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April 8, 2011
Volume 93, Number 23
Students run 100 miles for PASSHE Advocacy Days By Courtney Nickle Rocket Assistant News Editor
Thirty-seven students and faculty from Lock Haven University of Pennsylvania ran 100 miles to Harrisburg Sunday to meet with state legislators for Advocacy Days, which were held Monday and Tuesday. All 14 PA S S H E (Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education) schools were represented at Advocacy Days, including six SRU students and President Robert Smith, who met with several legislators to discuss Gov. Tom Corbett’s proposed budget cut that would reduce PASSHE funding by 51.4 percent and leave SRU with a $22 million 2011-12 budget deficit. Lock Haven track and field coach Aaron Russell said the 37 people chose to make the 100-mile run to the steps of the Capitol Building for the hearings instead of riding a bus. Most of the runners were members of the track and field team, but four non-team students and one professor also participated. Russell said he ran a 5-mile leg of the trip. “When the crowd could
By Eric Busch
Rocket Staff Reporter
and Beyond will be the first two of many special topics courses the English department would like to add. C om m itt e e m e mb e r Jace Condravy said the department is looking to create interesting classes for students. C on d r av y s ai d t h e department’s goal is to offer one of these special topics classes each semester. The committee also discussed if these new courses should be offered
Cybercrime at SRU has been on the rise since social media sites have increased in popularity, according to Leigh Ann Datt, interim director of the office of student conflict resolution services. Other universities have had similar problems in relation to cybercrime, she said. Datt said that John Cavanaugh, Chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, requested that the state schools educate students on the topic because of the rise in cybercrime. About 20 people attended a panel discussion on cyberbullying Thursday during common hour in the McKay Education Building auditorium. According to information distributed at the event, the term “cyberbullying” is often misused. In order to legally be considered cyberbullying, all parties involved must be under the age of 18 or else it falls under federal and state harassment, stalking and privacy laws. The six-person panel concentrated much of the discussion on social media, particularly Facebook. Department of Communication Chairperson Thomas Flynn, said modern advances in computers have given individuals a platform for mediated expression. “We have a technology that makes us all publishers,” Flynn said. Karla Fonner, project coordinator of the Bridge Project, said some people don’t understand the consequences of posting information online. Fonner said the assumption is that if someone isn’t a friend on Facebook, anything posted isn’t his or her business, but this isn’t the case. Social Media Instructor Doug Strahler said he could spend hours on the subject of privacy. “The second you publish it online, it’s out there, it’s public,” he said. Strahler said he spends the first week of his Social Media course speaking about online etiquette. He said he looked at his students’ Facebook profiles at the beginning of the semester and most of them had public profiles. “By the end of the semester, I think one student had a public profile,” he said. According to Fonner, there is no specific policy at SRU regarding cyberbullying. She said it’s difficult to create policies around new technology, but cyberbullying fits under different code of conduct policies. The information Fonner put together for the event listed nine separate excerpts from the SRU code of conduct under which
SEE SCHOOL, PAGE A-2
SEE ONLINE, PAGE A-3
PHOTO SUBMITTED BY AARON RUSSELL
Lock Haven University students and faculty run 100 miles to Harrisburg Sunday for Advocacy Days (Mon.-Tues.) to meet with legislators to voice their concerns about Gov. Tom Corbett's proposed budget cuts.
see us coming they started cheering and played Rocky music,” he said. “It was a great way to get the topic out there.” Russell said the Lock Haven track and field team has already been impacted by the proposed budget cuts. “We have a couple of people we’re losing from the team next year because they have to go back to the state they’re from or go to work,”
he said. “We already lost one student because they couldn’t afford it.” SRU SGA President Jeremiah Rosser helped organize the group originally. Rosser said after Karen Bell, vice chancellor for external relations, came to SRU Feb. 21 to speak about advocacy, President Smith asked him to compile a list of students to attend the hearings.
“That day I began to collect the names of students who were interested,” he said. Rosser, Adam Kennerdell, SGA vice president of financial affairs; Elise Michaux, speaker of the senate; Sarah Browne, president of Global Literacy Outreach; and commuter senators Logan Miller and Jim Kramer attended the event. Miller said he was happy
with the feedback he got from the legislators. “They genuinely seemed to care about our opinions and concerns with the higher education budget,” he said. “They really wanted to hear our personal stories. So many of the legislators came from the state system, so they really do have our backs on this issue.” SEE SGA, PAGE A-3
Gun pulled SGA members disagree on funding multipurpose rink up to $84,000 because off-campus, By Courtney Nickle we’“It’s d need to get bids so we’re sure of the price yet,” he victim does SGA voted 13-7 at its not said. Mike Madden, the vice meeting Thursday to approve president administrative up to $84,000 for the first not report it phase of construction on a affairs, saidof the first phase Rocket Assistant News Editor
By Courtney Nickle Rocket Assistant News Editor
A gun was pulled during an argument at The Heights apartment complex around 1:30 a.m. Saturday. According to the report by Pennsy lvania St ate Police (PSP), two men were arguing along Stillwater Lane when one of the men pulled a handgun from his waistband and showed it to the other man, who fled from the scene. Trooper Ronald Kesten, the public information officer for Butler PSP, said the victim wasn’t the one who called the police. “Someone else called us and the victim doesn’t want anything done,” he said. A ls o e arly S atu rd ay morning, a car was stolen from the parking lot of Campus Side apartments around 3 a.m. According to the report by PSP, the victim left her 2010 white Mazda 6 sedan running in the parking lot while she went inside the building. Kesten said the car was found in the parking lot Monday. “An unknown person took it and then returned the car,” he said. “We still don’t know who took it.”
Cybercrime rates on the rise at SRU
multipurpose rink, with the stipulation that a maintenance plan be submitted and approved at the next senate meeting, April 21. The Co-Operative Activities Board had approved the money at its meeting March 31, but the Senate had to give it’s okay before the approval was official. The multipurpose rink would be built near the current intramural fields and would be used for hockey and basketball. SGA President Jeremiah Rosser said the amount is not definitive yet.
of construction would be to level, excavate and pour a concrete surface for students to play on. “If ever ything goes according to plan, this could be used in the fall for hockey and basketball,” he said. After the first phase is complete, other phases of the project could be implemented, including adding lights or a roof.
Many senators, including commuter senator Marcie
Johnson, raised the question of who is going to pay for the SEE SOME, PAGE A-2
JASON ELLWANGER/THE ROCKET
Greg Sferra, director of campus recreation, explains the maintenance required for the planned multipurpose rink at the SGA meeting Thurs.
Exercise science major eliminates application process By Eric Busch
Rocket Staff Reporter
The University Curriculum Committee passed a motion unanimously Tuesday to eliminate the application process for exercise science students. According to committee member Associate Professor of Exercise Science William Ryan, the major has become so large, the interviews are hard to coordinate. From now on, students will have to remain in “good academic standing,” which means they have a GPA of
2.75 both in the major and overall. The committee also changed some of the prerequisites for exercise science courses to reflect the new requirements. All upper-level courses currently require students to be accepted in the major as a prerequisite, but this change has altered the wording to now say the student must be in good academic standing. Students will still need to achieve a grade of C or better in a prerequisite course in order for it to
count. Ryan said students won’t fail the class if they get a D, but they will have to repeat the course in order to progress in the major. “We have found that those students who can’t get C’s usually have trouble at their internships,” Ryan said. The committee also approved the creation of two new special topics courses in the English department. Literary Pirates: Adaptations and Appropriations and Beats