The HawkEye

The HawkEye takes collegiate Keystone Award

2013-04-16T13:50:05Z

Aleda Johnson (left) and Abbey Zelko display their award certificates at the April 10 Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association luncheon at the Hershey Lodge and Convention Center. Photo by David Loomis.

IUP junior journalism students Aleda K. Johnson and Abbey M. Zelko were honored at the annual Pennsylvania Newspaper Association collegiate Keystone Awards luncheon on April 10 in Hershey.

Their award-winning Civic Project story, co-authored with journalism student Charlene Adams, was published Dec. 21 in The HawkEye. The story won second place in the association's public service/enterprise reporting category.

Rep. Shuster's words and deeds

2013-04-04T17:47:27Z

An opinion

Janice Dembosky. (Submitted photo)

By Janice Dembosky

U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster's March 24 "Beware the Ides of March" article in The Indiana Gazette brings to mind another Shakespearean quote: "Talking isn't doing . . . words are not deeds."

Rep. Shuster's words are not unique. It's the usual Republican rhetoric: By magic they will cut taxes, cut spending (on programs for the middle class), cut the deficit, create jobs and all will be well.

]]> Thoughtful voters didn't buy that rhetoric in 2012 and they never will. They see the president as a visionary leader, a protector of the middle class, and Rep. Shuster and his party as retrograde and obstructionist to forward progress.

Rep. Shuster accused the president of alarming the American people about the effects of the sequester on the economy and on people who will lose jobs. The president will be proven correct in time. Across-the-board cuts will lead to smaller government (what the Republican Party is selling). But what we will get is a smaller economy with more unemployment and a loss of the economic gains that have been made, despite Republican obstructionism.

Rep. Shuster touts the Ryan budget while deliberately misrepresenting President Obama's budget plan by throwing out numbers without explaining that Obama's $923 billion in increased revenue would come from making cuts that target wasteful practices and eliminating over-spending (the Pentagon, for example), not from taxing the middle class. It would also come from closing tax loopholes, such as huge giveaways to the gas and oil industry and a 15 percent cap on taxes for hedge fund managers.

The majority of voters look at this as fairness and not as a tax increase for those of us who pay our fair share. Before we even look at Medicare shouldn't we first calculate the savings from making the tax code fairer? Social Security is solvent and self-supporting into the 2030s and has nothing to do with the debt or the deficit. Yet Rep. Shuster's party is the true alarmist on this issue.

Rep. Shuster should also tell us the truth about the Ryan budget. Tell us how Rep. Ryan claims to balance the budget by repealing the health care bill, except for the part of the bill that saves us money. The part of the bill he wants to repeal is the part that actually insures 30 million people. The Republican-dominated Congress has voted 36 times to repeal The Affordable Care Act, knowing full well that their time-wasting attempts will never get past the Senate and the president.

The Ryan Budget is a sham from the start. Although the Ryan plan doesn't add up, and doesn't make sense, they want us to believe that he has some brilliant mind with brilliant ideas that we can't fathom. We don't buy it. The CBO doesn't buy it either.

As chairman of the U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, Rep. Shuster has accomplished what? How many jobs bills has he come up with to address the deteriorating infrastructure? The voters should know that the answer is "none," unless they are fooled into believing that tax cuts for the rich is a jobs bill. Historically, government investment in the infrastructure (Obama's American Jobs Bill which Congress won't vote for) creates jobs, spurs business, especially now that the interest rates on government borrowing are near zero percent!

We know the Republican Party didn't want the president to get credit for moving the economy forward in his first term. Are they now waiting until the end of the president's second term and through two terms of Hillary Clinton to 2024 and beyond before they address infrastructure? Will they let our already dangerously crumbling infrastructure wait until they are in power and can take credit for the economic boom that always comes from investment in the infrastructure?

Why are all the rants on the House floor done by Republican extremists? Where is Rep. Shuster's voice? He could lead by pushing for infrastructure investment without worrying about his job. As long as he votes no on all reasonable gun safety bills, his job will be safe. This is, after all, rural Western Pennsylvania.

Janice Dembosky is a retired English teacher and business woman. She is a lifelong resident of Indiana County. She enjoys traveling abroad with her husband, Everett. They live in South Mahoning Township.

Civic Project wins another Keystone Award

2013-03-26T12:58:56Z

By The HawkEye staff

The Pennsylvania Newsmedia Association announced March 4 that it will award one of its top collegiate prizes for watchdog reporting to three IUP Journalism Department students.

]]> Second-place winners of the 2013 collegiate Keystone Press Award for Public Service/Enterprise reporting are juniors Aleda K. Johnson, of East Stroudsburg; Abbey M. Zelko, of Harrisburg, and Charlene S. Adams, of Tyrone. They reported on a controversial debate over municipal regulation of transient vendors in Indiana borough.

Their multimedia reporting examined business-community complaints that sidewalk vendors were harming the restaurant industry in the town. The story cast doubt on the claims.

The story appeared Dec. 21 in the online newspaper The HawkEye as part of the Civic Project, a nine-year-old, community-focused, watchdog-journalism initiative rooted in News Reporting classes taught by IUP journalism professor David Loomis, Ph.D.

Loomis said the students' reporting helped make sense of the borough's perennial transient-vendor debates.

"Much of the daily news coverage was he-said, she-said," Loomis said. "The students researched tax-revenue data, among other things, to add context and meaning for citizens. The multimedia presentation added value, too."

Loomis described the Keystone award as the Pennsylvania collegiate equivalent of the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Public Service.

"It's a big deal for the winners' academic careers, their professional prospects, The HawkEye and for the Journalism Department," Loomis said.

Loomis noted that this year's competition included some of the state's biggest universities and most respected journalism programs, including Temple University, which took first place in the category. The IUP students' award continues an unbroken stream of such awards for The HawkEye. Four times student investigative stories have been submitted to the Keystone Award competition; four times they have won first or second place.

Coverage of the latest Keystone award appeared in the campus newspaper The Penn and in The Indiana Gazette.

Winners will be honored at an April 10 PNA luncheon in Hershey.

Adversity and the AT

2013-02-06T15:31:20Z

Mike's Hike

Mike Briggs

Editor's note: In 2012, chemistry professor Mike Briggs, Ph.D., retired from IUP. On Jan. 6, Briggs, 66, a wounded Vietnam War platoon commander and former tire-manufacturing plant manager in Morocco, set out from Flagg Mountain, Ala., on a northbound hike along the Appalachian Trail. His goal is to complete a 2,185-mile trek to the trail's northern end in Baxter State Park, Maine, by Oct. 10 -- a rate of 15 miles a day, by his reckoning.

During the hike, Briggs plans to file occasional reports and ruminations to The HawkEye, composing on a Google tablet and filing from Wi-Fi hotspots at accommodations along the trail.

This is his first installment.

By Mike Briggs

DALTON, Ga. -- Why is it so hard to get something to work the first time you encounter it? A change of place and perspective -- hiking all 2,185 miles of the Appalachian Trail -- prompts some thoughts during hours alone in the woods.

Like most things in life, you can look at adversity from several perspectives. Readers can list the downsides. My purpose here is to list the benefits.

Adversity is hard in that it requires exercise of muscle, mind or tool in ways that are new or different. For example, walking 15 miles should be easy. We know how to walk, and most of us walk some distance every day.

]]> But the trail -- the AT, as hikers call it -- dishes out ascents and descents that require extra energy and balance. The trail is littered with roots, stones and leaves that hide sloping surfaces. Walking even a few miles takes much more energy and attention than walking along a sidewalk. It is hard to walk a trail.

Why do it, then?

Walking the trail requires strength in muscles you might not normally use. But it is exactly that strengthening that allows you to hike a long distance and achieve a goal of completing a long trail. It sharpens our attention to details of the tread way.

Where are the sharp rocks? Where is the edge of the tread way when it falls away sharply? How can I use my hiking poles to stay on top of rocks while hopping across a swollen creek? It increases our own kinesthetic awareness of where to place each footstep. Adversity strengthens us and allows us to accomplish activities of which others can only dream.

