Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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review7campus Human Development East Building Nurses Have New Home The New Human Development East Nursing Building was completed and opened to the public in October of 1979. The building will serve as labora- tory, classroom center and career re- source center for the 550 under- graduates presently enrolled in the School of Nursing. The Department of Health, Educa- tion, and Welfare provided two-thirds of the funding needed, and the Uni- versity supplied one-third, after the ini- tial plans were okayed in January of 1977. Services of the nursing consultation center will be open to the community as well as University students, faculty, and staff. The People's Choice Hal Shaffer t10th-Political Sciencei and Vicki Sandoe t9th-Political Sci- encel were elected president and vice- president of the 1979-80 Under- graduate Student Government. Out of a 26 percent studenUvoter turnout, Shaffer-Sandoe received about 38 per- cent of the vote with a total of 2,431 votes. Tom Feeney and his running mate AI McKenna were Shaffer's clos- est competitors, receiving 1,442 votes; Bonnie Northrup and Vic Dupuis were third with 1,241 votes; Jeff Barrett and Henry Gorczycki were in fourth place with 457 votes; and the Tony Filip- pello-Mike DiPiano ticket was fifth with 382 votes. 24 Review7Campus Test of Endurance After spending up to 34 hours wait- ing in line for a space in the dorms last year, students were more than ready for a new dorm contract submission procedure. But the administration's suggestion for a lottery assignment sys- tem wasn't exactly what they had in mind. The problems began last spring when Housing Services announced a first-come7first-served system for con- tract submission. Fearing they might lose their dorm rooms, some students began lining up early. They spent the night in the cold, filing into union buildings in the morning once the doors opened. As students amused themselves amid the swarm of bodies snaking in and out of numerous rooms, petitions were circulated pro- testing the line-up system. Finally, when Housing decided to accept con- tracts a day early, the lines began to move. Realizing a more efficient system was needed, administrators and repre- sentatives from Housing and Residen- tial Life came up with a proposed Iot- tery assignment for dorm rooms. Under this system, students submitting con- tracts would be assigned as their cards were pulled in the lottery. Student opposition to the lottery came in the form of letters to the Collegian, organized rallies, and an As- sociation of Residence Hall Students poll showing that 71 per cent of those surveyed were against the lottery. Stu- dents said they would have no control in the lottery, that it would split up friends and destroy house unity. In the end, dorm dwellers preferred standing in line to submitting to the luck of the draw. Last fall, ARHS submitted a revised first-come7first-served plan to Univer- sity President John Oswald who later approved it. The proposal required stu- dents to turn in a $45 contract deposit to the bursar in February and to submit contracts spring term in one of ten equal lines outside dorm union build- ings. Up in Smoke Vandalism became a more serious problem for the University this year than it had been in the past. Aside from the usual damages, the University was faced with $26,000 worth of dam- age resulting from an elevator fire in Pinchot Hall. A two-month investigation of the in- cident led to the arrest of a suspect in this and a host of other unrelated criminal activities. The male arrested in connection with the elevator fire is a former resident of Pinchot Hall. He was also charged with 19 counts of arson and vandalism for this and sev- eral other incidents. Pinchot Hall residents were quite concerned that the arsonist be found and several residents helped the police in finding and charging the suspect. If the arsonist had not been found and held responsible for the damages, each of the 311 residents of the dormi- tory in East Halls would have been required to pay approximately $32 to- ward the replacement cost of the elevator. Strong 8t Vital In response to budget tightening and the threat of declining enrollment dur- ing the 1980's, the Penn State plan for the new decade will emphasize re- structure within the University, and pro- gram selectivity in its policy proposals. The plan, with its work divided into four task forces and headed by a steer- ing committee, will attempt to provide specific recommendations for the Uni- versity's goals and priorities this com- ing decade. Senior Vice-president for Adminis- tration Stanley 0. lkenberry said the commitment of the University is to achieve a stronger and more vital Penn State in the 80's than there is at the present time. Also included in the Plan for the 80's are the roles of research and the en- rollment problems at the Com- monwealth campuses. A 31 percent decline in enrollment is forecasted for the Commonwealth campuses in the 80's.

