Back in our day, Penn State students didn't need a handbook; all the information was on the Internet. And it still is, too.
This past Wednesday, University Park Undergraduate Association members discussed developing a student handbook that would prove to be a "one-stop shop" for incoming freshman. UPUA Director of Assembly Services Samantha Miller is spearheading the effort for the handbook. Her desire is that the handbook would offer an all-encompassing introduction to life at Penn State, addressing issues like housing, health services, academic advising, alcohol abuse and sexual assault, while also serving as a reference guide for on-campus organizations.
We applaud the good intentions that Miller and the UPUA have. There hasn't been a handbook for incoming students in decades and the more information for incoming freshman, the better off they'll be.
Having said that, however, we question the need for a "handbook," specifically. It's safe to say that most students in the past years have gotten by just fine by looking up information on whatever relevant Web site that psu.edu offers. A housing question can be answered by simply Googling "housing PSU" which will take you directly where you need to go.
Instead of using $21,000 to put out a physical handbook, why not create a Web site that would accumulate all the links and information that freshman students -- and transfer students as well -- would find very useful? It would certainly be a lot cheaper and more accessible than a handbook that, given the amount of information it plans to cover, could be quite large in capacity.
But let us again reiterate that this is an innately good idea. With the amount of money being used for this measure, it needs to be done efficiently and provide useful material in an engaging manner for freshman and transfer students alike. It would be a shame to have this expensive handbook made just to be tossed away.
