Letters to the
February 18,1997
To the editor
Here I am, one cheesy, unethical
lunatic. Well at least that's what
one Collegian reporter considers me
to be. I am one of the members of
the Activities Fee Allocation
Committee and unethical I am not.
I wonder if this collegian reporter
even knows who I, or any of the
other members of the committee
are. The committee consisted of
seven students and three
faculty/staff members. I am
absolutely positive that the only
reason any of these people gave up
their free time was to make sure
they could benefit the most from
your activity fee money. Wait a
minute, I am a student and so are
six of the other members of the
committee. Yes, that means it was
our money too! It's okay that you
didn't realize that you're not the
only one paying this fee, because
we did. As a matter of fact we
went to great lengths to consider the
interests of the 3200 students who
pay the activity fee. What about the
The above letter to the editor was inadvertantly delayed for publication. The Collegian regrets any
inconvenience caused by the late publication of Ms. Herrnzann's letter.
Priorities: Problems with
by John Amorose
Collegian Staff
`Twas a couple of nights before classes
in my temporary house, not a creature was
stirring, not even a ...Wait a second, there
is a mouse! That's right, a mouse in
Tiffany Hall. I know what you are all
thinking, toughen up, sissy-boy. It's
only a small, disgusting, disease-carrying
rodent that roots through your food and
personal possessions. So grow up! But a
mouse is just another addition to the long
list of complaints that will soon be
circulating throughout Tiffany Hall, to be•
turned in to the housing Office at the end
of this semester.
From the first day of my arrival at
Behrend this semester, things have been
going wrong in my room in Tiffany Hall.
To start off with, the desk lamps in my
room don't work very well. I depend on
these lights because the ceiling lights are
The Behrend College
Collegian
published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie The Behrend Colle • e
Editors in Chief
Jennifer V. Colvin
Danielle M. Murphy
Business Manager
Carley Gwin
News Editors
Doreen Foutz
Sara Prosser
Sports Editors
Brian Gregory
Matt Plizga
Entertainment Editor
Sheila Bickel
Tim Holsopple, Assistant
Photography Editor
Colleen Gritzen
Opinion Eft
Colleen Fromknecht
John Amorose, Assistant
Advertising Manger
Tom Keefe
Office Manager
Crystal Dehart
Acadmeic Advisor
Dr. Ursula Davis
Activities Advisor
Dr. Rob Soso(
0777111171= 7 • e • egian is
published weekly by the students of Penn State
Erie, The Behrend College; First Floor, The J.
Elmer Reed Union Building, Station Road, Erie,
PA 18563. The Collegian can be reached by
calling (814) 898-6488 or (814) 898-6019 (fax).
ISSN 1071-9288
jaiLigilew The Collegian encourages
letters to the editor on news coverage, editorial
content and University affairs. Letters should
be typewritten, double spaced and signed.
Letters should be no longer than 400 words.
Letters should include the semester standing
and major of the writer. AU letters should
provide the address and phone number of the
writer for verification of the letter. The Collegian
reserves the right to edit letters for length and to
reject letters. Letters submitted to The
Collegian become the property of the
newspaper.
The Collegian is published every Thursday
during the academic year on recycled paper.
three staff members? Well of
course they were only there to be
sure their personal interests were
funded. Since there were only three
of them and seven students, they
probably got everything they
wanted, and as a matter of fact I'm
almost sure they had the majority
for eery vote that was taken.
Seriously, with those odds it is
evident that the staff members also
had the interest of the students in
mind.
I know many of the students
aren't happy about paying the fee,
and we as students certainly have
the right to know where the money
is going. The activities fee
allocation committee has taken this
into consideration by giving us the
opportunity to submit proposals to
the committee. Maybe that
reporter's time would have been
more productive had she used it to
fill out the activities fee suggestion
flyer that was mailed to every
student, instead of making
judgements and accusations
towards the committee. The
committee has also submitted a full
page advertisement to the Collegian
placed poorly in relation to the room (back
corner of the room, the farthest possible
location from the two desks). But this is
small potatoes compared to some of the
other problems with the room, especially
the insects. As we moved into early fall,
our room was visited by some very special
guests, a small flock of ladybugs. That's
right, ladybugs! Ladybugs traveled
throughout our room and covered the
window screen; we were unable to open
the window. When I called the Housing
Office. I was given some good advice.
