New SGA Officers
Are Appointed
On Oct. 5, the Student
Government Association (SGA)
appointed several new officers to
fill needed positions.
The new officers include M.
Scott Richmond - Executive
Secretary, Jessica Crum
Committee Secretary, Barb Roy -
Public Relations, Lisa Nagele -
Senior Senator at Large, Matthew
Davis - Senior Senator
Behaviorial Science & Education,
Jordan Merkel - Senior Senator
Business, and Jennifer Scharff -
Junior Senator at Large.
SGA President Roderick Lee
hopes to open more lines of com
munication between PSH stu
dents and SGA.
The environment at PSH, with
numerous commuter students,
makes it difficult for some stu
dents to become involved. Many
students simply show up for their
classes and leave immediately
after.
This leaves little time to inter
act with their fellow students or
Student Government. Without
the majority of students living on
campus as in a traditional college
setting, SGA must put extra
effort toward encouraging non
traditional student involvement.
With the help of newly appoint
ed executive assistants Alvin
Black and Joe Marsicano, Lee
plans to devise new ways of pro
moting more student involvement.
Marsicano will be able to offer
suggestions from his past experi
ence as SGA President at
Harrisburg Area Community
College. Marsicano will detail an
overall misson for SGA at PSH
and Penn State Schuylkill
(PSSL).
Lee hopes this new mission
Rachel McNabb swears in Scott Richmond as Executive Secretary at
the SGA meeting Oct. 5.
By Bryan Kapschull
Capital Times Staff Writer
statement and increased organi
zation will make possible more
long term planning by SGA.
He explained that with better
long-term planning higher quali
ty student activities could be
scheduled.
The current lack of such long
term organization prevents some
student activities from making
set deadlines, thus preventing
events from taking place.
Lee also plans to form several
new ad-hoc committees. These
are temporary investigative
groups formed to address specif
ic concerns or needs.
All students are welcome to
join ad-hoc committees and
share ideas. Some of the con
cerns to be addressed by the ad
hoc committees are Public
Relations, Marketing, and SGA
promotion.
Lee would also like to develop
an open-forum committee in
which students can interact with
their professors and offer sugges
tions.
Community service will also
be emphasized this year. With
the creation of an Outreach
Committee, Lee said the SGA
will offer opportunities for stu
dents to give to the surrounding
communities through various
non-profit organizations.
If any students are interested
in joining SGA, positions are
still available for Junior Senator
Business Administration, Junior
Senator Behavioral Science &
Education, Junior Senator
Humanities, and Senior Senator
Public Policy.
Anyone interested in these
positions should contact Lee at
948-6137.
Photo by Cathie McCormick Musser
Domestic
Continued from Page 1
Keen found a cohort in Jessica
F. Swanson, a graduate student in
Community Psychology.
Swanson also brought previ
ous experience in women’s
issues to PSH. She acted as vol
unteer counselor for women at
the Chrysalis Center for Women
in Minneapolis, Minn., before
relocating to Central Pa.
While not focused specifically
on domestic violence, Swanson’s
work frequently included domes
tic violence.
The twosome was encouraged
by the Women’s Studies program
faculty to fill the void in
Domestic Violence Awareness
Month activities.
Keen and Swanson were
joined by Carol Obando, another
graduate student in Community
Psychology, to plan the campus
activities.
“This all started because we
complained,” Keen said. “The
faculty said, ‘Why don’t you do
something?”’
Planning happened fast. “We
didn’t start until September,”
Keen said. The newly formed
committee of Keen, Swanson
and Obando scurried to navigate
PSH red tape and arrange a series
of activities and displays that
began the week of Oct. 11.
The committee’s goal is to
raise awareness of domestic vio
lence among the PSH communi
ty. Awareness brochures and dis
cussions compare healthy and
unhealthy relationships for pos
sible victims while displays and
Violence Awareness
vigils aim to increase awareness
of the severity of the domestic
violence problem.
Domestic violence statistics
are staggering. In 1993, The
Commonwealth Fund of New
York published the “First
Comprehensive National Health
Survey of American Women.”
According to the survey, “4
million American women who
were married or living with inti
mate partners were abused by
their partner.”
A 1995 survey conducted by
Johns Hopkins University
School of Medicine reported that
one in three women had experi
enced domestic violence as
either an adult or child.
Statistics also show that
domestic violence knows no
boundaries.
According to literature pre
pared by the Pa. Coalition
Against Domestic Violence,
“domestic violence occurs
regardless of age, ethnicity, men
tal or physical ability, sexual ori
entation, socioeconomic status
and religious background.”
Domestic violence has eco
nomic costs as well. A National
Institute of Justice study esti
mates that “domestic violence
accounts for almost 15 percent
of total crime costs - $67 billion
per year.”
The PSH Domestic Violence
Awareness Month activities were
designed to educate and inspire
the campus community to action.
One activity, Swanson reports,
will be a large sheet of paper
with the theme “It is your busi-
ness” as a central focus.
Both men and women will be
encouraged to sign the paper as
recognition of the significance of
the domestic violence issue.
Once complete, Swanson
plans to publish the document in
the Capital Times.
Keen reports that she’s found
a career path. She recently
accepted a part-time position as a
Domestic Violence Police
Advocate for the Manheim
Township Police Department.
Keen provides abused women
with referrals to housing and
counseling and helps them
understand the court system.
One advantage of the advoca
cy position, according to Keen, is
that she is not a police officer.
“Police tend to see things as ‘vic
tim, offender, court,”’ Keen said.
Keen is able to help abused
women break the cycle of vio
lence and is pleased that police
departments have started includ
ing advocacy positions.
“It frustrates me when there’s
a potential solution to the prob
lem, but nobody’s taking the
time to do it,” Keen said. But, as
a domestic violence advocate,
Keen said, “I have a voice in the
system.”
"The care of
human life and
happiness, and not of
their destruction,
is the first any only
legitimate object of
good government*
v - Thomas Jefferson .