Student Activism in Harrisburg
Dublin Core
Title
Student Activism in Harrisburg
Subject
West Chester University Quad Angles
Description
An article in WCU's student newspaper detailing tuition-related activism of students in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Creator
Michael Sommers
Source
Quad Angles, West Chester University
Publisher
WCU, Vietnam Digital Oral Histories, Spring and Fall 2022
Date
March 4, 1975
Contributor
Brenna McGowan
Rights
Used with permission of WCU Special Collections
Format
JPG
Type
Text
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Harrisburg Rally Today
By Michael Sommers
The Harrisburg rally is today. Students from the fourteen state colleges will be massed on the state capitol steps at 1:30 p.m. Added to the student ranks will be college administrators and college faculty members. The rally, mandated February by the Commonwealth Association of Students, is to make the public and the state legislators aware of the financial plight of the state colleges and its students, said CAS President Penny Jacobs. The Board of State College Presidents has requested 12.6 million in supplemental appropriations for the institutions. Sources have indicated that Gov. Milton J. Shapp will approve $5.5 million. Last month, in an economy move, Secretary of Education John C. Pittenger ordered the colleges to abolish 90 per cent of all unfilled instructional and noninstructional positions at the institutions. Further reasons for the rally, said CAS Executive Secretary J. Douglas Dows is a projected $50 a semester tuition increase for September set by the state board of education. Over 4000 students are expected to mass in Harrisburg to hear the student government presidents of Shippensburg, West Chester, and Mansfield State Colleges, legislators K. Leroy Ervis, Jeannette Reibman, and William Shane, a representative of the AFL-CIO, APSCUF president Dr. Robert Winter and Executive Director Martin Morand and Gov. Shapp or his representative speak. The buses leave West Chester State College at 10:30 this morning. Free transportation to the Harrisburg rally, paid for by IGA, the Commuter Government, Resident Hall Association and APSCUF, the state faculty bargaining union, will transport as many students as want to go to the demonstration. Classes will still be held, but a memo from the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Dennis D. Bell, urges that Buses leave from Lawrence at 70:30 a.m. students not be penalized for attending the rally. This memo, and others from APSCUF and the Faculty Senate, further urge all faculty members to attend the rally. "If you don't go to this," declared CAS President Penny Jacobs, "You have nobody to blame but yourself if you pay $50 more this fall and if there are no new library books and no chemicals in your labs. Because if you don't care about your education, the legislators won't care, either." Dr. James Wells, director of the West Chester Golden Rams Marching Band is getting as many members as possible to attend and play at the rally. "Let's face it," said J. Douglas Dows, CAS Executive Secretary, urging students to attend the rally, "nobody is going to start listening to us until we start yelling and yelling where it counts. In Harrisburg, they play the 'numbers' game. The more numbers you have with your organization, the bigger your number. And the bigger your number, the more they listen in Harrisburg."
By Michael Sommers
The Harrisburg rally is today. Students from the fourteen state colleges will be massed on the state capitol steps at 1:30 p.m. Added to the student ranks will be college administrators and college faculty members. The rally, mandated February by the Commonwealth Association of Students, is to make the public and the state legislators aware of the financial plight of the state colleges and its students, said CAS President Penny Jacobs. The Board of State College Presidents has requested 12.6 million in supplemental appropriations for the institutions. Sources have indicated that Gov. Milton J. Shapp will approve $5.5 million. Last month, in an economy move, Secretary of Education John C. Pittenger ordered the colleges to abolish 90 per cent of all unfilled instructional and noninstructional positions at the institutions. Further reasons for the rally, said CAS Executive Secretary J. Douglas Dows is a projected $50 a semester tuition increase for September set by the state board of education. Over 4000 students are expected to mass in Harrisburg to hear the student government presidents of Shippensburg, West Chester, and Mansfield State Colleges, legislators K. Leroy Ervis, Jeannette Reibman, and William Shane, a representative of the AFL-CIO, APSCUF president Dr. Robert Winter and Executive Director Martin Morand and Gov. Shapp or his representative speak. The buses leave West Chester State College at 10:30 this morning. Free transportation to the Harrisburg rally, paid for by IGA, the Commuter Government, Resident Hall Association and APSCUF, the state faculty bargaining union, will transport as many students as want to go to the demonstration. Classes will still be held, but a memo from the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dr. Dennis D. Bell, urges that Buses leave from Lawrence at 70:30 a.m. students not be penalized for attending the rally. This memo, and others from APSCUF and the Faculty Senate, further urge all faculty members to attend the rally. "If you don't go to this," declared CAS President Penny Jacobs, "You have nobody to blame but yourself if you pay $50 more this fall and if there are no new library books and no chemicals in your labs. Because if you don't care about your education, the legislators won't care, either." Dr. James Wells, director of the West Chester Golden Rams Marching Band is getting as many members as possible to attend and play at the rally. "Let's face it," said J. Douglas Dows, CAS Executive Secretary, urging students to attend the rally, "nobody is going to start listening to us until we start yelling and yelling where it counts. In Harrisburg, they play the 'numbers' game. The more numbers you have with your organization, the bigger your number. And the bigger your number, the more they listen in Harrisburg."
Original Format
Paper
Files
Citation
Michael Sommers, “Student Activism in Harrisburg,” WCU Vietnam War Oral History Project, accessed November 18, 2024, https://nunncenter.net/wcu-vietnam-war/items/show/59.