In the athletic dept.,
fighting
is an uphill battle
By TOM VERDUCCI
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
In its struggle against its toughest
opponent inflation the Penn State
athletic department will be losing by
more than $2 million within the next
five years. That's what the athletic
department forecast after a self
analysis last year and that's why it
has begun a five-year plan to save
money.
As part of that plan, the department
dropped a varsity sport riflery
eliminated grants-in-aid for nine
sports, reduced grants-in-aid for all
sports except football and men's
basketball and eliminated training
table for all sports except football and
men's basketball.
The cuts have caused anger among
some varsity coaches and uncertainty
about the future of the Penn State
sports program. •
"I don't know what's going to
happen," associate athletic director
Jim Tarman said. "Our philosophy
has always been as many sports for as
many people as possible. Everybody
wanted that and nobody saw it as a
problem. I don't want to sound like
we're goiri i g to get smaller. We'll do as
muckas we can in other ways (than
ct}tting sports)."
/ Penn State is still one of the fat cats
on the collegiate sports block it
boasts an $8 million budget and the
most varsity sports 30 among
self-supporting programs. But
inflation has caused the University to
watch its financial weight.
"It's hard to believe that Penn State
, has financial problems in athletics,"
Tarman said. "But inflation and costs
arejust ,lasolutely going pukof sight,"
"Inflatiorr constralig - Xlicoihe and
!t-kxpands our expenses," Paul Etters,
coordinator of fiscal affairs, said.
"The two are not going up at the same
rate."
Tarman said inflation has hit
hardest in equipment and travel
expenses. He offered these examples:
• The cost of a football helmet has
doubled and the cost of leather goods
has tripled in the last five years.
• When the football team traveled
to lowa in 1977, hotel rooms cost $2O
per night with a special group rate. In
Missouri in 1980, the rooms cost $4O
per night with the special rate.
• The University charter plane to
the Fiesta Bowl in 1977 cost $52,000.
Three years later, the same plane to
the Fiesta Bowl cost $102,000.
"In the last five or six years," said
Rich Lucas, assistant athletic
director, "inflation has just killed
some of the areas we've been
experiencing. The rate has probably
been higher than the national rate of
about 12 percent."
Penn State decided to attack the
problem in March of 1980 when Joe
Paterno took over as athletic director.
Paterno has since resigned the
position and Tarman will replace him
March 1. In one of his first
administrative moves, Paterno
helped formulate a five-year budget
plan for athletics. It was the first time
such a move was made; previously
the finances were examined on a
year-to-year basis only
Tarman said the athletic
administrators assumed "reasonable
inflation factors" and no changes in
the then 31-sport program. He said
they also assumed television revenues/
and 99 percent stadium capacity for,
football games, which he said were
"very dangerous" assumptions , '
because of their unpredictability,
' "By the end of five years," Tarman
said, "given the program in which
everything was the same, the' result
was totally unacceptable deficiti
We're talking millions of dollars in
excess of $2 million."
Tarman also said the sports
program might be lacking available
scholarship money. He said it was not
reasonable to assume that
contributions to the Levi Lamb Fund,
which provides all scholarship
money, would be increased.
"Given the normal increases in
tuition," Tarman said, "we'd have to
raise almost $2.5 million in grants-in
aid."
Last year contributors pumped $1.4
million into the fund to cover the $l.l
million scholarship costs. The
remaining $300,000 went to a
scholarship endowment fund,
earmarked only for grants-in-aid. No
Levi Lamb Fund money can be used
to cover operating expenses.
Tarman said the athletic
department can offer no incentives
for more contributions since all the
preferred seating in Beaver Stadium
is gone.
inflation
Since the athletic department
receives no general University funds,
"we issued a self-imposed directive to
find ways to save money," Tarman
said.
Pateino appointed a Budget
Priorities and Planning Committee
last spring. The five-member
committee, headed by assistant
athletic director Della Durant,
established a priority list for the
sports, numbering them from one to
31 and grouping them from one
(virtual untouchables) to three
(bottom priority)
Durant said the committee
considered such factors as the history
of the sport at Penn State, how the
semester switch would affect the
sport, the amount of national
competition, national and regional
success and other factors.
"It was the best way to prioritize
the sports," Durant said. "Every
single one of the sports is important
But in order to cut the budget, you
have to start somewhere."
The committee came up with
several recommendations that were
presented to and then implemented by
Paterno. The athletic department
took its first step by lopping off the
rifle team, which wound up No. 31 on
the priority list. Etters estimated the
loss of riflery will save the
department up to $lOO,OOO in the next
five years.
The axe fell on several other areas:
general operating expenses; schedule
of events; grants-in-aid; books;
training table; preseason events; size
of traveling squads; administrative
costs; and Sports Information. All
were cut.
"We cut, everything," Tarman said.
`We,had, tii , ciititcroSs l the=boar . d. -
• •
Nothing was Sacred, although we
were more careful in football."
