4 I Thursday, Sept. 30,2010 Student Satisfaction Survey Penn State students rate TEACHING QUALITY: 81/J% COURSE AVAILABILITY: 68.2% OUT OF CLASS EXPERIENCE: f:;» (clubs /sports) • -4 / 0 SENSE OF BELONGING AT P5U:79.0% FACULTY AVAILABILITY: ;>■> |«/ (Opportunity to meet with faculty outside of class) 1 > O Source: 2010 Student Satisfaction Summary Report Survey reflects satisfied students By Micah Wintner COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Penn State students are satis fied with their college experience in Happy Valley, according to the 2010 student sat- isfaction survey. Nearly 30,000 University Park Common- wealth Campus students were e mailed the sur- vey, which asked students to rate Harper factors such as their sense of belonging at Penn State and the overall quality of campus security. Betty Harper, director of Student Affairs Research and Assessment, said the results are sent to the deans of each college and to representatives from all of Penn State’s campuses. According to the survey, 80.2 percent of University Park stu dents surveyed in 2002 said they would choose to attend Penn State if they had to start college again. That number increased to 91.6 percent in the 2010 survey. Despite decreases in satisfac tion in some areas, Harper said they were minimal. “If you look at the numbers it was a very minor decrease. It doesn’t overwhelmingly concern me,” she said. Fbr example, overall satisfac tion with the campus bookstore decreased by .2 percent, and resources for minority students decreased by .5 percent. But these decreases didn’t overshadow the high percentage of student satisfaction in most other areas. According to the survey, 81.9 Sovereign Bank is a Member FDIC and a wholly owned subsidiary of Banco Santander, S.A, © 2010 Sovereign Bank I Sovereign and Santander and its logo are registered trademarks of Sovereign Bank and Santander, respectively, or their affiliates or subsidiaries in the Unrted States and other countries. 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Maximum $75 bonus per customer Checking account must be open to receive bonus. Annual percentage yield <APY) for Free Student Savings «s 0.05% as of 9/1/10 and « subject to change at any time and after account opening. Fees may reduce earnings. The total amount of the bonus credited to you? account will be reported to the IRS as interest on your Form 1099-IMT for the year in which the bonus is paid. Current personal checking customers or anyone who has had a personal checking account with Sovereign Bank or any of its divisions m the last 6 months are not el gibie tor th s offer Cannot be combined with other persona! checking offers Offer available only to residents in the following states; ME. VT, NH, CT. Rl, MA. NY, NJ, PA. WV, MD, DE, District of Columbia Sovereign Team Members are not eligible for th=s offer, t According to The Banker. December 2009. Jaclyn McKay/Collegian “It was a very minor decrease. It doesn’t overwhelmingly concern me.” Betty Harper Student Affairs Research and Assessment director percent of students reported that they were happy with the quality of their classroom facilities, and 83.4 percent said they were satis fied with the level of academic integrity. Only 68.8 percent of students said they were satisfied with aca demic advising, according to the survey, a low percentage com pared to the results in other cate gories. Linda Higginson, assis tant dean for advising, said the response rate among division of undergraduate studies students was “unhealthy.” “Less than 100 students responded, which is very disap pointing when you consider how large DUS is,” Higginson said. Overall response rate to the survey was only 17 percent, a number both Higginson and Harper said they would like to see increase in future surveys. Harper said the survey’s length eight pages could be a deterrent when students con sider filling it out. “Every time we do a survey that’s one of the things we look at. Can we shorten it?” Harper said. The results did show an increase in satisfaction in cam pus sports facilities, health care services and counseling and psy chological services. To e-mail reporter: mawS43B@psu.edu am/7 5 LOCAL No plans to recolonize chapter By Megan Rogers COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Phi Delta Theta’s alumni Board of Directors say there are no plans in the works to recolo nize the chapter at Penn State. Its national headquarters dis banded the fraternity in 2008 for violating the chapter’s alcohol policies, former Phi Delta Theta president Kevin Haslam said. The same alcohol policy is hin dering the board of directors from recolonizing, board member Sandy Deveney said. The current alcohol policy caused the demise of the Penn State chapter, he said. “Until headquarters comes up with a more acceptable alcohol policy, we have no plans ... to recolonize at Penn State,” Deveney said. He said the Phi Delta Theta alumni Board of Directors will discuss what they will do with their money at a December meet ing. “We’re basically standing on the sidelines right now,” he said. “We have the money to get anoth er house if we wanted it, but at this point in time there’s no point thAwing ourselves back in the hole if we don’t agree with our national chapter.” After legal disputes, Penn State purchased the property of the for mer Phi Delta Theta house in May 2010 for $ 1.75 million. Interfraternity Council (IFC) LGBTA seeks input for coordinator By Matt Scorzafave COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER Penn State’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, IVansgender and Ally (LGBTA) Student Resource Center is searching for a pro gramming coordinator and hop ing for student input. Brian Patchcoski, the assistant director of the LGBTA Student Resource Center, said the newly created position will be funded by the Division of Student Affairs through June 30, 2012. At that time the university will evaluate its financial standing and whether the position has proven to be ben eficial, he said. “We’re being held accountable, which is good,” Patchcoski said. According to an email sent out by the LGBTA Student Resource Center, the person filling the posi tion will “be responsible for the design and implementation of educational programming and outreach to LGBTA under-served -‘SiJLI'-; Construction workers demolish the Phi Delta Theta fraternity house in August. There are no current plans to recolonize a Penn State chapter. President Max Wendkos said the IFC never expelled Phi Delta Theta from the IFC. Wendkos (senior-psychology and market ing) said he believes former brothers have joined with Tau Delta Phi, another fraternity. But before they recolonized with Tau Delta Phi, the former brothers attempted to re-emerge as a local fraternity called the Phi Society, Haslam, Class of 2010, said. The attempt was unsuccessful because Penn State does not allow local fraternities, and the two other chapters of the Phi Society declined to form a nation al chapter, he said. populations on campus.” Allison Jones, president of Rainbow Roundtable, said LGBTA will be hosting a lunch and presentation today and next Thursday to introduce the poten tial candidates to students and get their input. Patchcoski said the center began its search to fulfill the posi tion late this past summer and had a large pool of candidates. Patchcoski said he believes adding the position will be benefi cial to students. “We need to outreach and con tinue to expand in order to make sure we’re meeting the needs of Penn State students, State College residents and students across the commonwealth,” he said. Students in the LGBTA com munity said they were excited upon hearing of the new position. “I think it’s very necessary since Penn State’s LGBTA Student Resource Center rims Open a new Student Banking Package. Add great features. The Daily Collegian “At that point, Tau Delta Phi approached the former brothers and said they wanted to take us on because the brothers had a lot of ‘character,’ ” Haslam said. Haslam said it is possible that students who were pledging Phi Delta Theta who were encour aged to join other fraternities but declined to do so are still living in fraternity houses now. But all former brothers of Phi Delta Theta have graduated, he said. The property, 243 N. Burrowes Rd., is currently undergoing con struction to be converted into a green space. To e-mail reporter: mers2oo@psu.edu If you go What: LGBTA Programming Coordinator Interviews When: 12 p.m. today Where: 107 HUB the most program resources in the nation,” Julian Haas (junior sociology) said. Haas, an intern with the center, said he has been pleased with Penn State’s attempts to reach out to the community. Today’s lunch and presentation will feature Edward Johns, a peer adviser from the University of Hawaii-Hilo, Jones (senio-nurs ing) said. Patchcoski said he is excited to see what the future holds. “This is reiterating that we are doing our best work to reach all groups on campus,” he said. To e-mail reporter: mrss429@psu.edu
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