THE DAILY
James S. Young
Editor in Chief
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OUR OPINION
Some tuition money
does get put toward
university expansion
Students have been staring up at
cranes and construction crews for years
as the university administration contin
ues to remake Penn State in our growing
corporate image. And it comes as shrink
ing state appropriations and growing
costs related to the university doing gen
eral business are causing our tuition to go
up every year. Both phenomena continue
to march on with no end in sight.
The old adage goes that nothing is cer
tain in life except death and taxes. How
ever, at Penn State, nothing is certain
except tuition increases and constructing
that shiny new building for students soon
to be sitting in some pharmacutical com
pany's lab. Students may look toward Old
Main with a silent or not-so-silent rage:
"How dare they rebuild this place to the
point where I won't recognize it in five
years, when it will take me 50 years to
pay off the increasing bills this university
throws on my back?"
The boxed university response to such
inquiries has been steady throughout this
latest phase of expansion, rebuild i ng and
revamping. Time and time again, the
answer has been that Penn State keeps
tuition dollars and the money given from
the state and private donors that go
toward supplementing those dollars, sep
arate from the capital budget, which pays
for construction and physical repairs to
campus infrastructure. In many ways, it
is an accurate statement. The state legis
lature provides money earmarked for
general university operations the
things that tuition dollars also help pay
for separate from its capital appropria
tion. Also, money is solicited from private
donors for specific purposes; separate for
supplementing education and construc
tion.
But there is a hole in this rhetoric, one
you can drive a Mack truck through or
more like a Mack truck full of cash out of
our pockets. The university takes out
loans to pay for construction projects that
; exceed what is available for them in the
capital budget. Penn State spokesman
Tysen Kendig has said that a "significant
portion" of ongoing construction has
• loans taken out on them, and that tuition
• money is used "routinely" to help service
debt.
In other words, tuition money is being
used regularly to pay for construction
projects just in a round-about way that
- takes an accountant to explain. So if you
are a student OK with your extra pocket
cash going to that bridge across Atherton
:Street, then it's all good. But if you've had
that sinking feeling, that latent anger that
:your money is going to feed the steam
rolling construction trend, then guess
what? You were right all along. So make
your voice heard the next time Penn
State decides to put a Taj Mahal next to
your dorm. It's partially your dollar.
Who we are
The Daily Collegian's editorial opinion is determined by its
Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final responsibility. The
letters and columns expressed on the editorial pages are not
necessarily those of The Daily Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The
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Daily Collegian and related publications, is a separate corporate
institution from Penn State. Editorials are written by The Daily
Collegian Board of Opinion.
Members of the Board of Opinion are Daniel Bal, Brent Burkey,
Allison Busacca, Jennette Hannah, Meaghan Haugh, Kathleen
Haughney, Alison Herget, Krystle Kopacz, Bridget Smith, Steve
Swart, Claudia Vargas and James S. Young.
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COLLEGIAN
Julie Columbus
Business Manager
8 I FRIDAY, March 18, 2005
me e se,oewepparzo
Pop w oP
AT tVORY
SroPilqiirr
Wolfowitz's selection
shows radical ideas
Having Paul Wolfowitz head up
the World Bank is like having a fox
guard the hen house.
But President Bush ll's choice
Tuesday is typical not surprising
of his mismanagement. Accord
ing to Wolfowitz's neo-conservative
ideology, the World Bank should
not even exist.
Fbr him, all aspects of social life
are subordinated to the logic of the
marketplace, and thus, any laws or
social programs that get in the
way of a company's profit-motive
are bad and unnecessary.
According to the market funda
mentalism of the neocons, "greed
is good"
However, the very existence of
the World Bank is a testament to
the fact that Bush and Wolfowitz's
satanic "greed is good" approach
to governance does not actually
work in practice.
If greed were indeed good, then
the poor wouldn't be getting poorer
and the Bank wouldn't have to help
out all the nations which were for
merly the colonies of greedy
empires.
Moreover, the former head of
the World Bank, Joseph Stiglitz,
and many others have already
Alumni must not think students to blame
By Jen VVinberry
my
name
is
Jen, and I am a
Penn State stu
dent calling to
talk with you
about some
things going on
at Penn State
Three nights
each week I MY OPINION
phrase to hun-
dreds of Penn State alumni on the
phone in an attempt to inform
them of changes and projects
going on around the university and
to stress the need for support for
the academic colleges here.
Sounds simple enough, and for
the most part, I do not encounter
any opposition at all.
Most of the alumni with whom I
speak are delighted to catch up on
the happenings in Happy Valley.
However, every now and then I
come across a disgruntled alum
nus.
He or she likes to vent to me for
15 minutes about the most ridicu
lous reasons as to why they hate
Penn State.
Believe me, I have heard them
all: bad football seasons; student
riots; speakers such as Michael
Moore; conservative professors
and the overabundance of on-cam
pus construction.
To me, though, all of these com
plaints seem minute when com
pared to the positive nature of the
university.
In the good old days before I
came here, I could walk down the
street with a Penn State shirt on in
virtually any American town.
OPINION 1
explained why market fundamen
talism is idiotic policy for the World
Bank
But we should not be surprised
Early in 2001, Bush appointed
John Negroponte to the U.N.
He is a man infamous for the
Iran-Contra Affair and partially
responsible for the deaths of thou
sands of children in Nicaragua.
For Secretary of Education, he
appointed Rod Paige.
Paige said that teachers unions
were terrorist organizations.
Christine Todd Whitman
resigned from the Environmental
Protection Agency . because Bush
wouldn't let her ... protect the
environment.