Adversity presents uncertainty in which correct action is not obvious. The introduction of uncertainty prompts exercise of problem-solving skills not normally needed. For example, where does the trail go from here? Which way is the correct one?

Some problem-solving skills learned on the trail include looking back to find a trail marker. A marker behind you means you are still on the trail. Step a few paces in a desired direction and see if a marker appears on a tree there. Or backtrack to find a marker. Consider all of the options. Don't just take the first that comes to mind. Adversity strengthens our problem-solving skills and makes us better decision-makers by allowing us to consider all options before we make our final call.

In uncertain situations we may have to seek help from other people. This can be difficult. But it can but lead to finding unsung heroes.

For example, in a metropolitan area with night falling, knocking on a few doors and asking for permission to pitch a tent in a side yard for the night requires a great leap of trust by a homeowner. But when a hiker finds the right homeowner, you might get dinner and breakfast along with the trust. In this case adversity leads to kindness and trust from people you would otherwise never meet.

Mike Briggs on an extension of the Appalachian Trail in Northeast Alabama, Jan. 6. Photo by Bob Burger.

Another example is walking three miles into town at 7:30 a.m. in the rain. A couple in an SUV stops and offers a ride. Without the rain, the couple would not have stopped; would not have taken a wet, dirty, smelly hiker to the post office; would not have delivered him to a motel two miles away, and certainly would not have brought him a home-cooked meal delivered to his hotel room.

Daily details about Mike Briggs -- aka Quakerland Forge, his trail name -- and his hike can be accessed at www.postholer.com/quakerland

Graduation interrupted: Students report scheduling hassles

2013-01-07T13:07:26Z

A Civic Project story

Kelsey Elizabeth Bryner, an IUP art history major, says she will graduate in 2014 -- later than her peers -- because of class-scheduling problems. Photo by Amanda Miller.

By Amanda Miller

INDIANA -- When Kelsey Elizabeth Bryner came to Indiana University of Pennsylvania in fall 2009, she was convinced she would graduate on time in four years. Three years later, Bryner, a 22-year-old art history major, prepared to watch her friends graduate without her.

Bryner said she had planned to graduate in May 2013 at the end of what was supposed to be her senior year. Instead, she said she will be graduating in May 2014. The reason: Every academic year, she had trouble enrolling in classes required for graduation.

"I should be graduating with my friends," said Bryner, during an Oct. 12 interview at her home on School Street. "But now I have to suck it up and watch them graduate without me."

For the past four years, Bryner said she knew she needed to take science classes to graduate, like geoscience and biology. Every time she scheduled for classes, however, all of the science spots were filled. This year, Bryner was prepared to make sure that she got into the science classes she needed.

But when she met with her academic adviser, she discovered that all of the science classes were already waitlisted, which meant the courses were already filled. Students who wanted to enroll had added their names to a waiting list on the University Records and Systems Assistant, or URSA.

]]> Bryner said she thought that was strange because scheduling had not yet officially begun. She said she met with an associate professor in the Art History Department, who advised Bryner to send e-mails to the science professors and see if they could somehow get her into a class. The advising professor helped Bryner write them.

After waiting for weeks in early October, Bryner finally received a few responses. She said the science professors told her that spots in a few classes had opened up and that she needed to register for the classes right away before the spots were re-taken.

Despite the opening, Bryner said she resented being left at the mercy of the university and its control over her scheduling.

"They act like I control what day and time I can schedule," Bryner said.

Even if Bryner got into one of those classes, she said she knows she will not be able to graduate with her friends in May 2013 because she would still need an additional science class.

Bryner said she holds a grudge against IUP when it comes to scheduling and wishes the school would do something to fix it. She added that does not want other students to experience the troubles she had.

BRYNER IS NOT alone when it comes to scheduling problems.

Sarah Lynn Shepherd, IUP senior child development major, had troubles with class scheduling. She expects to graduate in May 2013. Photo by Amanda Miller.

Sarah Lynn Shepherd, 22, a senior child development major, said throughout her college career she had problems enrolling in the classes she needed. Up until the fall 2012 semester, Shepherd said she thought she, too, would be a May 2013 graduate.

In her case, she could not get into several classes she needed for her major. At the end of her junior year, she said she grew excited because she thought that seniors got first pick in scheduling.

"I was actually looking forward to scheduling for once," Shepherd said in an Oct. 20 interview at the Stapleton Library." I thought since it was my senior year, I'd get first priority."

Shepherd was wrong. Once again, she could not get into the classes that she needed for the 2012 fall semester. She said when she met with her adviser to schedule classes for the 2013 spring semester, her adviser told her some depressing news.

"She told me that I could walk with my friends in May, but I needed to take summer classes to get my actual diploma in August," Shepherd said.

Shepherd said it was bitter-sweet. She was happy she could walk with her friends but didn't understand why it came to this in the first place.

"Maybe this school should think twice about the amount of classroom space available before they keep increasing the enrollment," Shepherd said.

Then, in early November, Shepherd said she got lucky. She met with her adviser again, and this time her adviser gave her exciting news. Spots in the classes that she needed had opened up. Once Shepherd registered for them, she could officially graduate in May 2013.

"I couldn't believe it," Shepherd said. "Finally, my prayers came true."

Shepherd celebrated and shared the good news with her parents. But she remained bitter. She wondered why it is so difficult for students to get into classes they need to graduate on time.

BRYNER AND SHEPHERD are two of a dozen IUP undergraduates who were interviewed in fall 2012 about class-scheduling problems. All 12 students said they had experienced scheduling problems during their academic careers. But the full extent of the perceived problems has not been documented.

Bryner speculated that state budget cuts in funding for higher education contributed to her scheduling problems: IUP's record-setting enrollments have combined with deep budget cuts to produce more students but fewer classes in which to enroll.

IUP enrollments have set consecutive records in recent years. In fall 2008, enrollment was 14,310; in fall 2012 it rose to 15,379, an increase of 7.4 percent.

At most other schools in the 14-campus Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, enrollments have fallen in recent years, PaSSHE reported in October. Systemwide, enrollments declined by 2.9 percent between fall 2011 and fall 2012.

IUP's enrollment increases have coincided with actual and proposed state funding cuts, which have generated campus protests. In March 2011, IUP faculty members and students rallied in the Oak Grove to protest 50 percent budget cuts proposed by Gov. Tom Corbett. One year earlier, Corbett successfully pushed a 20 percent cut in state funding for PaSSHE.

In March 2012, the campus union of faculty members and coaches mounted a lobbying effort in the Oak Grove. The effort distributed to students postcards addressed to Gov. Corbett that explained how budget cuts affected them. Similar efforts were mounted on campuses statewide.

Around the same time, IUP administrators encouraged students to lobby state lawmakers to oppose additional budget cuts for higher education.

Legislators maintained level funding for 2012-2013. But fears that cuts would continue prompted faculty members at the time to predict what Bryner and Shepherd complain about now.

"I'm really worried about the students," said IUP English professor Tina Perdue in spring 2011. "I'm afraid they're going to be paying more to sit in bigger classes, and it's not fair."

IUP REGISTRAR Robert Simon said his office regularly analyzes enrollments, classroom capacities and other data, including trends. The registrar's office shares the data with IUP's college deans, who review the seat availabilities and make adjustments as necessary.

The registrar's office also notifies academic departments when it foresees classroom-seating problems, Simon said. Only academic departments, working with their deans, can add class seats or sections.

Academic year 2012-2013 is first in which departments could allow wait-listing for their courses, Simon said. The system allows departments to see whether they need to add course sections.

Student class-scheduling problems may be self-inflicted, Simon said.

"Other factors, like listening to your adviser, play a role in students having a difficulty in scheduling classes," Simon said.

Students don't always follow the advice of their advisers, he said. Some students won't register for a class because they do not like the day or time it is offered. They wait until the next semester to register for it, only to discover that it is not being offered.

In September, the registrar's office released a tool to assist students and faculty members with advising and registering. DegreeWorks is the first phase of a Web-based tool that enables advisers to view a real-time comparison of a student's academic coursework against program-specific requirements. The information is presented in an easy-to-read color-coded checklist format, Simon said.

