read no Vol. XXV, No. 4 Penn State University, Delaware County Campus November 11, 1993 P.S.U. Proposed Activities Fee Causes Campus Controversy By John Bishop At the beginning of the fall semester of next year, Penn State Delco students may find that an additional fee has been added to their tuition. A Student Activities Fee is designed to help pay for campus activities which may be subjected to budget cuts. Although the exact amount that each student will be required to pay is still subject to change, it has been estimated to be an additional twenty-five dollars per student. “Nothing is official yet,” stated Mr. “Pete” Coleman, the Director of Student Affairs.” I believe in some kind of a an activity fee, but I'm not sure this is the right time because of the economic situation. I'm not sure if low enrollment at Commonwealth campuses will fuel a problem. When we have an activities fee will it cut down on the amount of money that we now receive? I have some mixed emotions about it, but I do think some sort of student activity fee should be put into effect. “ Mr. Coleman also noted that “Nation wide, most colleges do have an activity fee. I feel strongly that a student activity fee should be implemented.” Many Penn State Delco students, however, regard the proposed fee with uncertainty. “I think the campus offers a solid variety of activities but students are not active enough,” explained Krupa Daniels the president of the Multi Cultural Group. "I think it’s the students right to get involved or not. It's not right to force students to be involved by charging students for activities which they may or may not participate,” she said. Although the Student activities fee is not official, various student leaders claim that it was passed at the last Council of Commonwealth Student Government meeting. This means that the proposed draft would then have to be passed by the Board of Trustees. The student activity fee was first presented to the students of Penn State Delco at the October 6th Student Government Association meeting. “It was mentioned in the meeting that there were three or four drafts and all we got to see was a proposal for one of the drafts. We don’t even know what draft it was a proposal for. Whenever anyone asked a question, they were told ‘It’s in the draft’, but where is the draft? We didn’t see a draft all we saw was a proposal and now we don’t even know which draft was passed,” stated Gopal Patel, Vice- President of the Multi-Cultural Group. Melissa Gerace, the Freshman Representative who voted on the draft of the proposed Student Activity Fee at the C.C.S.G, explained, “ Nothing is ‘official’ but it’s been amended, re- amended and now the vote is closed. Our campus was unprepared. The York campus had an argument for everything. The problem is our campus didn’t even get to see the draft . How do you propose changes for a draft that you don’t even get a chance to see?” Amy McCarthy, President of the Student Government Association, was also present at the C.C.S5.G meeting and Continued on Page 3 Delco Gets Fulbright Scholar By Jennifer Holland In Delco’s Schedule of Classes for the Spring Semester of 1994, a new instructor's name appears under the history courses. Fulbright Professor Dr. Adam Lui, of the University of Hong Kong will be instructing the “History of Modern East Asia” course. He will also be working with individual students on specific projects, which will count as an Independent Studies course. Dr. Lui, who was born in Hong Kong, is the first Fulbright scholar to reside at a Commonwealth Educational Campus at Penn State. In 1962, Dr. Lui received his Bachelor degree at the University of Hong Kong. Two years later he received his Masters. - He then obtained his Ph.D. at the School of Oriental & African Studies at the University of ‘London. In 1979, he got the Harvard Yenching Grant to assist research on Chinese History. Dr. Lui is married and has one child. His busy schedule includes television appearances and public forums. His TV credits include an interview on September 5, 1990, with TVB (Pearl and Jade stations, local TV stations) on the 1898 Sino-British convention on immigration from China to Hong Kong. He also appeared on the “Hong Kong Morning Show”, on October 4,1990, dealing with the nature of the Manchu laws of family and marriage. At the University of Hong Kong, Dr. Lui gave the opening address on “History Day” from 1987 until 1992 and recently gave a luncheon talk to the Y’s Men's Club of Hong Kong at the Mandarin Hotel in March of 1992. Students interested in taking Dr. Lui’s class in the spring semester should register now for History 175 and History 496. “Dracula” (Brad Perok) takes a bite out of “Blood Drop” (SGA President Amy McCarthy) at the recent campus Bloodmobile at which 68 pints were collected. Photo by: WES TOMLINSON SGA Missing Main Issues By Nicole Gibbs Is the Student Government Association tending to issues essential to the student body? John Bishop, ex- secretary to the student government, doesn’t think so. Being an officer in the student government, John got to see a lot of things that go on behind closed doors, as he calls it, “red tape.” When he decided to leave his office, John had some strong feelings about how the S.G.A. was attending to to the needs of the student body. He said, “I didn’t think we represented students as well as we cauld have. All I did was sit there, take notes, and eat pizza.” Many students could care less about what goes on in the Student Government Association, but those students who do cannot help but wonder what is being accomplished. John felt that he and the other S.G.A. officers did not spend enough time on important things things that might concern students. John stated, “The S.G.A. does an excellent job of organizing events like picnics, pumpkin sales, and the up coming dance, but it doesn’t deal with a lot of student issues, student concerns like petitioning for a traffic light in front of the school and the proposed student activity fee which may be added to the cost of tuition are issues which I am very interested in. Unfortunately the S.G.A. is not stuctured to deal with things like this and these are the most important things of all.” John feels that one of the jobs of the S.G.A. is to make students aware of the decision being made about tuition and different student affairs. The S.G.A. is supposed to represent the view and concerns of the student body. Whether or not it accomplishes this goal is a matter of opinion. to the club recently. U.S. Representative Curt Weldon meets with Literacy Club officers (1. to r.) Phil McShane, Tina Cavaliere, and Mary Lawrence after speaking Photo by: WES TOMLINSON
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