The bottom sports on the priority
list —men's and women's bowling,
men's and women's golf, men's and
women's fencing, men's and women's
tennis and softball were all left.with
no funds for grants-in-aid.
"I think the athletic department
may have misplaced priorities
relating to the amount of funding,"
said Beth Alphin, who has coached
two national championship women's
fencing teams and been named
national coach of the year. "They
want to give some sports too much,
i.e. basketball. Fencing takes less
than two percent of the budget and
with that we've produced an Olympic
fencer and two national
championships."
Durant said the Budget Priorities
and Planning Committte met two to
four times a week from April to June
1, when it handed its
recommendations to Paterno. Other
members of the committee were
Etters; Lucas; Ellen Perry, former
swimming coach and assistant
professor of health and physical
education; and Herb Schmidt,
assistant professor and assistant to
the dean of the College of Health,
Physical Education and Recreation
The coaches of the low-priority
sports said the cuts hurt their
recruiting attempts.
"We've already lost two people for
next year," said Alphin, who
previously had three in-state
scholarships to award in a four-year
oeriod.
And the coaches said the cuts hurt
psychologically, also.
Max Garret, men's fencing coach
for the past 10 years, said the cuts
"make me feel like I'm part of the
dregs on the bottom of the barrel:"
Cathrall, who's coached Penn State
tennis for 19 years, said his team is
"considered the best in the east
outside of Princeton," yet "they're
telling me something and I don't like
it: they're not interested in tennis too
much.
"I don't know. I'm told to be glad
with what I've got. There are a lot of
inequities here and I've learned to
deal with them. I'm sick of being the
decent tennis team. We're almost at a
stalemate. Hell, we're below it."
The coaches said the reductions in
scholarships and in general operating
budgets have made their jobs
tougher.
"I have to work harder with less,"
Cathrall said. "We have to raise
money on our own. I'm a coach and
now I'm a fund-raiser. I feel like a
second-class citizen."
"My first reaction," Alphin said,
"was to take this job and shove it. But
I'M not the type of person to give up
on it. I want to do everything I can to
prove that their decision to place us in
Peiority Three was asinine."
Please see COACHES, Page 12.
olle • liar')
the
daily
Time out for a nap
Karp era draws to end ;
achievements mark tenure
By MARK FEATHERSTONE
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
As usual, the meeting was short but effective.
While the meeting, near the end of Fall Teim, did nRt
last very long == less than an houii-and , a-i:alf --- it
represented just about everything both good and bad that
Organization for Town Independent Students and its
president, Bob Karp, have done this year.
As usual, half the meeting was full of friendly jokes and
putdowns of officers and members by the whole
membership. But after getting down to business, members
heard reports by Karp on the Laurel Glen case and reports
from Karp and OTIS Vice President Keith Stambaugh on a
new computer that will list available housing.
The members also heard reports from committees.
While most committees could only talk of future plans
rather than past accomplishments, the branch campus
committee presented details of a recent University Park
tour for Commonwealth campus students.
Later, Karp encouraged members to become more
active and to take over more responsibilities because he
and other senior members would not be around forever.
"OTIS and Karp have gone together for three years,"
said Bill Fracalossi, president-elect of OTIS. "You can't
say OTIS without saying Bob Karp. That really sums it up
"Bob is seen as OTIS but he hasn't done it for himself
It's all been for the organization."
Two years ago when Karp became president of the
organization that helps an estimated 15,000 students find
off-campus housing each year, he took over an
organization that was suffering from severe membership
problems, internal dissension and a lack of direction.
"Starting from Day 1, the major accomplishment was
getting new members and . . . building up the credibility of
the organization," said Joanne Swiderski, vice president
during Karp's first year. "There were about six members.
It was ready to fall apart.
'OTIS and Karp have gone
together far three years. You
can't say OTIS without saying
Bob Karp. That really sums it
up.'
—Bill Fracalossi, president-elect
of the Organization for Town
Independent Students
"He put in an awful lot of work in the organization. He's
a major reason the organization has credibility."
Charlene Harrison, assistant director of community
relations for the University and adviser to OTIS, agreed:
"When Bob came to the organization, there wasn't a whole
lot of organizational enthusiasm. They (the new officers)
worked really hard to begin rebuilding, just to build a
sense of esprit de corps and recruiting enthusiastic new
members.
"They made things happen. I was getting frustrated
before that."
And Stambaugh said, "Bob did a hell of a job his first
year just keeping the organization alive."
Now, as Karp enters the final days of his year as OTIS
president, the situation is markedly different.
OTIS is now an organization of about 30 tightly-knit
members who are in the middle of several major projects.
The organization has improved its services so much that it
is often just assumed that they can solve all tenant
problems, Stambaugh said.
"We're taken for granted," Stambaugh said. "They
come in with a problem and we solve it. They don't even
thank us.
"If we can't quite solve it, they get pissed off. If we would
ever happen to die, where would they go?"
Fracalossi agreed: "I have trouble seeing anything
As finals creep around the corner, this weary late night studier takes a break from his all too laborious textbook
wrong with OTIS at this point. Everything I've seen is
pretty successful.
