No related posts.

No related posts.

No related posts.

On March 8, Governor Tom Corbett introduced his first budget as governor of Pennsylvania. To the shock of many in higher education, the Governor’s budget cut funding to higher education by roughly 50 percent.
The response from higher education in Pennsylvania has been dramatic. Petitions have sprouted up across the internet urging citizens to fight the proposed cuts. The sites contain information on how to contact legislators to urge their support in fighting the budget cuts.
Millersville has also taken their own steps in helping students and staff to initiate contact with their legislators by posting on the MU website different talking points. The link is titled “2011-2012 Commonwealth Budget Issues Talking Points.”
In President McNairy’s response to the cuts she says how “deeply troubled” Millersville and other Universities are by the budget. “Hanging in the balance is access to quality, affordable higher education for the children of Pennsylvania,” said McNairy.
Kenn Marshall, Media Relations Manager for the Chancellors office, said that the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) is also apprehensive of the proposed budget’s significant cuts. “We are deeply concerned about the dramatic impact this budget could have on our students and their families,” said Marshall.
Millersville’s current budget is $133.9 million in 2010-11. The state appropriates 28 percent of Millersville’s budget which amounts to $37.492 million. The remainder of Millersville’s operating budget comes from tuition and other sorts of income. By cutting the appropriated 28 percent to 14 percent, the state would be cutting roughly $18.746 million a year to the University. Millersville, like the other 13 PASSHE universities, would be left to fill the funding gap without state assistance.
Millersville has been working to reduce costs for some time. President McNairy says that Milllersville has, “Cut $11.6 million from our budget in the last three years.” However, the upcoming cuts would be much more, and occur much faster than ever before. The $11.6 million was cut over a span of three years, not one summer which is what will need to happen if the budget is accepted as is by the legislation.
“We… anticipated that we would experience a reduction in state funding,” Vice President of Finance and Administration Roger Bruszewski said. “However, such a reduction as proposed is definitely alarming, unprecedented, and considerably more than anyone could have predicted.”
“We have been good stewards of the taxpayers’ money,” said President McNairy.
The effect of these cuts will not only reach PASSHE schools but “state-related universities” as well. These universities include Pennsylvania State University, University of Pittsburgh, Temple University, and Lincoln University.
In a recent article on the website rockthecapitol.com Scott Paterno, Penn State Law grad and son of Joe Paterno has made an interesting case for stripping Penn State of all state appropriations and splitting it up among other schools. Mr. Paterno goes into an in-depth analysis of how Penn State’s meager $304 million (which is 8 percent of their $4 billion dollar budget) would be able to fund the rest of the 14 PASSHE schools.
In light of the intense budget cuts, many students and community members may wonder why impressive renovations on campus are occurring, and where the funding for these projects comes from.
Projects such as the SMC and Library renovations are “funded by the capital budget process which is different than the operating budget,” Mr. Bruszewski said. “Funds for the Library have already been approved and allocated. You cannot use capital funds for operating purpose.”
Over the next few weeks, the Chancellors office will take center stage in the fight over budget cuts. PASSHE Chancellor Cavanaugh will appear before the Senate Appropriations Committee March 23 and the House Appropriations Committee on March 28 to answer questions regarding the budget.
Another part of the budget that has gained recognition across the nation is recent laws passed dealing with collective bargaining among state employees. In Governor Corbett’s budget address he stated that “we enter collective bargaining fully aware of the hard realities of this economy. We are counting on our unions to recognize those realities as well.”
“[We] will be looking for salary rollbacks and freezes from state employees as well as asking them to increase their contributions for health care benefits,” said Corbett.
President McNairy, Bruszewski, and Marshall were unable to comment regarding union negotiations.
The 2011-2012 budget is due the day before the new fiscal year is set to start on July 1.

No related posts.

When I return from England after this semester I will come back to a Millersville
transformed. The new student center truly is “seizing the opportunity.” The growth over the past
ten years that the university has seen in enrollment made the old SMC seem outdated and
downright pathetic at times. It did not give the perception of a true student center like others you
will find throughout the country. The new SMC will give Millersville students, employees,
faculty and visitors the ability to have a true heart for the campus community.

The SMC is not the only improvement Millersville is making. The new Visual &
Performing Arts Center will hinder music education for now, but when completed will be a focal
point not just for the university but community at large. The Anchor is something that puts the
galley to shame. Updating the downstairs has rejuvenated campus living. I could only wish
having the opportunity to walk into the Anchor from my dorm instead of Gordy’s and the galley.
The hip functional use of the space makes it a place that students want to hang out in.

