Cynthia Baldwin, 64, an English major in Penn State's Class of 1966, is returning to her alma mater as University General Counsel and Vice President.
Baldwin, who also got her Masters in American Literature at Penn State, was appointed to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in 2005 and was the second African-American woman to do so in the state's history. Of her more notable cases, Baldwin wrote the majority opinion for a case involving eminent domain and separation of church and state. Her more than 30 years working in litigation gives her a very impressive background to become basically the head of all legal concerns within the university.
Her basic duties will include launching the university's legal counsel's office and preparing it for the next successor. She will also take over Penn State's legal work, which includes oversight on its contracts and policies, and establishing procedures, all of which were previously delegated to a local State College legal firm.
She will begin her new job here starting February 15th, and her office will be on main campus at University Park. She will work under the university president, Graham Spanier.
For a man whose intelligence is nothing short of intimidating, Ben Stein is actually quite down-to-earth and funny. Wednesday night's Distinguished Speaker Series event featuring Ben Stein drew an interestingly diverse crowd of people that showed up to bathe in his infinite wisdom and hopefully take home a few economical pointers from one of the world's most renowned and respected economists/speechwriter/actor/man. The evening covered pretty much everything from the financial crisis to the alleged 9/11 conspiracy theories.
Mr. Stein opened with a few jokes told in his traditional monotone style. He even started with an Ohio-State-bashing joke, which seems to be the norm for visiting speakers these days. Stein joked that the only exercise he needed these days was to get down to his knees to thank God that he still lived in America.
He discussed the current financial crisis, for which he put a lot of the blame on Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geithner for letting Wall Street run rampant. He said that it was "terrifying" that there were so few people held responsible for the collapse of the economy.
He also discussed healthcare, making the point that doctors and hospitals should put their list of procedures and their pricing available online for patients to see. And during the Q&A session after his speech, a man who appeared like he'd just gotten back from Woodstock went up to the microphone to debate whether or not 9/11 was an inside job.
Ben Stein boasts an impressive resume and Penn State was honored to add Distinguished Speaker to his list.
Photographer: Chase Tralka, Onward State Managing Editor || [email protected]
In January, US Representative Glenn Thompson from Pennsylvania's 5th District announced that he would be accepting applications from his district, which includes the Penn State community, for federal appropriations for projects.
"I am promoting an open and transparent process and will conduct a review of each project on a competitive basis,” said Thompson.
Emphasis on "competitive." The site says their are a large number of requests submitted to the government each year and with the economy the way it is, the budget for such projects may be tighter and project applications may be more competitive.
Rick Santorum, a former Pennsylvania senator and all-around pleasant man, announced that he is considering running on the Republican ballot in the 2012 presidential election.
So to reiterate, a man has publicly announced that he's thinking about doing something but isn't sure.
The speculation also came with a letter, which pretty much spells out his manifesto for his presidential campaign.
"I have no great burning desire to be president, but I have a burning desire to have a different president of the United States," Santorum said. And a different candidate he would make. He's been mentioned on several prestigious websites such as urbandictionary.com and even has his own "urban" defintion:
1. santorum: The sometimes frothy, usually slimy, amalgam of lubricant, stray fecal matter and ejaculate that leaks out of the receiving partner's anus after a session of anal intercourse.
It doesn't take a genius to realize that that definition probably had something to do with his hardliner conservative stance against homosexuality. But regardless of his views and last name definitions, he still boasts a significant amount of political experience, and as "frothy" as he may be, he may very well could be the best choice for our country's leader in the next election. Or he could be the bringer of the next apocalypse. In any case, invest in lots of canned foods.
However, considering that next year's schedule has fewer games, the price per game will stay the same.
Tuition, on the other hand, will almost definitely be increased. In a meeting with the Board of Trustees last week, Graham Spanier announced students should expect to see a tuition hike of between 2.9 to 4.9 percent.
Spanier also noted that the difficulty Penn State had attaining its appropriations this fall should have been a hint that tuition might have to be adjusted to compensate. If you haven't been paying attention, well, surprise!
As is it the media's job to play the blame game, let's start first with the Pennsylvania legislature. They wouldn't give Penn State the entirety of its appropriations request and now students have to make up the difference. Also, we can throw some blame on the university's representatives. Sure, they probably did their best, but why let facts get in the way of a good blaming? While we're at it, Graham Spanier probably had something to do with this monetary meltdown... and you thought he and Fast Eddy were friends!
But the main culprit, the real son-of-a-bitch responsible for the tuition hike, is NBC. They ruined late night TV and ultimately spurred the final decision to raise tuition.
It could be worse. Even a five percent increase isn't the end of the world (which is still in two years, btw). And at least Penn State isn't the University of California. They call that a riot? Raise our tuition 32 percent and we'll show UC how college rioting is done!
Today is Wednesday, and aside from it being Wednesday, it is also the last day to drop or add classes for this Spring 2010 semester. Most students probably already have their schedules figured out for the semester, but it's still not too late to set things straight for these students:
Graduating Seniors
Procrastinators
Students with Suicidal Tendencies Taking Impossible 400-Level Courses
Female Students That Took a Course Hoping to Pass by Seducing Their Teacher but Now Realize that He is Gay or Married
Male Students That Took a Course Hoping to Pass by Seducing Their Teacher but Now Realize that She is Married or Not Cate Blanchett
Overweight Students in Intensive Gym Courses
Squeamish Students in Biology Lab Courses and/or Criminology Courses that Cover Serial Killers
Overly Competitive Students or Students with Anger Issues in Martial Arts Courses
And any other students that for some reason do no belong in a course they are scheduled to take this semester.