Students will be able to access the online tool in spring 2013, Simon said. Additional features will allow long-term course planning, an archive feature that will allow advisers and students to review their plans, including a notes mode.

DegreeWorks should minimize scheduling problems and improve communication between advisers and students, Simon said.

BRYNER AND Shepherd greeted news about DegreeWorks with hope. Both said the program was promising.

Shepherd said she was relieved that IUP was doing something to help future students.

"Hopefully, the scheduling process will get better with this program," Shepherd said. "Students should be enjoying their time at IUP, not wasting their time stressing about scheduling."

Amanda Miller, a senior journalism major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from Pittsburgh. She is on schedule to graduate in May 2013 at the end of her fourth year at IUP.

Sidebar: For more information

For more information on this story, or to get involved, please contact the following sources:

Robert Simon,

Registrar

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Clark Hall
1090 South Dr.
Indiana, Pa. 15705

Phone: 724-357-2217

Fax: 724-357-4858

Web: http://www.iup.edu/registrar/

Email: registrars-office@iup.edu

Taylor R. Billman,

President

Student Government Association

Indiana University of Pennsylvania

Web: http://www.coop.iup.edu/sga/

Email: T.R.Billman@iup.edu

Dr. John C. Cavanaugh,

Chancellor

Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education

2986 North Second St.

Harrisburg, Pa. 17110

Phone: 717-720-4010

Fax 717-720-4011

Email: jcavanaugh@passhe.edu
Web: http://www.passhe.edu/Pages/default.aspx

IUP campus unfriendly to cyclists

2012-12-27T20:28:37Z

A Civic Project story

Indiana University of Pennsylvania senior Isaac J. Samay waits outside the Indiana Schwinn Cycling and Fitness Center before the first Indiana Critical Mass bicycle ride on Sept. 28, 2012. Photo by Natalie Hotaling.

By Natalie Hotaling

INDIANA -- Snow lightly circles through the air on a chilly morning in mid-November. As a harsh wind picks up, Isaac J. Samay pulls his knit cap lower on his forehead. He steps his beat-up sneakers into the straps on his bicycle pedals and takes a deep breath.

His daily commute to campus begins.

Samay, 23, of Johnstown, is a political science major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. The senior has been biking as his sole means of transportation since enrolling at IUP in 2009.

For Samay, the snow is not a deterrent to his commuting. The campus, on the other hand, is.

]]> "I ride every day," Samay said in a Nov. 8 interview at The Artists Hand Gallery on Philadelphia Street near his apartment. "I've never really thought twice about biking. It keeps me fit and is completely sustainable. The only problem is really once I get to campus. There's no place for bikes to go. It's just a mess."

Samay isn't the only Indiana resident voicing a concern for a more bicycle-friendly campus. A new subcommittee of the Indiana Borough Planning Commission is "looking for ways to enhance walking and biking opportunities," according to a Sept. 29 article in The Indiana Gazette. The article said the subcommittee met with a consultant from Aspect Data Planning of Pittsburgh, community planning and bicycle/pedestrian experts, to assess physical improvements that are "conducive to walking and biking and those that are detrimental."

"University towns generally are accommodating to bicyclists because so many students want to ride," Jason Kambitsis, Aspect consultant, said at the subcommittee's monthly meeting on Oct. 17.

Students should be involved in future planning meetings, and educational programs are important to a bicycle-friendly community, Kambitsis said at the meeting during which Aspect presented the first draft of a walking and biking plan for Indiana.

W. Thomas Borellis, IUP special assistant to the vice president for special projects, attended the planning meeting on behalf of the university. He said the university should be doing more to become bike-friendly.

"Bikers need to be thought of differently, and that isn't happening here," Borellis said in an interview on Oct. 22 in Sutton Hall. He said an extension of the Hoodlebug Trail, which begins at Hoss's Restaurant at 1198 Wayne Ave. and winds through campus to Philadelphia Street, is the only physical biking issue being addressed by the university. And the trail is not included in the IUP Long-Range Facilities Master Plan.

Bicycles are mentioned twice in the 102-page plan, which was developed by an Ann Arbor, Mich., planning consultant and adopted by the IUP Council of Trustees on Dec. 16, 2010. The plan was revised and released in August 2011, according to the IUP website.

"Bicycles are a prominent method of transportation at IUP," according to page 18 of the plan under "Bicycle Circulation": "There are no designated bike lanes or paths on campus; bicyclists instead must contend with both vehicles and pedestrians on the campus and roadways."

On page 48, the plan says the university should work "with its municipal neighbors and Indiana County to coordinate efforts to promote safe and functional bike routes" and says an increase in the bicycle-using population reduces "pollutants and negative environmental impacts from motor vehicles" and parking demand.

Implementation of bike-traffic areas, signage and parking areas would help, but the university needs educational programs and research about biking to encourage bike ridership and create a safer campus, Borellis said in the interview.

"We don't have anything in the plan, and that's a lack," Borellis said.

The lack of student education causes a lot of problems on campus, Officer Tami Cramer, crime prevention specialist and member of the IUP police bicycle patrol unit, said in a Nov. 15 interview at the university police station. She said most accidents are due to bicyclists not knowing where they can ride and pedestrians not knowing how to interact with bicyclists like her.

"Love us or hate us, we're here," Cramer said. "There are 15,000-plus finding their way on and around campus. We are a part of the community."

The number of registered bikes on campus has decreased since 2010, according to Cramer. The number fell to five in 2012 from 14 in 2010, a 64.3 percent decrease.

But the number of registered bike does not reflect the actual number of bikers on campus, Cramer said. She gauges an increase of bikes on campus by the full parking racks and storage rooms in residential buildings.

The 2010 completion of the eight suite-style residential halls on IUP's campus, known as the "Residential Revival" according to IUP's website, brought indoor storage facilities for bicyclists. The storage rooms are monitored by cameras and are accessible only with an I-card.

But they were not taken seriously when first established, said Lenny Kasubick, contract administration manager for the Foundation for IUP.

The storage rooms were included in the design of the suites to gain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design status . To earn LEED certification, a project must earn a minimum of 40 points on a 110-point LEED rating scale that includes categories such as sustainability and energy performance, according to the United States Green Building Council website.

"We didn't think anyone would use them," Kasubick said in a Nov. 15 interview at IUP's Office of Housing, Residential Living and Dining. "At first no one did, but as soon as we went in and showed students how to use them, the rooms were filled."

The usage of the room still surprises Kasubick. He said he now believes that more people will use energy-sustainability infrastructure on campus, so long as education is provided.

"We laughed when we were first doing it, but I'll go into these storage rooms and they will be fairly full," Kasubick said. "We just need to educate and promote."

PROGRESS LIKE THIS comforts commuters like Samay. Designating areas for bikes and focusing on educating students about those areas are the first steps toward becoming a bike-friendly campus, Samay said in a Nov. 15 interview.

"Right now it doesn't seem like a priority to the university," Samay said. "Raising awareness around biking could encourage students to choose it as a lifestyle. Education would make a difference in so many ways."

Natalie Hotaling, a junior majoring in journalism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from York.

Sidebar: To get involved here

Around the Indiana University of Pennsylvania campus, students and staffers can join the Indiana Bicycle Coalition, a non-profit advocacy group formed to help "foster a bicycling community in Indiana," according to the group's website and Facebook page.

In addition, the Indiana Critical Mass group organizes a bike ride on the last Friday of every month. The group encourages biking within Indiana and educates bicyclists on state-biking laws. Information is available on the group's Facebook page.

Residents, business owners and students from Indiana wait outside Indiana Schwinn Cycling and Fitness Center to begin Indiana's first Critical Mass, Sept. 28, 2012. Nearly 40 people took part in the group's inaugural ride. Photo by Natalie Hotaling.

Sidebar: To get involved elsewhere

In addition to Indiana University of Pennsylvania, four other campuses among the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities have on-campus programs to encourage alternative transportation methods.

Slippery Rock University , Edinboro University, Mansfield University and West Chester University have programs designed to reduce the number of cars on campus and increase the use of bicycles.

