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THE BEHREND BEACON
Friday, November 19, 2004
Student stands near one of the new bike racks behind the Reed Union Building. This rack is one of four racks
that was purchased with money from SAF.
Bike racks
By Aaron J. Amendola
Staff Writer
A pair of new bike racks has been pur
chased for use by students around the
campus. Now, if students wish to ride
bikes, they have spots to park and lock
their bikes in. These racks were not nec
essarily free, however, a small portion
of students’ Student Activity Fee will go
towards paying for the bike racks around
campus.
Approximately $1,030.00 was granted
to Kris Torok of student services for the
racks. Torok proposed that four bike
racks be supplied near the Reed Union
Building and other prominent areas
around campus with funds requested in
the amount of $2,060.00. The Student
Activity Fee Committee met Torok half
way and agreed to finance the racks,
along with the freight charges. After
freight charges, each bike rack cost SAF
about $435 and each hold 12 bicycles.
“Many students use bicycles for trans
portation around campus and with the
growth of campus we believe this will
continue to be the case,” said Torok about
why the bike racks were seen as a good
idea. “We have seen people chaining
Inside
‘Viewtiful’ review, STUDENT
LIFE, Page 8
Students travel abroad,
NEWS, Page 2
Swim teams meet at St.
Vincent, SPORTS, Page 13
CONTENTS
News 1-4
Editorial 5
Student Life 8-11
Sports 12-14
CONTACT US
Newsroom: 898-6488
Fax: 898-6019
E-mail: behrendbeacon@aol.com
Our offices are located down
stairs in the Reed Union Building.
invade campus, funds
their bikes to trees, railings and other
objects. This told us there was obviously
a need for more bike racks around cam
pus. It is also a way to promote an envi
ronmentally friendly alternative to driv
ing automobiles.”
Over $456,000 in requests were given
to the SAF committee while only
$198,900 was available in funds. Decid
ing to whom and to where the funds
would be allocated would be a trying
task, but the committee decided to nar
row its focus to events happening on or
near Behrend.
With the number of bike riders around
campus, and an alluring bike path run
ning from the Bayfront Parkway, the
racks should be of great service to rid
ers. Not everyone is happy about the new
bike racks however.
“I think it’s ridiculous,” says Shawn
Zipay 03 ACCT. “I’ve only seen one
biker since I came here this year.”
The general opinion of Behrend stu
dents seems to be that since they won’t
use the bike racks, they shouldn’t be pay
ing for them with their Student Activity
Fee. “I don’t see what good it is putting
all that money into them. Especially dur
ing the winter,” said student Loriel Herist
Campus cameras carry large price tag
Parking lot surveilance out of the question
By Bradley Stewart and Lacy Buzard
news editor and copy editor
Cars in the Behrend lots are at risk.
Over the course of four weeks 12 inci
dents of vehicle crime were reported.
Broken down, approximately three cars
per week are targeted for vandalism and
theft on campus, racking up thousands
of dollars worth of property damage.
Police and Safety have officers, prop
erty protection guards and a student aux
iliary who patrol the parking lots. There
cannot be someone in the lots at all times,
however.
“If you have that many cars parked
during the nighttime hours, anywhere,
there’s a certain percentage of them that
are going to get broken into,” said James
Amann, director of Police and Safety
Services.
Car criminals usually break into cars
for valuables such as CDs and stereo
equipment. Amann suggests that stu
dents lock their vehicles and keep costly
items out of sight.
There are surveillance cameras in all
residence halls, except the apartments,
and in Bruno’s, but none in the parking
lots. The cameras were installed to de
ter and convict delinquent individuals
caught on camera. Why not use them in
the parking lots?
Cameras that would be needed in the
parking lots would have to be more ad
vanced than the $2OO cameras used in
the residence halls. They would have to
have special zoom capabilities and the
ability to be controlled manually.
Other obstacles include not having a
large enough workforce to monitor cam
eras 24 hours per day and not having
A Penn State Erie Student Publication
03 CRIM JUST. Ryan Snell 03 ME said,
“That’s an awful lot of money to be
spending on just bike racks.”
“Well, I don’t use them, so I think it’s
a bad idea,” said Matt Sigler 03 COMP
ENG. “We could have bought a pool
table for our hall.”
“I suppose it’s a good idea, if they last.
I think it makes sense, my roommate has
a bike,” said Dave Irwin 03 ME. Irwin’s
roommate, Michael Vandeveer 03
PL AST seems to have the common opin
ion as everyone else however
“It beats chaining it to a tree but I
haven’t used mine all year,” said
Vandeveer. Even riders on campus seem
to be weary of the new additions. “I’ve
seen the same 2 kids ride to class
sometimes...l still only use mine when
I really need it.”
