8 • NEWS
Power
to
The use of Power Point as a teaching
tool received low grades at the Open
Forum held March 20.
The Open Forum is a meeting that
takes place once a semester in the school
of business administration in the Olmsted
building. The forum is open to all busi
ness students and allows students to
express any concerns they may have.
Once the students have discussed any
issues, the school addresses the problems.
However, this semester's forum was
a quiet one. There was no yelling or loud
conversation and there were even a few
moments of total silence.
Dr. Jacob De Rooy brought up a
question that stirred up discussion for a
while. He asked, "What do you think the
effectiveness is of new tech-
nology?" Initially, both faculty
and students were silent. Then
a few people timidly chimed in
about the use of e-mail and its
effectiveness for Penn State
students to communicate with
each other
After a few moments, the
issue of Microsoft Power Point was
raised. Some students felt it is helpful
when professors use Power Point, but
many students said they did not like pro
fessors to use Power Point slides.
Lori Mitchell, treasurer-elect of the
SGA said, "I am not in favor of Power
Point slides when they take place of the
lecture. I've seen them take place of the
lecture and that put a bad taste in my
mouth."
Tramaine Harrison, SGA president
elect, had a similar point of view.
"Professors are here to breakdown infor
mation for us so that we can understand
it," she said. "There has to be a balance."
Some other students agreed that they
do not like it when professors substitute
Power Point for a lecture. They felt they
could read the slides by themselves out
side of class and would rather have a
good explanation of the material in class.
SGA meeting reflects recent tension
By Molly Blouch
For The Capital Times
The SGA meeting on March 27 went
relatively smoothly. Everything on the
agenda was handled in an orderly fashion.
The members of the SGA tackled the
issues that were brought up, including
their upcoming awards ceremony, the
Rights of Spring event and the AIDS quilt
that will be on display at PSH from April
10 to April 12.
Yet, there was obvious distraction
Point fails
impress
By Amy Kurtz
For The Capital Times
A comment was made that when Power
Point is used too much, it gives students a
reason to not go to class.
Dr. Steve Schappe, director of under
graduate programs, responded to these
comments, noting, "it's not the technolo
gy itself but how it's used."
The faculty at the forum voiced their
disappointment at the poor student
turnout and quietness of the forum. It was
pointed out that the forum is provided to
help students, and yet very few students
showed up and those who did were very
quiet. About 31 people attended the
forum and 12 of them were faculty.
It seems that lack of involvement is a
problem around campus. Clubs are lack
ing members, free tutoring is offered and
ffec ness
y e o ‘ u 4 W it
ti hits ve t ° h e
. o f ne w
technology.
can be done about them. It was
mentioned that students are often too
busy to attend events such as the forum or
they do not know about them. Many stu
dents who attend Penn State Harrisburg
also have jobs, family obligations and
other things going on in their lives that
make attending an event at the last minute
a problem.
While no one came up with a definite
solution to the problem, there was talk of
installing a message board in the Lion's
Den and an idea was proposed that may
help with turnout and last-minute cancel
lations. It was suggeested that an agenda
of activities occurring throughout the
semester should be given to students at
the beginning of the semester, ensuring
that students are aware of the forums and
can build their schedules around the
events
among members of the group. Everyone
seemed preoccupied. Maybe it was the on
going election. Members were taking turns
mannng the polls and intermittently
switched positions so everyone could sit in
on some portion of the meeting. Maybe it
was the recent tension building with the
Graduate Student Association. Whatever it
was, there was definitely something on the
minds of the members of the Student
Government Association at their most
recent meeting.
the
CAPITAL TIMES
no one shows up, and
recruiters are waiting with job
opportunities only to be stood
up by the students.
These problems turned
the discussion from Power
Point and technology to why
these problems exist and what
On Our Hill
Senators-elect Erickson and Orie,
Republican candidates in two state Senate
special elections, emerged victorious on
March 20 in hotly contested campaigns at
opposite ends of the state.
Delaware County executive Ted
Erickson defeated democratic attorney
Melissa Maxman in Delaware County to
succeed for
mer GOP floor
leader Joe
Loeper. In sub-
urban
Pittsburgh,
republican
state represen
tative Jane
One won the
Senate seat
Rooney, son of
Pittsburgh
Steelers'
owner Dan
Rooney.
It's report
ed that both
victorious
GOP candi
dates were sig
nificantly out
spent by their
democratic
rivals. The
Senate will
return to its
previous 30-20
margin of
republican
control. Of
course, the Orie victory means a House
vacancy that will be filled by another spe
cial election.
The Med Mal Insurance Crisis:
There is no question a huge problem
exists in the medical community as it
attempts to deal with out-of-control mal
practice lawsuits resulting in insurance
premium increases.
In 1996, the legislature passed mal
practice litigation reforms only to see the
Vice President Joe Werner was the first
person to mention the problems that have
surfaced between the SGA and the GSA.
Werner attended a recent GSA meeting
trying to resolve the tension. "We are the
governing body of the school," Werner
said, "they (GSA) understand that."
Werner gave the impression that the over
all reaction to the central issue between the
GSA and SGA concerning the election
being held between March 27-29 was
handled in a calm manner.
view innsylvanii , capitol building
on a fine autumn day in the warm sunshine.
MONDAY, APRIL 2, 2001
Pennsylvania Supreme Court toss out
most of the new laws as inconsistent with
the court's own rules. It apparently never
occurred to the court that its rules were
inconsistent with the will of the folks
elected to represent - of all things - the
people.
State Senator Stewart Greenleaf has
proposed a
Senate-House
Schwarzenegger said last week that he
would not seek the GOP nomination for
governor of California. Then his PR per
son indicated that was a "maybe." Now,
left coast republicans are lobbying "the
Terminator" to get into the race. Joe
Kennedy had been viewed as a likely
democratic candidate for governor of
Massachusetts next year, but he's rejected
the idea and opened the door for a big
democratic primary.
When asked how she felt about the ten
sion between the SGA and the GSA, Kim
Ontanka, a junior communications major,
stated, "I was unaware of this seemingly
big problem, but I feel that graduate stu
dents shouldn't be allowed to run for SGA.
There should be rules allowing only
undergraduates to run for SGA and only
graduate students to run for GSA. I believe
that SGA students and GSA students have
different views and they should be kept
separate."
ay Joe
Marsicano
resolution to
"urge the court
to reinstate" the
reforms enact
ed in 1996.
This comes
under the "fat
chance" depart
ment.
Greenleaf also
wants the legis
lature to allow
physicians with
a limited, low-
risk practice to
"opt" out of the
state mandate
that they carry
$1,200,000
malpractice
insurance in
order to pre-
license to prac
tice in
Pennsylvania
Mind
Games: Movie
star Arnold