PSU room and board fee to rise $l6O
By MARK E. JONES
Collegian Staff Writer
HERSHEY An average student earning the min
imum wage will have to work about 40 more hours
than he or she did last summer to pay next year's
room and board charges.
The price of a standard double room increased $4O
per semester, as did the cost of the average student's
meal plan. That means most students will pay an
extra $l6O per year for room and board services.
The University's Board of Trustees adopted the
changes at its meeting in Hershey on Saturday.
With the changes, the average on-campus student
will pay $3,530 in room and board charges next year
an increase of 4.7 percent over this year's bill of
$3,370.
The cost of tuition next year is uncertain pending the
state's decision on how much funding Penn State will
receive. Gov. Robert P. Casey has proposed to restore
the funds that were cut this year from the University's
allocation, but he has suggested no increase over Penn
State's 1990-91 appropriation. A "zero increase," as
it has been called, would probably mean a substantial
jump in tuition.
Dinkins
marches
with Irish
gay group
By BETH J. HARPAZ
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK Mayor David Dinkins
was booed Saturday when he marched
with members of an Irish gay group
rather than at the head of the nation's
oldest and largest St. Patrick's Day
Parade.
A smattering of cheers was drowned
out by boos from thousands along the
Manhattan parade route.
"One term mayor!" some spectators
chanted as Dinkins, wearing a green
jacket, walked by with the Irish Gay
and Lesbian Organization. Some
sprayed beer and shouted obscenities
at the mayor and the gay marchers,
who were accompanied by heavy secu
rity.
"They shouldn't be here. The day is
for the Irish," said spectator Robert
Garrison of Harrison, N.J.
"It makes me sad, but it's mostly
ignorance," said gay marcher Kay
Glidden. "They don't know what they're
talking about."
"Every time I hear someone boo, it
strengthens my resolve that it was the
right thing to do," Dinkins said later.
Parade officials had tried to keep the
gay group out of the parade. The offi
cials cited time constraints in ruling the
group couldn't march. Dinkins, fearing
there could be discrimination involved,
intervened on behalf of the organization.
Parade Chairman Frank Beirne then
ruled the group could march with any
other unit if they were invited. Division
7 of the New York County Ancient Order
of Hibernians extended an invitation.
The controversy leading up to the
parade had been all but forgotten as
thousands of marchers wearing every
thing from green eye shadow to green
shoes began the 230th march up Fifth
Avenue.
Asked if the controversy had put a
damper on the festivities, Grand
Marshal Mary Holt Moore looked at the
crowds and the sunny sky before
responding, "It doesn't look it, does it?"
In Chicago, tens of thousands turned
out for the city's downtown parade,
which featured more than 1,200 march
ers and 70 floats.
The Chicago River was dyed green as
it is each year in honor of the holiday
commemorating St. Patrick, who lived
from 389 to 461 A.D. and was chiefly
responsible for converting the Irish to
Christianity.
At the New York parade, Dinkins was
greeted warmly by a prominent oppo
nent of gay rights, Cardinal John O'Con
nor, who reviewed the parade from the
steps of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
As always, the parade carried on
amid an assortment of political
statements.
The head of the police Emerald Socie
ty band wore a huge green sash read
ing, "Free Joe Doherty," referring to
the jailed Irish Republican Army mem
ber convicted of killing a British army
captain in 1980. Other marchers wore
similar sashes and buttons.
Tributes to those who served in the
Persian Gulf War were everywhere.
"We support our troops" read a banner
held by students from Mother Cabrini
High School in Manhattan as they
walked uptown.
Yellow ribbons, while not as plentiful
as the green that bathed people from
head to toe, were in evidence along the
parade route. Dyan and Patsy Sorge of
South River, N.J., waved American
flags as the marchers came past.
"For our boys who just came home,"
explained Dyan.
The color scheme was confusing to
Shao Lian, 28, a visitor from Canton,
China, who was seeing her first St. Pat
rick's Day Parade.
"Are they wearing green because it's
spring?" she asked.
Springlike weather arrived just in
time for the parade, with temperatures
in the high 40s, mild winds and sunny
skies. There were more than 150,000
marchers in about 200 different units.
The parade traditionally draws as
many as 2 million spectators, but police
had no estimate by late afternoon.
New York and Chicago, of course,
didn't have the parade market cornered
this weekend.
Although $4O will be the average per-semester per
room increase, the amount will vary depending onthe
size of the room. A single room will cost $llO more per
year, while temporary accommodations will increase
by $6O a year.
Monthly rents for family housing will increase by
$lO to $2O, depending on apartment size and utility
arrangements.
The increase in room and board charges will help
the Housing and Food Services meet its need of
$60,560,918 for operations next year. That represents
a $4 million increase over last year's figure of about
$56.5 million.
Edward P. Junker, chairman of the Committee on
Finance, told the trustees, "We think that we've come
with a proposal that is well thought out, within the con
sumer price index and inflationary considerations."
In addition to the $2.5 million generated by the room
and board increases, Housing and Food Services
expects to receive more than $1 million from new
housing at Commonwealth campuses and about
$182,000 more from conferences and other sales.
Housing and Food Services is self-supporting. Its
funding will not be affected by the state's appropria
tion to higher education.
HOW IS UNITED
FEDERAL BANK
CELEBRATING THE
10TH ANNIVERSARY
OF ITS NITTANY
MALL BRANCH?
William McKinnon, vice president of business and
operations, said the $4 million increase in the depart
ment's budget will offset increases in food costs, utility
costs and overhead, as well as employees' salaries,
wages and fringe benefits.
Junker commended McKinnon for his work on the
budget. He said about 70 percent of Housing and Food
Services employees are covered by a contract that
requires Penn State to meet a 5 percent salary and
wage increase.
Obie Snider, a trustee and agricultural expert, ques
tioned McKinnon on why the price of food would rise
next year.
"For those of us in agriculture," he said, "it's hard
for us to understand, with the extreme price deficien
cies that we are getting for our products, why the food
budget would increase as much as it has over half
a-million dollars."
McKinnon said that, among other reasons, the price
of foods is uncertain because of a severe water short
age in California that may hamper that state's grow
ing season.
Snider said, "It's time for the University to learn
that all they need to use is produced right here in
Pennsylvania."
BY CLOSING IT.
1991 United Federal Bank
Penn State agrees
to tuition
HERSHEY Officials at the Uni
versity Board of Trustees meeting
announced they have created a
tuition waiver for dependent chil
dren of Pennsylvanian military offi
cers killed or missing in action in the
Persian Gulf War.
Charles R. Fuget, deputy secre
tary and commissioner for higher
education, said the 14 state-owned
and four state-related institutions
agreed to the tuition waiver.
Most of the institutions accepted
the proposal with no hesitation,
Fuget said.
The state government knows of 27
men and women from Pennsylvania
killed in the war and 15 eligible chil
dren. The state has not calculated all
The Daily Collegian Monday, March 18,1991
waiver
the deaths and dependents yet,
Fuget said.
The tuition waiver would cover the
costs of eight semesters or four aca
demic years after the student is
admitted to the institution, Fuget
said.
The state approached the golleges
and universities about creating a
scholarship for the children of those
killed in the gulf war, Fuget said.
University President Joab Thom
as said he first learned about the
tuition waiver last month when he
was in Harrisburg presenting the
University budget to the Senate
Appropriations Committee.
—by Bridget Mount