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Penn State faculty members are calling for more input from professors, students and staff in picking the next president of the university to replace Eric Barron, who is retiring in 2022.
More than 700 have signed an online petition started by Professor of Media Studies Mary Beth Oliver in support of more academic involvement in the search.
“We, the undersigned, want to express our concern that the search committee is largely devoid of input from people who are employed as faculty or staff at Penn State or who are obtaining advanced degrees at Penn State,” the petition reads, urging the ongoing process to be “substantially revised.”
After the United States coronavirus vaccine rollout began in January, hope for a more normal future increased rapidly around the world and locally.
With the spring semester coming to a close, many are curious as to what kinds of mitigation regulations will still be in place for the fall â namely if the university will require students to be vaccinated prior to returning to campus.
Micah Griffin, senior director of University Health Services at Penn State, said the university is not âmaking [coronavirus vaccinations] a requirementâ at this point. While he said the university is âstill exploringâ the possibility and having discussions about its various options, Penn State isnât âmoving towardâ mandating.
The answer? A resounding “no”.
According to a Penn State spokesperson, Beaver Stadium’s concessions stands
will be open when the Class of 2021 gets
recognized in person from May 7 to 9. However, they’ll sell only bottled beverages non-alcoholic, of course, you party animals.
Rachel Pell, vice president of Penn State’s Office of Strategic Communication, said avoiding meal and snack sales should help guests follow public health guidelines more easily.
“The health and safety of students, guests and employees is our top priority during these ceremonies, and serving only bottled beverages will help us support masking and physical distancing by cutting down on the traffic to and from concession stands, minimizing time guests have their masks off, and reducing clean-up between the many ceremonies,” Pell said.
On Tuesday night, another Zoom bombing occurred during a Penn State Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications Creating Content in 2021 event titled Digital Media and Marketing.
According to Marie Hardin, dean of the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications, unwanted users joined the Zoom event yelling vulgar, racist and homophobic slurs upon entry. The welfare and safe environment for our students is our top priority, Hardin said. When something like this happens, we rededicate ourselves to that goal of sustaining a safe place for our students to learn, grow and interact.
Hardin said there are many difficulties when opening Zoom meetings to those outside of the university and emphasized that students should remain vigilant during these kinds of virtual events.
As more Pennsylvania colleges prepare to bring students back to campus for spring semester, a new study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that doing so in