Beginning fall 2002, University Health Services (UHS) will no longer provide verification of illness forms - class excuses - for minor illnesses or injuries that result in absence from class. In the case of a routine illness-related absence, students should directly correspond with the faculty as soon as possible. UHS may provide "Verification of Significant Illness" for significant, prolonged illnesses that last at least a week.

Conspicuous by its absence to students returning to the University Park campus this fall will be a landmark artistic fixture of the HUB lawn that has stood watch over countless students traversing to and from classes for more than a decade. "Homage to Capa" -- the red metal sculpture purported to have been inspired by Robert Capa's famous 1936 photograph of a Spanish militiaman fatally shot during the Spanish Civil War -- has been removed by University officials so that it may be thoroughly refurbished.

Penn State officials have planned an University-wide observance of the one-year anniversary of Sept. 11, including a remembrance of the 10 known Penn State alumni who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington and the hijacked airline crash in Shanksville, Pa. The solemn interfaith ceremony, organized by a committee of Penn State students, faculty, staff and local officials, will begin at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 11, in Eisenhower Auditorium on the University Park campus. Doors will open at 11:30 a.m. For the full story, visit

A committee of local officials and faculty, students and staff from Penn State has formed to develop plans for a Sept. 11 anniversary event on campus. Sharon Mortensen, interim director of the Center for Ethics and Religious Affairs, is chairing the group, which has begun plans for an event in Eisenhower Auditorium at noon on Sept. 11. "The impact of the devastation of Sept. 11 continues to echo around the world and our lives have all been changed forever," said Mortensen.

In Kosovo, U.S. peacekeeping forces faced stone-throwing mobs. In Somalia, as portrayed in the recent hit movie "Black Hawk Down," U.S. soldiers were forced to defend themselves on a city street filled with civilians. And closer to home, hostages are held at gunpoint behind barricaded doors while police weigh unreasonable demands and struggle to save innocent lives. Since the early 1990s, police and the military have explored non-lethal technologies to limit the use of deadly force yet successfully deal with major conflicts involving thousands of people.

BALLROOM DANCE CLUB
For information and a schedule of events, visit http://www.clubs.psu.edu/ballroomdance/.

LION SUPPORT is concerned with helping students with family emergencies and other problems. Students operate a 24-hour family emergency line at 814-863-2020 for students and their families.

Here is the third in a series of dispatches about Penn State students who are at work in Montana helping build a literacy center for the Northern Cheyenne tribe using straw-bale architecture. This dispatch is written by Christa Scott, a senior in Integrative Arts.
We are coming to the end of our first week and much progress has been made. The walls were completed by Wednesday evening and the trusses were placed Thursday. It is amazing to see how all these hands can contribute and make such fast progress.