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February 21, 2005
Meet
the
DEAN
Madlyn L. Hanes
A Greeting from the Chancellor
Dear Students
It is a pleasure to welcome you to
Penn State Harrisburg on behalf of the
faculty, staff, and students. Whether you
are enrolling for the first time with us or
returning to campus for another year of
study, I hope that you will find the 2005-
2006 academic year filled with special
opportunities for learning and personal
growth. This Handbook is designed
to help you take advantage of these
opportunities to achieve your goals
and to realize your expectations.
Penn State Harrisburg is a dynamic
and inviting learning community
with rich traditions, excellent faculty,
dedicated staff, and excellent academic
programs. The strength of any
community naturally depends on the
involvement and contributions of each
of its members. I encourage you to
participate fully in the life of the college,
to get involved, and to be an active and
responsible learner.
There is perhaps no more profound
measure of our success as a college
than the achievements of our students
and alumni. Therefore, I encourage
you to make a personal commitment
to learning and to pursue the ample
resources we offer to assist you along
the way.
Knowing that many of you face the
often-competing demands of school,
family, and work, I want to offer
some heartfelt advice. Aim high, be
ambitious, seek out your professors
and student colleagues to extend your
learning outside the classroom, learn
from your mistakes, take pleasure in
your accomplishments, and never,
never hesitate to ask questions. This is
your chance, your challenge. Treasure
your time here and use it wisely.
I hope you will share my pride in being
a part of the Penn State Harrisburg
community. I wish you an enjoyable and
fulfilling year.
Best Wishes,
Madlyn L. Hanes, Ph.D
Chancellor
In this ISSUE
The Student Voice of Penn State Harrisburg
The Invisi
By Kathryn Herr
Editor in Chief
kah92B@psu.edu
"I've been in this wheelchair for nine
years and 90 percent of the time I don't
know I'm in it," said Dr. Julie Kearney,
assistant professor of Humanities at
Penn State Harrisburg.
"My life isn't my chair, but when I have
to ask for help or flag someone down to
get food in the cafeteria or the elevator is
broken, I become very conscience of my
physical limitations."
Beginning Monday, September 12,
6 non-disabled students each spent a
day or more in a borrowed wheelchair
to focus attention on the difficulties of
navigating around campus. With a sign
reading "I can walk. Ask me why I'm in
a chair" flapping against the back of the
wheelchair, the students attempted to
maneuver through the obstacle course
that is the PSH campus.
Augie Bravo, a senior Information
Systems major and Student Government
Association member, said he has watched
Kearney and others on campus and is
determined to improve accessibility for
the handicapped.
Bravo, 26, began the project after what
he describes as frustration in going
through the administration. "I tried to
go through the channels and talk to
the right people, but everyone sent me
somewhere else," he said, adding, the
wheelchair was an attempt to drive home
his point.
Bravo pledged to use the wheelchair
for a week. However, after just a day
he passed the chair to other students.
"It's really, really hard," he said. Bravo
was the first of many to fall out of the
chair when attempting to climb the ramp
at the front of Olmsted. "I just tipped
backwards. That ramp is really steep."
According to Edward Dankanich, director
of maintenance and operations, the
ramp and railings for disabled persons
in front of Olmsted is completely up to
code. "[The ramp] has been measured
For college students, its getting
pretty expensive to go
BY DIANA FISHLOCK
Of The Patriot-News
Brian Vasquez's engineering graphics
book cost $ll2. His calculus and
chemistry texts cost $ll3 and $lll.
On his first trip to the Penn State
Harrisburg Bookstore, the aerospace
engineering freshman was learning
firsthand that college textbooks aren't
cheap.
A government report says the average
student at a four-year public institution
paid $B9B for books and supplies in
2003-2004.
Nationally, textbook prices have
increased at twice the rate of inflation,
Penn State Football is
on a winning streak as
they enter their Big Ten
and checked with a level during our last
audit," said Dr. Donald Holtzman, director
of student life and enrollment services.
"All I've ever been told is 'well we're up
to code'," Kearney said. "That is really
just a legal term."
The American's With Disabilities Act
was passed in 1986. All public places
closely following tuition increases,
according to a new report by the U.S.
Government Accountability Office.
Increasing an average of 6 percent per
year, textbook prices nearly tripled from
December 1986 to December 2004, the
report said.
Many factors impact prices, but the
main factor in recent years was the cost
of developing CD-ROMs and other add
ons sold with books, according to the
report.
While students increasingly are buying
textbooks online, some midstate college
bookstores are responding by decreasing
their profit margins, increasing customer
service and trying harder to find used
Sports
schedule
Page 7
Augustine Bravo spent a few dad's rolliong through the halls of PSHin an
attempt to generate awareness of poor handicap accesability on campus.
ble M
Photo by Maruja Rosario/Capital Times
and federally-funded buildings were to
be updated to become accessible by
1990. The ADA requirement for a ramp
is 12 inches of ramp for every inch of rise
or height.
"We would like go beyond the code
whenever possible," Holtzman said.
Chi Gamma lota (XGI), the military
books, managers said.
Tara Sollenberger was shocked the first
time she bought textbooks.
"I had no idea books were going to be
that costly. That's an extra $l,OOO you
have to account for each year," said
Sollenberger, from North Middleton
Twp., a Messiah College senior majoring
in communications.
She once spent $lOO for a book for a
three-week course. "They add little things
like a CD-ROM that the professors never
use," she said.
Sollenberger, 21, said she typically
spends $4OO to $5OO per semester on
textbooks.
See BOOKS on 2
Entertainment
Philadelphia rocks out
with big names, for a
good cause this
summer
Page 9
nority
campus fraternity is concerned about
accessibility particularly when it comes
to veterans.
"Our main point is what happens when
someone comes home from Iraq in a
wheelchair and attends our school,"
said Matt Mahoney, XGI Webmaster
and former Marine. "Now they have
to come to a school that demands
excellence in grades, but has only the
bare minimum accommodations to get
around campus."
The attitude on campus toward the
wheelchair-bound varies. While many
express a desire to help, others were
curious about the sign on the back of
the wheelchair and there were those
who seemed simply to ignore the
demonstration.
"For the most part people on campus
want to help," said Kearney. Some of the
schools Kearney taught at in the past
had been less eager to assist her in daily
activities. Kearney is grateful that those
working at PSH are supportive.
"There are three kinds of people:
Avoiders, those who talk to you like you
are deaf and those who get in your face
and say is everything ok," explained Dr.
Kearney's husband, Pat. "Did you see
yourself in those people?" he asked
Bravo.
The Kearneys said they have become
accustomed to the wheelchair and
everything that goes with it. Society's
attitudes are sometimes more difficult to
adjust to, they added.
"Many times the accessible ramps are
in the back of buildings in out of the way
places," said Kearney. "You don't think
about it, but it reflects how disabled
people are viewed. This is why what
Augie is doing is so good because it will
generate awareness," Kearney said.
In an institute of higher education
students should be more aware of social
issues and this is a social issue, said
Kearney. "I think it is good for college
DISSABILITIES cont'd on 4
Contents
SGA update
World View
clubfest
Culturally Inept
Penn State Football
PSU Student Section
Hot Spot
CD Review
Movie Review
Campus Calendar
Vol. 45 No. 9