N FAS S OPINION SPORTS
The Behrend College seepage 3
Question of the Men's, Women's
• Week Basketball
see page 2
ENTERTA INN! F.NT See pages 7, 8
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Nominee for new i
artist of the year I I
see page 5 P
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E • PA 16563 Volume XLV, No. 15
Thursday, February 20, 1997
New dorm almost complete
Almy Hall, Behrend's new dormitory, is still under
construction.
The main building is scheduled to be completed by June
24. Upon completion, Housing and Food Services will post
signs, furnish, and clean the new building.
Located on the ridge behind Tiffany Hall, Almy Hall will
be co-ed and house 132 student. Up to 80 percent of whom
will be honors students with the remaining 20 percent being
traditional students.
The new dorm will feature double rooms, with four to a
suite sharing a bathroom located between the double rooms.
Each wing of the 5-story Almy Hall will have a living room
with a view of Lake Erie.
"Almy Hall is going to be a
beautiful building."
-Edward Mulfinger, Manager, Housing and
Food Services
Other features of the new dorm include a possible copying
machine room and laundry room on the 3rd floor, a large
conference room on the 2nd floor, RA meeting rooms on
the Ist and 4th floors, geothermal heating, card access
(instead of a key), and a bridge to the rear entrance of the
building from the parking lot
S-Lot will be extended to provide parking for Almy Hall.
Edward Mulfinger, the manager of Housing and Food
Services, is excited about the new dormitory.
While going over the floor plans, he said that the new
dorm "will take amenities to a whole new level. Almy Hall
is going to be beautiful building "
Almy Hall is the first of three new dormitories to be
constructed on the Behrend campus over the next few years.
The other two dorms will each have occupancy of 200 and
will be built in 1999 and 2001.
Almy Hall received its name from Thomas Almy, a
sailing master who commandeered the ship "Somers"
during the War of 1812.
STRAIGHT out...
Court rules no on
By PATRICIA K. COLE
Collegian Staff Writer
STRAIGHT would not have been
beneficial to the University
community, image or educational
climate, according to the
Undergraduate Student Government
Supreme Court's official majority
decision.
"We didn't do the easiest thing.
We didn't do the most popular
thing. We did the right thing," said
Associate Justice Jit Chatterjee,
who wrote the opinion because he
is the most senior voting member
on the court.
The decision, which was released
yesterday afternoon, describes the
court's main reasons for denying a
charter to the Students Reinforcing
Adherence In General Heterosexual
Tradition. According to their
mission statement, STRAIGHT
was supposed to be a group which
would provide students with a
forum to "express their views
regarding their refusal to accept or
support homosexuality."
"Two words -- they rock," Duane
Gildea said of USG.
Gildea, political co-director of the
Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Student
Association, added, "My respect for
them grows daily. . . . I didn't
know it was going to be so well
thought out."
STRAIGHT President Darin
Loccarini had a different reaction.
He said the reasons behind the
decision applied a double standard to
his group.
"It's hypocritical from start to
finish," Loccarini said. "Things that
don't apply to other organizations
apply to us because of who we're
opposing."
Loccarini added he intends to
appeal the decisio. through the
University appeals process or to the
state courts if necessary.
Because the court viewed the
group as being more anti
homosexual than pro-heterosexual,
by Nathan Muhanna
Collegian Staff
as the name implies, the court said
the group had no well-defined, long
term goals. However, the question
of STRAIGHT becoming intolerant
or violent was not a factor in the
court's decision, according to the
majority opinion.
"That would have been a different
group had they done what their
initials imply," Chatterjee said.
Another problem was that
officers and members of
STRAIGHT had different agendas
and goals, which failed to create a
cohesive group, according to the
decision.
"It doesn't matter because every
member of an organization doesn't
have to be in agreement," Loccarini
said. He said the response he has
received through E-mail has been in
support of the group's mission
statement and purpose.
Gildea said all executive members
of LGBSA are in agreement about
STRAIGHTs mission statement
and long-term goals.
