29 y iw 4 tS - March 1, 2004 An opposing view SGA has changed the campus for the better In response to the Lion's Eye editori- al "SGA: No Follow-up to a promising start." We respect the opinion of the paper. It has been brought to our attention that the SGA may not have communicated as well as we intended with the student body. To rectify that we would like to clar- ify the information alluded to the Lion's Eye editorial. The current SGA has performed exceptionally well at a multitude of tasks and campus functions, many of which were planned and others of which were spontaneous. These include the restruc- turing and remodeling of SGA, holding the first advising fair at our campus, working with student life to make the Multicultural Day celebration a tremen- dous success, creating a multi-language campus tour program and implementing 10 other programs for the students. As for the Lion's Eye's complaint about the SGA banquet, this event was intended to recognize faculty and staff support and was paid for by the SGA operational budget, not the student activ- ities funds. In the works for spring are more than 13 new programs for our entire campus community with a focus on community, remembrance, diversity, sports, and col- lege life. The editorial was filled with twisted information and distortions of what, indeed, happened. — REKHA RAJU SGA Senator, Communications and Media The Lion's Eye By ROBERT HYERS Lion’s Eye Guest Columnist pinion | A Guest Column Convoluted priorities of George W. Bush In June 2003 the Federal Communications Commission voted along party lines (with Republicans win- ning) to increase the amount of air- waves any one corporation can own, from 35 percent to 45 percent, as well as allowing corporations to own both television stations and newspapers. These rulings mean that large money-hungry entities like Viacom (who needed this percent increase and is a huge Republican supporter) now have more control over what information we as the public can access when trying to make decisions regarding our lives and our government—something the FCC was created to guard against. Was there any outrage when these rulings came down? No. Now fast-forward to Super Bowl Sunday — yes, the now infamous “Nipplegate” in which Janet Jackson bared her breast. There was huge outcry over this, so much so that the FCC, now trying to look like the public’s moral guardian, has held “decency trials” to determine who should be punished and how severe the punishment should be. And while I would say holding the FCC accountable for its partisan vote in June 1s more important than “Nipplegate,” the general public seems to think differently. It seems that any- thing to do with sex still invades that deep-seated, Puritan nerve within us and animates us into action like nothing else can. And politicians have realized this. This brings us to the subject of weapons of mass destruction, or WMDs. According to David Kay, the former weapons inspector in Iraq, there is a very good possibility these WMDs did not exist. A pre-war “imminent threat” has been downgraded by President Bush to a post-war “gathering danger” and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s definite assertions before the war that WMDs would be found have turned into a “possibility” that are only according to the intelligence he saw, when recently faced with a Congressional inquiry. Needless to say, leading your country to war on what was either bad or manip- ulated intelligence is not good for a president when it’s an election year. And although it will be investigated, the investigation team has been hand-picked by Bush himself, will only be looking into intelligence failures (not the possi- bility that intelligence ascertained was manipulated by the Bush administration to sell us on this war), and its findings will not be public until long after the November elections have come and gone. Luckily for Bush though, this has nothing to do with sex, and so there has been no real public outcry. But he has other problems. Some of his conserva- tive allies are now attacking him for what they see as irresponsible federal spending. His plans to put Americans on Mars and his boasting of a recover- ing economy due to his tax cuts have thousands of unemployed manufactur- ing laborers wondering if he has just beamed down from Mars. So as an insurance policy against any of these becoming the black mark that keeps him from occupying the world’s most powerful position for another four years, he and his ultra-con- servative cronies have thrown another issue out there which hits that Puritan A correction A story in the February edition of the Lion’s Eye regarding campus safety contained some incorrect information. It should have stated that there are no pay phones out- side buildings on the campus. If you have a question concerning a story in the Lion’s Eye, e-mail AAC136@psu.edu. Page 7 nerve dead in its center: Gay marriage. It began rather discreetly with his administration’s $1.5 billion “marriage proposal” which can only be accessed by heterosexual couples. (In his speeches regarding this he conveniently omits the fact that there are a myriad of nonprof- its already providing this service, non- profits from whom he took promised funding to invade Iraq with). Bush knows that a Democrat must win a majority of the African-American vote to beat him in November, and he knows that most African-Americans are not too keen on gay marriage. So his administration has plans to boast of the benefits of this marriage proposal across African-American churches dur- ing his re-election bid. He also arrived (uninvited) for a photo op to lay a wreath on the grave of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in January. All of this in hopes of taking away enough of the African-American vote to ensure his re- election. More recently his wont for gay mar- riage to be an election issue has become more overt. In his State of the Union address, he said in so many words that he would sign a constitutional amend- ment restricting the legal definition of marriage to one man and one woman thereby stopping Supreme Court judges (who are only fulfilling their collective role as defenders of the minority) from “forcing their arbitrary will upon the people.” And apparently it’s working. The restrictive amendment was just narrowly defeated Feb. 11 and a reworked version is moving through the House and Senate now. The Bush administration has hit the nerve it was looking for. So which will be more important to you in November? Stopping an adminis- tration that has misled (and possibly lied) to get the war it wanted, or stop- ping 10 percent of the population from having the same legal marriage benefits the other ninety percent already enjoy? The Bush administration is hoping for the latter. Campus climate meeting set for today A Campus Town Hall Meeting is to be held today in the large conference room on the second floor of the Commons Building at 12:30 p.m. Faculty and students are encouraged to attend the meeting, the purpose of which is to share infor- mation about the results of the campus climate assessment conducted in Spring 2003. A presentation of the Campus Climate Assessment Report will be provided by Susan Rankin from the Office of the Vice Provost for Educational Equity. Craft show will aid scholarships ~ Penn State Delco's Spring Craft Show will take place in the gymnasium in the Commons Building from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. March 14. The purpose of the show is to raise money for scholarships on campus. Previously, there have been two endowed scholarships in the amount of $25,000. Volunteers are needed for an hour or two for the event. Donate anything you do not want to Sylvia Schaffer. Items needed include: Lamps, picture frames, mirrors, etc. Do not donate furniture, cloth- ing or books. You can contact Schaffer at (610) 892-1261, or drop your items off at her office in the Main Building. — CHARLOTTE BARR Workshops designed to aid in job search Get ready for Penn State Delco’s Job Fair by attending a resume-writing workshop and engaging in a job-search workshop. The workshop, presented by the Career Services staff, takes place Tuesday, March 23, frm 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Room 101 of the Classroom Building. The resume-writing workshop is designed to allow you to have your resume ready for the campus Job Fair, March 31. The job-search workshop will be held Wednesday, March 17, in the large conference room on the second floor of the Commons Building. It is designed to help students learn how to search for career opportunities. It runs from 12:30 to 1:30 p.m. and refreshments will be served. : For more information contact Sally Ent at SXE6@psu.edu or (610) 892-1278. Send items to former students overseas Academic Affairs is organizing CARE-package shipments to former Penn State Delco students David Fleming, who’s serving in Iraq, and Eric Voight, serv- ing in Afghanistan. You can drop off items to Room 212 in the Main Building. In order to keep the boxes light, organizers are asking for no canned goods. Food Items: Some items needed are instant coffee, powdered Gatorade or hot chocolate powder mix; Slim Jim's or beef jerky, gum, mints, wrapped hard candy, granola “bars, microwave popcorn and dried fruit. All food items must be factory-packaged and sealed. No homemade items and no chocolate is allowed. Other needed items are personal-hygiene products such as eye drops, lip balm, sunblock, lotion, powder, toothbrushes, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant, as well as items such as AA batteries, film, phone cards, puzzle books, joke books, playing cards and maga- zines.
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