Slippery Rock has a "Green Bike Initiative" with a mission to promote a "healthy lifestyle through cycling while minimizing petroleum-based transportation and parking problems within the Slipper Rock community," according to the SRU website. The GBI provides free bikes to those interested in biking to campus, class or work.

Slippery Rock University

1 Morrow Way

Slippery Rock, Pa. 16057

Phone: (724) 738-9000

Web: www.sru.edu

Edinboro University offers a similar "Green Bike Program." The program was established to "assist people in getting across campus in an environmentally friendly manner," and students may ride the bikes anywhere on campus for free, according to the Edinboro website.

Edinboro University

260 Waterford St.

Edinboro, Pa. 16412

Phone: (814) 732-2000

Web: www.edinboro.edu

Mansfield University offers students 24 mountain bikes and three single-speed cruisers, which are available for both one-day rentals and long-term rentals, according to the Mansfield website.

Mansfield University

71 South Academy St.

Mansfield, Pa. 16933

Phone: (570) 662-4000

Web: www.mansfield.edu

West Chester University is working with Borough Leaders United for Emission Reduction subcommittee in West Chester borough to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by replacing car traffic with bicyclists or pedestrians. The university works with area businesses and clubs to encourage biking as a means of transportation, according to the WCU website. The university offers discounts for bicycles for those participating in the WCU Bicycle Use Pledge Program, a voluntary and self-regulated initiative.

West Chester University

700 South High St.

West Chester, PA 19383

Phone: (610) 436-1000

Web: www.wcupa.edu

Sidebar: For more information

Having a sustainable campus and attaining "bike-friendly university" status are great ways "to promote an active, sustainable and more livable college campus," according to the League of American Bicyclists.

The LAB was founded as the League of American Wheelmen in 1880. It works to "promote bicycling for fun, fitness and transportation and work through advocacy and education for a bicycle-friendly America," according to the LBA website.

A bike-friendly university improves the connectivity of a campus, reduces its carbon footprint and congestion, lowers health-care and parking costs, leads to happier and healthier students and staff, enhances campus quality of life, and becomes a model for the rest of the country, according to LAB.

Universities can apply for BFU status. Top-ranked bicycling colleges and universities incorporate the "Five Es": engineering, education, encouragement, enforcement and evaluation. BFU designation "serves as a positive indication for current and prospective students, as well as faculty and staff." The BFU scorecard is used to assess the five categories.

League of American Bicyclists

1612 K St.

NW, Suite 510

Washington, DC 20006

Phone: (202) 822-1333

Web: bikeleague@bikeleague.org

The trials of 'Hot Dog John'

2012-12-21T15:40:45Z

A Civic Project story

John A. "Hot Dog John" Minda at work in front of the county courthouse on Philadelphia Street, Nov. 14. Photo by Abbey Zelko.

By Abbey Zelko and Aleda Johnson

INDIANA -- On a summer evening in July 2004, John A. Minda visited his sick wife at Latrobe Hospital to show her his newly minted transient vendor license from the Indiana borough.

She took the license into her hand and smiled, Minda said. A short time later, she fell asleep and never woke up.

After his wife's death, Minda, 66, of Saltsburg, told himself that he wasn't going back to work as an investigator for the Department of Aging offices in Westmoreland and Butler counties. He planned to start working as a hot dog vendor in downtown Indiana.

Minda, now known as "Hot Dog John," said in an Oct. 24 interview at a Philadelphia Street eatery that he has become an icon downtown. He said he supports reading programs at the library in which he gives free hot dogs to the kids. Minda also adds personal touches, like writing kids' names on their hot dogs in ketchup after they come out of the library.

]]> In fall 2012, eight years after Minda began selling hot dogs, changes in the transient vendor ordinance, unanimously adopted Dec. 10 by the Indiana borough council, have put restrictions on him and other vendors selling their wares on public sidewalks or along public streets in the borough.

Under the revised measure, vendors may operate from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday at 17 locations, most of them along Philadelphia Street between Fifth and 10th streets, with a couple along Oakland Avenue. (View map of downtown Indiana, Pa.)

Council members passed the ordinance following complaints from downtown restaurants that wanted to prohibit transient food vendors from selling on public property. Restaurant owners said vendors unfairly take business away from those who pay taxes and support the community.

Boroughs that host other western Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities have not experienced transient-vendor licensing problems like those of Indiana borough.

Romeo's Pizza owner Mary Beth Akbay, 49, said at the Oct. 16 Indiana borough council meeting that she has seen a slight decrease in business at her restaurant between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m. because of vendors who are selling to Indiana University of Pennsylvania students.

"We feel that transient vendors can be a beautiful thing in the right city and the right location," Akbay said. "We don't feel that we're ready for it here in Indiana."

Transient vendors don't give back to the Indiana community because they don't employ teenagers like other local businesses do, Akbay said.

One resident, however, was quick to come to the defense of Minda and other vendors.

"John Minda has added a lot to this town," Indiana borough resident Carol A. Ellsmore, 74, said at the Oct. 16 meeting. "He's everybody's friend."

Ellsmore also disagreed with Akbay's opinion that Minda unfairly takes away business from local restaurants like Romeo's.

"This is a free country," Ellsmore said. "This is free enterprise. He's not taking business away from anybody. That's a bunch of crap."

MINDA STARTED selling hot dogs in August 2004. On his first day, he sold 90 hot dogs by 12:23 p.m., he said. Now, when he works in good weather, he averages about 50 hot dogs a day at $1.25 apiece. He wondered how his gross profit of $62.50 a day poses a threat to established brick-and-mortar dining venues.

"People have blamed me for years," he said. "But my business has gone down just as theirs has."

Minda said unemployment, not competition from food carts, is a likely culprit if business is bad at downtown eateries. Unemployment has increased in the area -- to 6.8 percent in October 2012 from 6.3 percent one year earlier, according to the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics. Because of that, fewer people are coming into the borough to patronize local restaurants, he concluded.

"Council needs to find a way to get jobs back into town and quit making me famous," Minda said in the Oct. 24 interview.

But while some local businesses blame vendors for loss of revenues, data suggest that the local business environment is booming compared to other areas.

In Indiana County, sales tax revenue -- a barometer of economic activity -- has increased since July 1, 2006, according to the Statistical Supplements for the Pennsylvania Tax Compendium found on the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue website. Sales-tax revenues collected countywide rose to $22.4 million in the 2011-2012 fiscal year, up from $19.2 million in fiscal year 2006-2007, a 16.7 percent increase.

Indiana County's sales-tax-revenue growth has been greater than the state average during the last six years. By comparison, statewide sales-tax collections increased to $8.8 billion in the 2011-2012 fiscal year from $8.6 billion in the 2006-2007 fiscal year, a 2.3 percent increase -- and a fraction of the growth in Indiana County's collections.

INDIANA BOROUGH council is not trying to get rid of vendors such as Minda, council President Nancy Jones said at the Oct. 16 meeting. Council only sought to be consistent and non-discriminatory in drafting the ordinance for vendors with carts, trailers and trucks.

Minda doesn't operate late at night and doesn't have a big cart or trailer. But he will be affected by the new ordinance, which sets the fees, the times and the locations for sidewalk and street vendors, Broad said. His license now will cost $360 per year, up from $200 per year, an 80 percent hike.

No restrictions were placed on vendors operating on private property.

"The ordinance permits vending on private property without a permit or license," Indiana borough manager William C. Sutton said in a Nov. 30 email. "Private property vendors would be subject to zoning regulations as enforced by the Code Dept."

Council was split on the provisions of the ordinance, Sutton said. In fact, some council members wanted to prohibit vending on public property.

However, the council would need a reason for prohibiting vendors that could hold up in court, solicitor Wayne A. Kablack said at the Oct. 16 council meeting. And council probably wouldn't win in a court case.

Council then agreed to draft the new ordinance putting restrictions on vendors without prohibiting them.

"After some back and forth, we all agreed to the final language, which didn't really meet anyone's exact wishes but which we could all live with," councilman Broad said in a Nov. 28 email.

