Academics

For Josh Bokee and Corey O'Brien, the biggest test this week won't be held in Schwab Auditorium or Willard Building -- but how they address academic issues at the University could be the difference when students submit their final grades for each Undergraduate Student Government presidential candidate on Wednesday.

Both tickets have cited advising as a key concern. O'Brien and running mate Kara Annechini have proposed an Advising Initiative Contract, where the University would pick up the tab if poor advising results in a student needing more time to graduate.

"The state keeps telling us each year, 'Penn State, you do not graduate your students on time. We can't afford to pay for them,' " O'Brien said. "With Dr. Spanier coming in, there's a lot of things we can do, a lot of accountability issues we can address that we haven't addressed before."

Bokee and his running mate, Kerith Strano, believe USG should immediately create a department to work with faculty advisers and develop confidential evaluation forms to identify problem areas.

"There needs to be more rapport, and the advisers need to tell students more what Penn State is about," Strano said. "Maybe that's the real problem -- that advisers don't know what's going on in Penn State classrooms."

But candidates agree advising is only one step in improving education. The O'Brien/Annechini ticket calls for publishing results of end-of- semester Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness (SRTE) forms in a guidebook available to all students.

This could be accomplished through organizing the University Faculty Senate's 15 student members.

"Right now SRTEs are the only student input on the tenure and promotion process," O'Brien said. "It's going to be an extremely tough sell on the Faculty Senate. If we all want it and we fight for it, we can get it."

But Bokee and Strano said students should not be so hasty to call for SRTE results to be public. Instead, they should first develop structured reasons why the University should open SRTE results to minimize faculty backlash.

"That is not a popular concept in Old Main," Bokee explained. Strano added that publishing SRTEs can be a dangerous, even pointless, move if done too soon, "What's the point of opening up this inflammatory can of worms if one can't change anything?"

Bokee and Strano have pledged to involve USG in encouraging professors to distribute more midsemester evaluation forms. At a student's request, USG would approach professors and offer to assess their teaching confidentially.

"You might not see a benefit that semester, but the professor gets help," Bokee said. "We recognize it's not a cure-all, but at least it's a step.'?

O'Brien and Annechini would like to round up administrative support to replace the last two days of the regular semester calendar with two additional study days.

"You have tests and quizzes all the way up until that last Friday," Annechini said. "We're just looking for ample study time."

Both campaigns have acknowledged that effecting lasting changes is not easy, but is attainable if they are persistently in contact with important decision-makers.

O'Brien said he will use his lobbying experience to develop specific proposals and keep in close contact with legislative staffers to try to attain extra funds for Penn State.

"It's hit or miss; it's a lot of luck," he said.

"You never know when legislation is going to come up that educational spending can be attached to."

If the University can lobby successfully for extra money, O'Brien would like those funds to be applied toward reducing class sizes. "We're stretching a lot of our faculty to the total maximum. This is just a matter where we need more faculty," he said.

Bokee hopes to take advantage of the arrival of University President-elect Graham Spanier.

"Graham needs to be a good fund-raiser, but we need to make sure a portion of that goes to teaching spots and getting good professors," Bokee said.

If elected, he and Strano plan to urge Spanier to put himself in students' shoes so that he can understand what it's like to sit in a large class or relax on the HUB Lawn. They suggested he switch places with a student for a day, so that he can truly understand and relate to students' experiences and concerns.

Through talking to different professors, Bokee and Strano also hope to develop a program giving students academic benefits for volunteering in the community.

"For example, in English 15, students might be able to volunteer with Meals on Wheels and then write a paper on that experience," Strano said.

Matt Niziol, assistant-coordinator of volunteer programs and services for Lions Share, a volunteer-placement organization, said such programs already exist in certain areas, such as philosophy and business logistics classes. But he added that their organization would be more than willing to cooperate with a program like the one Bokee and Strano proposed.

"The important thing is to get the students involved," Niziol said.

Many students would like to get involved in the community but cannot find the time, Strano added, saying that this program would make students more inclined to participate in service organizations.

Sexual assault

Whichever candidate wins the election, both have promised to devote attention to rape and sexual assault -- mainly by expanding already-existing services.

Bokee and O'Brien both suggest establishing phone lines students could call in case of emergencies. Bokee's would be a more general service, while O'Brien's is specifically for sexual assault victims.

O'Brien's hotline would centralize all immediate sexual assault services, so one phone call would contact police services, send an escort to the victim, arrange transportation to and from the hospital, notify the hospital of the victim's arrival and give the victim a permanent counselor.