The court said such a group
"would have created much bitterness
and tension in the Penn State
community . . . ."
But the decision might have
created more discussion in the
community.
"The issue of homosexuality has
taken a back seat to the issue of
equal representation," Loccarini
said. "To see many of the LGBSA
people here at a place that has been
a place of hostility to them, I'm
delighted."
Crowds of students from both
"We did the
right thing."
--Jit Chatterjee
USG Supreme Court
Mike Nies/Collegian Photographer
How many men does it take to build a dorm? We don't know that, but we know it takes 80 percent honor
students to fill it.
group
LGBSA and STRAIGHT gathered
in front of the Willard Building to
discuss the decision. Many seemed
to feel the issue was one of
constitutional rights, but the
decision states that the court is not
denying STRAIGHT any First
Amendment rights.
"It's hypocritical
from start
to finish."
--Darin Loccarini
STRAIGHT
"They're there. They are gathering
there to discuss and talk about the
decision. They're assembling,"
Chatterjee said. "We're not
infringing upon their rights."
Jon Feinberg, co-coordinator of
the Penn State chapter of the
American Civil Liberties Union,
said the national and state chapters
of ACLU will be looking to the
decision. They will attempt to
determine if the decision and the
purpose of STRAIGHT is an
adequate compromise between gay,
lesbian and bisexual rights and First
Amendment rights.
The only thing the decision is
stopping STRAIGHT from doing is
using general funds and University
rooms and facilities for general
meetings.
The group can still apply for
programming funds from the
Student Organization Budget
Committee, which come out of the
$25 student activity fee.
Courtesy The Digital Collegian located at
http://www.collegian.psu.edu
Copyright ®1997. Collegian Inc.
Dancing for a cause
Photo Courtesy Public Information
Wiggling at the 'Then: Behrend students Greg Welsch and Jessica Schwab did more than "a little dance" this past
weekend at University Park's 25th annual Dance A Thon.
by Doreen Foutz
News Editor
Good Morning America!
Tune into ABC on Wednesday,
March 26 for a look at the
dancers from `Thon '97.
They danced and danced and
literally danced the night away
last weekend at the annual dance
a-thon at University Park.
Greg Welsch, sophomore
business marketing major, and
Jessica Schwab, sophomore
BLASC major, represented Penn
State Behrend at the
Interfraternity/ Panhellenic Dance
Marathon in University Park.
The dancers raised
$1,528,425.64 as they celebrated
the 25th anniversary of the
largest student-run philanthropic
event in the nation. The event is
popular because of its size and its
cause, "I decided to go because it
was for a good cause and it was
one of the largest student-run
philanthropies in the country,"
Schwab said.
The money was raised, as it is
every year, for the Four
Diamonds Fund, which benefits
families of children who have
been diagnosed with cancer.
The children being supported
through the Four Diamonds Funu
were at the `Thon, and were great
motivators, "The kids that were
`The kids that were benefitting from the
fundraising were there and they really helped to
motivate us and let us see what goal we were
working towards."
benefitting from the fundraising
were there and they really helped
to motivate us and let us see
what goal we were working
towards," said Schwab.
At midnight on Saturday,
halfway through the event, Penn
State athletes, cheerleaders, the
Nittany Lion, the Blue Band, and
even Joe Paterno himself showed
up and threw a pep rally for the
dancers.
WEI
F EB 2 '7 7,i7
dEFiß tto ,,
LIBRARY Ur
Last year there were no
participants from any other Penn
State locations, other than
University Park. However, a
massive campaign changed all of
that this year. Students
representing eleven
campuses , and
commonwealth
-Jessica Schwab
Penn State Behrend participated,
contributing a total of $20,000,
Locally, Schwab and Welsch
raised approximately $BOO in
memory of John Wittmer, who
died of cancer in June.
His mother Sharon, and her
husband Tom were in the
audience over the weekend to
show their support.
"We had a great time and it was
definitely worth it " Crhit,nll cnid
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ORG.
S MsTAGE
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