COLLEGIAN 100 YEARS AprillBB7•Aprill9B7 University jumping over courses By CHRISTINE NICHOLAS Collegian Staff Writer , One year it's business. The next, it may be foreign languages or the humanities. But regardless of which major field of study is popular to college students at the time, University administra tors must jump to meet students' demands. Anticipating the demands of stu dents at Penn State is a job undertak en by three administrators in conjunction with college deans and department heads, who pass the word up from the students and faculty about what, changes are needed to meet rising or falling demand. The team which monitors up coming educational trends and diag noses the University's approach to them consists of William Richard son, executive vice president and provost; Carol Cartwright, dean for undergraduate programs and asso ciate provost; and Ken Mortimer, vice president and vice provost. Assembly faces rebuilding after year of 'invisible' status By ROBERT P. KING Collegian Staff Writer The Undergraduate Student Gov ernment's Academic Assembly is try ing to stage a comeback. "We're starting from scratch," Me lissa Lutzko, the assembly's newly elected president, said Wednesday. "Some foundations have been laid, but for the most part we're starting from the ground and working up." The assembly, the arm of USG that deals with academic issues, has been largely invisible on campus since last spring, say several current and for mer USG officials. They blame a variety of factors, from the structure of the assembly itself to its leadership during the past year. Lutzko and the other new officers plan to reopen lines of communica tion with the USG executives, which became somewhat strained this year, and use flyers and publicity to give the assembly a higher profile. "Academic Assembly has an image problem nobody knows what it is," said Lutzko's predecessor, Debbie Roberts. Some critics, who include USG Sen ate President Joe Scoboria and for mer USG President Matt Baker, said Roberts let the organization deterio rate while missing key meetings and avoiding the USG office. She, in turn, said Baker and former USG Vice President Sue Sturgis didn't communicate with the assem bly and also set up outside bodies, such as the Committee Regarding Excellence in Education at Penn the daily Their job is vital because "the people who spot the trends and get in early are going to be in better shape when the real crunch comes," Cartw right said. The emerging nationwide "crunch," causing increased demand for faculty and university programs, appears to be in the humanities, liberal arts and languages. In addition, a number of University colleges and departments are follow ing a comprehensive "enrollment management" plan to keep the num ber of students in particular fields within the limits of its class sizes and number of available faculty. Enrollment controls now affect: • All majors in the College of Business Administration. • • All majors in the College of Engineering, except engineering sci ence and agricultural engineering. • Hotel, restaurant and institutio nal management in the College of• Health and Human Development. • Advertising in the School of Communications. `Academic Assembly has to look at restructuring and get people there who do want to work.' —Debbie Roberts, Academic Assembly president State, to do tasks within the assem bly's jurisdiction. . But the assembly also has deeper problems, including a structure that promotes weakness, several current and former members said. Whatever the reasons, they said, Academic Assembly's inactivity has prevented it from being what it could be one of the most influential student groups on campus. Academic Assembly is made of about 20 voting members, two from every college on campus. Usually rules for the colleges vary each college's members are the vice presi dent of the college's undergraduate student council and the student who represents that college on the Faculty Senate. Unlike members of other student groups, such as the USG Senate, which can only urge the University administration to follow a particular course of action, faculty senators actually have a hand in making poli cies that affect students. That, com bined with the student councils' role in advising college deans on academ ic policies, could make the assembly a conduit for a strong student voice. The assembly also has conducted surveys on matters such as cheating, the academic environment and the olle • lan e Computer science in the College of Science: - :::: - : •-• • Petroleum and natural gas engi neering in the College of Earth and Mineral Science. Despite enrollment controls 'in some fields and scrambles to find faculty in others, not all academic fields are growing. Cartwright said fields like comput er science and chemical engineering are "softening" from a lessened stu dent interest. Today's students are more inter ested in a computer science back ground rather than a major in computer science, and a general de pression in the oil industry has less ened students' interest in oil-related fields like chemical engineering, she said. However, in popular fields like business and engineering, where more faculty are severely needed, Cartwright said the University ad ministration will "go full-board to find them." In fact, the University has funds in plus/minus grading system set to go into effect next semester. "Academic Assembly should be stronger than the (USG) Senate," Baker said, adding that the assembly has "credibility with the administra tion and the Faculty Senate." But this year, he said: "It isn't using it. . . . As far as academics goes, I didn't see them accomplish anything." Roberts said "not as many issues came up" this year as compared with 1985-86, but she also acknowledged that "Academic Assembly didn't cre ate any." She pointed, however, to accomplishments such as the assem bly's third annual advising banquet March 11, which honored a faculty member selected by students as an excellent adviser. Roberts said the assembly's prob lems included attendance at the group's meetings, which at times drew only about half the voting mem bers. She said a bigger problem was a communication gulf between the as sembly and the rest of USG. Characteristic of that, Roberts said, was Baker's formation of CREEPS. Both agreed that CREEPS overlaps with the assembly a lot. Please see ASSEMBLY, Page 5. ,a "teaching workload reserve" to use - in such situations. Mortimer said the fund, controlled by Richardson, en ables administrators to "respond to anticipated changes in student pref erence patterns." Competition for faculty in popular fields is fierce nationwide, and Car twright said people in these fields are difficult to find. Also, a university's success in gaining faculty may be offset by the number of faculty mem bers who retire or are recruited to other universities. But Mortimer said Penn State is usually able to hang on to faculty here , who are being recruited by other universities. This is