"It's a tough act to follow."
OTIS aqcomplished a great deal during Karp's two-year
t,m'tira..Same of the things such as the landmark suit by
OTIS and the Association of Residence Hall Students to
recover the security deposits of former tenants of the
bankrupt Laurel Glen apartment complex and the recently
installed computerized housing service made the
said, and so OTIS, with help from ARHS, decided to hire a
lawyer to represent the students' interests.
Swiderski said, "That was a first. That was a major
breakthrough."
Harrison agreed: "In times previous . . . other tenants
had been left holding the bag on security deposits."
The idea for the other obvious accomplishment the
installation, by OTIS and the Office of Student Affairs, of a
computer to help students locate housing easier and faster
came while Karp, Swiderski and Harrison were
attending the New York State Off-Campus Association
Conference, Harrison said.
When they saw that many schools with smaller off
campus populations had a computer system to help their
students find available housing, they decided the
University could use one too, she said.
Karp said that although the computerization program is
"right on schedule," the computer won't be fully
operational for another year or so.
Fracalossi said he hopes to continue expanding the
computer's use.
"I think the computer has so much potential," he said.
"There's so much that we could do with it."
Working for the computer was probably one reason that
Karp decided to run for a second term•as president,
Stambaugh said.
"The reason he decided to run again was . . . the
contacts he established that first year . . . getting to know
Mel Klein and Ray Murphy (Melvyn S. Klein, director of
student activities, and Raymond 0. Murphy, vice
president for student affairs) and other administrators.
"I was surprised they pulled it off. It was great. It was
fantastic. If somebody new had stepped in . . .
"He had some things going that he didn't want to stop.
No one could fill his shoes at that time."
Karp said he decided to run for re-election because he
wanted to complete some projects be had started and
because no one else seemed to want the job very badly.
"No one had ever been president for two years. It took
me a year to get the groundwork laid."
Karp said he is glad he ran for a second term.
"The first year we put the organization back together.
The second year we got things done."
Harrison said one thing that Karp accomplished that
was not widely noticed was his involvement with groups
downtown.
"It's good to have someone from the organization . . .
being there when issues are debated rather than
complaining after the fact," she said.
Karp also had a good relationship with many of the
apartment owners and managers, Harrison said.
"Some people see that group as more adversarial than
others," she said. "He's projected a 'Let's get together
about issues approach.' He's avoided a 'You're a landlord
headlines.
Others such as the continuing update and publication
of OTIS' apartment price list and Foundations, a Guide to
Town Living, and its complaint mediation service did
not.
Concerning Laurel Glen, Karp said he, Harrison, other
executives and members of OTIS were concerned that
students would be taken advantage of during the
bankruptcy hearings.
"There was no one there to represent the students," he
I'm a tenant. Let's be enemies' Please see OTIS's, Page 8.
analysis
FE8241982
PERIOD:CA.IS SECTION
0 C P
E flqS Yl ( :1 / 1 1 I N T I, E 1 E S
I I
f A B T R E II gi VCRS! TY
'Monday Feb. 22, 1982
Vol. 82, No. 129 24 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
"I think I would be good for the
district, but I have personal
considerations to think about.
"I've had a lot of experience in
politics on the state and federal
level. I've been a resident of State
College since 1975, so I believe I
know the interests and needs of the
community," he said.
"But it would be up to the voters to
decide if I ran."
Cluck may
declare state
candidacy
By MARCY MERMEL
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Undergraduate Student
Government President Bill/Cluck
may run for state representative
the 77th District.
"1 will give serious thought to the
possibility of running for the 77th
district seat," Cluck said.
BecauSe he is "concentrating on
finals and (Students Opposed to
Financial Aid Reductions) week,"
Cluck said he will make the decision
whether to run during term break
when he can discuss the situation
with his family.
During the past five or six weeks
Cluck said he has been approached
by students and townspeople who
suggested that he would be good for
the district.
Because the deadline for filing
petitions for spring primaries is
March 10, Cluck said he'll make his
decision by March 9 or 10.
The seat is now held by state Rep.
Gregg L. Cunningham, R-Centre
County, who is running for a seat in
the 171st District.
inside
• The women's basketball team
upset fifth-ranked Rutgers 86.76
Saturday night at Rec Hall.... Page 13
e Penn State is one of the first
universities in the nation, and the
fifst in Pennsylvania, to actively
oppose President Reagan's pro
posed cuts, said Frederick M. Cilet
ti, special assistant for government
affairs to University President John
W. Oswald Page 24
weather
Mostly cloudly with a few flurries
this morning, partial clearing by
evening. High temperatures around
36 degrees. Partly cloudly tonight
with low temperatures around 25
degrees. Gradually increasing
clouds tomorrow with high tempera-
tures around 40 degrees.
—by Mark St under
last issue
This is the last issue of The Daily
Collegian for Winter Term. We will
resume publication on the first day
of clastes for Spring Term, Thurs
day, March 11. Have a nice break!