View From The Lighthouse
A festival for what???
On November 18, 2000, Penn
State University Park held an
event that is still causing
controversy. Two groups on
campus held an event that they
called "Cuntfest." The Cuntfest
was held to "reclaim the cunt"
as it was put by a student from
one of the sponsoring groups.
The event has raised concern
on UP's campus not only
because of the controversial
name, hut for how much was
spent on the event. The total
cost of the event was
$9,519.64. While many things
on this campus cost this much
money, the total amount of
people that showed up for this
particular event was estimated
between 100 and 200
people...with a campus that has
40,000 students.
If you do the math, that
comes out to roughly $47
dollars per person spent on this
event. It may also surprise you
that all of the money for this
event came out of the Student
Activity Fee, and that half of
the Student Activity Fee that
you pay to go to Behrend goes
to UP. So yes, half of the
money that you paid went to
sponsor an event that only
about 200 people turned out for
when that much money was
spent.
The majority of the money
that was spent went to have a
guest speaker for the day. The
speaker was an author who
wrote a book that was the
inspiration for the event. Inga
Muscio wrote the book Cunt: A
Declaration of Independence.
The rest of the money went to
anti-violence poetry readings,
self-defense workshops, a
lesbian performance artist and a
vegan dinner.
All of this has outraged some
students at UP that the
university is spending some of
their money on events that they
would rather not pay for. And it
has upset some people here on
our campus too for the same
reason. It has affected one
student from UP so much that
he wrote a letter to Rep. John
Lawless, R-Montgomery who
in turn forwarded it to
Governor Toni Ridge.
Gov. Ridge signs the budget
approval for Penn State every
THE BEHREND BEACON
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year, and now there is worry
that Penn State will he cut in
some funding due to this event
The letter that was sent made
no mention of the name of the
event; it stated what went on
and how much was spent.
However, the taxpayers didn't
end up paying for Cuntfest, the
students did.
The question remains should
that much money have been
spent on an event that wasn't
all-inclusive? For example, for
something to be funded on our
campus by the Student Activity
Fee and/or the Student
Government Association the
event has to be all inclusive,
not leaving any students out.
This event would be a prime
example of not including
everybody, because while
everyone was invited, only 2(10
people showed up and the
event was very obviously not
all inclusive, excluding 50% of
the population.
Was the Cuntfest in poor
taste? Hard to say since we
weren't there, however besides
the events meantioned above,
the Cuntfest offered attendies a
film called Butt-E"ing Bunny
giving a graphic description of
lesbian oral sex.
So, should we have had to
pay for the Cuntfest that we
didn't even get to partake in?
Obviously there are going to he
people that don't believe what
the 'Fest was trying to preach,
so should we even have a say
at all? Or is this simply another
way for UP to keep us out of
the loop?
111
ffISSIM
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Keep it clean in Bruno's
Dear Editor,
By the time I was ready to go to my 1:00 class,
I was hungry and had a taste for cookies. I went
to the cafe outside of Bruno's to feed the need. I
had to stand on line, so I patiently waited. Across
from me, inside of Bruno's, I saw the manager of
Bruno's touching the cookies with his bare
hands. Now at first he grabbed one and ate it,
which is ok, I guess (still not very sanitary).
Then he continued to touch the cookies with his
hands still uncovered. I was so disgusted by that
I mean, at least wear gloves. I understand that
even when people do wear gloves, it doesn't
really mean anything because they still wipe
their faces and touch all sorts of things without
changing them. But at least the customer
"thinks" . that they are getting food that was not
Bush not wasting any time proving himself
It's just an argument with no agreeable answer.
` 4 4 ,,t "'
40 .1 4 : . 1 Caught i n the
t or
.. ,, No matter how it's defined by Democrats and
Republicans, Bush put an end to taxpayers'
-
dollars being spent on the act. Utah Senator
,/. Spyder Web Orrin Hatch summed it up best, saying that it is
Spyder
-..%
time for the federal government to "stop
J ason Snyder pointing its finger" at taxpayers, forcing
!.,••. ,
4 . ‘;
i ~.< t x , r . citizens to fund acts which they strongly
lotrill:V Those who
1 doubted President
George W. Bush's
ability to lead upon his Inauguration this past
Saturday have to be somewhat surprised by the
noise coming out of Washington D.C. this week.
Granted, the ability of a leader shouldn't be
measured by his first impression, but the "crash
and burn" expectations shared by his critics
before his swearing in have been somewhat
silenced by the decisions coming out of the
White House during this first week.
