The Collegian : the weekly newspaper of Behrend College. (Erie, PA) 1989-1993, December 07, 1989, Image 1
Love Rob starts food fight in the Gorge - Page 5 The 111/ ...p Thursday, December 7, 1989 Behrend's Weekly Newspaper Volume XXXVIII, No. 13 Differences Linger Between SGA and Food Services by Mark Owens Collegian Staff Writer Nearly three months after an SGA report questioned food prices at the Wintergreen Cafe, there are still differeitces of opinion among the SGA and officials at Food and Housing. Lorenzo Paul, an SGA Commuter Senator, says student government accepted the price concessions because they were better than nothing. "The situation was, with all the meetings and efforts made, the best we could do was what was done." However, Al Vogan, Assistant Manager of Food and Housing, says prices in general have stayed the same since The Collegian story ran September 20th. "Prices in the Cafe store are based on what the distributor charges me," said Vogan. "Many of the slight increases in the convenience store are due to distributor price increases." Vogan said many of the problems that surfaced early in the year were caused .by upper level management decisions. "The hours at the Cafe were changed because they (upper management) decided to offer healthy food instead of snack food." The hours for the pizza shop, according to Vogan, were shortened to promote healthy eating habits. The hours were returned to original after student protest. "Ultimately we are a service orientation," he said, "and we need to offer services which are desired." As far as prices are concerned, Vogan noted the "convenience store is a new area for us. No where else do we have this intense of a convenience store set-up in the Penn State system. We were being educated to convenience store operations." He added prices this year are very Review of Billy Joel's latest album "Storm Front" - Page 8 close to last year's and many pricing decisions are made by university budget makers. Penn State's tax exempt status is also a factor in the prices charged at the Cafe, according to Vogan. He explained legislation is being considered to regulate services offered by non profit organizations and universities competing with commercial businesses. Though Behrend currently doesn't face a problem with it's tax-exempt status, Vogan says "I do know I don't want Penn State to be in the middle of it." He added the people who decide what should be offered and at what price have to take the legislation and other factors into consideration. "Sometimes they have to pick the lesser of two evils; they can either charge a higher rate to offer the services or compete with local businesses and maybe lose (continued on page 3) Where we race in the 90's now: Staff seek more programs next semester by Tony Olivito Collegian Staff Writer "It's a begining," said Elvage Murphy, coordinator of human relations. Murphy was referring to events concerning race relations that have transpired at Behrend this semester. The knowledge gained from various programs and incidents will be built upon and serve as the basis for next semester's programs, according to Murphy: Murphy stated he would like to see the issue taken to another level. His concern was that people should not focus on the same arguments, but rather try to gain different perspectives. This "broadening of horizons" can be achieved in many areas, according to Dean of Student Services Chris Reber. Reber cited photo by Chuck Groner 'Tis the season: Behrend Library displays decorated Christmas tree. Sports Editor John Musser's Sporting View - Page 16 B=MZEMIN go from relations the speaker series as evidence of this diversity. Notable minority figures such as Martin Luther King 111, Benjamin Hooks and Gloria Steinam will speak at Behrend next semester. Other contributors include student organizations such as Women Today and ABC, Human Relations Programming Coucil and other student organizations. Most notably, the forum on race relations,_ sponsored by the Human Relations Programming Council, showed that people are aware of the problem and are thinking clearly, according to Provost and Dean John M. Lilley. It also proved that people realized the reality of the situation and the need to work out solutions. As for possible confrontations or tensions in the future, Lilley (continued on page 4)