C i l e lpital Times
January 24, 2005
Professor
Spotlight
By Beth Mozeleski
Staff Reporter
Ixm9l6@psu.edu
PSH staff psychologist
serves and teaches stu
dents
Think: plush couch and a nice
person with a clipboard telling
you to travel down memory
lane.
Enter the world of a psycholo
gist.
Dr. Linda Meashey, adjunct
professor and Penn State
Harrisburg's staff psychologist,
is one of those nice people with
a couch. Located in the Student
Assistance Center in room W
-117 Olmsted, Meashey is avail
able to counsel students, and
also teaches the many people
majoring in psychology here at
PSH.
The office feels cozy, with sun
light streaming in from large
windows and various baubles
and keepsakes showing
glimpses of Meashey's hobbies
and family. A die-cast model of
an Aston-Martin DBS automo
bile and a stained glass frog
reflected light onto the expect-
ed couch adjacent to the desk.
,Phr4ographs and other artwork
line the wall.
Meashey became interested
in psychology when she was
younger. Her first choices were
to either become an artist or the
cont'd on 2
What's on 7
The Hershey
Bears start off their
latest season
strong with wins •
against rival
teams. Details
inside.
CO'S • ISICQRDS -
What's on 9
The Champion
Ship provides an
all-ages venue for
local punk and
hardcore bands.
Details inside.
The Student Voice of Penn State Harrisburg
Book prices pi
By Kelly Nagurny
Assistant Editor
kxnl63@psu.edu
Can't eat? Can't sleep? Can't
breathe? Usually this scenario
describes the blissful beginnings
of a newly blossoming love.
Unfortunately for most college
students, it also describes the
woes of fretting over how to pay
for textbooks.
The beginning of each new
semester brings long lines of stu
dents straining to hold the towers
of books that their professors
have required them to buy.
According to a 2004 CBS News
report, "...the College Board esti-
* Amazon prices do not include shipping and handling charges
U.S. withdraws tsunami aid
By Beth Gardiner
AP Writer
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia - The
U.S. military - the largest group
helping tsunami survivors - will
immediately start withdrawing
troops from the relief efforts to
feed and house more than 1 mil
lion refugees, the U.S. Pacific
commander said Thursday.
Aid organizations responded to
the announcement by Adm.
Thomas Fargo by pledging to
shoulder a greater share of the
burden to aid tsunami survivors.
U.S. warships and helicopters
"played a crucial role ... they're
still playing that role," said Rob
Holden, who heads a health
assessment team from the
United Nations, the U.S. military
and other groups. "What we're
trying to do ... is civilianize the
humanitarian operations
because we're aware that we
won't have military assets forev
er."
Speaking in Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia, Fargo said the U.S.
military "will start right now trans
ferring functions to the appropri
ate host nations and internation
al organizations."
Fargo noted that the humanitar
ian missions in Indonesia, India,
Sri Lanka, Thailand and other
countries affected by the Dec. 26
tsunami have moved from the
"immediate relief phase ...
toward rehabilitation and recon-
mates that students have to
spend $BOO or more on books
each year. Nationally, students
and their parents will spend $B.B
billion on textbooks this year,
according to the National Retail
Federation."
For many students, this money
is spent at their campus book
store. However, the campus
bookstore is not the only option
for purchasing books. Other
resources, such as the Internet,
can frequently provide textbooks
at lesser rates, even after ship
ping costs:
Accounting major and WPSH
Station Manager Zachary Bailey
purchased his books in the PSH
bookstore this semester. "It was
struction."
The admiral suggested the
withdrawal of the 15,000
American troops would be com
pleted within 60 days, apparently
meeting requests by Indonesian
officials that foreign troops leave
Aceh province on Sumatra
island by the end of March.
Malaysian Defense Minister.
Najib Razak said Fargo told him
the United States would scale
down its Aceh relief operations
by the end of February.
At a news conference, Fargo
said the U.S. military would
"respond to specific requests of
host nations," adding that
Washington "is committed to
what clearly will be a long-term
recovery effort."
About 1,000 Singaporean sol
diers dispatched for relief efforts
will begin pulling out Friday, a
Singaporean military official said.
The withdrawal of foreign forces
comes as the official death toll
continues to climb. Almost four
weeks after the disaster, report
ed deaths by government agen
cies in the affected countries
range from nearly 158,000 to
more than 221,000.
The U.S. Navy and Marines
have delivered nearly 3.5 million
pounds of aid supplies - about
150,000 pounds a day - since
starting operations Jan. 1.
The U.N. World Food Program
has distributed 5,600 tons of
food to about 400,000 people in
n't worth it," he said. For five
classes and 15 credits, Bailey
spent $6BO.
Fred Hockenberry, PSH book
store manager, explained there
are many factors that affect the
cost of books. "First, it is impor
tant to under
stand what
goes into the
production of a
single book,
regardless of
whether it is a
text or not.
The produc
tion involves
the timber,
paper manu
facturing, type-
Created by Kelly Nagurny bookstore. .
In a completely unscientific, yet
rrrTrmilTmwrrmigirw i rrirrifMlTll
Aceh alone, said its Asia director,
Tony Banbury. After visiting the
obliterated coastal town of
Meulaboh, Banbury said all
tsunami survivors would be fed.
"We will get food aid to every
one who needs it," he said.
But worries over security in
Aceh on the northern tip of
Sumatra - where government
forces and separatists rebels
have fought for nearly three
decades - threatened to compli
cate relief efforts.
Although the sides called a tem
porary cease-fire to facilitate the
le h
setter, and binding industries,
and all of this before ever reach
ing a point where the authors
and publishers have designed
tne book in question. All of these
industries have costs associated
with them that are reflected in
Photo by Kathryn Herr/Capital Times
The PSH bookstore offers books without the
wait of online ordering.
the price you may pay for a
book," he said.
According to Hockenberry, the
money made on each book sold
goes to many different places.
Sixty-seven percent goes to the
publisher; 9 percent goes to the
author; 2.5 percent goes to
freight companies; 15 percent
goes to the school; 6.5 percent is
used for the operation of your
relief effort, a barrage of auto
matic gunfire was heard in the
hills near the provincial capital,
Banda Aceh, prompting resi
dents of one refugee camp to run
for cover.
It was unclear who fired the
shots, but a local military com
mander acknowledged that an
operation was under way in the
area to counter rebel activity. No
one was hurt, and the shooting
did not appear to target
refugees.
cont'd on 3
Vol. 45 No, 5
igh
nonetheless informative, study
conducted by the Capital Times,
the PSH bookstore prices of
seven random textbooks from
various disciplines were com
pared with the prices at
Amazon.com, a leading Internet
textbook retailer.
The textbooks
were from classes
such as English,
Communications,
Criminal Justice,
Computer
Science,
Statistics,
Education and
History.
On Amazon.com,
each of the seven
books was sold for
an equal or lesser
price than it was in
the PSH book
store. The savings
on new copies of
the books ranged
from $.03 to $3O.
On average,
Amazon.com
offered a savings
of almost $l2.
However, this sav
ings does not
include the factor
of shipping.
Following are some other online
options for purchasing books:
Bestbookbuys.com: Compares
the prices of textbooks from a
variety of Internet sources;
Amazon.com: A media super
store offering both new and used
books; Half.com: A section of
Ebay where anyone can buy and
cont'd on 6
Photo courtesy of www.nbc.com
Contents
SGA Update 2
World View 3
Steve Mayer 5
Cartoon 6
Hershey Bears 7
Superbowl Preview 8
Hot Spot
CD Review
Movie Review.
Campus Calendar 11