Pennies: Do they make cents?

Zach Wagner | Collegio Reporter Ben Leavitt says he wouldn’t miss the penny at all if America got rid of the coin. “I think all they really do is collect dust,” said Leavitt, sophomore in psychology. “Whenever I find that I have a huge collection of pennies piling up, I’ll usually go to a Coinstar machine and dump it all out there. I definitely don’t think they’re that big of a deal, though.” Coinstar machines have proven to be useful for Americans looking to clean their purse or wallet of unwanted change since the mid-1990s, and they are seeing action more than ever. Pennies were not always considered to be worthless, though. When pennies were…

Students trash tons of food

Val Vita | Collegio Reporter PSU students are filling their plates and filling the trash. Todd Wixson, Sodexo general manager, says he thinks 25 percent of the food served at the dining hall gets thrown away. Wixson says the dining hall orders 20,000 pounds of food every week and estimates that roughly 5,000 pounds of it goes straight to the trash. Wixson says the majority of students who eat at the dining hall are young people who are used to being served a set amount of food at home, and in school. “Now, they get to serve themselves with everything they want to eat,” Wixson said. “I think it’s natural for them to let their…

Sleep schedules: To each his own

Zach Wagner | Collegio Reporter   Kris Parker says he can’t rest easy when the day comes to a close. “I lie in bed for maybe one or two hours before I can finally go to sleep. If I don’t have music to help me doze off, then it’s just that much worse,” said Parker, junior in biology. “I have two early-morning classes that are pretty difficult to stay awake in when I’m running on five to six hours of sleep.” Harriet A. Bachner, department of psychology and mental health counseling, says that college is a vital time to develop good sleeping habits. However, students are vulnerable to developing poor sleep routines during this time…

Booking, baking, buffing up

Students begin preparation for spring break during winter season Val Vita | Collegio Reporter Spring break is still a month away, but some PSU students have been preparing for it for months. They have been saving money, booking flights and even working out to get back in shape. Otto Tuomela and Hanna Huumonen, exchange students from Finland, bought tickets to visit California last month because it’s the state they’ve always dreamed of visiting. “And if you buy the tickets in advance, it is cheaper,” said Tuomela, a sociology major. Tuomela says they each spent about $750 to book the flights and hotels in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Huumonen says they plan to drive from…

Balancing rights, regulations

Zach Wagner | Collegio Reporter The university has no step-by-step policy on how to handle possible protests on campus and that has Lara Ismert, SGA’s academic affairs director, concerned. Ismert says this poses a potential risk for future campus protesters. “I think that around most college campuses it would seem that students don’t get riled up about most issues, but I think there’s a lot of things going on nationwide that would possibly prompt demonstrations by students,” said Ismert, senior in English and math. “There’s no clear-cut line for our campus law enforcement on when you can get physical with students. It could just depend on the day and the person on how they will…

PSU remembers passionate professor

Val Vita | Collegio Reporter Pittsburg State University is mourning the loss of one of its professors. Christopher Ibeh was found dead in his home on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Ibeh had been a professor of engineering technology at PSU since 1990 and he was known for his research in nanotechnology fields. Ibeh was born in Nigeria and came to the United States in the 1970s to study at Texas A&M University. There he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in natural gas engineering. Michael Muoghalu says that he met Ibeh while Ibeh was working on his doctorate in chemical engineering at Louisiana Tech University. “We are from the same country, so that brought us together,” said…

PSU unveils $46M building projects

Students lead the way, donors follow JAY BENEDICT | Managing Editor At last night’s SGA meeting, PSU President Steve Scott and associate vice president of campus life Steve Erwin presented the university’s plan to raise $24 million using student fee increases to fund three multimillion-dollar projects. The university wants to increase student fees by $30 each year for fi ve years, starting with the Fall 2012 semester. The money generated by the fee increase will help fund expansion of the Overman Student Center, the Weede athletic complex, and construction of the PSU Fine and Performing Arts Center. “We asked ourselves, ‘What do we want the campus to look like over the next 10 years,’” Scott…

Pitt State adopts sexual abuse reporting policy

CAITLIN TAYLOR | Collegio Reporter The sex abuse scandal at Penn State last November led the Kansas Board of Regents to review and revise the policy for handling such incidents at Kansas universities. Jamie Brooksher, general counsel for PSU, sent out a notice to PSU offi cials and campus employees on Jan. 23 stating that the policy had already been received and implemented. According to Kansas House Bill No. 2533, each university must specifi cally address and adopt procedures for the mandatory reporting to appropriate law enforcement agencies, of any child abuse witnessed by staff or faculty. In this House bill, there will be revisions made and material added to make it concrete and complete….

Losing time and money

Transfer students have trouble transferring credits ALI CLARK  | Collegio Reporter About 550 students transferred to Pittsburg State last fall. This process isn’t just a transition to a new school and environment, but means transferring all of the credit hours taken at a different university to Pitt State. Sometimes this transfer happens without a hitch. However, there are times when it comes with major problems. Maddi Kinkelaar transferred to Pitt from Dodge City Community College last year and she says she encountered roadblocks when trying to transfer her credits. “It was a nightmare,” said Kinkelaar, senior in communication. “I argued with degree checking and everyone on campus about my credits transferring for so long.” Kinkelaar…

Gusmail getting old?

Students weigh in on low use of PSU e-mail Ify Ossai | Collegio Reporter John Edmond says one of the reasons he doesn’t use the school e-mail account is that most of the things that come from the university into his account are not of vital importance to him. “I feel like e-mail is a waste,” said Edmond, undeclared freshman. “The free .edu account to communicate with the school is a thing of the past. With the social networking sites in full bloom, why would a college student need an e-mail address when friends, classmates and professors are online?” Edmond says if the school really wants to get the attention of students and make sure…