The Council of Commonwealth Student Governments' first meetings at the Atherton Hilton were held Friday night and Saturday afternoon with an agenda consisting of a speech from a member of the University Board of Trustees, a number of constitutional amendments and a discussion on the recent faculty march at the Delaware County Campus.

The meetings were moved from Findlay Commons to the Atherton Hilton, 125 S. Atherton St., as a result of a proposal submitted by Matthew Plocki at CCSG's October meeting.

Plocki, CCSG activities committee director and Northwest regional director, said the council meeting was a big success, and -- despite a few miscommunication problems with the hotel in areas such as early checkout and direct billing -- the council's needs were served well.

"Overall, I was very impressed," Plocki said. "I think the meeting was at a more professional level because of the atmosphere. "

Ben Novak, a member of the University's Board of Trustees, spoke to the council about student empowerment and Penn State spirit. The Board of Trustees is the highest governing body of the University, performing a variety of duties such as establishing tuition increases and choosing the next University president.

Novak said students must use their imagination and creativity to accomplish their goals themselves, rather than relying on administrators.

"If you want power, stop going to administration and begging," Novak said. "Make people come to you. Every time you ask them (the administration) for something they become more powerful."

Students should not look at attending the University only as a way to get a degree or job, but they should get more out of it, Novak said. This experience is more than four years of good times and drinking, he said.

"Whatever you learn in the classroom will be obsolete in five years," Novak said. Students should strive to make their education something that will increase in value rather than decrease, he said.

Students need to turn things in more than one dimension and work together, because they are the true spirit of Penn State, Novak said.

"The administration is not Penn State," Novak said. "The students, faculty and staff are Penn State, and the administrators are there to facilitate things for the real Penn State."

In other CCSG business, after about 20 minutes of discussion, the council unanimously approved a petition submitted by Ben Faulds, Student Government Association president from the Altoona Campus. The petition is an effort to prevent anticipated cuts in the money the University receives from the state.

Faulds said he is worried that Gov. Tom Ridge will decrease the state's appropriations to the University, which may result in cutting the Commonwealth Campus' budgets. He is asking campus representatives to send petitions signed by faculty, students, staff and other registered voters to their local representatives.

"I think this is a very serious matter and I think people at every campus should be more than willing to sign it," Faulds said.

John Gosart, CCSG coordinator, said he gave his full support to the petition. "I do think this is the greatest proposal CCSG has come up with," he said.

Earlier in the meeting, CCSG approved eight amendments to their constitution, most of which were accepted unanimously. Four of the amendments dealt with removing articles about the University Student Advisory Board from the constitution because the board no longer exists.

Other amendments included changing the name of the internal affairs committee to the student affairs committee in a constitutional article and adding a provision requiring the CCSG coordinator to submit the latest copy of the constitution and the constitutional review committee minutes at the end of his or her term.

Another amendment pertained to striking the names of Penn State Behrend and Penn State Harrisburg from a constitutional article that states the CCSG chairperson is required to be a student from a Commonwealth Campus because, according to another article, these campuses are already included under the definition of Commonwealth Campuses.

The last amendment to the constitution made a provision for the chairperson to have the tie-breaking vote in CCSG business. This amendment was approved with two abstentions.

CCSG also named Eli Shapiro from the Altoona Campus as CCSG campus chairman because Stephen Beck, chairman elected last semester, became ineligible for the position after transferring to University Park.

The council also discussed the recent faculty march at the Delaware County Campus and the letter written by Robert Ginsberg, a philosophy professor from the campus.

The letter was written to protest the budget cuts made within the Commonwealth Educational System and contained a number of proposals encouraging faculty to act against what he called inequity within the University.

But Gosart said he does not want to see the student academic integrity compromised.

"We sympathize, but we do not condone the actions," he said. "As it stands right now, I see this letter as an open call to revolt. I see this as having the potential to snowball."

A proposal to invite Ginsberg and James May, a DuBois Campus professor of English, to speak at the next CCSG council meeting was rejected, because at the moment the council does not have enough information to take a side in the dispute. May wrote a letter similar to Ginsberg's protesting inequity within the CES.