‘| o PENNSTATE Delaware County Vol. XXXI, No. 4 Penn State, Delaware County November 19, 1999 A National First: PSU Delco Readership Program By Bob Dugan Lion’s Eye Staff Writer Penn State’s Readership program began on November 1 for a three week test run at PSU Delco, a University Park staple which gives students the opportunity to pick up free copies everyday of the New York Times, the Philadelphia Inquirer, USA Today, and the Daily Times. Five hundred newspapers arrived on the first day, and, surprisingly enough, before 11 a.m. the papers were gone. The program became an almost instantaneous success. PSU Delco C.E.O., Dr. Tomeszko was “thrilled”, as were most students who walked into each buildings’ lounge to find stacks of free newspapers at their disposal. Eric Hellstern, the New York Times Educational Marketing Manager, brought the program to PSU Delco. It has been a great success at University Park where each dormitory receives the papers and the price is included in the dorm fee. At Indiana University of Pennsylvania the program was created for honor students only, and at Lafayette College only law and government students are part of it. Delco is the first commuter campus nationally to test the program, but already other commuter campuses want to be part of what Eric Hellstern calls a “win-win situation”. He also believes it is Sr EWS AE RDERSHIP PROGRAM 3 ark Thmes important for students to have a “world view” and be “well rounded” by reading newspapers daily. Right now only 18 percent of 18 to 22-year-olds read newspapers in some form on a day to day basis, yet in University Park nearly two-thirds read a newspaper daily. This number could increase once the Program enacts stage two which will make the papers available to students who live off campus. Starting in early 2000 at University Park and Delco, students will need their student ID card to access a free paper. A machine will be set up in the lounges. When students swipe their card, the box opens and they take which paper they want. The reason the program was created was to increase the circulation of the New York Times. The only profit the paper receives is through advertising, and once the circulation rises, so does the price to advertise. Still, while money is the underlying factor, the students of Delco are not complaining that they can find out the latest football spreads from the USA Today, the hard facts on mayor-elect John Street from the Inquirer, or the trademark national news from the New York Times, for free. As Eric Hellstern mentioned in one of his pro-Readership Program speeches; “This is the best thing to happen on college campuses.” Andrea Sealy and Patti O’Hara read up on the day’s current events. Photo by DorisRuiz Half A Million Miles! Delco’s Nittany Lion and local news photographer, along with students and faculty, greeted philosophy professor Dr. Robert Ginsberg, upon completion of his 500,000th mile of commuting to campus from Maryland since 1967. The Associated Press picked up the local story, which then appeared in newspapers around the country. «2 Photo by Sarah Stover University Park Wants Freshmen Enrollment Stable By Doris Ruiz Lion’s Eye Staff Writer Everyday students walk in and out of campus doors, passing by or greeting familiar faces. And sometimes the crowd of students lounging outside those doors may seem overwhelming. It seems as though each semester brings forth more and more students. And due to Delco’s new Classroom building and impending new majors, the diverse crowd may get bigger. Penn State Delaware County Campus’ release of fall enrollment numbers last month revealed that a total of 1732 students are presently enrolled- a big change from Last years sum of 1674. Of those 58 new faces,36 minority students this year compared to the 320 students in fall of 1998. But while Penn State University as a whole wants to increase the number of minority students, it also wants to maintain a steady enrollment count. The university initially set goals to meet the needs of increasing numbers of upper-division students studying at Penn State branches who wish to finish their programs at those campuses rather than transferring to University Park. Some of these goals are to keep enrollment at University Park between 40,000 and 42,000, to increase upper divisiion enrollment and degree options available at campus colleges, and to continue to allow students to move freely among all P.S.U. locations without the need of transferring their credits to the Penn State campus in which they wish to graduate. According to the fall enrollment numbers released last month, the University is successfully accomplishing what it set out to do. Fall semester enrollment throughout the university basically remained the same as last year. Delco is also keeping up with its end of the bargain. In the past year, the freshman enrollment count has held steady from 563 in fall of 1998 to 562 in fall of ‘99. But its number of baccalaureate upper-division students has increased dramatically from 183 students to 251. “We want to expand the number of students that will stay to complete their education here at Delaware County”, stated Deborah Erie, Director of Enrollment Management. (Continued on page 5) College TV Network Begins This Spring At PSU By Ed Blackburn Lion’s Eye Staff Writer - “So tell me,” asks John Dinin, who works in the campus cafeteria, speaking to Student Life’s Doreen Hettich over lunch, “Why does the Lion’s Den have cable TV, and not the cafeteria?” “Well, that’s a good question,” Ms. Hettich answers. “But once we have the College Television Network here, at least people won’t have to climb on the tables to change the channel.” “So I guess we won’t have to watch Jerry Springer every day then.” What is this College Television Network? Sponsored by Student Life, this network will begin installing new TVs around campus, before the Spring semester begins, featuring satellite-fed news and entertainment programs geared specifically toward a college audience. Two channels will be featured. One will show predominantly music videos, and the other will show information programs (sports, news, health news — “a little of everything” as Ms. Hettich described it.) The news will be updated every two hours via satellite, so students will know what’s going in the world, even while at school. The program will be free to the campus, and the Network will be using all their own equipment and maintaining it themselves. It will be funded by 8 minutes of commercials shown every hour. These commercials will not be showing tobacco, alcohol, condom or feminine hygiene advertisements, Ms. Hettich said. “It will be like the TV stations in the airport, that kind of concept — except with less news and more music,” she explained. The Network is currently looking for good locations to place their televisions. Probable locations are in the Fitness Center and Cafeteria in the Commons Building, and the Student Lounge in Main.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers