The Highacres Colleg Vol. 16, No. 1 Campus enrollment soars above 1050 Penn State enrollment is on the upswing even though it is predicted that college enrollment will be dropping. The Highacres Collegian talked to three of our administrators about the sub ject: Dean McCallus, Dr. Staudenmeier and Mr. White. Mr. White stated that enroll ment at the Hazleton Campus has risen from 1,030 people to its pre sent 1,100. (The reason for this in crease is the large number of qualified people who apply to Penn State.) Other reasons for people applying to Penn State in general are the abundance of financial aid, the high cost of private schools, the excellence of the academic programs, the course and activity versatility, and that PSU football is above par. Penn State is also very popular because of the different branch campuses. Few students choose to leave Penn State. The Hazleton Campus especially has few dropouts and transfer students. When •asked why the students choose Hazleton, the general con census was the accessiblity of this area. Hazleton is close to Ev. Binns new position at Schuylkill Campus Mr. Ev Binns, who has been the Asst. Dean of Student Affairs at the Hazleton Campus since fall of 1978, was officially promoted to the Dean of Student Affairs at the Schuylkill Campus of P.S.U. September 1. His career at Highacres which lasted 7 years began as Asst. to the Dean of Stu dent Affairs and since then demonstrated an "enthusiastic interest in the welfare of the cam pus and the community." His dedication was manifest by his participation in a multitude of community services. Among them were his leadership in the local Volunteer Fire Dept. and Ambulance Service, his integral part in starting the Hazleton Big Buddy program for orphaned children, and his unsurpassed ability to demonstrate proper health procedures in a number of First Aid courses which he taught. The local community has recognized him with their Young Man of the Year Award. He has recently finished serving as President of the Fine Arts Coun cil, and through his efforts the Creative Arts Festival was mov Published By Students of The Hazleton Campus of the Pennsylvania State University New Jersey and New York. The residence hall is another major reason why students choose Hazleton. Only five com monwealth campuses have residence halls. The reputation of the faculty, the beautiful area, the addition of new courses and the good teacher-student rela tionships are some additional reasons students attend Highacres. They also see Hazleton as the opportunity to go to, a big university but with a small college atmosphere. Hazleton makes the adjustment from high school to the big col lege atmosphere of University Park easier. Hazleton at its present size is filled to its maximum capacity. When asked if they thought enrollment would rise again next year, The Collegian got three dif ferent answers. Dean McCallus said that if all the present condi tions remained the same, the number of applicants should rise. Dr. Staudenmeier predicted enrollment would hold its own, and Mrs. White expects a slight drop due to the decline in popula tion. receives ed from downtown Hazleton to the Hazleton Campus of the P.S.U. Dean McCallus commented, "Ev Binns is a very fine ad ministrator who was very student orientated. He was a man dedicated to serving the com munity and his campus, who fre quently did more than asked, above and beyond the call of du ty." In addition to his other achievements, Mr. Binns established the freshman orienta tion camp and served as the camp director. He also organized the Hazleton Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega, a national student service fraternity. Dr. David said, "His Eagle Scout rank shows in his sense of service in his career here. His life has been one of good works and I know that someone with his abili ty is going to be given more responsibilities. We are all really sorry to see him go and are so proud of his accomplishments. Even though he has left Hazleton, we are all fortunate that he is still with P.S.U." Too many cars, too few spaces creates parking dilemma As a record number of enrolled students arrive on campus every day, each is faced with and must deal with overcrowded parking conditions. A total of 727 single parking permits and an addi tional seven car-pool stickers have been purchased by students who commute to Highacres. This total includes both full- and part time students. Each student driver must almost literally fight for one of the 467 designated parking stalls daily. The large number of parking permits sold provides for an excess of 267 cars on campus. "Although students may have to put up with these prevailing con ditions throughout this term, the winter term, and the spring term," said Dr. William David, Campus Director, "I have sub mitted a proposal to officials at University Park that an addi tional parking area be con structed on campus to ac commodate approximately 100 additional vehicles. Hopefully, we will have a new lot by the fall term of 1981." The new parking area, if fun ding is appropriated, will be located on the south side of the Physical Education Building. Un til then, parking will remain a problem on campus. Currently there are 1,126 full and part-time students enrolled at Highacres-96 more than the number enrolled last year for the fall term. As each new school year com mences, the student population rises higher and higher, but the parking capacity remains cons tant. For a few days this term the soccer field was utilized to remedy the situation, but since parking in this area interferred with several physical education classes, this alternative parking area was vacated. Wooden ramps have been con- Because of shortage of parking spaces on campus, students have had to park on the grass in front of the administration building and on other grassy areas on campus. structed to allow students to drive over the curbs and to make use of all available grassy areas on campus for parking. On the school grounds there are officially only three lots set aside for student use, one of which is located in front of the residence hall. An additional three lots are set aside for the use of faculty and staff members, visitors, and students with medical permits. In the past, the lower parking lot on campus was reserved for the use of freshmen while the up per parking area was to be used only by sophomores. This pro cedure was abandoned this year _ due to the fact that the number of sophomores and freshmen outgrew the number of spaces assigned to them and due to numerous protests by irate freshmen who were often forced to park in the lower lot even though there were many spaces available on the upper lot. Parking is now based on a first come, first-served basis. Students who arrive early are parked on the upper grounds of the school, often on the grass or along the roadway. These students do not have to contend with walking up the hill to get to class. Unfortunately, students who have only afternoon classes scheduled must park in the lower lots and walk up the hill to their classes. "In order to avoid confusion and to keep incoming traffic moving without congestion," said Paul Cerula, business manager, "we ask that students do not go past a lot with open parking stalls unless directed to do so." At 7:30 a.m., 9:15 a.m., and 2 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, congestion always arises according to Mr. Cerula, so students are asked to arrive early for classes scheduled at these times. Tuesdays and Thursdays pose no problem to ian Oct. 1980 student drivers since class scheduling is much lighter on these days. A six-man security force is on campus to direct students to available parking areas each day. The security team is work ing efficiently during this term, but once the winter term ap proaches, the problem with park ing will progressively worsen due to the snow. An idea that has been discussed in the past to curb congestion in the parking lots was to have a shuttle-bus run between Highacres and the Laurel Mall. Although Penn State has ac quired permission to transform this idea into reality, several test runs have been made back and forth from the campus to the mall, and this method was proven to be inefficient and time con suming. "Unless we have a number of students volunteer to park at the mall, this plan will create many more problems than we now have," said Mr. Cerula. "Without volunteers, we would literally have to stand at the entrance to the campus, direct students down to the mall when our lots are fill ed, and then bus them back to Highacres, which would take up a tremendous amount of time." With the situation temporarily under control, patience, coopera tion, and arrival on campus several minutes ahead of class time will help to alleviate the cur rent parking problem. Hopefully, by the fall term of 1981, parking will no longer be a problem to Highacres. Until then, Dr. David, Mr. Cerula, and the security team will be receptive to comments or suggestions which will help them to correct or improve on the situation this term. Inside this issue: Calendar change pg WHCB returns pg. Club news. Sports pgs. 7,8
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers