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'MIRACLE REVIEWED
EHREND EACON Our A&E staff reviews the latest
Disney movie. See Page S.
Friday, February 6, 2004
week as over 5 feet of water flooded the basement of the building,
causing classes to be canceled Monday.
Lion Cash
machines
unusable
by Collin McHenry
staff writer
The current system of Lion Cash has
proven to be frustrating for most students
here at Behrend.
If you want to add money to your Id+
card you have two options: you can
either go to the Id+ Office during their
hours Monday through Thursday from
9 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Friday from 9 a.m.
to 5 p.m., or you can take a chance and
go to a Lion Cash machine.
Now none of the Lion Cash machines
work. This means people only have the
option of going to the Id+ Office to put
money on their cards.
Next fall, a new and faster method of
adding money to Id+ cards will be put
into use. Randy Geering, the Director
of Housing and Food Services, took time
to explain the new system.
"The Lion Cash system will be
Inside
Men's basketball remains undefeated
The Behrend Lions remain undefeated
in the AMCC with a record of 8-0 and a
season record of 18-1. They take on the
Frostburg Bobcats this Saturday.
SPORTS, Page 12.
Flu vaccine available to students again
Students are once again able to get
their annual flu shots in the Health and
Wellness Center throughout the course
of the week, until supplies run out.
NEWS, Page 3.
Students voice opinions on attendance
Two Beacon staff members share their
opposing views on attendance policies
in this week's Point/Counterpoint.
EDITORIAL, Page 6.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
News 1-4 Editorial 5
Calendar 6 Features 7
A&E 8 Sports.... 9-10
CONTACT US
Newsroom: 898-6440
Fax: 898-6019
E-mail: behrcolls@aol.com
Our offices are located downstairs
in the Reed Union Building.
Leacy Auer, COMBA . _ highest bid .50 Tuesday evening at
Auction held in the McGarvey Commons. All proceeds from the event go to the sorority's charities, the
Special Olympics and the S. June Smith Center.
AlAs unmask their love
by Erika Jarvis
a&e editor
Alpha Sigma Alpha held their eighth
annual date auction Tuesday night from
9 to 11 p.m. in McGarvey Commons
and invited students to come out and
"unmask true love."
The sisters raised $892 for their two
philanthropies, the Special Olympics
and the S. June Smith Center. The S.
June Smith Center was founded by an
ASA sister and is a special school near
Lancaster for handicapped children.
As Guy Reschenthaler emceed the
event, students from all sorts of Behrend
organizations such as MCC, Greek Life
and Behrend Athletics took to the
catwalk to help ASA raise money.
Bidding started at $l5 and made its
way to as high as $l5O for Leacy Sauer
from the Behrend softball team.
Beacon's own news editor, Justin Curry,
Online contracting lottery under way
by Ryan Russell
advertising manager
Housing at Behrend has always been
an issue for students. Some students
can't tolerate small rooms. Others can't
tolerate the walk from the apartments to
classes in Erie weather. Students also
complain about the way housing
contracts are issued, but few seem to
know how easy it is to get a contract,
and just how bad the old ways used to
be.
"Right now, you don't have to go out
of your room to get a contract for housing
at Penn State Behrend, or at Penn State
University," said Randy Geering,
director of Housing and Food Services.
A Penn State Erie Student Publication
Science building floods
Students with classes in the Science
Building were pleasantly surprised
Monday, when a burst water pipe led to
the cancellation of classes.
According to John Reem, director of
operations, the water pipe was part of the
sprinkler system.
In a routine patrol, officers from Police
Services discovered water on the floor
of the Science Building. Further
inspection lead to the discovery of 5 feet
2 inches of water in the Science Building
basement.
even got a chance to strut his stuff and
bring a sizable contribution to the
auction's fund.
Loud cheers could be heard as students
fought over the students being auctioned.
"I didn't bid on anyone to buy them, I
just had a great time helping raise the
bids so the ASAs could make more
money for their charities," said Ryan
Rodemoyer, CMPBD 04.
The date auction got a positive crowd
response, which helped raise spirits and
open wallets to bring in a few more bids
throughout the night. Students who won
the bidding also won a date package
including coupons to local businesses.
Some date packages included gift
certificates to Fridays, Smokey Bones
and even bowling passes. The highest
bidder won two-week passes to Nautilus.
Sisters of ASA spent the past few
months preparing and asking local
The new online system of requesting a
housing contract began last year.
Students received e-mails, brochures
and voicemail messages alerting them to
the new online system, yet there were
still some problems with the changeover.
"We designed detailed brochures,"
Geering said, "that take you through the
process from step by step. It tells you
everything you need to know about the
online system, and gives you detailed
dates, times and everything."
The main problem is that students did
not read the brochure, or immediately
deleted any voicemails that came from
Housing and Food Service, and therefore
didn't know what to do when the time
came to request an online contract.
by Daniel J• Stasiewski
managing editor
Brookside Volunteer Fire Department
was called in to help pump the water
from the basement.
Reem said that the damage to the first
floor of Science was minimal, but
electricity was shut off to the building
in order to let the boilers dry out. Four
transformers also needed replacing.
The Science Building reopened on
Tuesday. and it should be back to its
previous condition by sometime next
week.
Even with the damages to the building,
the students who got out of their classes
on Monday were very excited.
"I was thrilled," said Shirelle Evans,
businesses for donations and gifts to
raffle off through out the night.
"I think that this was a great way to
raise money for charity," said Jeff
Wemmell, DUS 02.
Many organizations even came out in
support of their own being auctioned
off. Tau Kappa Epsilon's own
sweetheart, Cayla Javor, was bought by
TKE brother Andy "Chuck" Law for
over $lOO.
"I would like to thank the
organizations on campus for coming
out, especially the greeks like AST, DC,
TKE and STG. Without them it would
not have been as successful," said Dee
Nowacinski, ASA President, PSYCH
08.
If you missed this year's date auction
The steps to requesting a contract are
found on the Online Contract System
website at www.hfs.psu.edu/contract.
Phase one required students to apply
for their housing contract, selecting the
campus they will be attending, taking a
short quiz. entering a roommate
selection, and then submitting a request
for a contract.
Phase two is actually submitting a
contract offer. This is the phase where
students encountered some problems.
"What happened was, students gut an e
mail that said 'You've been offered a
contract,' and didn't read the rest of the
e-mail," said Geering. "The rest of the
e-mail said 'You now need to submit
your contract offer.' It says 'You've been
Vol. LI No. 17
FNC 04. "I had an exam. so I didn't
Evans said she used the time off to do
some extra studying. "It was a heaven
Lindsay Snyder, MRKTG 06. also
missed an accounting exam. While she
didn't use the day off for studying,
Snyder seemed happy to have an extra
50 minutes for "goofing around."
Not all students were thrilled by
simply having a day off. Bill Cutter, EET
06, who didn't have a class in Science
OHC prepares
for 'Midnight
in Manhattan'
by Angela Szesciorka
news editor
The Ohio Hall Council is holding
Behrend's first basketball homecoming
with two activity-filled nights
Wednesday at the Rinker Center and
Friday at the Avalon Hotel.
Wednesday will be the men and
women's basketball games and Friday
will be the semiformal dance. Tickets
for the dance cost $2O and are for sale at
the Rub desk until Tuesday.
Wednesday, the women's basketball
game begins at 6 p.m. and the men's
begins at 8 p.m. Along with basketball
games will be activities in the main
hallway of the Junker Center. According
to Jenna Boazzo, president of the Ohio
Hall Council, the activities planned
include palm readers, card readers,
caricaturists, fun photos, prizes and
Students are encouraged to wear blue
and white to the basketball games to
promote Penn State school spirit. An
exclusive offer will have long-sleeved
shirts and hooded sweatshirts with a
homecoming-themed design for sale for
$l5 and $25. The front of the shirts will
read, "Nobody's good at it their first
time," and the back will follow with,
"First Annual Basketball Homecoming
2(X)4."
They will announce and crown the
king and queen during the men's
halftime. Homecoming king and queen
nominees included the Beacon's Amy
Frizzel, Track and Field's Isiah Meek.
the Multicultural Council's George
Morgan 111, Water Polo's Samantha
Cibula and 23 others. Students can vote
for any of the 27 candidates until
Tuesday at www.personal.psu.edu/
tdpl2l.
Friday, with a free bus ride to the
Avalon, students can enjoy a whole night
of entertainment, or at least from 7:30
p.m., when the doors open, to midnight.
The five-star catered dinner begins at
8:15 p.m. with fruit and vegetable salads,
lasagna, baked chicken and fettuccine
Alfredo. An assortment of desserts and
coffee will follow.
The theme of the semiformal is
"Midnight in Manhattan," and a DJ w ill
provide the music. Door prizes will
include a digital camera and Millcreek
offered a contract', not You have a
contract. — In order to actually agree to
that contract, students had to go to the
Online Contract System IN, ebsite and
submit a contract, and then a
confirmation page will appear.
"This is something I am dedicating my
life to: teaching students to print out the
confirmation page," said Geering. lithe
confirmation page is printed out, you can
go to Housing and Food Services and
show them a hard copy of the computer's
error. The biggest problem that students
run into is forgetting to click on the
"submit" button during plias(' and