(3) Marijuana Legalization
(4) Handicap Accessiblity
(8) Global Warming
Professor of English Dr. Kev-
in Boon mans the camera for
the Mont Alto Film Project.
Fabulous Flores
Last year’s award winning
film Two Days Back left big
shoes to the fill, but this year’s
Mont Alto students seem up to
the challenge. The first time
around the goal was simple;
make an independent film
good enough to be viewed by
"audiences, all at the hands of
Mont Alto college students
with little to no experience.
This resulted in Two Days
Back, an award-winning inde-
pendent film which had a short
run in theaters in Pennsylvania
and Marlyand.,and film festi-
val screenings So what now?
What new accomplishments
await the MAFP? Now the
goal is to make a “full-length
independent film better than
Two Days Back” says Kevin
Boon, the instructor for the
MAFP. The film project is a
two year long commitment, it
is an actual class that students
attend regularly and obtain
credits for. As of now the pro-
ject is in stage one—the pre-
liminary planning stages. The
current students are in the very
first stages of making a film.
They are working together to
determine, will it be a docu-
mentary or feature? What gen-
re? But most importantly,
what will the movie be about?
As of now there is not even a
story, just a room of creative
Gillian Colley, a student in the
class, says she joined because
“I’m very creative. I love to
write and this is a perfect out-
let.” She is already very in-
vested in the project and is
John Shaffer
The Mont Alto Faculty Sen-
ate (MAFS) passed an im-
portant resolution on Friday,
November 16 2012. The reso-
lution was made in response to
the Mont Alto Campus’s inten-
tion to end its four year Eng-
lish major. It came out of the
MAFS Curricular = Affairs
Committee, which is chaired
by English Professor Kevin
Boon. The resolution proposed
ommendation of the Universi-
ty’s Core Council, the body
that makes curriculum recom-
It reads “Be it resolved: that
the members of the Penn State
Mont Alto Curricular Affairs
Committee request that the
Mont Alto Faculty Senate re-
ject the immediate closure of
the English Program on the
Mont Alto campus.” What
does this mean for the future of
Mont Alto’s four year English
degree?
Although the resolution
passed by the Faculty Senate is
hugely symbolic, it remains
just that: symbolic. It’s im-
portant to take a closer look at
and Commonwealth Campus-
es. The resolution passed unan-
imously, with zero abstentions.
process to better understand
this issue. The Academic Pro-
gram and Administrative Ser-
vices Review Core Council
(Core Council), was a thirteen
member - council which was
chaired by then-provost Rod-
ney Erickson. There was no
student representation on this
body. The council was tasked
with finding ten million dollars
in savings by reducing or elim-
inating: academic programs.
The council made the decision
that 20 students or more were
necessary to keep an academic
program running. Programs
that failed to meet that criteria
were either placed on a watch
list, or received a recommen-
dation to be phased out.
(continued on pg. 5)
most looking forward “to see-
ing everything come together.
Actually seeing it come alive
and knowing you participat-
ed.” Gillian goes on to explain
that this class and experience
is totally different from any
other class, “it’s going to be
hard work, fun, and not like
any other run of the mill
class.”
Being a part of this film
means that your name will be
forever linked with an actual
film. How often will you be
given a chance to look up your
name on IMBD in association
with a film you’ve cultivated
yourself? Part of the challenge
in making an independent film,
or any film for that matter, is
the budget. So how much does
Penn State have to play with
for this up and coming film?
“About $15,000. I think.” Ac-
cording to Kevin Boon, in-
structor, last time around he
ended up having to spend sev-
eral thousand of his own mon-
ey, “around $ 7,000 and I ex-
pect I may have to again this
time.” For now though Boon
wants PSUMA to know that
it’s not too late to join the
class, they need people, and
14 eV
now is the time to join and
give your input (particularly
being in the beginning stage).
No experience is need to join,
all you need is an interest in
films, “see your own ideas re-
alized and manifest, ” says