Editors Note: On Friday April 1, we ran this article as an April Fools’ day joke and it caused quite an uproar. How many of you were fooled? Leave your comments in the Forums here
Late Thursday night Gov. Tom Corbett and PASSHE board officials held an emergency meeting to figure out the best solution to the Pennsylvania budget crisis. In an unprecedented move, officials have gone forward with a plan that will save millions and allow the state to balance its budget. The closing of Lock Haven is an economically successful move but the redirection of students to Bloomsburg University, Shippensburg University, and East Stroudsburg University will overfill classrooms and campuses.
Starting in the fall roughly 3,500 students will be joining the crowded 10,000 at Bloomsburg University. “I am glad that I wont have to pay more to go to Bloomsburg, but I have no idea how I will be able to get food at the Scranton Commons.” said Candace Spencer when asked how the added students will effect her. Lucky for Candace she has secured housing off campus next year and will not have to suffer living quadrupled in the dorms. Two bunk beds per dorm room though cramped will likely still be a suitable environment for incoming students.
The reconstruction of Sutliff hall seems to have come just in time, as Lock Haven’s business department is the largest of the Pennsylvania state universities. BUnow reporters are out in the field gathering data to see if more desks will be ordered to accommodate these new students. If this writer can have any input on the decision, the chairs with the folding table are not only comfortable but easy to get out of. Order more of those.
Time will only tell what this means for Bloomsburg University. A completely new environment has students and faculty wondering what this will mean for the organizations on campus. Food services will surely be overcrowded. Not to mention walking around campus, parking, and even buses. The questions only keep rolling in.
Officials did not say what will happen to the current Lock Haven campus but speculators believe that a local sewage plant looking to expand will purchase the lot. Much of the details to come out remain fuzzy and without clarification from officials; parents, students and teachers remain in the dark. Many students are hoping with the budget now to be balanced, plans for the university bowling ally underneath the quad may finally get back underway.
Wait… Is today April 1st?
Photo Credit: http://www.graduateguide.com/images/948/Lock_Haven_University_2.jpg