especially true with senior faculty members, since their deans are likely to express personal interest in keeping them often by working with Mortimer and other administrators to encourage them to stay. One area where faculty are highly recruited and difficult to find is busi ness. Please see FACULTY, Page 4 Voters like union By VICTORIA PETTIES Collegian Staff Writer Overwhelming support for a refer endum asking students whether they support a student-run credit union moves organizers "a step closer to their goal." Head Elections Commissioner Bob Butler said 89 percent of University students who answered the question voted in favor of a federally-char tered credit union operated by stu dents. Co-organizer Andrew Hannah said the results of the referendum will be used to demonstrate the economic feasibility of the credit union to the University administration and to the National Federal Credit Union Asso ciation. The credit union could begin oper ating as early as Fall Semester 1987 with some services such as saving accounts, Guaranteed Student Loans and automatic teller machines, Han nah said. By Spring Semester 1988, the credit union might be operating full time. Butler said 3,906 University stu dents voted in favor of establishing a Credit union spot pushed By VICTORIA PETTIES Collegian Staff Writer The University Student Executive Council presented recommendations in support of the pullout of Mid-State Bank on campus if the space is allo cated to the student-run credit union. Mid-State Bank has not made pub lic their decision whether to continue to conduct business on campus. The bank's lease expires April 30. Undergraduate Student Govern ment Senate President Joe Scoboria said the services offered to Universi ty students are too important to lose unless another student service is placed in the location. Earlier, University officials con tacted USEC for their recommenda tions for the space allocation. In support of the credit union, the recommendation read: "It is suitable that in this situation, a student serv ice which has existed for some time is being replaced by a better student service." Also, the recommendations ad dressed increasing the number of automatic teller machines on cam pus. East Halls students have asked that more automatic teller machines be set up in that area. "The sheer number of students in East Halls guarantees that automatic teller machines would be both well received and well used." Seoboria submitted the report Town/gown relations tense By KARL HOKE Collegian Staff Writer Should the University manage to avoid the proposed business priv ilege tax, the strain on the already tense relationship between the town and the University would more than likely intensify, people on both sides of College Avenue are saying. Enforcement of the open con tainer ordinance and underage drinking laws, police handling of a recent murder investigation, a shortage of convenient parking downtown, have also tested town gown relations. news analysis Michael Groff, borough tax ad ministrator, said the proposed tax, as stated, would subject the Uni versity's non-educational profit making activities to the 1.5-mill tax. However, Groff, State College Municipal Council members and business owners believe the Uni versity will take the issue to court if the ordinance is passed. University officials and their legal counsel would not comment on the issue. Mike Goodwin, director of the Friday April 10, 1987 • Vol. 87, No. 166 24 pages University Park, Pa. 16802 Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University ©1987 Collegian Inc. credit union, while 485 opposed the question. Not every University student who voted during the Undergraduate Stu dent Government elections in March answered the two questions on a separate ballot concerning the credit union, Butler said. Putting the student credit union in Mid-State Bank's location at the Penn State Bookstore on campus if the bank closes was favored by 90 Or cent of University students voting. Out of 4,354 University students who voted, 3,916 voters favored the credit union in the Mid-State bank location if they cease business while 438 voters voted against the question. Though the referendum was voted on by less than 20 percent of the students, the percentage needed for it to pass, the referendum is still consid ered valid, Butler said. Butler explained that the referen dum was used only as a sample of student opinion. The referendum results were two weeks following the USG elections, Butler said, because volunteer work ers had to be recruited to count the ballots. along with Dave Hall, chairman of the Student Organization Budget Committee; Bobbi Melchiorre, presi dent of the Association of Residence Hall Students; and Amy Manderino, former Undergraduate Student Gov ernment senator. In other business, Ken Martin, Uni versity student representative to the President's Planning and Budget Ad visory Committee, presented a sur vey of student budget priorities. The report, completed by Martin, surveyed 286 University students from the 11 colleges and the Division of Undergraduate Studies. The findings of the survey include: • University students' most im portant concern is the cost of their education. However, many viewed freezing tuition as an unrealistic ex pectation, and thus become more attentive to student aid. • University attempts to gain pre stige including offering competitive salaries to recruit star faculty and upgrading the strongest departments are viewed negatively by students. • Funding programs for minority groups on campus such as black students, international students and graduate assistants are not popular. • Sophomores are consistently in favor of minimizing tuition increases. • Seniors and graduate students suggest higher tuition increases in exchange for other services. downtown Student Book Store, said he is concerned about the friction between the University and downtown merchants. ""The tax has put us at each others' throats, which is most un fortunate," he said. Goodwin said the Penn State Bookstore on campus is providing unneccessary competition for his business. The original justification for building the campus bookstore was to offer students a lower price for textbooks, but he said the Uni versity has departed from that purpose. "When should the bookstore be allowed to go beyond the needs of its patrons and serve its wants that has been a bone of contention of mine for some time," Goodwin said. "Of course ( the University) is in commercial business which they are making a profit on," said Ken Kulp, owner of Baskin Robbins, The Candy Shop and Mister Donut, all on the 300 block of East College Avenue. "It's an unfair advantage over me if they are not charged the tax. It's discriminatory," he said, but added, "I have no axe to grind with the University. If not for the University, State College would not be on the map. "But it's unfair competition," he said. Please see TOWN, Page 2
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