THURSDAY April 6, 2000 Vol. 100 No. 163 26 pages Students question opposite-sex living option By Heather Cook COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Haverford College decided last week to open its on-campus apartment-style housing to students who want to room with the oppo site sex, a move that Penn State housing offi cials don't plan to copy in the near future. Fred Fotis, director of Residence Life, said the issue is complicated and while it can't be ruled out completely for future Penn State students, the problems for any state institu tion are different than those of private col leges. "I'm sure that some people would have a negative response if any state institution not just Penn State would do this," Fotis State system considering new plan for admissions By Jill Leonard COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER To increase the enrollment of minority students, Pennsylvania's State System of Higher Education is considering the adop tion of a plan that would admit the top 15 percent of graduates of every high school in the state. According to a report published in The Chronicle of Higher Education last week, if the system approves the idea, Pennsyl vania would join a growing number of states that have enacted similar class rank plans. The idea follows suit of com parable plans recently adopted in Texas, Florida and California. Pennsylvania's fig ure of 15 percent falls in the middle of Texas' requirement, where the top 10 per cent of its graduates are admitted into its state system, and Florida's, where the top 20 percent are guaranteed admission. The University of California has a more strin gent policy, extending admission invita tions to the top 4 percent. The long-range goal of the plan is to boost the number of minority students that enroll in the state system, said Ken Marshall, a spokesman for the SSHE. Currently, 95,000 students are enrolled in the system's universities, and 8.5 percent of those students are minorities. "We would like to see that (number) increase," Marshall said. The state system consists of 14 univer sities, including Bloomsburg, Edinboro and Kutztown. The proposal is included in the latest draft of the state system's new strategic plan, and the system's Board of Governors is expected to review the plan and vote on it in July, Marshall said. The earliest the plan could be imple mented is with the freshman class enter ing the system in Fall 2001, Marshall said. Bloomsburg University is hopeful that the plan will be approved, said Jim Hollis ter, director of media relations and mar keting for the university. "It fits in our phi losophy" he said. "It actually excites us. It puts an emphasis on more than just a standardized test the SAT. "It's a better indicator of how a student might do over the long haul (in college)," Hollister said. In addition, the university feels it will continue to draw the majority of its stu dents in a radius of about 75 miles in all directions of the campus, Hollister added. Penn State officials said they do not foresee implementing a similar plan in the future. "I don't believe that the SSHE plan would affect Penn State in any way," Penn State President Graham Spanier said in an e-mail. According to the report, admission poli cies at Pennsylvania's other state-related universities, Lincoln University Temple University and the University of Pitts burgh, would not see any changes from the plan either. Inside Under fire Former Lions Pete Lisicky and Matt Gauido and unnamed current players said in an article by The Harrisburg Partiot- News that Penn State men's basketball coach Jerry Dunn practiced his team longer than the 20 hours per week allowed by the NCAA. I SPORTS, Page 15 Lining up Doomsdayers are bracing for the May 5 to 16 alignment of the sun and six planets and warn the configuration could shift the Earth's poles, causing a multitude of prob lems. Astronomers hope to debunk their predictions. I NATIONAL, Page 8 Murky waters Three-fourths of states are failing to address water pollution, ignoring a provi sion in the federal Clean Water Act, mem bers of a leading conservation group charged yesterday. I ENVIRONMENT, Page 11 T I said. Money could be in danger if legislators, private contributors, parents or even stu- dents opposed the idea of allowing students Allies. to share rooms with the opposite sex, Fotis "My closest friends are gay males," she said. said. The option at Haverford College, a small Roommate difficulties at Penn State private school near Philadelphia, will be between gay or lesbian students and same offered during an experimental period in Fall sex roommates might be alleviated if Penn Semester 2000. State were to adopt an opposite sex living Requests from gay and lesbian students, policy, said Ryan Acton, multicultural coordi who said they often felt uncomfortable shar- nator, of Allies. ing rooms with members of the same sex, Acton is gay and said he has had problems helped inspire the policy with roommates in the past. At Penn State, some students involved in Lynn Dußois, associate director of hous the gay and lesbian community said they also ing, said if any type of roommate problem would support an opposite sex housing occurs, it goes through her office, where option on campus. housing staff finds new rooms for students Activists pressure schools to Chns Pickard/The Purdue Exponent Uz Wolthausen, a Purdue senior, is one of six Purdue students who began a hunger strike on March 27 as part of a rally against sweatshops. Purdue protesters on hunger strike By Alison Kepner and Tracy Wilson COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS While Penn State students continue to lobby administrators to join the Workers' Rights Consortium, students at other univer sities across the country are also putting pressure on their respective administrations to affiliate with the group. Students at other universities have turned to active protests, including a hunger strike at Purdue University. As of yesterday after noon, five student strikers had not eaten since March 27 in an effort to force their administration to join the group. More than 40 students also have camped out on Pur due's Memorial Mall in an ongoing attempt to gain attention and support. Nathan Strange, a graduate student in aerospace engineering at Purdue, was one of the five students in his ninth day on the hunger strike. The first few days you're just