Registration and Orientation Issue | Lion's Vol. 9, No. 1 _ Pennsylvania State University, Delaware County Campus August 29, 1977 Parking Fee Increases by Ed Wrzesniewski Due to a University Park increase, the parking fee, starting Fall 1977, has been raised to ten dollars. Many students may feel slightly outraged at the sudden rise in parking fees; considering the earlier rise in tuition costs, but the price rise is justi- fiable. Parking permits have remained at $7.50 for the past fifteen years, which is in- credible considering the rate of inflation in the entire economy. The addition of $2.50 was determined by officials at University Park and is a uniform price increase to all Commonwealth Campuses. According to Mr. Eugene Cloud, Business Manager at Delaware County Campus, the money collected from parking permits is sent straight to University Park and placed in a General Parking Lot Fund. This money is used to pay off loans ac- cumulated by the University in building the original parking lots at Commonwealth Campuses. The rest of the money is used for repairs and improvement to the existing lots. Some of this rile was used in plant- ing the trees along the perimeter of our parking lot, and repairing potholes from last winter. Although the figures of how much money is collected and is actually used is not being released, Mr. Cloud contends that there is a large deficit in the balance. Delaware County Campus has been collecting fees since 1971 and is still not finished paying loans off yet. Director Vairo waged a losing battle with University Park over the extremely poor timing of the parking lot increase which didn’t allow enough time to notify students coming in this fall. WARNING!!! Everyone must have parking permits by the second week of the term. Starting the third week, all cars without stickers will be stopped, 1.D.’s checked and occupants have one day in which to buy a permit, or Mr. Cloud will be forced to direct the guilty party out of the parking lot. As Penna’s New Traffic Laws Take Effect: Related Thoughts From An Expert by Dr. Frank A. Haight Associate Director Pennsylvania Transportation Institute The Pennsylvania State University Despite a widely believed myth, driver error alone does not cause most serious ac- cidents in Pennsylvania or anywhere in the ‘United States. Unsafe or hazardous road conditions are a major contributor. Obviously human error is a contributive factor in car accidents. Many other factors are involved. How much is the driver to blame if he slows down because of con- fusing road signs and is hit from behind? What if he hits someone who was walking on the road at night because there were no sidewalks? What about collisions at an in- tersectlon blocked by trees or other ob- stacles, or telephone poles along the curb? Auto transportation and safety authorities in this ceuntry are now con- vinced that they must shift emphasis from educating the driver to improving the road environment. Roads are like cars. There are old- fashioned ones and modern ones. In both cases modern design can mean the dif- ference between life and death. Just as some car designs are safer than others, some roads are more “forgiving” — if the driver makes a mistake the road has been designed to help him survive a serious accident. “Forgiving” roadsides are free of such hazardous obstacles as telegraph and power poles too close to the pavement, bridge abutments, tree stumps or uneven curbs. They are wide, well banked, have clear, - visible signs and directions and, where possible, have wide grassy enbankments or median dividers that prevent serious injury or death. Most of the nation’s major roads built in recent years are well designed. Older roads, | both large and small, must be feevaluated to remove obstacles, improve or widen the road surface, install clear signs, sidewalks or reflectors or even to reroute part of the road. Although the American public may still think in terms of more and better driver education, transportation authorities are concentrating on reducing accidents’ severity, as well as on preventing them. There are still such driver-oriented con- cerns as alcohol and teaching new drivers to operate their vehicles properly in complex traffic. But, for the most part, we've wrung nearly as much safety as we can out of American drivers. In the 1920’s and 1930’s there weren’t too many drivers and there is no doubt that we benefited by educating the public how to drive safely. This was a natural first stage, something the Russians, for example, are now ex- periencing. The next stage entails im- proving automobile safety through new vehicle design. We were in that stage from thé mid ’60s perhaps, with Ralph Nader triggering the campaign. Today the United States is firmly in the last stage, where transportation authorities are seeking to upgrade and modernize the country’s enormous and diversified road network. Our goal must not be to solve all driving problems and to eliminate all accidents, but use limited resources most efficiently to control factors that contribute to accidents by compounding human error. Director Vairo Welcomes New Students by John D. Vairo For the past ten years, as director of the Delaware County Campus, I have been asked to write a few words of welcome to our new students and I have done so and with sincerity. I gladly do so again this year, the eve of our eleventh year as an in- tegral part of The Pennsylvania State University. It is truly a pleasure to have you with us. I know that I speak for all my colleagues when I say that we hope you will do well during your college days and on into the future when you take your important place in the broader society. We hope you enjoy being a Penn State student at the Delaware County Campus. Beyond the mere words of welcome, however, other thoughts run through my mind as I think about you and the start of another academic year. The start of a new year always brings with it new hope, new challenges, new opportunities, and new ex- pectations. This year is no exception. Perhaps the greatest expectation we have of you is that you will think creatively, in class and out of class. That you will stretch to the ultimate that mind of yours that is so young and so fertile. Somewhere among you has to be that fresh idea so desperately w needed to turn our confused world around. You whose eyes read these words may very well be the one, eventually, who will come up with. an idea that may correct many of the ills of society. What an awesome ex- pectation, what a humiliating expectation, but what an important expectation. Somewhere among our student body may be hidden that seed of original thought that might just save us all. New ways of doing things are desperately needed and we hope that you will nurture every idea that comes to mind and put it to the test. If it does not work, discard it and start all over again. Every idea deserves to be examined and put to a rigid test for validation. You have an opportunity now, perhaps for the first time in your life, to work with ideas. To do so may mean breaking old habits and old ways of doing things. The collegial setting into which you now find yourself will provide you the knowledge base needed to think. What a joyful ex- perience this will be for you! Grab passionately onto every chance you get to think. Do not see these opportunities only as dreadful assignments to be avoided like the plague and which, with good luck, will soon go away. The truth is that the op- portunity to think is a precious luxury that you cannot afford to waste. Perhaps at nd other time in history have we been faced with so many complex social problems, most of which seem to defy correction. The questions you face now as a student and the problems that will haunt “you throughout your life are all based upon the broader question of whether life in its present condition is worth saving at all. I, along with many others happen to think that it is and I have assumed some respon- sibility of doing my little part in correcting some of the wrongs. My hope is that you will help me in carrying that responsibility, again, not only as a student but throughout your life. Somewhere among you is that fresh idea that might just save us all, in - spite of ourselves. I must admit to a high degree of worry and frustration because of ‘the way so many have accepted as normal the disorders of life. To engage in productive thinking requires Penn State of- a knowledge base. fers that to you. The courses you take, the interaction between you and the faculty and among fellow students will provide op- portunities to build a knowledge base upon which you will be able to think creatively. When you turn that first page of the first textbook you use in your first course you will have started a pursuit after truth that has no ending. You may race through that book, do the necessary assignments, submit whatever papers are required, take a final examination, and receive a grade, throw away the book — and forget everything you learned. This would be a waste of your brain and of your time, not to mention a waste of the knowledge and time of your teachers. * This is a wonderiul opportunity for you to build a strong knowledge base upon which you will refine your intellect, to think creatively. We know you have the ability to do so. . In This Issue oe Letter From President ® Wrez Goes to the Movies e P.S.U. Football Schedule e Musicfile © Check It Out e Free Agent Draft CRENET) ir
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