Wednesday, Oct. 22, 2003
Getting Around
Penn State students, administration
work together to improve accessibility
.S.U. PERMIT
REQUIRED
Increase in students leads to record
By Daniel Bal
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | drb226@psu.edu
Penn State officials announced
yesterday another increase in the
amount of students for the 2003-04
academic year, which has led to a
record enrollment university-wide.
Overall enrollment stands at
83,177, which is an increase of 139
from the 2002-03 academic year.
At University Park, enrollment
rose from 41,445 to 41,795, an
increase of 350 students, or 0.84 per
cent
James Wager, assistant vice
provost for enrollment management
and university registrar, said the uni
versity plans for a deliberate slow
growth within established bound
aries.
“If we get too big, it starts to stress
critical people support systems,” he
said.
John Romano, vice provost and
Inside
H V* .
. ♦1 4
By Adam Fabian
fAFF WRITER | fabianad@psu.edu
is like every other college
classes. He plays sports,
tars on the weekends. He’s
tost students, when Hantz
i the morning, his route to
from his Atherton Hall
•m room depends on his
lood and energy level. “It
lepends on how lazy I feel
the morning,” he says
ith a slight laugh, noting an
-utilized shortcut through
ÜB.
aren’t always this easy for
imputer science major. He
1, adapted and gained
.>nd Maggie Redden, a fresh
i Hiester Hall, things aren’t
te thought they might be.
'unications major has a
ground floor and a room-
be loud sometimes living so
dose to the door, Redden says, but she
likes it nonetheless. She hears every
thing; she can say hello to everyone.
Their lives sound like every other
Penn State students’ but there are dif
ferences.
Hantz isn’t like everyone else. Neither pointed out we try to fix,” he said. “We’re Without the ADA, however, the cam
is Redden. Nor are the other 748 other always looking for suggestions.” P us would likely be much different than
Penn State students receiving services -««« *t 4)5 toda 0 r » stew K ooll * 2 , the university’s
from the Office for Disability Services. THE ADA OF 1990 facilities access coordinator, said. In fact,
Hantz is a double above-knee In 1990, President George Bush he sa y s - accessibility is much better
amputee. He has been in a wheelchair signed the Americans with Disabilities today than it was 20 years ago.
ever since he began attending school as Act into legislation. “We’ve come a long way, baby,” he
a young boy and will be The act sought to establish a prohibi- “IThe law] is a dam good piece of
for the rest of his life, tion of discrimination on the basis of dis- legislation.”
Redden also uses a ability. The law, based on findings by the ftcrmip ADffllNn
wheelchair, and has U.S. Congress, noted that at the time, uc Hnuunu
about 43 million Americans had one or Despite changes and efforts by UAC,
more physical or mental disabilities, a said the campus would never be
number likely to increase as the popula- See ACCESSIBILITY, Page 5.
tion continued to age.
Before the legislation became
law, many places were difficult to
access but now accessibility
is required everywhere.
Many disabilities covered
under the law are not visible.
Problems with vision, hearing,
dean for enrollment management,
said Penn State attempts to maintain
enrollment numbers between 40,000
and 42,000.
“[The numbers] have to do with
the available facilities, number of fac
ulty and staff, and how can [the uni
versity] accommodate that number
on and off campus,” he said. “We do
everything possible to keep the num
ber in that range.”
Romano said the university
attempts to calculate what the enroll
ment flow will look like and what the
projections will be for each campus.
“We try to administrate these flowjs
so we don’t have too many students,”
he said.
University spokesman Tysen
Kendig said Penn State has taken a
hard look at the capacity of the Uni
versity Park campus and believes it
has the ideal number of students.
“We’ve got a record enrollment
and are continuing to see a growing
CONTACT THE NEWS DIVISION
865-1828
Creamery starts flavor contest
Soon University Creamery customers
will have another flavor of ice cream to
choose from. To celebrate Penn State's
150th anniversary in 2005, the Creamery
will develop a new flavor dreamed up by
customers. Anyone can suggest a flavor
name and ingredients until December
31. | LOCAL, Page 6.
Coming tomorrow: No Refund Theatre to perform Ist musical ever ltau#
Published independently by students at Penn State
used it for as long as she can remember.
She got polio around the age of 1 and has
been paralyzed ever since.
Bill Welsh, director of the Office for
Disability Services, works with these
students and employees. It’s his job to
ensure they can get around, go to class
es and get anything else that may be
needed to live comfortably.
With more than 700 buildings on cam
pus, some of which are more than 100
years old, the task of providing access
can be daunting for Penn State. The
campus, as well as downtown, must be
compliant with the Americans with Dis
abilities Act of 1990 (ADA), which has
only been around for 13 years.
The campus, meanwhile, is about 150
years old.
But given Penn
State’s size, loca
tion, topography
and the varied
weather conditions
of central Pennsyl
vania, ADA Coordi
nator and Universi
ty Access Commit
tee (UAC) Chairman Bill Ritzman
believes the campus is accessible.
Although he says Penn State’s campus
isn’t perfect, he said the committee is
always working to make improvements.
“It’s an ongoing process, but anything
CLOSER
m '■*
LOOK
interest in the university,” he said.
