Voters weigh in on issues

In the Undergraduate Student Government elections Wednesday, corporate ethics received strong support, the student activity fee received a vote for the status quo and yellow paper lost big.

These were some results of the seven referendum questions students voted for on the ballot.

One question stated that the Center for Academic Computing spends $15,000 on yellow paper to organize printings and display printing history, and asked students if the paper should be eliminated or kept. Of the students who responded to the question, 74 percent wanted the paper eliminated.

"I guess that shows that there was a lot more support for it than we thought," said Brian Heller, a town senator who helped write the question.

Heller said the senate may vote to show their opposition to the paper now that they have the backing of students.

In a question about the English proficiency of University instructors, 69 percent of the respondents said a language barrier in a class has hindered their ability to learn. About 23 percent of the respondents said a nonnative English speaking instructor taught one of their classes but did not hinder their learning. The remaining respondents said they have never had a nonnative English speaking instructor.

Girod said the results give more credibility to the assembly's attempts to surpass educational language barriers.

Eighty-one percent of the respondents said the University should consider the ethics of corporate partners, a question proposed by Adam Black, Pollock/Nittany Senator, to see if students would support a code of conduct for companies in partnership with the University.

"In a word: wow," Black said when informed of the results. "I guess now we start working on this."

Another question asked if students wanted to see the student activity raised beyond the rate of inflation. Although lowering or eliminating the fee was not one of the options, 78 percent of the respondents said the fee should stay the same instead of being raised.

Sixty-one percent of the respondents said they would prefer a per-use fee to pay for exercise facilities in the White Building instead of a recreation fee paid by all students.

In a question asking students which computing needs at University Park should get funding, 43 percent of students ranked free printing pages the best use of more money. Following that was more modem lines for off-campus students (32 percent), more printers (19 percent) and Internet hookups for laptop computers in computer labs (6 percent).

When asked if they would use intramural facilities on campus if the building were open until 2 a.m., 54 percent of the respondents answered no.