The person on the phone, who shall
remain nameless for his own protection,
told me to open the screen and let the
ladybugs out. He also told me not to be
afraid, they wouldn't hurt me. So after
fearlessly following these instructions,
there weren't any more ladybugs on the
screen, which was good. But the number
of ladybugs in my room increased, which
was not good. This mild infestation lasted
for a good month or so, but they
eventually left us alone, and all was well
with the world.
Another major problem came with the
first major rain in the fall. Flooding.
This is not just a problem with my room,
it's a complaint with the majority of
Behrend Life...
PA
_all
a A k
au 111 mi m M
0 Oa rai WI
ID MI OD 1111 CI if'
NM 41.4.41
PAW
rife /Ar
arr .
11-NsApar I
tifigeN
PL.MIIO.'S
11111
0
0
-..MllllParrillaill.... -'"11 .111.1111.1ft.-
11111111111.1°..'--.■llllllllllllllllllo
In the "Where are They Now" section of the Behrend
Quarterly, the university decided to give an update on the
status of some of its Plastics Program's students.
editor
that should appear in the Thursday,
February 20 th edition. This
advertisement will outline the areas
that are to be funded by the
activities fee, it will also contain the
names of the members of the
activities fee allocation committee.
I and other members of the
committee would be more than
pleased to answer any questions
you may have about the proposal.
Behrend's community is growing
faster than anyone can keep up with
and I'm very proud to be a part of
it. ',like the rest of you don't have
all the time in the world to spend on
frivolous enterprises. I agreed to
give up my free time to sit on the
activities fee allocation committee
because I felt I could help express
the attitudes and opinions of the
students on our campus. It disturbs
me greatly that someone who has
never met me and knows close to
nothing about me has the audacity
to judge my character. I hope that
the fact I took time td express my
opinion in this letter shows the
students at Behrend that I am more
than a cheesy lunatic.
Sincerely,
Lara M. Herrman
06, Biology
residents in my hallway. Water leaks
along the eastern wall facing the area of
construction on Almy Hall (which you'll
hear about later). The area of soaked
carpet extends to about two feet from the
wall. Water also seeps in the hallway,
which in turn comes underneath the wall
and into my room. On one occasion,
water leaked dangerously close to the hand
drive of my computer, which could have
caused a serious problem for me. So after
being told that there was nothing the
University could do about these problems,
I put all of my valuable electronic
equipment either off of the ground or on
top of garbage bags. But that's not the
final round in the battle against nature.
Water began to leak from the top of the
window frame, splashing on the heating
unit. This water could have easily shorted
out the heater and caused a fire. So after
plugging up the leak with a spare
washcloth, I finally won the fight against
the elements.
These are just the problems in one
building for less than one school year.
There are definitely more. Try driving
through the upper parking lot a day or two
after it snows (not that there's room to
park anywhere else!). First there's the
by Mike DeSantis
Thursday, March 27, /997
As many of you may know Alpha Sigma
Tau Sorority recently organized and held a
Dance-A-Thon to benefit the Emmaus
Soup Kitchen. The event was held in
Reed Commons from 7 p.m. March Ist to
7 a.m. March 2nd. we publicized the
event heavily on campus during the weeks
preceding the actual event. Concern
regarding our last wave of publicity is the
purpose of this letter. In our effort to help
this event reach a large audience we created
flyers, one of which contained a graphic of
an African American couple dancing. The
graphic came from a computerized clip art
package. We included a multi-cultural
image intentionally to be as inclusive as
possible and reach out to as much of the
Behrend community as possible. We
learned though that our choice of graphic
was insensitive and we had unintentionally
offended some members of the Behrend
community. Our problem was that we
had not really examined the graphic, we
simply used it. On closer inspection, we
recognized where the problems had arisen.
The individuals depicted in the graphic
perpetuate many of the negative
stereotypes people have about African
Americans. The individuals in the graphic
are overweight, have exaggerated lips and
are extremely dark with large eyes. We did
not really look at the graphic until too
late, after it had already offended.