Minda has renewed his license for 2013 and will continue to sell hot dogs in the borough, said Nichole Sipos of the Indiana borough office in a Nov. 29 telephone interview.

Minda said doesn't consider the new ordinance to be a win, he said, but rather an opportunity to continue selling hot dogs.

"I am happy with the outcome, but others might not be happy with the time restriction," he said in a Dec. 17 email.

If the borough were to take away his license someday, he would stop selling hot dogs.

"I wouldn't sell hot dogs again for the same reason I didn't replace my wife," Minda said. "I had a good eight years and a good 36 years with my wife. I don't want to start over."

Abbey Zelko, a junior majoring in journalism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from Harrisburg.

Aleda Johnson, a junior majoring in journalism and communications media at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from East Stroudsburg.

Video: John Minda on 'Hot Dog John'

View John Minda describing his evolution from retiree to hot-dog vendor to community institution in this two-minute street-corner interview by reporter Charlene Adams: JohnMindaVideo.wmv

Sidebar: Vending in other PaSSHE college towns

Boroughs that host other western Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities have not experienced transient-vendor licensing problems like those of Indiana borough.

Clarion borough, home of Clarion University of Pennsylvania located northwest of Indiana, never has had a vendor-licensing issue, Clarion Borough Chief of Police Mark E. Hall said in an Oct. 17 email. Its existing ordinance does not allow vendors to sell on public property.

"We had a very smart solicitor here for many years, and we have a lot of ordinances, just in case this or that happens," Hall said.

Clarion ordinances make it nearly impossible to obtain such a permit, he added.

"It probably wouldn't get approved because they would not be able to sell items from sidewalks because that is against the ordinance," Hall said. "If they had a truck to sell out of, they also would have to go through the permit process, and that also would most likely be declined, too."

Students in Clarion either eat on campus, at downtown restaurants or at the mall, he said.

Clarion does permit vendors on private property, but they must apply for a permit. One day costs $50, 6 months costs $150 and a year costs $200. Clarion does not have any vendors on private property because people don't want to pay the permit fee, Hall said.

The Borough of Edinboro, another PaSSHE university town located north of Indiana, has not experienced a problem with vendors because it does not permit them on public property either.

"We do permit vendors to set up on private property," borough manager Taras J. Jemetz said in an Oct. 23 email. "We did have one vendor set up on a vacant lot, with the permission of the property owner. But none of the local businesses complained to me about that vending business."

Slippery Rock borough, located northwest of Indiana, allows vendors on both public and private property. But vendors are usually temporary, and none are currently set up in the borough, Slippery Rock building code official Robert Koch said in a Nov. 13 email.

California borough, located southwest of Indiana, does not have problems with vendors either. But it does permit them. It hosts only one small hot dog stand at a local car wash, said Shannon Kratzer, a California borough zoning/code enforcement officer, in an Oct. 24 email.

"Local eateries continue to flourish, and new ones are being built," Kratzer said. "If a vendor was to obtain a permit, it would go through our police, and be valid for one year."

Sidebar: Sales tax revenues, county v. state

Some arguments against sidewalk vendors in Indiana, Pa., have been based on economic grounds -- that vendors hurt local brick-and-mortar businesses during tough economic times. However, sales tax collections -- a rough gauge of economic activity -- suggest that Indiana County is doing better than the statewide average in sales tax revenues.

Fiscal year Indiana County Percent +/- Pennsylvania Percent +/-

2006-07 $19.2 million ----- $8.6 billion -----

2007-08 $19.7 million +2.6 $8.5 billion -1.1

2008-09 $19.4 million -1.4 $8.1 billion -4.2

2009-10 $19.0 million -2.1 $8.0 billion -1.3

2010-11 $21.8 million +14.6 $8.6 billion +7.0

2011-12 $22.4 million +2.7 $8.8 billion +2.1

Source: Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

Sidebar: For more information

For more information about this story, or to get involved in borough vendor licensing issues, contact the following sources:

Indiana Borough

William C. Sutton, manager

Nancy Jones, council president

80 N. Eighth St.
Indiana, Pa. 15701

Phone: (724) 465-6691

Web: http://www.indianaboro.com/

Email: njones@indianaboro.com

Pennsylvania Department of Revenue

Web: http://www.revenue.state.pa.us/portal/server.pt/community/revenue_home/10648

Sidebar: To get involved

Indiana Borough Council

Nancy Jones, President

Meetings are scheduled at 7 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month in the basement of the municipal building:

80 N. Eighth St.

Indiana, Pennsylvania 15701

Phone: (724) 465-6691

Web: http://www.indianaboro.com/borough_council/borough_council.htm

Email: njones@indianaboro.com

Indiana County Chamber of Commerce

Dana P. Henry, President

1019 Philadelphia St.

Indiana, Pa. 15701

Phone: (724) 465-2511

Web: http://www.indianapa.com/chamber/

Email: dphenry@wpia.net

Downtown Indiana Inc.

39 N. Seventh St.

Suite 101

Indiana, PA 15701

Phone: (724) 463-6110

Web: http://downtownindiana.org/

Transient vendor takes stand on private property

2012-12-20T13:29:32Z

A Civic Project story

Food vendor Walter F. Aguirre, right, sells tacos to customer Derek Grove, of Indiana, Pa., in a parking lot behind the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house at 220 S. Seventh Street, Indiana, Nov. 9, 2012. Photo by Colleen O'Laughlin.

By Colleen O'Laughlin

INDIANA − Late one night early in the spring semester of 2012, Walter F. Aguirre, 28, a senior marketing major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, was hanging out with his Phi Kappa Psi fraternity brothers when he got a craving for tacos.

He didn't want pizza. He didn't want convenience-store carry-out. He wanted the food he grew up eating in the Hispanic neighborhoods of Los Angeles, where street vendors are plentiful and popular.

His friends didn't understand his specific hunger. At first.

"None of them really understood what I meant by that," said Aguirre in a November interview. "Then one night, I made some at home for my wife and kids. This idea just kept coming back to me."

]]> Aguirre said he nurtured the idea in a spring 2012 business-communications class in the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology. Students were assigned to come up with a product and market it. That's when Aguirre started to think about starting his own business.

"That's a good way to get this out there," said Aguirre. "We used the ideas I had to build the presentation. People began to ask if this was something that is really coming to IUP."

Aguirre researched food trucks, trailers, locations and the law. He developed his business plan with the help of the Small Business Development Center at IUP, where Aguirre works as a small-business consultant.

Aguirre incorporated his company -- Gordos Food Service (L.A. Taco) -- in March. He opened for business at Phi Kappa Psi on April 29. L.A. Taco passed the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture health inspection on July 23.

Indiana borough council approved Aguirre's transient vendor license on Sept.18, Aguirre said. L.A. Taco was permitted to operate in the borough-owned parking lot at South Eighth and Church streets, 5-8 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. If Aguirre operated past 8 p.m., his permit would be pulled. The borough set his license fee at $220.

Aguirre studied the local market and discovered a problem: At the times and on the days he was permitted to operate, he said, local bars offered taco and wing specials.

"So I decided that's not in my best interest to do it," said Aguirre. "I decided to go the private property route."

His decision put his business beyond the reach of a controversial rewrite of a borough ordinance that regulates transient vendors who operate on public property. The revised ordinance, adopted by the borough's elected council on Dec. 10, imposes no restrictions on vendors operating on private property.

Aguirre has an agreement with his Phi Kappa Psi fraternity to park his L.A. Taco food trailer on its property in its rear parking lot on Friday nights. The fraternity owns the property at 220 South Seventh St. and pays the property taxes.

Aguirre said he is aware that owners of established brick-and-mortar restaurants and some members of the borough council have criticized transient vendors. During a Sept. 18 council meeting, for example, Levent Akbay, co-owner of Romeo's Pizza, said transient vendors do not support the community.

"I pay rent," Akbay said. "I pay tax.... I invested in this community.... I don't know what purpose those businesses serve other than to serve themselves."

Aguirre disagreed. He said food vendors are good for the community and provide food choices to IUP students.