Although it seems class sizes
would continue to grow, Kendig said
students have not shown any con
cern.
“More and more students say they
are surprised and enjoy the fact that
class sizes are 20 or less when they
get into their major concentrations,”
he said.
Wager said the university is work
ing on a number of initiatives to regu
late the number of incoming stu
dents, but the university does not
have any plans to change or cap the
number of students admitted.
“There are also places where we
want to increase the amount of cer
tain types of students, without
increasing the number as a whole,”
he said. “There are certain target
areas where we want to see increas
es, such as international students.”
The university recently announced
a marketing campaign to draw more
CONTACT THE BUSINESS DIVISION ON THE WES
865-2531 www.coHegiaii.psu.edu
President of MPAA to speak Football record hurts business
Movies, universities, and file-sharing The Nittany lions’ 2-5 record has not
will be a topic of discussion and debate only affected their overall standing, but
this afternoon when Jack Valenti, presi- has also let down area businesses that
dent of the Motion Picture Association of partly rely on a good home-game
America, visits the Penn Stater. The turnout. Some vendors have noticed a
event will include lunch and is spon- decrease in their sales and number of
sored by the Penn State Faculty Staff customers because of the Lions’ losing
Club. I ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT, Page 9. streak | LOCAL, Page 4.
Jeff Hantz is one of about 750
University Park students who
receives services from the Office for
Disability Sen/ices.
mobility and even heart troubles are
included, requiring accommodations to
be made based on the functional limita
tions of the individual
Ritzman said reasonable accommoda
tions are made for Penn State students
and employees based on their limita
tions. Fbr example, a sign language
interpreter is provided for a student with
a hearing impairment. Priority schedul
ing and priority snow removal are also
offered to students in wheelchairs.
Accommodations are also made for
employee settings.
In tlie case of a disabled Penn State
worker, it is Ritzman’s responsibility to
ensure appropriate modifications are
made to the structure and the manner of
the work.
“Eveiy case is looked at on an individ
ual basis, and a lot of time and attention
to detail goes into each employment
accommodation we work with,” Ritzman
said in an e-mail message.
enrollment
students to Commonwealth Campus
es instead of University Park as their
first choice.
Wager and Romano do not antici
pate the number of students surpass
ing the designated limit of 42,000.
Romano said there are forces that
See ENROLLMENT, Page 2.
Patemo
responds
to arrest
By Robert Spruck
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER | fjs336@psu.edu
Penn State football coach Joe Patemo isn’t
happy with Tony Johnson and for once it has
nothing to do with his play on the field.
Johnson was arrested early Friday morning
for driving under the influence. His blood alco
hol level was at 0.136 percent, which exceeds
the state’s 0.08 legal limit.
Patemo said yesterday at his weekly press
conference that he would suspend Johnson for
the incident.
“I am probably going to have to suspend him
for a game or so,” Patemo said. “Because I
have to send a message to the squad that it is
inappropriate to be out in the middle of the
week having a couple of drinks.”
But Patemo later contradicted himself and
said that he hadn’t made a decision on the situ
ation.
“I said I didn’t know what I was going to do,”
he said. “I really don’t know what I am going to
do.”
Patemo called Tony Johnson “a really good
kid” and “a hard worker.”
He claimed that the media would cause
Johnson’s situation to become out of control.
See PATERNO, Page 2.
2 athletes
to attend
alcohol
program
By Nicole Charsar
and Rob Riva
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITERS
nmcls2@psu.edu, rerlsB@psu.edu
Penn State football players Jeremy Kapinos
and E.Z. Smith both had their cases decided
this week.
Kapinos, a punter for the Nittany Lions, was
found not guilty on the charge of disorderly
conduct and entered a provisional guilty plea to
the charge of underage drinking.
“[The prosecution] did not prove the element
of the crime and that [Kapinos] did it,” District
Justice Ronald Homer said in reference to the
disorderly conduct charge.
The underage drinking charge was Kapinos’
second in as many years. He was charged in an
earlier incident on Aug. 25,2002.
Kapinos was referred to the Youthful Offend
ers’ Program for the alcohol violation.
“There was no hearing, he just uses the
Youthful Offenders’ Program,” Horner said.
“It’s a summary offense. He pays the fees, and
then it is dismissed.”
The program is an alternative to the stan
dard fine and permanent police record for
youths cited for underage drinking or drug use
in Centre County.
Kapinos is required to pay a program fee of
$175 and complete a total of 15 course hours of
class.
Both charges stemmed from events involv
ing a fight outside of Nittany Apartments on
September 7.
Smith, an offensive lineman, was cited twice
for underage drinking, once on July 27 and
once on Aug. 2, outside his residence at Nittany
Apartments.
Smith was found not guilty on the second
underage drinking charge, but he pleaded a
pre-adjudication disposition in regard to the
first charge.
As with Kapinos, Smith was referred to the
Youthful Offenders’ Program. Upon completion
of the course, the underage drinking charge
will be dropped.
Smith was suspended from the football team
by the Office of Judicial Affairs and has not
played in any games this year.
©2003 Collegian Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Calendar 3 Opinions
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