This letter is to inform concerned parties about the situation of money cuts in the student affairs departments of various Commonwealth Campuses and the effects it is having. From my perspective, I see the damage Old Main administrators are doing to individual Commonwealth Campuses.

The Commonwealth Campuses are individual -- we are not a huge conglomerate as the central administrators think we are. We have different concerns and are in need of different things. We cater to different people in each region of Pennsylvania. We, unlike University Park, are truly diverse in our approach to education as well as recruitment. It is essential the central administration treats us such.

Unfortunately, that is not the case. The Old Main administrators choose to treat us as one huge entity that is the same everywhere. They neglect that what is good for Hazleton Campus is not necessarily good for New Kensington Campus. Each campus has to recruit the students to fill the campus classes each year without overtly stepping on the toes of University Park and the central administration. That alone makes it extremely difficult to make the required funds to keep individual campuses afloat.

With that in mind, I must tell you that we are enrollment driven. This translates into the fact that if your enrollment decreases, so does your funding.

The current funding for campuses is terribly inadequate to provide the incentive for students to stay in the Penn State system. Often they opt to transfer to another system better serving their needs. The University talks about higher enrollments, but the fact remains that even when a Commonwealth Campus does increase its enrollment, it still suffers cuts in student programs and services. When this happens, campuses that already can not afford to provide viable activities go even further into oblivion and students become apathetic with the institution.

One of two outcomes can occur: First thing is the "Suitcase Syndrome" in which students leave the dorms on weekends and do not return until Monday classes. The second thing happening is the campus executive officer further cuts its services student affairs department and destroys the student government -- they need that money to stay afloat.

What is the answer? A step in the right direction might be to treat the CES as a diverse whole and actually listen to student leaders instead of paying lip service to them.

I am not being unduly harsh, I will provide my input to any administrator if they want it. If they begin to listen to the students, just maybe, all parties concerned can come to an agreement on how to tackle this even expanding problem before it tackles the CES.