April 21, 2008 THE CAPITAL TIMES Dees speaks Cofounder of SPLC BY DIANA LE Assistant Editor DXISO37@PSU.EDU "The march for Justice continues," declared prominent civil rights advocate Morris Dees. "It didn't stop in Montgomery, Ala. It didn't stop in Memphis when Martin Luther King was killed." Dees, known for taking on discrimination cases and successfully suing hate groups including the Ku Klux Klan, continues to fight for the dream. His speech, which drew a large audience to the Student Center of Penn State Harrisburg's Capital Union Building on April 8, concluded The Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration Lecture Series "The Anatomy of Social Justice: Still Dreaming" presented by PSH's Diversity and Educational Equity Committee and YWCA of Greater Harrisburg. Cofounder of Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Dees regularly cited King's belief and influence on civil rights throughout his speech. He also described the upcoming presidential election, in which a black man, Barack Obama, and a woman, Hillary Clinton, are strong candidates, as a "watershed election." "Each of you have a front row seat to history in the making," he said. Competitive wages, Free Admission to HERSHEYPARK and Advancement Opportunities. 717-520-JOBS HersheyJobs.com Dees said he realized America was U.S. comes mostly from Canada changing when immigration from and that the immigrants help the Mexico became an issue. He noted, economy. however, that immigration to the Your SWEET career UulJ.'UiD'd Apply online today at HersheyJobs.com We've got the right full-time, part-time, or seasonal job foryou at Houlihan's, THE HOTEL HERSHEY®, HERSHEY LODGE®, or the HERSHEY® Golf Collection. SUCCESS IS SWEET HERSHEY ENTERTAINMENT & RESORTS® is an Equal ,2110/1 11116111 Y INTI-KIAINNI/ NT & OMIY\NY All ,ord,_ dump,, and pin.rm , dppudlinu.,ol, . %,M, or 1 NI ;,It.. tudun,,,k% wxd 1,11,J0 !Run,. or V. Ith refltll,loll about comes to 4 a' 7 • 1.1 D starts here! ENTERTAINMENT & RESORTS ® Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer discrimination Penn State Harrisburg Dees, of Irish descent, said to courtesy iKa tall li goi A r _ every ethnicity faced some sort of prejudice when immigrating to the U.S. People once thought the Irish would bring diseases, he said. Now the Hispanic are facing similar prejudices, he continued. Throughout the speech, the lawyer wove many stories of his experiences in advocating for civil rights and standing up against hate groups, with historical figures, quotes and accomplishments. One story was of Vietnamese immigrants who started a fishing business, creating unwelcomed competition for other locals. They tried preventing the Vietnamese from getting licenses and burned their fishing boats. The Vietnamese became intimidated and started selling the boats, said Dees. He and a group of the Vietnamese decided to sue the hate group and won. Reflecting on the pride in the faces of the Vietnamese immigrants as their sons and daughters went on to continue the fishing businesses, Dees said, "I not only felt proud to be a lawyer, I felt proud to be an American." The bridges between people's differences, said Dees, are built with understanding, acceptance, appreciation and a love for others. "America is great because of its differences," he said, "not in spite of them." Students join for lower tuition PSH students join other PSU campuses at rally Continues horn Page 1 from the General Assembly and the Governor. The University must then propose a new budget based on the appropriations allotted and have it approved by the Board of Trustees. The amount of appropriations affects basic operations of the University--such as faculty and Photo by KEARY HORNER/Capital Times staff salaries, benefits, facilities and maintenance, and strategic and academic initiatives. Most important New housing in works Continues from Page 1 studying environmental pollution control, asked the presenting firms questions and gave their input in the concluding discussion, but the subcommittee had the final say, according to Director of Student Affairs & Enrollment Don Holtzman, who was one of the interview participants. Notifications of the housing project was sent to architectural firms Photos courtesy of SI -At The architectural firm that was chosen by PSH has also built a lobby for Penn State Berks and an entrance way for Univer sity Park. throughout the commonwealth, he said. Of the 300 firms, 52 replied. The 52 firms, Holtzman continued, were further narrowed down after information about the firms and plans they submitted were reviewed. SMP Architects was chosen from the three finalists primarily for their history of sustainable and environmentally friendly designs and past work with other Penn State campuses, according to both Holtzman and Treese. The firm, which is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified, places great emphasis on sustainable design. Their to students, however, is the affect on tuition For the 2008-2009 academic year, Penn State has requested a 6.9% increase in appropriations from last year, or $24,202,000. The increase reflects higher costs for Penn State to carry out its land-grant, public university mission and to provide exceptional programs for students. If the University's request is met, tuition increase for next year will be 4.9% for all branch campuses, and 5.5% at University Park. If the appropriations request is not met, tuition will increase in order to compensate for lack of funding. Although the annual Rally at the Rotunda and students have worthy intentions, PSH attendee Douglas Beyer may have described it best: "it was less of a rally and more of an annual polite request asking for more money please...l guess there's a time to be nice, and a time to be very aggressive. We the students will be nice, and the university will be aggressive in asking for more money." approach, according to their proposal, takes into consideration energy efficiency and building materials. SMP Architects's past projects include The Woods residence hall at Penn State Berks, which was designed to compliment the heavily wooded area while accommodating 410 students. The residence hall was completed in 2000, according to SMP Architects. Other projects with Penn State include the new Student Union .eesport campus; New Graduate Circle Housing (2007), Swine Research Building (2001) and Centre County Visitor Center (2000) at University Park; and the Eiche Library (2005) and Community Arts Center addition (2004) at Altoona. The Penn State University Board ofTrustees approved $8.6 million for the new housing, which will accommodate approximately 100 freshmen, according to Holtzman. He noted the funding would come from the university's auxiliary budget and not tuition money. The housing will be built at the east end of the Olmsted parking lot, near the Community Center and Concerns over parking were also taken into consideration. The number of parking spaces taken up by the new housing will be determined once a design has been made, said Holtzman. But the campus is also planning to construct a new parking lot west of the Olmsted parking lot with 200 to 300 more spaces, said Ed Dankanich, director of business services at the Maintenance and Operations building. The new freshman housing is expected to take 18 months of construction and be completed by Fall 2010, said Holtzman. The Village's 9000 building, he continued. Issues such as where the mailboxes will be or where the dumpsters will be moved will be worked out along the design process.