It's been well documented that the toughest
job of the President who has to be a "uniter, not
a divider" is to propose legislation that
compromises with his Democratic counterparts
while still appealing to his conservative base.
Bush began with his conservative base on an
issue that seems to change with control of the
White House. The President, in his first major
act as our leader, ordered abortion limits on
foreign aid. The issue of abortion remained
relatively quiet during his campaign late last
year, but sparked front-page headlines across the
country this past Tuesday.
Unknown to many Americans, taxpayers have
been forced to send their money to international
family-planning groups involved in abortion.
Abortion, an act Dems like to call a woman's
right to choose as opposed to a woman's right to
kill, isn't a new argument in American politics
, The Beacon
Letter policy:
ogtOtitit o : 4ll g 4l q
should include the address, phone
major of the writer. Writers can
- ter
Letters must be.receivedn° 1a
.
. .•
...„
in that week's issue.
IMO INCRENE
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
handled by any and everybody.
Anyway, I asked the person that was working in
Bruno's at the time if I could get a cookie from
the bottom that was untouched. Why is it that the
dude gets an attitude with me? First of all, I had to
call him three times. Then when I finally did get
his attention and asked if the cookie was
untouched, he answered me as if I had done
something wrong. Now my thing is, he saw the
manager touching the cookies that were on the top
of the pile with his bare hands.
How would he have felt if I had touched his
food with my hands, not knowing where they had
been. I could have been coming from the gym
where I had a very intense workout, wiped the
sweat from my brow and touched his stuff. Even
worse, I could have done what so many people at
oppose
Even though the abortion subject was kept out
of the American scope during the campaign, the
underlying theme of this act wasn't. In Bush's
Inaugural Address, he challenged Americans to
"serve your nation, beginning with your
neighbor." His first order echoed that,
challenging the abortion-rights groups to raise the
money for these neighbors in need, instead of
working Americans paying the bill.
President Bush campaigned on education,
"leaving no child behind." Already, a proposal
has been made with even the most outspoken
Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy talking about
working with the proposal to get schooling
improved for children in public schools. The
only barrier now remains the issue of vouchers.
Bush wants them, Dems don't. After one
compromise by the President to limit the use of
vouchers, Dems still want more leniency for
schools that are failing, hoping to pour more
money into these schools in hopes of "saving our
public schools" instead of giving up on them.
President Bush's plan would give failing
schools three years to improve. If the school will
not change, "vouchers" or "payments" will be
made to the parents so that the children can be
bussed to passing public schools or have their
tuition paid for private schools in the area.
It's time to stop giving public schools second
chances to teach. Pouring more money into
schools that won't use it to improve is like paying
IHI 1.1 i[<[\.l)l;l.V.., =\
FRIDAY, JANUARY 26 , 2001
Behrend do, come out of the restroom without
washing my hands and served him his plate.
How would he like that?
Of course he may not have known where my
hands were, which is exactly my point. This was
not the first time that I saw this man touch food
with his bare hands. If the other employees must
wash their hands, why shouldn't he? Besides,
that's just nasty. And that really makes the place
look bad. All I'm saying is, it's bad enough that I
don't know what people do with my food when
I'm not looking. I don't want to have to see them
violating food safety codes.
Nicole C. Greene
Washington Wizards' players to start winning
games. It just won't happen.
In a meeting with Democrats this past week,
the President warned them, "I am not worried
about my legacy." And why should he be?
Anything short of complete destruction of the
United States would be an accomplishment
according to his critics. The bar has been set so
low that progress in any aspect of the game is
going to shock the American people that
expected a government that won't function. So
the handicap of Bush being "dumb" that critics
and Democrats gave him during the campaign
season has, so far, come back to nip them in the
butt.
He has already got his ideas on the table, he's
got the title as our leader, he's got Democrats
working with Republicans for the first time in
years on issues not touched in years. He's got
Americans starting to think, "whoa, maybe he's
not as dumb as we thought." He has the
American ideals of character and civility in our
government being acted out for the first time
that most can remember.
And all this is happening after the media told
us all that it will be a difficult task for Bush,
who lost the popular vote and controversially
won the electoral vote, to work with Democrats
and govern people who don't really know if he
was truly "elected" president.
Thus far, our new President hasn't faltered in
taking charge and following up on campaign
promises. He said this past Saturday, "I will live
and lead by these principles: to advance my
convictions with civility, to pursue the public
interest with courage, to speak for greater justice
and compassion, to call for responsibility and try
to live it as well."
Mission accomplished...so far.
Snyder's column appears every three weeks.