71. ,
View From The Lighthouse
Get in the ring and show
us what you'
made of!
Vince McMahon and his
World Wrestling Federation are
at it again. And what are they
doing now? No, they are not
creating a more "extreme"
baseball league or taking over
more network television.
Rather, they are crossing the
U.S., registering thousands
upon thousands of mostly
young American citizens to
vote.
But even more important
than that is the WWF's attempt
to get their fans involved. Not
just in the voting process, but
in the issues that young people
face in this elderly-dominated
country.
So the WWF has invited Al
Gore and George W. Bush to
take center stage in front of the
millions and millions of
wrestling fans that watch
Smackdown every Thursday
night. The candidates could
share their plans for young
Americans in front of a large
number of them. Sure, the
candidates are already involved
in some debates. But how
many of those debates are
watched by high school and
college students? We'll tell
you...very few.
All we hear about in the
news are issues that affect the
parents and the elderly. It used
to be that presidential candi
dates could get away with that
type of campaigning. But
when the WWF's Smackdown
Your Vote campaign is over
with, over 100,000 new voters
will be registered and ready to
make their voice heard. And
that's only a small percentage
of wrestling fans that actually
signed the WWF form.
Just think of the possibilities
and power that young adults
can have in this country if
politicians are forced to make
decisions that benefit them.
And that presence that young
THE BEHREND BEACON
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Editor-in-Chief
Jason Snyder
Managing Editor
Michael Frawley
News Editor
Liz Hayes
Editorial Page Editor
Katie Galley
Features Editors
Karl Benacci
Jermaine Hardy
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Deanna Symoski
Sports Editor
Doug Smith
Abby Long (assistant)
Wire Service Editor
Rob Wynne
Photo Editors
Jeff Miller
Becky Weindorf
Associate Editor
Christine Kleck
Copy Editor
Paige Miles
• • e • • Alm The Beacon is
published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie, The Behrend
College; First Floor, The J. Elmer
Reed Union Building, Station Road,
Erie, PA 16563. The Beacon can be
reached by calling (814) 898-6488 or
(814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN 1071-
9288.
voters are making should be
forcing our presidential candi
dates to at least respond to the
WWF's Smackdown Chal-
lenge, putting the two candi-
date in a debate with Jesse "the
Body/Mind" Ventura as the
moderator
Despite how controversial
the wrestling business is, this
goes beyond the mat and the
wrestling personalities inside
the ropes. This is politics and a
perfect forum for our presiden
tial candidates to speak to the
youth of this nation. Millions
of young eyes are guaranteed
to watch, and take to heart the
words spoken by these candi
dates.
Now maybe the wrestling
environment might not be the
best, but let's face it. Politics
are less popular in this country
than flamenco dancing. Some
thing needs to bring interest.
And you can bet that any
debate with Ventura as the
moderator will bring interest
We know that the
Smackdown Challenge might
be a bit extreme. But the
message here is that something
needs to change. Our presiden
tial candidates need to get with
the times and talk about the
issues that affect all Americans,
not just the people that vote.
Politics in 2000 are different
than they were 100 years ago.
So why do we still follow the
same campaigning techniques?
Al and "W," make the change
and Smackdown your issues.
Money Page Editor
Amortya Sinha
Advertising Manager
Kim Zuck
Business Manager
Kristine Harakal
Office Manager
Kevin Bruner
Public Relations Manager
Ainslie Ulmer
Secretary
Melissa Proba
Advisor
Robert Speel
Letter Porcy: The Beacon
encourages letters to the editor.
Letters should include the address,
phone number, semester standing
and major of the writer. Writers can
mail letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
Letters must be received no later
than 5 p.m. Tuesday for inclusion
Edit
NOW MAT?
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Defending Palermo Realty
Dear editor
We recently received a copy of an article writ
ten in the Behrend newspaper. We do acknowledge
we did have some confusion during the student
move in at Brookwood Village. Brookwood is a
(148) unit complex and is 100% occupied. Unfor
tunately some of the previous tenants did not re
turn the units that were rented to college students
to us in move-in condition. We did have to sched
ule maintenance, after some of the units were oc
cupied. We have made every effort to respond to
the needs of our tenants, students or otherwise. As
a result of the way the student move-in was
handled, we have made staffing changes at the
Brookwood project. We apologize for any incon
venience our residents may have had, and we will
continue to do our best to provide a high quality
environment for all of our residents. After reading
the article, we believe we need to specifically ad
dress some items that we take exception with. The
following is our response:
1.) Every group of students who followed our
producers and were approved was provided an
apartment. In the case of Miss Wise the deposit
check to hold the apartment did not clear the bank.
We made several calls to have the check replaced,
when no response was made, the apartment was
put back on the rent roll.
2.) Palermo Realty is not biased against college
students. We welcome the student housing mar
ket, and currently have over one hundred units in
our inventory rented to college students. We be-
Who's paying for this anyway?
In ancient Greece, if college
students felt that a professor Detours and
wasn't living up to the academic
*OP
Small P
standards that they needed, they otatoes 44•44`
had the right to get them fired. Katie Galley
The philosophy then was that
"we are paying for this , ,
education, we should be able to call the shots."
As wonderful as that philosophy sounds, it
wouldn't work here at Behrend...because we
don't live in ancient Greece. However, the central
core of the idea sounds great. Now I am in no way
saying that we students should have absolute
control over our every move here at school, I have
a bad feeling that it would turn into survival of the
fittest for the professors...or at least, survival of
who gives the least amount of homework. The
power that would rest in the hands of the students
would be too much, the power too great and
tempting.