really hungry, then the pain dulls away, said Strange, adding he was prepared to continue the hunger strike until sent to the hospital. "I do feel very weak," he said. "It's real hard to go to class." Strange was a student member of the com- TABLE OF CONTENTS Police Log 2 Weather 2 Calendar 3 National 5,6, 8 international 8 10 Environment 11 Opinions 12, 13 CONTACT US Newsroom: 865-1828 Business: 865-2531 ON THE WEB www.collegian.psu.edu PUBLISHED INDEPEI Sports ... Scoreboard Horoscope ClassHiods 22, N Listings Comics Crossword "I have always wanted to have a gay male immediately, regardless of the reason the roommate," said Jennifer Dumin, director of student needs to be moved. mittee that helped Purdue administrators develop its code of conduct. However, he said although the administration has adopted the code of conduct, they are not abiding by its criteria. "They were using it for positive PR," Strange said. "Without enforcement, the code is meaningless." Yesterday afternoon, student protesters met with Joseph Bennett, vice president of university relations. Bennett could not be reached for comment yesterday. The meeting was instrumental in "opening lines of communications," said Negin Almas si, a student representative for the protest ers. However, university president Steven Beering still refuses to meet with the hunger strikers, she added. WRC also has become an issue at Brown University. Last week Nike announced it would end its apparel contract with the uni versity because of the school's affiliation with WRC. Nike ended its contract with Brown because it could not live up to Brown's code of conduct, Students for Accountability and Reform member Justin Leto (junior-comput- "It basically comes down to where we have spaces," Dußois said. Fotis agreed that there are problems between gay or lesbian students and their heterosexual roommates, but said allowing an opposite sex living option isn't necessarily the way to solve them. "I'm not sure that you can say that match ing a gay male student with a female room mate would create harmony," Fotis said. "The solution would be to live with a student who understands your lifestyle." Not all students living in the dorms think such an option would be beneficial. Tener Hall resident James Chester (fresh- er engineering) said. STAR plans to focus its next campaign on Penn State's own affilia tions with Nike. Nike voided the contract because Brown changed its terms in the middle of it, said Cheryl McCants, Nike representative. "It's not that we have any problems with monitoring or with codes of conduct," said McCants, adding Nike was a leader in estab lishing codes of conduct during the early 19905. "You can't just change a contract mid stream." One of the changes Brown requested in its letter to Nike was in the living wage for work ers, something that WRC has not yet defined, McCants said. "You can't change a document with terms not legally defined," said McCants, adding she questions how many college students are being paid the "living wage" at their college jobs. STAR is urging Penn State administrators to join the now-forming WRC, a sweatshop monitoring organization. Penn State is already affiliated with another sweatshop monitoring organization, the Fair Labor Association. Nike has contracts with universities affili- See HUNGER STRIKE, Page 14. \ , i_ WEATHER Page 2 TODAY: Morning clouds, High 61 30 cents off campus ©2OOO Collegian Inc man-engineering) said he would not support it. "I believe that sex before marriage is wrong. This sort of situation could lend itself to that," he said. Chester said though he understands that living situations are often uncomfortable for gay and lesbian students, there are other options for them, like living with students who share their views, or living in a single room. Roommate choice shouldn't depend on sex, whether sexuality is an issue or not, Dumin said. "I would have lived with my best friend here for the last three years if I could have lived with a man," she said. join WRC Penn State group stays adamant for labor review Although their deadline has not been met, student leaders urging Penn State adminis trators to join the Worker Rights Consor tium say they are not giving up. Students for Accountability and Reform (STAR), an unregistered student organiza tion devoted to affiliating the university with WRC, hoped to have a commitment from administrators before tomorrow, the day of the WRC's founding conference in New York City. STAR plans to begin occupation of Old Main Lawn at 5 p.m. today as a demonstra tion to support its demands that Penn State join WRC by tomorrow, according to a press release from STAR. WRC is an internaticnal organization that monitors sweatshop labor. Although Penn State has yet to commit to WRC, it is already a member of another sweatshop monitoring organization the Fair Labor Association. Although the university will not join WRC in time to be at its founding conference, STAR still wants administrators to commit soon so Penn State can have a leading voice in the organization and development of the new group. "We're still applying pressure," said Justin Leto (junior-computer engineering), one of the founding members of STAR. Administrators are waiting to make a decision until a new committee is set up to examine the affiliation. The committee, formed because of a suggestion by Under graduate Student Government President Garrett Fitzgerald, will include three stu dents. three administrators and three facul ty members. However, STAR leaders are weary of allowing the committee to delay progress. 'Administrations have successfully used committees like this as a tactic to stall," Leto said. STAR members will give the committee a "good faith effort." while continuing to act as "active observers," Leto said. Yesterday. Fitzgerald and USG Town Sen, Martin Austermuhle sent letters to Penn State President Graham Spanier and Assis tant Vice President of Finance and Busi ness Dan Sieminski. Spanier, who said he was unavailable to meet with STAR mem bers because of a busy schedule, delegated the issue to Sieminski. Fitzgerald said the letters that he and Austermuhle wrote were sent to inform the administrators of USG's position on WRC. "We've (USG) become completely con- See LABOR REVIEW, Page 14. By Alison Kepner COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
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