Looking Back - The '80s

USG, Simon topped The Globe's news

Published 2/6/97

During the decade that saw the rise of the three-martini lunch and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, The Globe covered news events around Point Park College that were highlighted by an overambitious United Student Government, several double-digit tuition hikes and the possibility of having a jail built just blocks away from the campus.

Throughout the '80s, USG was a permanent fixture on The Globe's front page. Whether it was student election results, the allocation of funds, or its actions on individuals or businesses that violated the rights of Point Park students, USG was always in the news - even when the news involved its own personnel problems, such as the case in 1987 when USG impeached Senior Commuter Rep. Jes Sunder because he failed to attend every scheduled meeting.

In 1983, another hot topic for The Globe involved a proposal by local government officials to convert the Golden Triangle YMCA, located blocks away from Point Park, into an auxiliary jail. The procedure fell through, however, thanks in part to a student protest of more than 75 participants when the issue was discussed in a public hearing. One year later, Point Park tried unsuccessfully to purchase the YMCA for its own use.

Like the '70s, controversy brewed up once again at its radio station. In 1981, the radio's call letters, WPPJ, were changed to WRKR in order to give the station a new image. However, a grievance was filed by then-Journalism and Communications Department Chairman Vin LaBarbera concerning the name change. Several weeks later, the Student Affairs Committee decided that the process by which the call letters were changed was invalid.

The '80s could also be known as the decade of the tuition hikes. For five consecutive years, tuition increased, sometimes to double-digit figures. A soaring inflation rate, faculty raises and a projected rise in food and utility costs were cited by college officials as major reasons for tuition increases, as Point Park's major source of revenue comes from tuition.

As a result, costs rose more than 34 percent. Some of the most notable years in which tuition raised was 11 percent in 1981, 7 percent in 1982 and 16 percent in 1987.

Crimes, both petty and serious, were evident during the '80s as well. Some of the more major infractions included a $27,000 theft from a locked safe in room 815 of Academic hall during the summer of 1982 and a 1987 theft of more than $8,000 worth of television studio equipment from room 508 in Academic hall.

Other events that weren't as serious, but still damaging, occurred in 1985 when police suspected a Lawrence hall dorm student of throwing a water balloon from a window and shattering a car's windshield that was waiting at a stoplight along Wood Street. Vandalism stories were often a recurring theme as well, with frequent photos appearing in The Globe of the latest graffiti gracing Point Park's bathroom stalls.

And then there was the cereal scandal.

Commemorating Point Park's 25th anniversary in 1987, an American flag was raised on the Lawrence hall roof. However, it was stolen by a group of students in protest to the lack of Cap n Crunch cereal being served in the school cafeteria.

After replacing Old Glory with a flag depicting a skull and crossbones, the students delivered a ransom note with the letters cut out of newspapers and magazines to then-President J. Matthew Simon saying, "We have the flag. We have power. We want Cap 'n Crunch."

Eventually, the flag was returned, but the perpetrators are still at large.

Simon stayed on as president until 1995, and dorm students have had Cap 'n Crunch stocked in the cafeteria ever since.

Point Park graduates also made their presence known during this time. Among the most prestigious featured in The Globe was former Pioneer baseball player John Stuper, who pitched for the 1982 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals.

And, a former Globe staff member by the name of Dennis Miller eventually rose to celebrity status with a successful television and movie career.

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