And now Wolfowitz.
University Park must
get to capitol rally
I would like to aptolaud all of the
commonwealth location students
that attended the Rally in the
Rotunda yesterday in Harrisburg.
The Commonwealth came out in
what I felt was an excellent repre
sentation, but again this year, Uni
versity Park was virtually non-exis
tent.
This is a major concern, since
I would get stopped by at least
one friendly alumnus who insisted
on a 20-minute conversation about
football, State College bars or life
on campus.
But now I am more likely to get
stopped by an alumnus who wants
to chew me out about why they
despise the school.
As I listen patiently to their
gripes, I cannot help but wonder
why I have been chosen to receive
the brunt of this unnecessary
anger.
Have I wronged them in some
way? No.
Do I encompass absolutely
everything bad about Penn State?
No.
I cannot help but wonder if the
tumble of the football team has
taken over the past few years is at
the unfortunate epicenter of these
heinous events.
Winning records, bowl games
and national championships seem
to wipe away all the concerns of
everyone associated with the uni
versity, including its over 450,000
alumni.
But without this gridiron suc
cess, the Nittany Lion faithful just
aren't as faithful.
Attendance is significantly lower
at each game, school spirit
amongst students is almost non
existent, and interactions between
alumni and current students are
bitter.
I feel as if I am being held per
sonally responsible for the strug
gles the team faces on the field, as
if I can get on that field and make
them any better.
"Zach, right here, Fm open!"
Ihist me, you wouldn't want me
out there with the big kids, and if I
were, we'd be a lot worse off than
we are now
It seems as though we attend
these appropriations affect all stu
dents at every location, and it's
time that the students of Universi
ty Park step it up and show that
they as well are concerned with
the increasing tuition.
Contact your local legislator, or
call the CCSG office or your USG
governmental affairs representa
tive.
They can help show you how to
make a difference.
This inaction is what has
allowed the appropriations to
decrease so sharply over the last
10 years, and will continue to
haunt students for years to come if
we do not change this negative
trend.
Steven Thomas
graduate-English
Administration must
make Easter day off
It was nice to see all of my fami
ly over spring break, but it wasn't
so nice knowing that I can't see
them for an upcoming major holi
day that Penn State is not recog
nizing Easter.
More people on this campus
observe Easter than any other reli
gious holiday, yet we don't get one
day off to travel and see family.
Sure, we could go home for the
What is more absurd is those people who can do
something to fix the problems alumni have with
the school, officials specifically, are rarely called
upon by these irate alumni.
the games in masses, sport the
blue and white each day of the
week and even goes as far as to
road trip it to away games.
But still disgruntled alumni
blame us for not bringing home a
national championship each year.
I do not like to make sweeping
generalizations, because often
times they are wrong.
And in this case, I am not trying
to make such a generalization
because I do not think all alumni
behave in this manner.
In fact, I think most alumni do
not behave in this manner. Howev
er, those that do put a bad taste in
my mouth.
Recently I have heard a lot of
opposition to Penn State.
That is because of various politi
cal ideologies alumni associate
with the university. Some conser
vatives now hate Penn State
because of Moore's appearance
here in the fall.
And some liberals now hate
Penn State because of the apparent
lack of racial diversity and intoler
ance for the LGBT on campus.
As students, I think most of us
try to make Penn State what we
want it to be for ourselves.
Most of us would like to see the
campus become more racially and
ethnically diverse.
And I am sure virtually all of us
would like to see an end to the ran
dom and unwarranted acts of hate
that have been reported on cam
pus within the past few weeks.
For alumni to hold each individ-
David Mory
junior -American studies
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
AIR
FoRCG
ai@?
weekend, but Easter is on a Sun
day, so we would just be traveling
on that Sunday to be back for
classes on Monday.
Earlier this year, we were grant
ed Martin Luther King Day off
starting in 2006, and now I read in
Wednesday's Collegian that a stat
ue honoring him is being consid
ered.
Don't get me wrong, Kung was a
very important figure in shaping
our nation.
But the administration is just
trying to give a good name for
themselves after all of the racial
pandemonium happening here.
I have never met one person in
my life who travels somewhere for
MLK Day.
But I know that thousands of
others on this campus wish they
could for Easter.
Having the Monday after Easter
off would give a majority of stu
dents the opportunity to travel for
the holiday, whereas having MLK
Day off will just give students the
opportunity to booze it up for one
extra night.
Christianity is the largest reli
gion on campus, and the adminis
tration will not grant us its biggest
holiday?
Please, give me a break
An Easter break, that is.
Mike Skurko
freshman-meteorology
ual student responsible for whatev
er unresolved issue they have with
the university is absurd, as if we
could really do anything about it
anyway.
What is more absurd is those
people who can do something to fix
the problems alumni have with the
school, officials specifically, are
rarely called upon by these irate
alumni.
I understand that I am a repre
sentative of the university.
And in some way or another we
all are.
I understand that virtually all of
our alumni are friendly, consider
ate and genuinely good people.
But the few that aren't make the
school look really bad to outsiders
just as students who riot and com
mit assaults on campus do.
But it doesn't have to be this
way. Alumni don't have to hold
grudges against the university and
its students for decades after
they've graduated and students
don't have to do dumb things to
make us all look terrible.
If we all just try to be a little
more considerate to each other,
then we can very easily change
those 15-minute rants.
We can change them from
unhappy graduates into the 20-
minute pleasant conversations
between Penn State's past and
future graduates.
Jen Winberry is a senior majoring in polti
cal science and is a Collegian columnist.
Her e-mail is JenW@psu.edu.