Even though many students may not
use the new bike racks, this does not
mean the campus will not benefit from
them. Whether or not the bike racks will
be utilized more has yet to be seen but
the campus does have bike riders, vis
ible or not. Those riders have a place to
set their bikes aside while in class or in
other activities now thanks to Kris Torok
and Student Government Association.
room to build the needed facilities.
Amann does not anticipate any addi
tional space once the REDC is com-
pleted.
Amann explained that the command
center that would be needed to monitor
parking lot cameras would have to be
CAMERAS, continued on Page 3
Search bfcgfßM'tfor faculty members
Communications and history departments hiring
By Lisa Lamendola
staff writer
Every year Penn State is replacing and
adding new positions within the faculty.
This year is no different. Both the Com
munications and Media Studies, and His
tory departments are in the process of
seeking new professors at Behrend.
Three professors will be hired by, hope
fully, no later than early January.
“Programs are growing and there may
not be enough faculty to cover the need,”
said Cathy Mester, senior lecturer of
speech communication.
The two spots in Communications and
Media Studies are replacement positions
and the History position is a reallocation
of a slot to an area in particular need.
Overall, both departments intend to hire
professional, original and inspirational
faculty.
“The School of Humanities and So
cial Sciences is setting the bar very
high,” said Richard Aquila, director of
the school of humanities and social sci
ences. “We plan to hire individuals who
are excellent teachers and outstanding
scholars and who can contribute profes
sional service and outreach.”
The interview process is extensive. It
starts with an advertisement being placed
in literary journals, etc. Next, a four-per
son hiring committee is appointed to
A cardboard pirate ship complete with pyrotechnics, made by Lawrence
Hall students, participated in Cardboard City. Cardboard City ran from
Tuesday to Wednesday and raised money for the United Way campaign
United Way still seeking donations
Student and staff participation desired
By Brian Battin
staff writer
The United Way campaign here at
Behrend is getting closer to its
fundraising goal for the year. Many in
dividuals and groups are participating in
raising money for the organization
The United Way of Erie is celebrating
90 years of service to the Erie commu
nity. It benefits many local non profit
organizations such as the YMCA of
Greater Erie, Meals on Wheels and the
Salvation Army of Greater Erie.
“Penn State is the only approved uni
versity wide philanthropy with the united
way,” said Chris Rizzo, director of stu
dent activities. “This is the one commu
nity service event that the university does
as a whole on a yearly basis.”
Here at Behrend the donation goal is
set at $50,000. The faculty has a goal of
$47,000, and the students have a goal of
$3,000. With over 3,000 students on
campus each student would have to do
very little to achieve the goal.
“If each student could donate one dol
lar at the RUB desk the goal would even
be exceeded,” said campaign coordina
tor Judy Glembocki
The campus as a whole reached its
goal last year and raised over $50,000.
Vol. LII No. 13
have a say in the candidates chosen. Af
ter several candidates are picked, tele
phone interviews are conducted and the
committee narrows the choices to three.
Next, the candidate visits the Behrend
campus, meets administrators, teaches a
class to students and does a research pre
sentation for the faculty.
“The interview process is as thorough
as we can make it,” said Aquila.
Also, Behrend’s executive officer and
associate dean, Jack Burke, interviews
candidates. Students have the chance to
talk to the candidates as well.
“The candidates also have an oppor
tunity to interact with students without
the faculty around,” said Mester.
The first responsibility of each new
professor is to cover core classes in their
areas of expertise. After that, there is
freedom for specialty classes to be of
fered in the professors’ respective fields.
“Students could see a variation in staff
members and classes,” says Mester.
The new professors are important to
Behrend as a whole. Students enrolled
in Humanities and Social Sciences will
have the opportunity to work directly
with the new professors in the near fu
ture.
“Excellent teachers and outstanding
scholars contribute tremendously to the
quality of education at Penn State
Behrend,” said Aquila.
So far this year the total raised, as of Nov.
10 by the faculty, was $17,610.
Many events have been going on
around campus to help raise money. The
helping hands auction took place in the
McGarvey Commons on Oct. 28. Events
have also been organized to help the stu
dents reach their goals. On Oct. 29 there
was a haunted house in Senat Hall that
benefited United Way.
Another event that helped raise money
was the Cardboard City fundraiser. On
Nov. 16 many groups and organizations
built cardboard houses and stayed in
them overnight to help raise money for
various non profit organizations.
Lawrence Hall had their donations go to
United Way.
“The agencies here really do serve the
Erie community,” said Rizzo. “I think
it’s very easy, in a review, that looking
at some of them, that if you’re from the
Erie area, or going to school here, you
can see someone that you know that was
supported by theses agencies.”
Any student who wants to donate
money and does not belong to an orga
nization can do so. “A letter went out to
all student organizations and students in
general if they want to contribute,” said
Rizzo. “We set up a fund through the
RUB desk where organizations and stu
dents can donate money.”