The old saying out with the old and in with the new seems to be the new direction that
Millersville is heading. In a few years almost all students on campus will not remember the old
Millersville that is being replaced presently. Grabbing that cheesesteak at The Galley before a
thirsty Thursday night, playing pool at Club de’ville, trying to use up the rest of your flex at
Gordy’s the last week of school all of this will be gone.

My senior year will come and go and Millersville will continue to move forward with
improvements in the future. But try not to forget the old Millersville and the times you and your
friends had there. It really is strange to see it go.

No related posts.

These ideas of power which have been concentrated in D.C. are not new. Presidents such as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Jackson, Richard Nixon and others knew that the power to control laid in the hands of the executive which could only be done if the power ended its roads in Washington.

Do we really want to be dependent on a sole authority such as the federal government?

Let us first look at dependency. Peggy O’Mara wrote in her book “The Way Back Home” which is based around child dependency that “By assuming that we as parents know what is best for our children in regard to their inner experience, and that we must show them how and when to accomplish basic human developmental tasks, we teach them that outside standards are more important and more accurate indicators than signals from within themselves.”

This is exactly what the federal government has done to the states and its citizens at large. The federal government has fostered their way into our lives slowly from the New Deal to our current regulation found in Obama’s Health Care Reform Bill. They have made it so that the “outside standards” are more important than what we can do locally and inside our own states.

Our country did not begin with the thorns of Washington ripping open the sides of the states. It started with the power concentrated in the government that was the closest to the people: The states. By making the states dependent on the federal government, this has in turn made many citizens dependent on the federal government as well. This is not what is right, this is as far from the meaning of federalism as one could stray and even further from what America is meant to be.

James Madison said “The Constitution of the United States was created by the people of the United States composing the respective states, who alone had the right.” The states created the United States by choice, they have a choice or as Madison says a right to dissolve the United States as well. Is this what it might have to come to in the future?

We as Americans and citizens of our chosen states need to realize that the day is coming when we choose if this is the America we want to live in. Whether having a spoon shoved in our mouths and a simple boring life is the way we want or being given “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is our responsibility to become something that only America can give an individual.

Greatness rest in each of us, the politicians in power today know nothing of what is closest to our hearts and it will soon be our time to correct the wrongs of the past. First we must make a decision that is closest to each one of us and that is whether we want something more than what our federal government can give us?

No related posts.

With the Bureau of Labor Statistics calculating the unemployment rate to be at 9.7 percent it has to make you think that jobs are not plentiful such as they have been in the past. Experts across the country have called the current economic times the “Great Recession” with little change in the near future. The market in which college students would be entering does not seem to lend itself to all the opportunities we enjoy in college.

The goofy slogan that Millersville uses, “Seize the Opportunity,” actually is not as estranged from the truth as it may seem. Opportunities exist on this campus that would be difficult and mind numbing in the real world; visiting a foreign country, traveling to play a sport, messing up on your work without a salary reduction are just a few.

Studying abroad in a country of your choice and experiencing all the academic world can grant you are within your grasp here. Next semester I will be studying in London and interning with a Member of Parliament. This is a dream come true for me and would not be possible after school. Only a certain number of costs exist outside of the standard tuition payment to allow for this. In the real world this would not be possible for someone fresh out of school.

Varsity sports have the opportunity to travel to cities and states across this country to compete for Millersville. Much of this traveling would amount to expenses that individuals need to save up for years before pursuing, yet it can happen in one semester in college.

Studying abroad and varsity sports are some of the bigger opportunities, but what about the smaller ones. The meeting of great friends, walking out of your dorm and into your best friend’s dorm just a few steps away, sun bathing without a care in the world, or simply staying up all night playing video games and forgetting about the paper that is due in two hours, are all parts of college that can be hard to find in the real world.

The biggest thing I feel that many of us forget is college is a time in our lives that can be amazing. The only person who can make it truly memorable is you. The number one way to do that is by doing what the cheesy slogan says and seizing the opportunity.

No related posts.

Americans must understand that in our history the federal government has not always been as expansive and encompassing on our lives such as it is today. The start of our country found men who felt as though the states were the entities closest to the lives of the citizens in the country. Much of this feeling came from the grip for which England had upon the Colonies. It has only been since the Great Depression and President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal that the federal government has shaped our daily lives so significantly. Today, as has been the same for the past century, we find ourselves with the question of do we want to relinquish more power to the federal government.

The United States Supreme Court recently granted certiorari and heard arguments regarding the second amendment case McDonald v. Chicago. The case poses the question of whether the second amendment should be binding upon the states through the incorporation of the fourteenth amendment due process clause.