"Students should have an option of the food they want," said Aguirre. "Why not give them something local?"

Aguirre said he is involved in the community by supporting local businesses. He orders meat from Cunningham Meats in Indiana, he said. His produce is supplied by Dentici Produce in Kittanning. Silk-screened shirts are provided by True Image Tattoo in New Kensington. And other items come from FastTimes in Indiana.

"I'm part of Indiana," said Aguirre. "I serve in Indiana in the National Guard. I am a student at IUP. I'm closely connected to this borough. Why not let me operate and do what I want to do? "

Colleen O'Laughlin, a senior majoring in political science and journalism at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from Pittsburgh.

Diversity at the Honors College: not so special

2012-12-07T14:48:35Z

A Civic Project story

Whitmyre Hall's head community assistant, Ignacio J. "Nacho" Alarcon, talks with community assistant Paige A. Peterson at an Honors College social event on Nov. 29. Photo by Emily Weber.

By Emily Weber

INDIANA -- In the middle of a class discussion about socioeconomic status, Ignacio J. "Nacho" Alarcón, 20, a philosophy major in Indiana University of Pennsylvania's Robert E. Cook Honors College, found himself a minority in more ways than one. When the professor asked the 20 students seated around the long table in Whitmyre Hall's ornate Painting Room to evaluate the diversity of their peers, many turned to look at Alarcón.

"I was one of a few men," Alarcón said in a Nov. 2 interview in Whitmyre. "And the only person who wasn't white."

]]> As the head community assistant for Whitmyre, a traditional residence hall where first-year Honors College students are required to live, Alarcón knows almost all of the 302 students in the Honors College.

"It speaks volumes to the diversity within our environment when the freshmen class possesses a five-to-one female-to-male ratio and, with respect to the entire Honors College, a vast Caucasian majority," Alarcón said. "Clearly, I don't mean to imply that the HC is a bigoted institution. But I feel that a great deal can be gained by experiencing diversity on a number of levels."

IUP's honors program admits about 100 freshmen every year, according to the Honors College website. Typical Honors College students rank in the top 10 percent of their high-school graduating class and earn a combined math and critical reading score of 1300 out of 1600 on the SAT.

IUP's average SAT score is 1,000, according to its website.

Any IUP student who meets honors-program admission requirements is eligible for the Honors College, regardless of major. But by two measures of diversity, race and gender, the Honors College underrepresents students like Alarcón.

COMPARED TO the racial diversity of IUP undergraduates overall, the Honors College is home to few minorities. Of the 13,058 IUP undergraduates enrolled in fall 2012, 78 percent (10,185 students) were white, according to data provided by Chris M. Kitas, associate director of IUP's Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment, in an Oct. 30 email The remaining 22 percent were African-American, Hispanic/Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander or members of other minority groups.

In the Honors College, 87 percent of the 302 students enrolled in fall 2012 were white, according to data provided in an Oct. 15 email by Cook Honors College marketing coordinator Tiffanie J. Fordyce. The remaining 13 percent described themselves as minorities or did not provide this information in the application process.

This came as no surprise to Nicholas Marsellas, 20, a sophomore English major at IUP and a student in the Honors College.

"I would have thought it was less diverse than the rest of IUP," he said in an Oct. 18 interview at the Writing Center in Eicher Hall. "My own group of HC friends is not very diverse."

The director of the Honors College, English professor Janet E. Goebel, gave several reasons for the lack of racial diversity in an Oct. 26 interview in her Whitmyre office. In some cases, minority students may not report their race when applying for the Honors College, she said. In other cases, prospective minority students "just get better offers" from other universities.

"If you're a strong minority student, you have so many options," Goebel said. "Other universities have more resources at their disposal. We just don't have a history of donor money and scholarships for these students."

Racial diversity has improved since the first class of Honors College students graduated in 2000. Goebel said that after an initial program evaluation in that year, minorities made up 5 percent of the Honors College students while IUP was between 6 and 7 percent that year.

Now minority students make up 13 percent of the Honors College, compared to 22 percent among IUP undergraduates.

She said the Honors College admissions process has deliberately created other kinds of diversity. Home-school, out-of-state and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students are more common among the honors population than the general student body, Goebel said. The Honors College application does not ask students to provide this information.

Nevertheless, Christkelly A. Dornevil, 19, a sophomore economics and journalism major, said in an Oct. 21 instant message interview that she likes "giving the Whitmyre people an educated view on black people." The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Dornevil said misperceptions about the Honors College present a challenge to maintaining racial diversity.

"A lot of students refuse to join the HC because they believe it interferes with their school and social lives," Dornevil said. "I know plenty of smart students who are minorities (not only black) who refused the offer to the HC."

THE GENDER ratio in the Honors College also does not match IUP's, according to data provided by Fordyce and Kitas.

In fall 2012, 55 percent of IUP's undergraduates were female. In the same year, females made up 74 percent of Honors College students.

Goebel said there are typically equal numbers of humanities and science, technology and mathematics students. The gender gap is better explained by the nature of the program than by the subjects offered in the Honors College core curriculum.

"This is a nurturing program," she said. "Students are members of a community. Males might want more independence and opportunities for independent work compared to females."

In recent years, most Honors College recruitment staff and volunteers have been female, Goebel said. This might also attract female high school students.

Marsellas said he attributes the gender gap to the fact that Honors College core courses are based primarily around humanities subjects instead of science, mathematics and technology, which are traditionally male-oriented subjects.

"I hate to stereotype, but the Honors College attracts only nerdy guys," he said. "Women are more easily forgiven for being smart, but guys are expected to be reluctantly just above par."

Dornevil said she too noticed the gender gap.

"It's kind of scary," she said. "So much estrogen."

Lindsey S. Quakenbush, 20, a junior English major at IUP, said she was surprised to discover a majority of women in the Honors College.

"I always thought there were fairly equal numbers of males and females," she said in an Oct. 18 Skype interview. "It makes me wonder how that actually happened."

THE ISSUE of diversity among honors or gifted student groups is not isolated to IUP or western Pennsylvania. The National Collegiate Honors Council, a professional association of undergraduate honors colleges and programs, has found a nationwide discrepancy between racial and gender diversity of institutions and their honors programs or colleges.

In a 2010 survey of 17 institutions with honors programs, the council found that "despite the diversity in size and geography of our respondents, underrepresented groups such as ethnic minorities, GLBTQ [gay, lesbian, bisexual, transsexual and queer] students, international, and non-traditional students seem to be underrepresented in honors programs and colleges."

The study cites an average 5.5 percent gap between institution-wide enrollment of black students and black students enrolled in honors programs and colleges. At IUP, the gap is about 6 percent, according to data provided by Fordyce and the Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment's common data set.

Emily Weber, a junior journalism and English major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from Souderton.

Sidebar: Honors diversity, compared

A comparison of the honors program diversity at three other western region Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education universities puts the Robert E. Cook Honors College just ahead of the pack.

Clarion University of Pennsylvania: 160 students

74 percent female, 26 percent male

90 percent Caucasian, 4 percent African American, 6 percent other

Edinboro University: 171 students

73 percent female, 26 percent male

92 percent Caucasian, 2 percent African-American, 2 percent Asian, 4 percent other

Slippery Rock University: 300 students

75 percent female, 25 percent male

95 percent Caucasian, 5 percent minority students

Indiana University of Pennsylvania: 302 students

74 percent female, 26 percent male

87 percent Caucasian, 13 percent minority students

California University of Pennsylvania did not provide data beyond the current freshman class.

Sidebar: How this story was reported

This story was reported by Emily Weber, a journalism major enrolled in the fall 2012 News Reporting class at Indiana University of Pennsylvania's journalism department. Weber is a junior in the Robert E. Cook Honors College.

