CATA's lack of support for cash-strapped Graduate students here at Penn State has started to get on some bus rider's nerves.
Two of those Graduate students, Crista M. Livecchi and Emma Gaalaas Mullaney, have started a Facebook group called "PSU Grads for Transportation Equity," calling for CATA to give them the same kind of financial break it gives full-time Penn State staff members. According to the group, Penn State staffers are currently eligible for CATA's Ride for Five program, which offers a bus pass for $5 a month as opposed to the regular rate of $49 a month.
The Grad students, on the other hand, who don't have two pennies to rub together, have to pay the full monthly rate.
To an outsider like me, this seems like a humongous load of crap, but, as I said, I'm on the outside looking in. Fortunately, both creators of the group were kind enough to offer me some insight on the situation, explaining things much better than I ever could. Read on to find out what they had to say.
A quartet of wealthy alumni just donated $2.5 million to the Penn State University Libraries. This gift set a new donation record and will support the Pattee Library's new Knowledge Commons.
A major upcoming renovation, the Knowledge Commons will act as an information technology center within the library. Jeanette and John R. McWhirter and Ann and Peter G. Tombros are the generous donors behind these funds. Read the Penn State Live article for the details regrading their fascinating (and financially rewarding) career trajectories.
In addition to the joint gift of $2.5 million, the Tombros couple has offered $1.4 million to improve the University Libraries' collections of Classics and Greek Literature.
This fortunate turn of events is excellent news for our libraries. May the manifestations of these gifts expand our knowledge as university students.
That's right. The other day, an email was sent out to all College of Communications students notifying them of the chance to get free Microsoft products. At first glance, it seemed pretty exciting.
A program called ELMS (E-academy License Management System) has hooked up with Penn State, offering free Microsoft software (which doesn't seem to include anything more than an upgrade to Windows 7 and access to a couple of new crummy Microsoft products).
If you're a student in the College of Communications, stop by 62 Willard next Thursday for more info.
Is it worth your time? It's Microsoft! It's FREE! So probably not.
Though I haven't seen him since his days on Degrassi: The Next Generation, Aubrey Graham, better known as the rapper Drake, will be coming to Penn State April 9 as part of the 5th Annual Campus Consciousness Tour.
The tour is being billed as "eco-friendly". This means that tour buses will be using biofuels, recycling will be promoted at shows, and artists will use reusable water bottles instead of otherwise ubiquitous disposable plastic bottles. The tour itself is an effort of Reverb, a non-profit that has "greened" the tours of acts such as Dave Matthews Band, John Legend, and Phish.
Whatever your opinions are about Drake (or openers K-OS and Francis and the Lights), I think the concept of a "green" tour is a good way to promote environmentally friendly practices.
If you want to learn more about Reverb and the work they do, you can check out their site here.
Those of you who read the Collegian on Tuesday probably read about Dennis Shea, head of the Department of Health Policy and Administration and staunch objector to State Patty's Day. For you devout Onward Staters, you may know Dr. Shea better as the prolific commenter "GTWMA."
To the average college student, GTWMA may seem like a stringent fun-sucker beamed to the future from the temperance days of yore. But when compared to the shamrock-covered sloppy messes drunk at 10 am, the enlightened Dr. Shea wins the allegiance of many.
Dr. Shea has gained a following; the End The "State Patty's Day" Tradition Facebook group has amassed over 1,185 members (although the "official" State Patty's Day group has 9,390 members, roughly a quarter of the student body).
Read on for more.
Mere hours after we posted about a call for Ed DeChellis' firing, Penn State Men's Basketball wins its first conference game of the season, snapping a 12 game losing streak. So who did they take down? Never-been-to-the-tournament-but-hopeful Northwestern.
David Jackson and Chris Babb scored 20 points each as Penn State snapped a 12-game losing streak with an 81-70 victory over Northwestern on Wednesday night, dealing perhaps a fatal blow to the Wildcats' NCAA tournament chances.
While the win doesn't get us out of the bottom of the Big Ten, it's much better than losing thirteen games in a row. It's not like they can tank the rest of the season for better odds in a draft lottery. So we'll be content if the team turns things around to muster "bad season" instead of "worst season ever."