- 1 - 30 0 NO
11 t- - L
:ài
A FOOL AND
HIS MONEY
ARE SOOI4
PARTED
-- qs
.kel
housing
obstacle course of potholes one must
maneuver around to get into the actual lot.
Oddly enough, these holes are found right
in front of the maintenance building.
Very interesting. As for the condition of
the lots, the snow and ice are very poorly
handled, sometimes remaining more than a
week after the snow falls. This makes the
drive quite hazardous.
My point here, besides venting some
festering frustrations, is to talk about
priorities. I realize the necessity for
campus expansion; with the student
population increasing annually, the need
for more housing is desperate. But I
believe before the University renovates
buildings which are located off campus,
such as the Mack house, or begins
construction of the elaborate Almy Hall,
maybe some area of the existing housing
facilities could have been looked at in
terms of repair. No, I'm not just another
disgruntled non-honors student
complaining about the fancy,
predominately honors, Almy Hall. I just
think students that are already here should
receive some sort of precedence over
students who have yet to grace the halls of
Behrend.
e erans
Freddy Groves
I once heard a great definition of
the Jewish expression "chutzpah:"
It's when a man kills his parents and
then asks the judge for mercy on the
grounds that he's an orphan.
Chutzpah would seem to apply to
the Pentagon these days. They're
blaming a computer virus as the most
possible explanation for the loss of
vital data regarding chemical
weapons in Iraq that put our troops at
risk. The Pentagon's honchos did
know about the possibility of chemi
cal weapons at the installation later
blown up by U.S. soldiers. But the
information was never passed on. But
the Department of Defense isn't
alone in this mess-up; the CIA also
had information in 1991 but said
nothing until last year.
As for General Schwarzkopf, he's
sticking to his story that no one com
plained of illness until later. The gen
eral needs a refresher course in
delayed onset syndromes.
0 1997 Kin• Features S nd. Inc.
The Behrend College Collegian - Page 5
Our intention was certainly not to
offend and we would like to take this
opportunity to publicly say that we are
very sorry to those we offended and that
we truly did not know how insensitive the
graphic was. We, as a sorority, have
discussed the issue and have learned a great
deal about the importance of being aware
and sensitive to others' perspectives and
viewpoints. We heartily thank those who
came forward for this opportunity,
otherwise we would have unknowingly
offended still more people and not learned
what we have. As it happened, we were
able to remove the flyers and remove the
graphic from a mailing before it went out.
We are writing the letter to share what
we have learned so other student
organizations can avoid the problems we
encountered. We must try to see things
from others' perspectives if we are going
to work together to make Behrend a better
place. We must learn from each other.
Sincerely,
Nicole Campbell, President
Nicole Pepicello, Dance-A-Thou
Chairperson and
The Sisters of the Alpha Sigma Tau
Sorority
istory
day
By Colleen Frookneeht
. -.Collegian Staff ,
't *
•
Saturday morning a group of
school students are coming to - -
History Day. They will be here in
to participate in the History •
Competition. The students work
preparing a project which is based Ciiir
broad theme each year.
Since I am a member of Respic'
(otherwise known as the History Cluli
have attended the last two year's eve 4
What really amazes me about the event'
that these high school kids really Itni
their stuff. Each year lam amazed at ; ii
and work and dedication of the studellte
There is a lot of inter
'nformation presented at History E
{ ,apers, media presentations, and exl
lese kids do a wonderful job and thep
iot going to get any compensation
:ollege credit) which I think is a dui'
!ley are doing it because they ft
istory. (They even Ire history nn
han the members of Respicimus!)
The event will also feature a Civil
nactment which will give s. -
Ilimpse of what it was like to serve
y. This year's group, the vie m%
attery is an artillery unit which is
n Waterford, Pennsylvania. Respici
ill man a table with artifacts of hist.
nterest also.
So if you're - up early on Saturday,
ant to see some interesting stuff,
ntertained by a Civil War group, ,and
impressed by a group of high y.
tudents, come over to the Reed Elte
look at the projects. You are
han welcome, and maybe you'll
otice that history people are fun an,
interestin.. <