Sidebar: For more info

For more information on this story or to get involved with the IUP Honors College, please contact the following sources:

Janet Goebel

Director

Robert E. Cook Honors College

136 Whitmyre Hall

290 Pratt Drive

Indiana, PA 15705

Office: 724-357-4971

E-mail: jgoebel@iup.edu

Kevin Berezansky

Associate Director

Robert E. Cook Honors College

141 Whitmyre Hall

290 Pratt Drive

Indiana, PA 15705

724-357-7573

Email: kevinb@iup.edu

Tiffanie Fordyce

Marketing Coordinator

Robert E. Cook Honors College

138 Whitmyre Hall

290 Pratt Drive

Indiana, PA 15705

724-357-7997

Email: tfordyce@iup.edu

Christopher Kitas
Associate Director
IUP Office of Institutional Research, Planning and Assessment
Sutton Hall, Room 401

1011 South Drive

Indiana, PA 15705

724-357-5562
Email: ckitas@iup.edu

The Oak Grove preacher's free speech

2012-11-02T18:58:11Z

An opinion

By Jake Williams

Timothy "The Oak Grove Preacher" Metcalf is required to fill out a monthly permit at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania Center for Student Life to preach on what he calls "a grassy knoll" between Leonard and Wilson halls, he said in an Oct. 11 interview in a Davis Hall classroom.

That same day in the Oak Grove, members of the Secular Student Alliance, regarded as a "special interest organization" by IUP, were distributing a survey questionnaire to gauge public opinion about "Oak Grove preachers."

"We have constructed this survey in such a way as to gain an unbiased consensus by polling the faculty/staff/students," the questionnaire reads. "The information you submit will be combined and copied, then mailed to the IUP President, as well as the aforementioned men who preach to the IUP community."

However, the document narrows allowable responses.

]]> "Responses that are blatantly rude and profane will be considered illegitimate and will not be included in the sample," it reads.

Thus, the student group's expressed interest in an unbiased sample evidently does not extend to survey responses that are biased against the group's biases. Only agreeable respondents need apply.

Richard D. Kutz, director of the IUP Center for Student Life, reports that members of the student group, like preacher Metcalf, were required to and did secure a "non-commercial solicitation registration" for its Oak Grove activity.

Metcalf, who has been preaching at IUP for 20 years, has been filling out the permit for nearly 10 of those years after a fellow Oak Grove preacher fell under a legal cloud that led to adoption of the university's permit policy.

The Oak Grove sits on public property owned by IUP, a public institution. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution applies there in its fullest effect.

It was on similar constitutional grounds that Douglas Parks, a street preacher in Ohio, won a 2005 federal court case in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6^th Circuit because he had been barred from preaching on a Columbus street.

The court upheld Parks' right to free speech under the First Amendment. He was allowed to continue preaching in public.

In its ruling the 6th Circuit court quoted the U.S. Supreme Court: "The right to free speech . . . may not be curtailed simply because the speaker's message may be offensive to his audience." In the Parks case, Cleveland "applied a regulation in such a way that restricts the freedom of speech of one of its citizens," the appeals court ruled. "The First Amendment does not tolerate this."

If the Secular Student Alliance or Indiana University of Pennsylvania seeks to restrict preacher Metcalf's free-speech rights, then the Parks precedent in the 6^th Circuit may be instructive here in the 3^rd Circuit, as well.

Jake Williams, a sophomore journalism major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from Matamoras, Pa.

IUP students: Do your homework on presidential candidates

2012-10-30T18:57:32Z

An Opinion

Peter Broad, professor emeritus, Indiana University of Pennsylvania; member, Indiana Borough Council. Photo by David Loomis

By Peter Broad

Indiana University of Pennsylvania students: Are you unsure about whether to vote or for whom? Do vote. And when you do, consider the following:

--- Are you carried on your parents' insurance until age 26? President Obama's Affordable Health Care Act guarantees this coverage. His opponent has vowed to repeal it on his "first day" in office.

--- Want affordable access to contraceptive services? President Obama supports mandatory insurance coverage for contraceptive services and funding for Planned Parenthood, the primary provider of services to low income and uninsured women. His opponent vows to repeal health care reform and to stop federal funding for Planned Parenthood on his "first day" in office.

--- Need low interest student loans to finance your education? President Obama doubled funding for Pell Grants, capped federal student loan repayments at 10 percent of income, and implemented loan forgiveness for students who have paid on loans for years. His opponent suggests you borrow money from your parents.

--- Do you sometimes carry a balance on your credit card or miss paying on time? President Obama's Credit Card Reform Act prevents raising interest rates on existing balances, limits late fees to $25, and requires full disclosure of costs. His opponent pledges to repeal all financial reforms on his "first day" in office. He has yet to explain his own version of financial reform.

--- Want a job when you graduate? Under President Obama's administration, jobs are increasing and unemployment is dropping. His opponent claims he will create millions of new jobs, but when he was governor of Massachusetts, the state was fourth from the bottom in job creation. However, in the private sector, he created many new jobs - those he outsourced to other countries.

President Obama has signed laws that benefit students and their parents. His opponent has planned a big first day in office: He will repeal them all and implement unspecified alternatives. The choice is clear.

Finally: Those registered to vote in Pennsylvania are NOT required to show photo identification -- unless it is your first time at that polling place. Your I-card or drivers' license will be accepted.

Do your homework, read more about the issues (at FactCheck.org, for example), find out where you vote, and get out and vote!

Peter Broad is an IUP professor emeritus, a resident of Indiana borough and a member of the Indiana Borough Council.

Publishing plant burns

2012-10-23T19:36:51Z

Firefighters navigate a tangle of hoses and foam on the eastern side of the Creps United Publications plant on U.S. Route 422 west of Indiana, Pa., on Tuesday afternoon. The blaze spewed thick black smoke that was visible communitywide. Photo by Sean Yoder

By Sean Yoder

INDIANA -- A fire tore through Creps United Publications in White Township on Tuesday morning, prompting 15 fire crews and two hazardous-materials teams to respond and sending four to the hospital.

Fire crews first got the call at 8:37 a.m., according to Indiana County 911.

Indiana Fire Association Rescue Squad Captain Ron Moreau said his was the second truck on the scene of a hot and smoky blaze at the publishing plant on U.S. Route 422/Philadelphia Street about a half mile west of Indiana borough.

]]>

Gray smoke pours from the Creps United Publications printing plant in White Township at 6 p.m. Tuesday. This shot was taken from Shelly Drive about a third of a mile to the southwest of the blaze. Photo by Catharine Watson.

"It's basically an all-steel building, steel roofs and steel walls," he said. "So when they heated up the oven, it got real hot in there," he said. "Smoke was pouring from all corners of this building, every window. And if you can imagine the square footage of this structure, and there's that much black smoke, there's nothing to save at that point."

The fire may have started at a printing press, Moreau said. An employee attempted to put out the fire with an extinguisher but soon gave up and helped evacuate the building.

Just after 9 a.m., some chemical containers popped and burnt, audible outside the building. Moreau said the chemicals could have been inks, cleaning solvents or lubricants for the machines.

Much of the building was buckled or close to collapsing, Moreau said shortly after noon. Hotspots continued burning inside the structure. Black smoke streamed out its western side. Fire officials brought in heavy machinery to bring out some of the wreckage and to assess what was still burning.

Crews pumped foam into the building to smother hotspots and prevent fuel from reigniting the blaze.

Four firefighters were taken to the hospital with unknown injuries.

Hear Sean Yoder's interview of Indiana Fire Association Rescue Squad Captain Ron Moreau at Tuesday's fire scene: Ron Moreau Interview MP3.mp3

Indiana council: Chill out on Hot Dog John

2012-10-22T13:00:09Z

An Opinion

John A. "Hot Dog John" Minda. Photo by David Loomis

By Corrie Whitmer

For eight years now, Indiana residents have been visiting John A. "Hot Dog John" Minda's downtown hot dog cart for a quick meal and some conversation. But for the third time in those eight years, Minda's license is at risk, and not because of anything he did.

Minda was the first person to get a transient vendor license in Indiana, in 2004. Now, other people are applying for licenses to run food trucks, and the council is, once again, trying to decide whether they will continue allowing food carts and trucks to operate in the borough of Indiana. Minda is, once again, caught in the middle.

]]> The borough council has looked at this question before, back in 2006. The Coney, along with a number of other local businesses, worried that Hot Dog John's would cut into their profits. The borough council decided not to renew Minda's license, but an outpouring of public support for Minda persuaded them to change their decision back then.

