Penn State President Graham Spanier responded to questions including rising tuition and his opposition to making teacher evaluations public at last night's Undergraduate Student Government Academic Assembly meeting.

Mike Helbing, Schreyer Honors College representative, asked how Penn State is becoming a more student-centered university, which was the focus of Spanier's state of the university address this year.

Spanier said one point he emphasized was that university office hours should be more in touch with students' schedules.

"I bet only a third of you will be up before 11 o'clock tomorrow morning," he said.

Spanier said the same student-centered principle applies to class schedules.

"Why are we offering so many classes at 8 a.m.? Nobody likes them," Spanier said.

Mark Levin, Earth and Mineral Sciences senator, asked Spanier if Student Rating of Teaching Effectiveness results could be made public to students.

"I don't think that's the right objective for course evaluations," Spanier said.

He said the student feedback forms are for faculty members to know how they are doing and for department heads to decide on promotions and salary increases for particular teachers.

"If the course evaluations were to be published ... then you might have faculty alter their teaching just to look good in public," Spanier said. He compared the scenario to entering a "popularity contest."

Spanier also discussed the new academic calendar that will take effect next fall, which was changed in part to address student absenteeism before breaks.

"We're hoping that with the new calendar people will attend every class," he said.

He said there is a high rate of cancelled and skipped classes in the fall, especially tomorrow -- the day before Thanksgiving.

Meshawn Carter, Arts and Architecture senator, asked Spanier if he would still encounter the problem of students leaving early before breaks.

"We might," Spanier said. "We're going to encourage faculty a little more strongly than we have in the past [to not cancel classes]."

The conversation also turned to Penn State's tuition, which increased 13.5 percent this academic year.

"What, if anything, is being done to reduce the size of tuition?" Carter asked.

Spanier blamed most of the increase on a cut in state appropriations.

"The state is really saying students and their families are going to have to pick up that burden," he said. "Tuition will not go down. I'm sure of that. The question is, how fast is it going to increase?"

He added that the cost to educate a Penn State student is about the same as out-of-state tuition, which is $17,236 per year.

Amy Locke, College of Education senator, asked how this month's elections would impact Penn State's state funding in the future.

Spanier said Pennsylvania governor-elect Ed Rendell is very supportive of higher education, but he may not be able to help Penn State much in his first year because of major budget problems in the state.

"I'm hoping [the tuition increase] won't be, and I don't think it will be, as high as it was last year," Spanier added.