On Tuesday, Dec. 19, the day Penn State reshaped the future of its athletic program, University Park was quiet. Campus had become a ghost town following the conclusion of final exams the previous Saturday.

The momentous announcement emanating from Kern Building late that snowy afternoon fell upon deaf ears. Students would hear of Penn State joining the Big 10 Conference, in brief, through their local media.

With the pilgrimage back to Happy Valley, interest and opinion about Penn State's joining the likes of Michigan, Illinois and Ohio State should begin to heat up again.

"I'm thrilled were going to be part of (the Big 10)," freshman Deann Taylor said. "By the time I graduate we will be competing with some of the best teams in the country every year."

Taylor's feelings are shared by most of the students moving back and fighting lines for books in anticipation of classes beginning today.

"I'm all for it," sophomore Jeff Cornwell said. "The Big 10 has a lot of tradition behind it. Putting teams like Ohio State and Michigan on our schedule will be good for us."

In the last decade Penn State's football team won two national championship s (1982 and 1986), establishing itself as one of the top programs in the country. Penn State's move into the Big 10 will most likely help up-and-coming programs such as the men's basketball team, which won 20 games last year capturing an NIT bid.

"Basketball is a sport that recently has started to gain some attention after last year," junior Peter Niestroy said. "Recruitment-wise, people start seeing that Penn State is in the Big 10 and that can help basketball and other sports on the way up."

At the mid-December press conference both Penn State president Bryce Jordan and Illinois president Stanley O. Ikenberry, chairman of the Council of 10, stressed academic as well athletic ramifications.

Ikenberry, who officially extended the invitation to Penn State, listed academics as the first priority.

"The Big 10 universities are among the best our country has to offer," Ikenberry said. "From an academic standpoint Penn State is also comparable in quality to our member universities."

Jordan, who accepted Ikenberry's invitation, agreed.

"The prospect of Penn State's having formal athletic ties with a group of institutions with which we have so much in common academically has a very strong appeal," he said.

Students, however, still view Penn State's membership in the Big 10 as a mostly athletic move.

"Penn State is a school that is regarded very highly academically, as are many schools in the Big 10," Niestroy said. "But as to how the move will help Penn State academically, I don't know. I think the move was mostly athletic-based."

"I think it may put more stress on the academics of the athletes," Taylor said. "People will probably pay more attention to how they do in school."

"To me it seems to be about money and athletics," Cornwell said. "I don't see how it can help academics."