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Milk Myth Destroyed By drinking milk your serum choles- terol level ought to drop. So it appears from the findings of three food scien- tists who say that cholesterol synthesis is inhibited by a milk compound called orotic acid. For years, nutritionalists warned adults of the dangers of milk drinking and its contribution to high cholester- ol. Baloney , say food scientists Dr. Robert D. McCarthy and senior re- search aide Gerald A. Porter. Studies of African Masai tribesmen by other re- searchers, Penn State rat feeding ex- periments, and Vanderbilt University experiments with Americans, all show serum cholesterol levels dropping as more milk was consumed. McCarthy, Porter, and Libyan gradu- ate student Ahmed A. Ahmed, who did much of the Penn State research, en- listed an army of analytical techniques to isolate and identify orotic acid as the cholesterol blocking agent. McCarthy says this acid was first re- ported in milk in 1904, but not fully isolated and identified until Porter and Ahmed's research efforts. In the future, McCarthy would like to explore orotic acid's effect on liver tissue, examining metabolism of com- pounds other than cholesterol. Perhaps in a year or two, we'll have more answers, concludes McCarthy. a.- ; v Catching Rays Costly A few years ago, many people felt we could clean up pollution while re- taining economic growth, says econo- mist Gary A. Shute. Now we're not sure. One of the uncertainties is the apparent collision course between energy and environment. Another is expense. In the position paper Energy and the Environment: Can We Afford Them Both? Shute says, If we contin- ue to strive for a high level of environ- mental quality, the price will be paid in terms of escalated inflation, unemployment, energy short-falls, etc. Solar space heating also has eco- nomic drawbacks. Supplemental solar hot water heat is only marginally eco- nomical in Pennsylvania, unless finan- cial incentives are legislated. If your house is heated by oil, unsubsidized solar heating probably won't pay for itself. In one of those paradoxes that seem to dominate the energy scene, it ap- pears that the pocketbook must be hit even harder before free sun energy is worthwhile. The reason, of course, is that solar heat is not free. The cost of solar equipment, installation, and maintenance is still too high to com- pete with that of present fuels. a 1x G vi f x t f A oimm': w Wm V'gdv mil fr W New Graphics The Applied Research Laboartory, in conjunction with the University's Com' putation Center and the acoustics graduate program, is exploring the ef- fectiveness of computer graphics as a research tool, as well as applying it to specific problems in several fields. A tremendous boom in computer use is predicted, with graphics por- traying everything from weather pat- terns to automobile designs to games and entertainment. Most information that can be shown in a visual, graphic form may end up stored in computers. If so, learning methods developed by ARL's graphics groups .will become in- creasingly important-and not just to scientists and other technical people, but to the general public as well. ReviewIResearch 23

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Inflation Hits Penn State Spiraling costs and unsympathetic legislators in Harrisburg have taken a toll on the University and its students. University President John W. Oswald asked for an increase in the budget to match inflation costs, arguing that if the proposed budget wasn't met, in- creases would be passed on to stu- dents in the form of higher tuition. State representatives didn't give in. They decided to grant state-owned universities a funding increase that was 2 percent greater than the increase for state-related universities like Penn State. More disturbing news came from Harrisburg when a spokesman said that the state should not be looked to as a source of funding for research. These costs, he said, should be absorbed by federal and private sources. This budget cut set the stage for a tuition increase and some reorganiza- tion of general funds. The loss of fund- ing took its toll at the University, how- ever, with a decrease in the quality of programs. Larger classes were formed and there was a decrease in the num- ber of course sections available. Facul- ty members have heavier workloads and have faced a decrease of 3.1 per- cent since 1972. Enrollment in that same period has increased by 11.5 per- cent. Other increases awaited new and re- turning students this Fall Term. The drop-add fee, normally $2, was raised to $6, and in October, the Campus Loop raised its fares to 25c: per ride. Campus News Briefs New Ear for Lion On September 8, sculptor Vincenzo Palumbo came to University Park to carve a new ear for the Nittany Lion Shrine. The Lion's ear was destroyed by vandals during spring term of 1979. Palumbo did the carving at the request of Heinz Warneke, the original Lion sculptor. Warneke made a mold for the new ear and Palumbo worked on the final carving and refitting. Several class members thought the statue, a gift to the University from the class of 1940, should be moved indoors for protection. This suggestion was contested, however, so no plans have been made to move the Lion from its present site by Rec Hall. Rally for Research Students for a Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group, under the coordination of Jeff Goldsmith, fought hard this year for support of their group. After the defeat of the PennPlRG student referendum in last Spring's Un- dergraduate Student Government elec- tions, the group's leaders looked to the U56 for support. All but one of the students on the U56 Executive Council said they thought a majority of University stu- dents were in support of PIRG. But these students were disappointed to hear of University President John W. Oswald's negative stand on the issue. Every Inch Counts The University Department of Hous- ing and Food Services, assisted by Resi- dential Life, began studies to deter- mine if more dormitory space could be created from non-productive space in residence halls. Because vandalism in many study lounges and dorm lobbies had rendered them useless, Housing considered constructing rooms in those areas to meet the increased de- mand for on-campus housing. The studies also tried to determine the optimum number of students which could be housed while still maintaining an adequate standard of living in the residence halls. Costly Dinner Lady Lions' basketball Coach Pat Meiser never thought accepting a seemingly innocent invitation to din- ner would result in a year's probation for all thirteen women's sports teams at Penn State. Meiser accepted a dinner invitation from the persistent mother of a prom- ising high school recruit in 1977, before the rules were revised to prohibit off- campus visits with recruits. A March 1978 article in Sports Illustrated, calling the Association for Intercollegiate Ath- letics for Women a poor rules enforcer, prompted an AIAW investigation of Meiser's recruiting practices and sub- sequent probation for the teams. Push and Shove Over Re-routing students entering Beaver Stadium enabled ushers to call the new seating process the easiest load- ing in years. Under the new system, up- perclassmen were directed up the ramps to the top sections. From there they could filter down into the lower seats, cutting down on mobs entering the lower portals. Further improvements came with stricter enforcement of section desig- nations and traffic flow. ReviewlCampus 25