The Capital Times NEWS Monday, October 26,1998 5 |
lIT considers charges for all computer printing
Students' online and mutiple printouts
have sent paper costs skyrocketing
By Tracy Motes
Staff Writer
Penn State Harrisburg students might soon
have to pay for all their printing in the com
puter labs.
Robert C. Brinkley, Director of Instruc
tional and Information Technologies, said
college officials are considering imposing
fees and regulations for online printing in the
computer labs unless students voluntarily
Alumni mentor program puts students on right track
By Diane Finnefrock
Staff Writer
Students today lead very busy
lives between classes, work and
social activities. So some students
rarely find the time to seek guid
ance or contacts in their field of
choice a simple step that can be
quite beneficial in landing their first
job.
Penn State Harrisburg offers stu
dents many opportunities to do this.
One such program, the Mentor Pro
gram, is sponsored by the Penn
State Harrisburg Alumni Society.
The program was established in
1992 to bring students together with
successful alumni in their field of
interest. It’s not meant to provide
students with a job, but designed to
give the students a view of the
working world and help them down
Spanier to
meet PSH
community
Continued from page 1
Spanier leaving for the York Cam
pus afterward.
At this point, all schedules are
subject to change.
Spanier is making another round
through the commonwealth cam
puses this year, hoping to get a
handle on what students feel away
from University Park. Plans are to
visit 13 campuses this fall, the rest
in spring.
Casual forums are planned at each
stop, during which students, faculty
and staff can air their concerns, sug
gestions or criticisms.
curb printing. The measures might be needed
because paper use, due in large part to online
printing and printing of multiple documents,
has skyrocketed to 100,000 pages per month
on the labs’ new laser printers, Brinkley said.
It would take $15,000 from the lIT budget
to cover the cost of paper and toner next year
if paper use continues at its current pace,
Brinkley estimated. He also said funds from
the lIT computer center, not the student com
puter fee, are covering the cost of paper.
their career path.
It can also help them explore a lot
of options they might not be aware
of.
According to the program Com
mittee Chairwoman Michele Hart-
Henry: “Mentoring is important
because it gives someone who is
objective the ability to see if the stu
dent is on the right track academi
cally. Mentors show students what
the working world is like, and can
help students start a networking
base. Students can walk away from
the program thinking, yes this is the
right career path for me.
“We decided to let the students
pick their mentors, rather than
match them as we did in the past,
because they know what they are
looking for. We want the program
to be flexible and responsive to the
students.”
Tentative schedule for
Penn State University
President Dr. Graham
Spanier’s visit to the
Capital Campus:
Schuykill Campus
Spanier will spend the
morning at the Schuykill
Campus, meeting with
faculty and students.
Harrisburg Campus
3:00 p.m.
Forum with faculty/staff.
4:00 p.m.
Forum with students.
5:30 p.m.
Closed-door dinner
before leaving for
York Campus
“lIT will make every effort to avoid this,
but we need students to make every effort to
reduce the amount of paper they are printing
because the student computer fee supports
teaching, learning and research for student
work and classroom instruction at the col
lege,” Brinkley said.
Any decision would be discussed with
SGA, lIT staff and the lIT Advisory Com
mittee before PSH implements a system to
regulate printing, he said. The system would
probably mirror the one used at the Center
for Academic Computing (CAC) lab at Uni
versity Park called the Page Accounting and
Login Server (PALS).
The program has undergone
many changes in the past few years
to regain that flexibility. PSH
alumni, who served as mentors in
the past, formed a committee to re
view and revitalize the program. It
has switched from a very strict, very
formal program to a loose, informal
one. Today’s program has compo
nents of both.
The stricter part of the program
is the guidelines the committee
must follow to recruit students and
Election draws poor voter turnout
Continued from page 1
“I guess I am used to people campaigning for a vote
and when they don’t, I forget about it,” junior Megan
Lewis said.
“I didn’t attend the elections because I wasn’t aware
of when or where they were being held,” student
Jeremiah Sensenig said.
Despite the low turnout, four new senators were
elected. They are:
Theresa Celauro, junior senator-at-large; Shirlene
“Rene” Betha, junior senator Science, Engineering &
Technology; Alvin “Chip” Black, junior senator Pub-
UofM protest responds to recent
column and Wyoming
From the Associated Press
COLLEGE PARK, Md. About
200 people rallied at the University
of Maryland to protest a column in
the campus newspaper condemning
homosexuality.
The demonstrators on Monday
also observed 30 seconds of silence
for Matthew Shepard, the gay Uni
versity of Wyoming student who
died from injuries he suffered last
week when he was beaten and
Students at University Park can print 110
mentors. There must be a two-se
mester commitment on part of the
mentor and student, unless the stu
dent is graduating the same semes
ter that they joined. At the end of
the two semester time period, there
will be an evaluation of the program
by the mentor and student.
The informal part of the program
is how the students and mentors
interact. There must be at least five
contacts or interactions between the
mentors and students over two se
lashed to a fence. The attack has
been denounced as a hate crime.
The guest column, published in
the university’s Diamondback
newspaper, characterized homo
sexuality as a “genetically defective
state.” It also criticized what it said
was the gay community’s “nonstop
effort to push their ‘twisted and
perverted’ views on everyone.”
The newspaper acknowledged it
didn’t know the identity of the au
thor, who apparently wrote under a
pseudonym.
sheets of paper per semester. After a student
reaches their limit, a charge of 7 cents per
sheet is assessed. This charge at University
Park has reduced paper waste and increased
the amount of sheets allocated to each stu
dent per semester from 85 to 110 pages. It
has also helped lower the charge for paper
from 8 to 7 cents per sheet.
Signs posted on the printers asking students
not to make multiple copies are the only
guidelines for online printing and printing
multiple documents in the computer labs now.
“We are asking that users in the labs coop
erate by observing the signs posted on the
printers and do not print multiple copies or
online documentation,” Brinkley said.
mesters. Contacts can include e
mails, visits to the work site or
phone calls.
Hart-Henry explained, “We’re
not saying how anymore, we’re let
ting people decide how for them
selves, and what works for them.”
Readers interested in more infor
mation may contact Laura Davis,
Alumni Coordinator, at the Alumni
Relations Office, WlO6 Olmsted
Building.
lie Affairs; and Pete Karpew, junior senator Behav
ioral Sciences and Education.
There are still three open positions: junior senator
at-large; junior senator Business Administration; and
junior senator Humanities. The position of secretary
is also vacant. SGA President Sean Limric, with the
approval of the SGA Senate, can appoint students to
these positions.
Eligible candidates for the position of a junior sena
tor, “must be a registered student, not be on disciplin
ary probation, and must be in good standing with the
University to qualify and remain in office,” according
to the SGA Constitution.
murder
Commentary editor Joshua M.
Kross defended the publication as
a matter of free speech. He also said
people needed to be reminded there
are individuals with racist and in
tolerant views.
A university spokesman said no
action will be taken against the Dia
mondback.
“We like to pride ourselves on
fostering a diverse climate,” George
Cathcart said. The column, as well
as the rally, marked a “very healthy
expression of that.”