This time, council President Nancy Jones was quoted in an Indiana Gazette article as saying that the council's decision will be final, which means that the time to speak up on the issue is now.

A number of downtown businesses are concerned that street vendors don't "give back to the community," as Hastie Kinter, owner of Lucy Rae Gifts & More, put it. Other local businesses have chimed in. They worry again that Hot Dog John and other street vendors take away business from brick-and-mortar establishments, including restaurants.

Minda disputes that. He says he sells about 40 hot dogs a day, when weather permits. At $1.25 apiece, his gross is $50.

"I don't take any business away from anyone," Minda said. "My profit margin is low."

Minda sells just dogs and drinks--hardly competition for the sit-down dining offered at most Indiana restaurants. And he does give back to the community, by giving freebies to people who can't afford them and to preschoolers who visit the nearby Indiana Free Library.

The food trucks are another matter. There's no guarantee that their owners will feel any obligation to the local community. Additionally, food trucks in general have gotten popular lately, and their menus are larger and more diverse than the one offered by Minda's cart. They do have the capacity to compete with local businesses more than those businesses apparently are used to.

The borough council has every reason to deny those vendors licenses, or at least regulate them heavily, if they're concerned about protecting local businesses from outside competition.

But Minda's hot dog cart is not a threat. It is a part of this community. It's a gathering place for locals, and a place where people can get something inexpensive to eat.

If the borough is worried about food trucks, council should draft a separate new ordinance to deal with them. Minda and his hot dog cart are a part of downtown Indiana now and for the foreseeable future. Council members would be making a mistake if they revoked his license.

Corrie Whitmer, a junior journalism major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from Middletown, Pa.

IUP campus master plan unveiled

2012-10-10T18:05:04Z

Artist's rendering of the planned Fine Arts Courtyard between Sprowls and Cogswell halls on South Eleventh Street. Planners say the project, one of three priority projects presented Oct. 8, will provide a more appealing entrance to campus from an existing pedestrian walkway to the parking garage on Grant Street. Source: IUP Division of Administration and Finance.

By Emily Weber

INDIANA -- Three new Indiana University of Pennsylvania construction projects are expected to be completed by August 2014 as the first installments in a long-range facilities plan presented on Monday by campus administrators.

They described a new College of Humanities and Social Sciences building, the Crimson Café dining facility and a Creative Arts Plaza at two public presentations. The first was at noon at the Hadley Union Building; the second was at 7 p.m. at the Kovalchick Convention and Athletic Complex. Thirty people attended the evening presentation.

Presenters included Raymond L. "Ray" Wygonik, director of IUP's office of engineering and construction; Mark A. Geletka, associate vice president for facilities management, and W. Thomas Borellis, the university's chief planner and project specialist.

]]> The $29.6 million humanities and social sciences facility will rise next to Stapleton Library on the lawn between Clark and Sutton halls. Wygonik said it will replace Keith and Leonard halls, which will be razed after the facility is completed. Construction will begin in the spring of 2013. (Campus map, click here.)

The six-story building will contain seven academic departments and 31 classrooms with seating for 1,835. It will front Grant Street, remove South Drive and adjust parking around Sutton Hall.

The dining facility will rise between the library and South Eleventh Street. Ultimately, it will replace Folger Food Court on Pratt Drive. The new café will include food venues, a coffee shop and seating for 400.

Raymond L. "Ray" Wygonik, director of IUP's office of engineering and construction, presents part of the university's long-range building plan on Monday at the Kovalchick Athletic and Convention Complex. Photo by Emily Weber.

The Crimson Café will be an intimate gathering space for students, faculty and staff, Wygonik said.

"Rather than a mall, we're going with a micro-restaurant concept," he said.

The third project is the Sprowls Fine Arts Courtyard between Sprowls and Cogswell halls on South Eleventh Street. Borellis said the courtyard is still in the planning phase. When finished, it will provide a more appealing entrance to campus from the existing pedestrian walkway to the parking garage on Grant Street.

The presentation addressed other projects in the five-year range of the plan, including:

a Dining Hall Master Plan, which calls for a dining hall to replace Keith Hall and the renovation of Folger Hall into an all-you-can-eat facility with seating for 450.
traffic studies conducted this year on Grant and South Eleventh streets. Borellis said these streets will be closed during construction of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences facility and may be closed permanently to increase campus walkability.
a hotel facility to be built adjacent to the Kovalchick center. Wooten said the university soon will announce a plan for this project.
expansion of the Hoodlebug Trail adjacent to the Robertshaw Building.
extension of the green arboretum concept to the Kovalchick center and other areas of south campus.

The long-range plan was developed by an Ann Arbor, Mich., planning consultant and represents three years of work. It was adopted by the IUP Council of Trustees on Dec. 16, 2010, according to IUP's website. The 102-page document and a 2011 revision can be downloaded from the site.

Plans remain "dynamic" and "fluid," according to Cornelius Wooten, IUP vice president of administration and Finance. Three phases of development range from 0-5 years, 6-10 years and 11-20 years. Each phase includes time, cost and funding possibilities. Eighty percent of the cost for projects in the five-year range are already covered by public, private or university funds, Borellis said.

IUP students attending the evening session expressed mixed feelings about the new facility for the College of Humanities and Social Science. Sophomore Bethany A. Longer, 19, a psychology major, said a unified building will be "advantageous for the university" but less engaging for her emotionally.

"I like the feeling that a building is my building," she said. "As a psychology major, I feel like Uhler is mine. One building containing all these things takes away that feeling."

However, junior P. Jasper Chmielewski, 20, a political science/pre-law major, said students might be willing to branch out from their majors when the departments are located in once place.

"You put all the social sciences in one building, and I might take classes in areas that interest me that aren't even my major," he said. "Plus I'm tired of being attacked by bees in Keith. We need a new building."

Emily Weber, a junior journalism and English major at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, is from Souderton, Pa.

ALS fundraiser culminates Friday

2012-10-01T13:09:07Z

William L. "Bill" Szep takes a break from baking at Caffe Amadeus Roast & Brew, his downtown Indiana, Pa., coffee shop. Photo by David Loomis.

By Keith Vislay

INDIANA -- Coffee. Pastries. Doilies. Lou Gehrig's disease.

If not for William L. "Bill" Szep, owner of Caffé Amadeus coffee shop, these words would share no connection.

Szep has organized a fundraiser for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. The effort will culminate with caffeine, candlelight and confections on homecoming weekend this Friday evening, serenaded by music on the sidewalk in front of Szep's family-run Philadelphia Street shop.

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Szep said he was moved to help following a recent diagnosis of cable TV reality-baking show celebrity Mary "Momma" Valastro Pinto that she had the crippling neurological disease. Pinto and her clan, who have appeared on the TLC channel docu-soap "Cake Boss" since its debut in 2009, responded by hosting Szep and his family last month at the Hoboken, N.J., bakery where the show is set.

Szep said his motive is simple.

"To make Momma smile," he said. "I want to send her a video of a full coffeehouse, wall-to-wall."

In addition to videotaping Friday's activities, Szep said he, his family and staff this week will accept $1 donations in exchange for donors' personalized doilies to be posted in the coffee shop's window. On Friday, $5 donors will receive a cup of freshly roasted coffee (or freshly brewed tea) and a handmade pastry.

The evening's music has been organized by Indiana Area School District music instructor Julianne Laird, Szep said.

All donations will be sent to the Momma Mary Foundation in Hoboken to support ALS research, Szep said. The Caffé Amadeus effort is scheduled to be recognized there at an Oct. 23 foundation gala.

The Caffe Amadeus fundraiser culminates Friday, Oct. 5, 4-9 p.m., at the coffee shop, 628 Philadelphia St., Indiana. Phone: 724-349-0540.

Sidebar: How this story was reported

This story is an abbreviated version of a class assignment in the Writing for Print Media course taught by professor Michele Papakie in the Journalism Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Reporter Keith Vislay, 22, a senior English major from West Miflin, is a student in that class.