In reaction to the closing of the Child Development Laboratory (CDL), the dean of the College of Health and Human Development addressed about 50 concerned parents last night at the Bennett Family Center.

Dean Ray Coward began the meeting, which consisted of about two hours of a question-and-answer session and centered on parents' anxiety about the decrease of childcare on campus.

Parents are concerned that both the quantity and quality of childcare on campus will decrease after the proposed consolidation, where children currently enrolled at the CDL will be moved to the Bennett Family Center. The CDL is housed in Henderson Building South, and the Bennett Family Center is at the intersection of Bigler and McKean roads.

Many parents believe the decrease of childcare space on campus is a move in the wrong direction.

Coward said the parents, who are mostly faculty and also include a few graduate students, need to trust the decision of the college.

"We have 75 years of doing this, and we've stuck to the quality," Coward said to the audience. "So we have a track record."

Coward said the quality of daycare will not suffer, but the number of available places for children in daycare may be lowered.

The room began to stir when Coward said there were about 600 children on the waiting list for a spot in a Penn State daycare center.

Rich Doyle, an English professor, said the number of children on the waiting list was "a joke" and shows that the university needs to expand their childcare services.

"The administration is completely dragging its feet," Doyle said.

Coward said to aid in the consolidation of daycare centers, a transition advisory committee will be formed. The committee, which will be chaired by Steven Zarit, head of the human development and family studies department, will consist of the two program directors of the CDL and Bennett Family Center, two faculty members and two representative parents.

Some parents were upset with the choices Coward made for committee members, and the fact that he would be appointing the parent representatives.

"You are the boss of everyone on that committee except for two," Karen Murphy, professor of education psychology and parent of two children in the Bennett Family Center, said to Coward.

Coward said he would not reconsider letting the parents choose their own representatives. He said all parents would be kept informed as decisions are made.

"We hope we can manage the situation over the next couple of months in a way that it gives them the information they need," he said.

Coward said the project is still in progress. Henderson Building South, where the CDL is currently located, is not scheduled to be demolished until September 2006, and architects have yet to be hired. The current location of the Henderson Building South will be made into offices and classrooms.

"There are still a lot of decisions to be made, and as those decisions are made and communicated to the parents, I'm hopeful we can alleviate some of their anxiety," Coward said.

Some parents said most of the information they have been receiving is rumors.

"The college, as a whole, they're just doing so much," said Lisa Hill, a staff member who works with the budget of the health and human development department and also a parent of a child in university daycare. "A lot of the parents here have taken it a lot more personally than they need to."

Hill's husband, Paul Babitzke, a biochemistry and molecular biology professor, agreed. He said he expects the daycare to uphold its past quality.

"To me, it just was ludicrous to assume they would turn this into a run-of-the-mill daycare," Babitzke said.

Most of the parents at the meeting praised the quality work of the childcare centers. Coward agreed both centers run successful programs.

"It's a very vital part of our college," Coward said to the crowd.

"Then grow it!" Doyle challenged from his seat.