Just imagine the situations that could unravel
from that power trip...the scale would slowly start
tipping in favor of the students. It would probably
start small, changes in the menu at Brunos, more
computers in the library, all really good
ideas...but out of power grows greed. Soon it
would be giving professors the old heave-ho for
something like a 10-page paper being due on a
Monday. Bars and pubs would start taking over
the construction sites on Jordan Road.
Ok, ok, I admit that those were probably the
worst case scenarios. But you have to admit now
that we are lucky that we have administrators that
take care of all that stuff, none of us have the time
to take care of that. Truly, thank you Dean Lilley.
Wait a minute though, let's get back to that "we
are paying for this" approach. It makes sense in
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
lieve we provide the most off campus housing in
the Erie area. We have not only provided college
housing hut last year we opened up "Papa Joe's Cof
fee House", at 402 West Bth Street, geared specifi
cally for the college crowd. However in our apart
ments we have rules about behavior that not only
apply to students hut to non-students as well. We
will not tolerate a pattern of misbehavior and that
goes for all of our residents. Any resident who does
not respect their neighbors will face the conse
quences.
3.) The only record we have of any students be
ing delayed for a two week period was handled in
as efficient manner as possible. When the unit in
question was returned to us, the day before the new
tenants moved in, we discovered it was in very bad
shape. This townhouse was only two years old, and
as a result of the damages all the carpet had to be
replaced, the entire apartment had to be repainted
and many other maintenance items had to be ad
dressed. The work was so extensive that it did in
fact take two weeks. The new tenants were given
the option of cancelling their agreement, or making
temporary living agreements elsewhere until the
work was complete. It was their choice to make tem
porary arrangements, and move in when the work
was complete. They were only charged rent for the
days they occupied the unit. And in addition we paid
their U-Haul charge to move a second time.
4.) A notice was sent to ALL Brookwood Village
residents regarding parking. It has come to our at
tention that the units rented to students averaged
certain situations...a really
big one being class
attendance. Now, the last
time I asked my mom,
she said that I could stay
alone by myself (I
mean, my house is in
Pittsburgh and she lets
me live here). And she also said I don't need a
baby-sitter while I am here, as long as I don't open
the door to strangers. So why is it then, that I have
to listen to a professor tell me that I need to be in
class everyday? Except for 2-3 times a semester or
unless I have a doctor's excuse or some written
form of verification that it was a life or death
struggle to get to class? That doesn't make a lot of
sense to me.
lb be honest with you, some mornings I just
don't feel like getting up for that Sam class. And
it's not because I was out partying the night before;
I am wise enough to save the fun for the weekends.
I am usually tired because I was up until 3 or 4am
studying for my SpCom 478 class, and that Sam
general education class kinda falls to the
backburner. Not to say that any one class is more
important than any other is, all my classes make
me a better person just for having taken them. But
if I'm tired and would probably just fall asleep in
class anyway, why does the professor insist that I
be there in class? Why waste their time and mine?
That's where the 'l'm paying for this education'
statement comes back into play. Not to sound
whiny and snobby, but it's me, and only me that is
paying for my classes. So who is anyone to tell me
that I HAVE to attend class a certain amount of
days out of the semester?
According to the Dean of Students office, it is
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FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000
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three or four vehicles, while the units rented to
non-students averaged two vehicles. Our letter
clearly stated that because of the parking prob
lem we would not rent to as many students in
Brookwood Village next year. This was in no
way a threat not to rent to students; in fact we
are building other units at other locations that
we intend to rent to students with more park
ing. As far as Brookwood Village is concerned,
we need to limit the number of vehicles per unit.
5.) We have no record of being contacted by,
the Student Activities Staff, but welcome the
opportunity to solve any problems any student
renting from us may have.
We believe based on printed statements, Karl
Gressley has jumped to some conclusions be
fore contacting our office. We are very much in
favor of renting to students, and are in the pro
cess of developing additional housing for stu
dents. We however, will not allow a pattern of
misbehavior, and have a policy of verbal and
written warnings as well as evictions, for those
who either destroy our property or disrupt their
neighbors. These polices are consistent with our
student tenants as well as our non student resi
dents.
We have and will continue to make every ef
fort to satisfy the needs of our residents whether
they are students or non-students.
Joe Palermo,
Palermo Realty
the professor that chooses how many days a
semester that we students can miss without
being penalized by that professor by having
our grade docked. Seems rather sinister and
egotistical, doesn't it? Obviously everyone that
goes to Behrend wants to be here for one
reason or another. Mine just so happens to be
to train to be the next David E. Kelly or
perhaps executive at the Children's Television
Workshop, and it's getting me ready for
graduate school. And I am saying that if I want
to miss class more than 4 times a semester it
should not put my future grade in jeopardy to
do so.
Do I think that professors are here to help us
learn and grow as people? Most definitely. Do
I think that it is fair that professors get to play
God with my time? Absolutely not. Isn't there
some happy medium to this predicament? I
really don't think so, unless of course
professors suddenly realize that if they
dropped the whole 'mandatory attendance'
thing, they would have to listen to a lot less
excuses as to why we weren't in class that day.
Note to faculty: you are so much more to
Behrend than baby-sitters, so please quit trying
to boss us around. We're not 9 anymore and
you get paid more than $2.50 an hour. We all
love attending classes here, it's obvious by the
exorbitant amount we pay to do so.
Give us a little slack and we promise to give
you the respect that you deserve.
Glqlty ti <OIIO7W !!P; , 5 cl.e? ihre,
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