But Dwight Smith police supervisor with the University Police Services, said police services already offer this type of hotline.

"Once (a victim) calls us, we provide an escort, we provide transportation, and we make sure they get all the support they need," Smith said.

Annechini was aware of police service's procedure but thinks rape victims are often scared to call the police.

"We realize that rape is an underreported crime, and we think that the hotline would make it easier for victims to come forward," Annechini said.

The Sexual Assault/Domestic Violence Hotline, an off-campus service that operates out of the Women's Resource Center, already offers O'Brien's proposed hotline as well. But O'Brien said an off-campus service could not guarantee it would remain open.

Besides a helpline, Bokee proposes a constant and coordinated campus-wide effort to increase rape/sexual assault education. He wants USG to co-sponsor programs that already exist, using its resources to better promote them.

"We want to put money toward getting students to know what's out there, not toward creating new programs" Bokee said.

Lakeisha Carter, a work-study student at the Center for Women Students, said programs on rape and assault are held constantly, but USG needs to get more involved in these programs because not enough people attend.

Strano said their goal was to make people so aware of the issue that they cannot avoid it.

"We have over 200 people on staff at USG and access to money that the sponsors don't. Sponsors are more than willing to work with us," she said.

"We want to find ways to combine programs so that they hit more people," Strano added. "This may sound idealistic, but it's not impossible -- we want to prevent another rape from happening on this campus.".

Another preventive measure that Bokee proposes in his campaign is locating more phones directly outside of the dorms. This would stop those who wander inside dorms just to use the phones. Strano said they have contacted AT&T to see if the company will help fund the phones.

Other aspects of O'Brien's Sexual Assault Bill of Rights include an immediate trained escort service for any rape victim.

"We know the University already has a 24-hour escort service, 865-WALK, but we want to guarantee an escort trained in sexual assault crisis management." Annechini said.

O'Brien also proposes a standard academic policy that would guarantee either a grade deferral or a trauma drop to all victims.

Currently, a rape victim's situation must be reviewed by members of either the University Faculty Senate, dean's offices, academic advisers and individual faculty members.

Then , case by case, it is decided whether the victim will receive academic compensation.

"We don't think (the decision) should be a bureaucratic process," O'Brien said. "We want help to be automatic -- no questions asked."

Free Loop

As the road to election day comes to an end, Bokee and Strano have geared some of their platform toward free transportation

One proposal in the Bokee/Strano platform is to transfer some of the funding from the Weekend Loop to pay for 20 weekends of free Loop service, a total of $7,000.

"It's very feasible and it's really just working within our means," Bokee said.

Bokee said they would like to focus on the winter months, but they can also apply for more money from the Student Organization Budget Committee and other organizations to provide free service thoughout the year.

But Eric Bernire, director of marketing and service development for Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA), said making the Loop free on the weekends could be costly. The time that USG sponsored the Loop -- two weekends in February from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. -- was during peak riding hours when CATA makes the most money, he said.

"I wouldn't recommend it on a regular basis only because it would be very expensive to pay for people riding at those times," Bernire said.

Bernire said promoting safety was a major part of the February agreement, and a safety pamphlet for studnts was planned.

To help fund the service, Bokee has received approval for corporate sponsorship from University Development and Relations.

Corporate sponsors like AT&T and possibly MBNA could help decrease the financial strain of the program. These are the only companies contacted so far.

"The potential is very great to expand further when we contact more companies," Bokee said.

Ritenour reform

Former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neil must have been thinking about Penn State when he commented, "All politics is local."

While congress debates measures on a national health care objectice, O'Brien and Annechini have related the issue to the University level.

Ritenour reform is a part of the O'Brien/Annechini platform. It includes trying to improve University Health Services by hiring three more practitioners for busy hours and providing a 24-hour crisis hotline.

However, there is one major problem -- money. The three practitioners would cost almost $60,000 each, but he University Future Committee initiated a cut of approximately $200,000 to health services during three years.

And Gov. Tom Ridge's proposed budget cuts do not help the O'Brien/Annechini cause either.

"Right now there is no money, but just because there isn't money doesn't mean you ignore the problem," O'Brien said.

O'Brien said the two possibilities for funding the program are reinvesting money to health services and streamlining services.

University Health Services Director Dr. Margaret Spear said she thinks the program is unrealistic because of financial barriers.

"At this point, with the low likelihood of there being any additional new funding sources, I'm not optimistic that we will be able to add more clinicians," Spear said.

But O'Brien wants to make sure that the University knows changes in health services are a top priority.