Leaders discuss commonwealth concerns

Berks-Lehigh Valley College students are concerned about their math program. Penn State Erie students want a fall break. DuBois Campus students think their bookstore is charging too much.

Student leaders from most Penn State campuses brought these and other student concerns to the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments meeting Friday and Saturday at The Atherton Hotel, 125 S. Atherton St.

Joseph Strasser, the recently appointed dean of the Commonwealth College, met the group for the first time to talk and answer questions, largely about funding for different activities at the campuses.

Strasser said he wants CCSG leaders to determine which student services are most important on their campuses so he can direct funding to where it is most needed.

University Faculty Senate Chairman Louis Geschwindner also spoke, answering questions about new general education and admission requirements.

Greg Bednarski, president of CCSG, said this was the first time two speakers of such high stature spoke at a CCSG meeting.

When student leaders expressed concern about the decreasing number of tenured teachers, Geschwindner attributed the problem to swings in enrollment numbers and encouraged the students to communicate with their local administrations about problems with specific instructors.

CCSG academic affairs committee chairman Jon Tabatabaie said the committee was also concerned about the quality of advisers and wanted to improve the use of Student Rating of Advising Effectiveness surveys.

Tabatabaie also said his committee is looking at how the University spends computer fees at the Commonwealth Campuses.

James Solava, student affairs committee chairman, spoke about the apparent high cost of à la carte food pricing at many campuses. The committee plans to determine if campus food prices are unreasonable by comparing them to prices of similar products off campus, Solava said.

Recently, the student affairs committee worked to make Summer Semester student activity fees an optional choice for each campus, Solava said.

By communicating with the administration, Solava said, CCSG is able to influence changes that benefit students.