There are some things that are bound to happen every year at Penn State: Rumors swirl about JoePa retiring. People raise an absurd amount of money for THON. But the most important occurrence of all is the Graham Spanier State of the University Address.
Seniors, student leaders and special guests all gathered in the Beaver Stadium Recruitment Center Tuesday night to discuss the 2011 Senior Class Gift.
Overall Chairperson Ben Witt opened the night by explaining that the Senior Class Gift is an opportunity passed down to each class through tradition. He encouraged seniors to keep submitting ideas until the Sept. 17th deadline, no matter how good or bad they may be.
Earlier this year, there was talk of Penn State President Graham Spanier taking over the post of NCAA President after the death of Miles Brand. G-Span did not want the job, however, and Mark Emmert was eventually elected to the position.
But in his quest to keep all college citizens safe, it was announced on Tuesday that Spanier has been selected to head the Bowl Championship Series Presidential Oversight Committee.
Onward State recently sat down with University Park Undergraduate Association (UPUA) President Christian Ragland, Council of Commonwealth Student Governments (CCSG) President Mohamed Raouda, and Graduate Student Association (GSA) President Jon Lozano to discuss the University's acceptance of the proposal to have students sit on the University Budget Committee. This step will allow Penn Staters to play a more active role in deciding how Penn State funds are should be spent.
Read Onward State's interview with Ragland, Raouza and Lozano after the jump, and find out what this change will mean for you.
s many of you may know, Graham Spanier is in touch with the student body. They don't pay him the big bucks for nothing. He gets involved, and he knows what's going on. Perhaps the best tool available to him is his yearly tradition of spending move-in weekend in a freshman residence hall. By doing this, he's able to get to know some students, check up on the condition of student life, and make a good impression.
Through the Penn State Facebook page, he shared some of his thoughts from the experience. Read on to hear Dr. Spanier's thoughts (with some reading between the lines by yours truly)...
Earlier this afternoon, President Spanier spoke with CNN news anchor Ali Velshi on the state of higher education in the United States. He weighs in on a study conducted by the College Board about the US lagging behind other developed countries in graduation rates among young adults. He believes that the US isn't actually lagging behind but that the rest of "the world is catching up to us."
Read on to see what GSpan had to say about higher education in the US...