Well, I'm finally burnt enough about an event at Penn State to write a letter. I've come close many times, but this one pushes me over the brink! I just heard that the Communication Disorders Department may be phased out over the next three years and I feel a strong sense of outrage. The ax has fallen and the slash and burn philosophy of administration has finally struck too close to my heart.

I'm a rational human being and I'm searching for logic here. I often stand out in the snow in front of Moore Building and have a cigarette, and look over to the demolition work going on at the parking garage. The irony is inescapable! Here's a new construction being razed to its foundation to build a similar but larger stucture that should have been built in the first place (or at least some engineer should have considered the possibility of building it so it could handle expansion.) Oh, the waste!!

Then my thoughts wander to the Com. Dis. Dept. Here's a program that offers its students a 100 percent employment rate. Being a teacher in Pennsylvania for many years, I know the dire need for trained therapists. I see the benefits to the community that are offered by the speech audiology and language clinic services offered through the program. I see enthusiastic, involved students. I also understand the importance of investing in early language and speech intervention to head off later problems of illiteracy, poor self-concept, and communication difficulties. Ah, the savings in the long run! For some reason, these benefits don't carry a lot of weight with the decision makers.

I cannot understand the logic of this decision! Where are the priorities of Penn State? I could go through the litany of the programs and projects presently being funded, which I believe, don't come close to the importance of this program, but alienation of others serves little purpose. I call on the future committee to take the name seriously and contemplate the future in terms of needs of the students and children in the state and local area. I challege those in power to talk to those in power to talk to those who have benefited from this department: the child with cerebral palsy who could never communicate her thoughts until she was fitted with a communication board that allowed her to "talk" with her family and friends; the 20-year-old stutterer who finally spoke fluently before an audience for the first time; and the 5-year-old who learned to control his own articulation problems so that he did not stand out as different in his kindergrten class and thus, did not develop inappropriate behaviors to compensate for the ridicule he might have received. The list could go on and on. If you saw the joy in their eyes you might set money and politics aside for a few minutes.

I call on the president and others in power to take a closer look at this department and to reconsider their decision. Please look at the employment needs and job markets of the state. Please investigate the human side to this situation. I guarantee that the furor and dismay over this cut will not slowly fade away over time.