We must first remember what the second amendment says, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” We must also remember that the citizens are being protected from the federal government in the Bill of Rights not the states. The question for which McDonald poses is at the core of states rights.

Throw out the argument of being for or against the possession of a handgun and look at the larger picture. If states lose the power to handle gun laws and act under their own power how much sooner will other rights be taken away from the states. It is not sensible to make Texas adhere to the same law as Connecticut does. It makes no sense from both an ideology perspective and economic perspective.

The federalist system we adhere to on a daily basis with the federal, state and local governments is crucial to our way of life. With the building of power in Washington we are slowly seeing this system erode away. State’s rights are being transplanted into the monster that is the federal government.

Every point in our day we live by the rule of government. Do we really want the people who are furthest away from us making the simplest of decisions in our daily lives? The individuals at the local and state level have a better feeling for what is best for us in our hometowns. Gun laws in each state vary and the people are the ones that need to make these decisions. The people will not be given this ability in their separate cities, counties and states if the federal government believes a uniform law suits the country best.

No related posts.

In today’s world, with the recent signing of the Health Care Reform Bill by President Barack Hussein Obama Tuesday, “We the people” need to ask if we want to go to hell or have our elected officials drag us to hell?

Last November, the majority of Americans voted for “change” and “hope.” These are two words that hold broad meaning when describing anything, whether it be politics or a broken down tractor that you “changed” the oil in and “hope” that it still runs.

The American people voted for a man who pressed the bipartisanship issue. He vied for a new political scheme in Washington and getting rid of the old backroom practices that went on. The interesting aspect of this is that he implemented many “Chicago” style politics while trying to gain support for his Obama-care. Julia Duin of the “Washington Times” reports, “Mr. Obama issued an executive order affirming prohibitions in current law and in the health care legislation against taxpayer money going to abortions.”

The executive order was done in direct correlation with Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan who decided to switch his vote after Mr. Obama’s executive order.

Abortion must not be the main focus of this executive order; it must be that Mr. Obama needs to win Democrats over just to secure votes for his bill. We all understand that Washington is a town created on the idea of “you scratch my back I will scratch yours.” Is this not the type of politics that President Obama talked of stopping in Washington?

The sad thing is that Americans seem to feel as though their voices are not being heard, which has brought the president’s approval rating down to 36 percent according to Rasmussen Reports. MSNBC’s most recent poll, which is still being voted on has 67 percent of Americans “angry” with the legislation and only 25 percent excited about the legislation.

Rep. John Boehner from Ohio was quoted saying, “This is a somber day for the American people. By signing this bill, President Obama is abandoning our founding principle that government governs best when it governs closest to the people. Americans have never felt more disconnected from their government than they do today.”

The approaching midterm elections can be the closest precursor to tell how the American people as a whole feel about the legislation. After the shocking election of Senator Scott Brown in Massachusetts, Americans can only do two things right now: “hope” that “change” will make its way to Capitol Hill.

No related posts.

Especially as I begin to see the end of my undergraduate career coming to an end, I realize just how important the break is to our sanity and aspirations for the rest of the academic year.

I have the opportunity to go on a real spring break this year, which makes me lucky. Though my little brother has gone on four, and he does not even go to college, and that is a disgusting fact.

Spring break is a retreat from our chaotic lives which college immerses us in. The everyday of classes, meetings, busywork, papers, and exams can become too much for students to bear. Do not forget about the organizations and extracurriculars many of us are tied in with. The constant influx of tasks, which consumes our lives makes spring break all that much more exciting.

But it is great to know that soon we will be free for an entire week of this cruel workload forced upon us. The opportunity to go to Florida, Cancun, and the Caribbean is so close you can see it with every setting of the sun and feel it with every breeze of the wind.

Before you actually set out for your preferred destination during spring break, here are some sure fire ways to help expand on the fun ahead.

1. Spring Break Anthem: I am not making this one up. Shawn Amos of Getback.com lists three requirements for an original anthem: “A hard groove, inane lyrics, and lots of references to partying”

2. Trying new things: I DO NOT mean drugs in any way. What I am talking about is wind surfing, snorkeling, deep-sea fishing and the other things, which we here in Pennsylvania never have the opportunity to do.

3. Get out and mingle: Spring break is a time to expand on the types of people you have met in your life. Especially if you go to another country, the multicultural experience is full of memories.

4. Wrestling Alligators: If you really feel adventurous go for it. No one will stop you, just do not tell mom.
The last one was a little different, but experience life a little this coming spring break. Skiing in Canada, partying in Cancun or checking out Atlantic City are all great ways of relaxing and being the stereotypical college student.
How I look at it, we only go through college once, well some of us, but it is always an experience to live a real Spring break.

No related posts.