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27, 2004
Professor
Spotlight
English professor’s
determination over
comes all odds
By Kathryn Herr
Editor in Chief
kah92B@psu.edu
Going from blue collar to
esteemed scholar is what Dr.
Margaret Jaster, Associate
Professor of English, considers
her biggest accomplishment.
Jaster never let her North
Philadelphia roots dictate who
she was to become.
At a young age, Jaster was
always reading whatever she
could get her hands on, so
when she attended an Arch
Diocese school for underprivi
leged immigrant children,
English was her favorite sub
ject. As the daughter of a truck
driver, Jaster was often under
estimated. When she picked up
a copy of Shakespeare’s
“Mcßeth” she was told by the
librarian that she couldn’t read
it because it was too hard for
her. This shaped her determi
nation to prove herself and
began her love of
Shakespeare.
When Jaster enrolled in Holy
Family College, she was sup
ported by a two scholarships;
one for first generation women
in their families to go to college
and the Jimmy Hoffa
Scholarship from the
Teamsters.
After receiving her Bachelor’s
Please see JASTER on 3
What’s on 5
Penn State football
update: who’s hot
and who’s not.
PSU / UCF game
highlights and play
er interview inside.
What’s on 9
The Capital Times
visits the
Appalachian
Brewing Company.
A review of the bar
and festivities by
staff reporters
SGA tests new voting system
New voting system to
be pilot program for
spring elections if all
goes well
By Kathryn Herr, Editor in
Chief, and Maruja Rosario,
Copy Editor
kah92B@psu.edu
mxr3oo@psu.edu
Photo by Kathryn Herr
Rodney Horton, SGA President is hard at work checking over the petitions for poten
tial candidates running for offices in the SGA senate. SGA is testing a new online vot
ing system for this year’s fall elections. If the program is successful SGA will contin
ue to use the system in the main elections in the spring.
Napster brings
A deal with Napster
gives students the free
dom to legally down load
music free of charge
By Eric Thomas
Assistant Editor
ewtll2@psu.edu
Phish, Tim McGraw, and 50
Cent are all headed for Penn
State Harrisburg....by way of
Napster.
The newly redesigned and
re-released music download
service arrived at University
Park last year and has finally
trickled down to branch cam
puses.
“Last year it was for students
living on campus in a resi
dence hall,” said Sam
Haldeman, assistant to the
associate vice provost of lIT
at UP. “Now students who live
on and off campus have
access to it.”
The music service was once
wildly popular among internet
music pirates, who used the
peer-to-peer sharing method.
Elections for Freshmen,
Junior, and Graduate
Senators on the Student
Government Association
Senate will be held on
September 29, 2004.
However, SGA will be running
things a little differently this
year. Rodney Horton, SGA
President, has launched vot
ing into the computer age by
establishing Penn State
Founder Sean Fanning had to
deal with several legal issues
from record labels and artists,
specifically Metallica, and
was forced to disband the
free service.
Since then, Napster now tar
gets campuses with special
deals and offers a free and
legal way to download music.
“There is no charge to down
load a song [under PSU’s
agreement] but there is a
charge to burn a song,” said
Haldeman. “Students can
play the music on their speak
ers in their dorm and it is nice
because not every student
brings a stereo and computer
with them to school.”
The corporate service has
more limitations than the free
version used a few years ago.
Gone is the peer-to-peer
sharing method; songs are
now downloaded from a client
server. Downloaders cannot
move files out of the Napster
service because of an encryp
tion on the file, and songs can
be played in Windows Media
Player. However, other soft
Harrisburg’s first online voting
ballot.
Students can log onto the
voting Web site between 8
a.m. and 8 p.m. and cast their
votes
https://eballot.votenet.com/psh.
The system is designed to be
error-proof, eliminating the
chance of repeat voters.
Once a student clicks the but
ton that casts the vote, they
music to PSH students
ware such as Real Player,
Win Amp, and Match Music
cannot be used.
While a majority of popular
songs are available on the
new Napster, some record
labels will not allow artists to
post or sell their music on the
service.
“Napster will not say some
thing cannot be on the serv
ice,” Haldeman said. “It is up
to the copyrighters to say
what can be on the service.”
Another issue that students
will likely encounter are tracks
labeled “buy only” which
means a 30 second clip is
available, but the full song
may not be downloaded
unless it is purchased. The
plus side is that songs only
cost 99 cents, which makes
the service financially equal to
the popular iTunes put out by
Apple.
Since its inception, the serv
ice has taken off. Haldeman
estimated that out of all stu
dents eligible for the service,
85 percent signed up and
began downloading their
can no longer gain entry to
the website. “Last year many
students disqualified their
own votes by filling out the
ballots incorrectly. This sys
tem will allow for every vote to
count,” said Horton.
Horton decided to institute
the online voting this fall to
serve as a pilot program for
the main elections in the
spring. The online voting pro
gram will be available for
other campus clubs to use for
their own events. For exam
ple, The College Democrats
can set up mock elections to
survey for popular candi
dates. Other online surveys
can produce crucial feedback
on club events.
Horton is hoping for an 85
percent voter turn out: a huge
improvement from last year.
“We’re planning a twenty-four
hour push for election aware
ness,” said Horton. SGA will
be hanging posters all over
campus, sending out informa
tional e-mails about candi
dates and the voting process
to students, and calling stu
dents in their dorms to remind
them to cast their votes.
Paper ballot elections, the
standard way to vote in the
student government, are
wasteful and damaging to the
environment. “By eliminating
the use of paper to vote, our
elections will be environmen
tally-friendly,” Horton said.
Eliminating the paper ballot is
also more cost-effective.
Though the cost of the soft
ware comes with a high price
tag, $2995 a year, the cost of
paper wasted on a yearly
basis, increased even more
when the turnout is low, justi
fies the high cost. “It is not as
if only the SGA holds elec
tions that require the use of a
paper ballot. The cost of one
favorite tunes, making the
amount of Napster traffic a
staggering number.
“We were averaging about
100,000 downloads a day [at
UP] last spring,” Haldeman
said.
However, not all students
are satisfied with the product.
“I can’t get it to work,” said
Please see NAPSTER on 4
club holding elections may be
minimal, but when you factor
in all the clubs that hold elec
tions, it escalates both the
price cost and the cost to the
environment,” Horton said.
“The new software allows
everyone to hold as many
elections as they would like
and not destroy their budget,”
he added.
Horton has taken as many
measures as he can to
streamline these elections to
the Internet-conscious popu
lation of Penn State
Harrisburg. “We’re attempting
to make it impossible for the
students on this campus to
ignore these elections. We’re
also making it as easy as we
can for them to learn about
the candidates and finally
cast their vote,” said Horton.
By sending the information
about the candidates directly
to students’ e-mail, it ensures
that every student has the
chance to learn about each
candidate without having to
do any research. “A well
informed voter is a likely
voter,” Horton said.
The largest benefit to the
online voting ballot program
goes to the clubs that are run
ning the elections. The pro
gram tallies the votes auto
matically and efficiently, alle
viating the aggravation of
having humans count the
votes and recount the votes
for accuracy. “With the online
program, the elections end at
8 p.m. and I will know who
won by 8:01,” said Horton.
\/ote
contents
Professor Spotlight 1-3
Library 2
Club Fest Photos 3
Penn State Football 5
Flood 8
Hot Spot
CD Review.
Movie Review 10
Campus Calendar. 11