I would like to comment on the action currently under consideration by the administration of the College of Agriculture with regard to the Circleville Farm -- the University's Student Farm.

I am a graduate student in agricultural economics, and have participated in projects at Circleville since I came to the University, in January, 1987.

At this time the administration is considering "restructuring" Circleville Farm, divorcing it from the students and staff who have been operating it for the past several years, and eliminating a singular opportunity for practical agricultural education at Penn State.

The reasons behind this move are unclear to all who are involved with the farm. The administration seems to have come up with their plan without ever having consulted the people who run Circleville Farm.

It was primarily through student effort that the farm was conceived and funded, and in the years since, student involvement has been the driving force behind the farm's operation.

Students participate in management decisions and are responsible for all day-to-day aspects of farm activities.

This includes planning and implementation of all fieldwork, livestock husbandry and marketing of farm products, as well as educational workshops put on to benefit the college and community.

As a result of the care and commitment of the students who run Circleville, the farm is in wonderful shape.

The administration has declined to become involved with or show support for the farm since its inception. However, due to the interest and dedication to agriculture of many students, staff and faculty, Circleville has become a vibrant "learning center," offering possibilities for growth and education not available at any other facility in the College.

Nowhere else at Penn State can students actually make farm management decisions. Nowhere else can they gain practical farming skills.

The current push by the administration to do away with these enormously important opportunities at Circleville, is baffling to those of us who have been deriving great benefit from them. Especially since no justification for this action has been forthcoming.

Circleville Farm is a resource not found at many other large agricultural institutions, and was an attractive feature to me during the process of deciding whether or not to come to Penn State.

For people in my own situation, who have the goal of becoming successful farm operators, but who do not come from farming backgrounds, hands-on agricultural experience is a treasure.

I know many at this University with similar backgrounds and ambitions.

We don't have farms to go home to (yet), where there might be the means to try out various production methods or agricultural enterprises. Having a facility at school where we can obtain skills is crucial to our successful transition into a farming life.

It is unconscionable of the college administration to attempt to deprive students of this unique and effective educational facility.

"Restructuring" Circleville Farm would mean removing the present staff, student managers and experimental learning structure, and making it just one more component of general farm operations, which doesn't have much to do with students.

This would utterly destroy its tremendous value as a center for practical agricultural education. What is the College of Agriculture trying to teach its students, anyway?