that the
election process has been stressful and
his academic performance has suf
fered because of it.
Flory gave SGA President
Poplawski 24 hours to form a new
election screening committee, which
will screen all candidates at one time,
in the presence of the Student Court.
When Poplawski said there would be
no eligible members of SGA to serve,
Flory said volunteers from the student
body could fill the positions. Flory
also said students from another Penn
State campus could be brought in to
coordinate the screenings and the elec
tion process.
At the SGA meeting on Tues
day, April 18, Jen Wilson announced
she is withdrawing from the elections,
and will instead serve on the elections
screening committee.
Flory provided a copy of the
Student Court's decision on the matter
to all members of SGA present at the
meeting. Flory said the letter will be
posted throughout campus, informing
the students of the Court's decision.
Flory also said he would al
low members of the former screening
committee to serve on the new
committtee, contrary to his decision
the previous evening.
After Hory's announcement,
Senators Scott Stewart, Daniel Kane
and Vice-President Kei Fuller, who
served on the original committee, also
volunteered to serve again.
Wilson commented later she
withdrew because she felt the Student
Court's decision was wrong, and that
not being aware of the rules is not a
valid excuse.
"Ignorance is no excuse for
breaking the law," Wilson said.