House voices budget concerns

Spanier went before the House of Representatives yesterday to answer questions about the University's budget requests.

Sitting alone in front of the state House Appropriations Committee yesterday, University President Graham Spanier absorbed criticisms, received compliments and answered questions about the University.

Question topics ranged from the cooperative extension program to the annual salary of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno.

Spanier fired off statistics about the University to the legislators, reminding them that the University, a land-grant institution, is one of the least-adequately funded universities in the state for the number of students it educates.

"It is not my desire to come in here and plead with you and whine about our situation," Spanier said.

But administrators still cannot be sure whether the legislators will agree with the University's funding-increase request, Gov. Tom Ridge's recommendation or neither.

"It's always hard to know how (the legislators are) going to go," said Stephen MacCarthy, executive director of University relations.

The governor proposed a 2 percent increase in appropriations to the University. The University requests greater increases to average the tuition-rate increase at the projected rate of inflation -- 2.9 percent.

"There's no question that the whole budget situation in Pennsylvania is tight," MacCarthy said, adding that no one expects a huge infusion of money in higher education.

Spanier repeated the importance of the University's No.1 priority in the budget this year -- funding for 50 new faculty positions to "improve the quality of educational programs and to bring down class sizes," according to the budget presentation.

During the House budget hearings, state Rep. John Lawless, R-Montgomery, interrogated Spanier about the budget, which was introduced on the Internet more than a week ago. He inquired about the accessibility of the new program because users need special software to access it. Spanier assured Lawless that the program could be downloaded free of charge.

"Somehow I wasn't 'acrobatic' enough to (download Adobe Acrobat reader)," Lawless said.

Lawless also asked about many other features of the University, including its open budget. Specifically, he wanted to know where Spanier's and Paterno's salaries were listed in the budget. Spanier offered to meet at another time and go over the budget in a better situation than speaking across the room at a public hearing.

Social issues were also addressed at the meeting, such as the denial of a charter for the group Students Reinforcing Adherence in General Heterosexual Tradition (STRAIGHT). Spanier said the Undergraduate Student Government has their own process to deal with acceptance or denial of the group.

The actual date that the 1997-98 budget will be approved, MacCarthy said, is unclear right now.

"Everyone's hopeful this year that the budget's resolved early," he said.

Unfortunately, most of the legislators had made up their minds whether to support or reject the proposal, USG Senate President Mark Sosnowsky said.

"I think the legislators, for the most part, were highly receptive to Penn State," said Lisa Hartlaub, Legislation and Appropriations Review Committee chair.