CCSG keys in on computers

By KARA McCONNELL
Collegian Staff Writer

The leaders of the Council of Commonwealth Student Governments gave the Faculty Senate Computer Ownership and Access Committee feedback about the possible computer requirement for all Penn State students at their meeting on Saturday.

Nearly an hour of the meeting was given to speakers Renata Engel, committee chair, Robert Pangborn, associate dean in engineering, and Anna Griswold, vice provost for student aid. The three members of the committee were not at the meeting to answer questions but to gather feedback from students, Pangborn said.

However, members of the council questioned speakers about funding, maintenance and server issues.

The speakers tried to impress upon CCSG members that no definite plans have been made, and the committee is discussing two options to make computers either a requirement or a recommendation.

Pangborn said the committee is leaning toward a recommendation.

Financial Aid and student preparations for the future are the motivation behind the consideration of the new policy, he said.

"When you buy a computer now, the size of your student loan doesn't go up," Pangborn said. But if there were a policy about the purchase of computers, students could apply for higher student loans to pay for computers, he added.

"Our students are going to be better prepared and better educated -- more employable -- if they are computer literate," he added.

Many considerations are going into the committee report due in May, Engel said. The committee must consider everything from financial aid to computer accommodations in dorm rooms.

Currently, students don't have any study space left once they set up a computer in their room, Pangborn said. The telephone jack is on the opposite end of the room so students have to run extension cords from one end to the other, he added.

"The requirement isn't for us, it is for the students," he said.

Commonwealth campuses are realizing how the potential policy could affect them.

Penn State Fayette did a survey of 150 of its 900 students, and 90 percent said they did not want a policy requiring students to have computers.

However, at Penn State Altoona, dorm rooms already are equipped with computers, so the policy wouldn't affect those students.

The enrollment at the campuses could be affected if there were an increase in tuition, said Christine Martin, CCSG secretary.

"No doubt there is a concern about financial implications . . . and they are all justified," Pangborn said. "We are making this decision with the idea that anything we do, we are doing it for the students," he added.

The end of the meeting was marked by the announcement of the candidates for next year's CCSG president and vice president.

Jon-Michael Roman and Michael D'Ausilio, current president and vice president, announced they will run for the positions next year. They are in office at this time completing the term of John Baer and Charles Stevens, who were removed from office earlier this semester.

Adrian Paparelli, northeast caucus director, and Lance Marquardt, Student Government Association president at Penn State Wilkes-Barre, also will run for 1999-2000 president and vice president. The candidates handed out their platforms to the council, but other campaigning is not permitted in CCSG.