Page 4- The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, December 11, 1997
The Behrend College Collegian
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie. The Behrend College
Features Editor
Kristi McKim
News Layout Editor
John Grolier
Business Manager
Dana Greenhouse
Photography Editor
Jessica Trzeciakowski
Office Manager
Gina Gaskey
Advisor
Robert Speel
Postal Information: The Collegian is
published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie, The Behrend Col
lege; First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed
Union Building, Station Road, Erie,
PA 16563. The Collegian can be
reached by calling (814) 898-6488 or
(814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN 1071-
9288
Safer Sex Cabaret took
effective approach to
sex education
By the time most people are col
lege age, they have already made im
portant choices about their sexual
practices. Unlike high school, the
choice between abstinence and being
sexually active is one that, most likely,
has been decided. With this in mind,
a safer sex presentation should be
aimed at those who are in the most
vital need of the information: those
who are having sex. Trigon and the
Joint Residence Council (JRC) at
tempted to do just that in last week's
Safer Sex Cabaret.
Statistically, most people of college
lageitave had .sex, though many don't
tbe basics of safe sex.
;Taking into consideration the percent
age of people having sex, the only
way a safe sex presentation can be
effective is to talk candidly about ac
tually having sex. By showing the
audience how to be safe while still
being romantic and sexy, the Safer
Sex Cabaret performed a great ser
vice. What you can do safely rather
than what you can't do is an area that
seems to be overlooked by many safe
sex educators.
After years of high school sex ed.
classes, we all should know what a
condom is for and how to use one.
However, how many people know
what a dental dam is for? This was
discussed at the Cabaret, and was
most likely new information for many
audience members. The discussion of
different types of condoms and which
are better for different types of sex are
not typical of a safe sex lecture. It is
very important to know these things,
because students need to know all
they can about how to save their own
lives.
Christmas decorat
lacking more than
1997, the year the
Grinch almost stole
Christmas
by Nathan Mitchell
layout editor
Every winter, annual holiday
lights are displayed at Perry Square
in downtown Erie. This year,
however, the original sponsor
backed out and First Western Bank
stepped in to support all ornaments,
except for those on the gazebo,
which Gannon University
sponsored.
Not everyone, however, is
impressed with the plain white lights
and uninspiring solid colors.
Shirley Dows, a mechanical
engineering major at Behrend and
a resident of the Erie area, was very
disappointed with the park lights
this year. "They're dull, they're
boring, they're not invigorating.
They are a poor expression of the
Editor in Chief
Andrea M. Zaffino
Managing Editor
Anne M. Rajotte
Sports Editor
Matt Plizga
Layout Editor
Nathan Mitchell
Advertising Manager
Mike Valliere
Associate Editor
Brian Ashbaugh
Assistant Sports Editor
Dylan Stewart
Letter Policy: The Collegian encour
ages letters to the editor on news cov
erage, editorial content and Univer
sity affairs. Letters should be no
longer than 400 words. Letters
should include the address, phone
number, semester standing and ma
jor of the writer. Writers can mail
their letters to behrcoll2@aol.;om.
Sexually transmitted diseases are
rampant on college campuses. This
fact proves that students just aren't
getting something about practicing
safe sex. Perhaps it has something to
do with the clinical way safe sex has
always been discussed with them.
Eleventh grade health class isn't the
sexiest place to effectively learn
about safe sex. It seems that this ster
ile environment, where the actual act
of having sex is all but forgotten, is
putting the idea into student's heads
that safe sex can't be good sex.
The Safer Sex Cabaret combatted
these unsexy, high school health class
iiin'ages: Sex wasn't made into a ster
ile, taboo, shameful thing. Human
sexuality was celebrated, and also re
spected.
One of the components of the
evening was the discussion of gay
sexuality along with straight sexual
ity. The striaghtforwardness of the
presenters seemed to take away the
awkwardness from what are usually
difficult subjects to address.
Trigon and JRC took a wonderful
approach to educating students about
safer sex and should be applauded for
their efforts. The frankness of the pro
gram may have shocked or upset a
few, but if a discussion of sex is too
embarrassing for someone to take,
that person isn't mature enough to be
having sex.
The Cabaret didn't ignore the fact
that sex is intended to be a pleasur
able experience between two people.
By realizing why people so often ig
nore safe sex messages, they have, at
least in regard to those in attendance,
come one step closer to creating a
more educated public.
lons
holiday season," she said.
There are lights in the west park
as well as the east park, which are
less abundant, and compared to
years past, what lights do exist still
leave something to be desired.
Christmas isn't just about the
decorations, though; there is
religious significance behind the
meaning of the holiday which the
sponsors have ignored. With the
absence of menorahs and mangers,
there is no sign of a religious
connection at all. There are dozens
of Christian and Jewish
organizations alone whose beliefs
and opinions are not being
represented. It would be a more
meaningful and impressive display
if some sort of religious connection
could be made.
Not every Who down in
Whoville, the tall and the small,
sang without good Christmas lights
at all.
Advisor
Alan Parker
radiance
Editorials
More should consider state
universities as an affordable option
By William P. Kovacs
Providence Journal-Bulletin
Knight-Ridder/Tribune News
Services
AS A FATHER with a bunch of kids,
I had to face the problem of providing
for their college education. The
options are: an Ivy League type of
school, private and very expensive; a
state university; or finally, a
community college. A family could
face a yearly bill for tuition, fees,
room, board, books and spending
money easily $25,000 to $30,000 a
year at one of the "good schools." One
could get by with less than half that.
Just what are some of the benefits
of going to the big name, private
university? What is in a name? A
reputation? How does a school or
university get "that" reputation? The
"quality of a university" is largely
based on the reputation of the faculty
and the quality of their papers and
articles, as published in archival
journals, and books and poems, etc.,
for the world to read. Their published
output is largely funded by research
contracts/grants from various federal,
state and private funding sources. All
universities try to attract the best
faculty to enhance the reputation of
Putting
in their
By Elmer P. Martin=Special to The
Baltimore Sun
Recently, Christie's, the famed New
York auction house, became the tar
get of a decades-old struggle of
blacks: The fight for black cultural
survival.
After a public outcry, Christie's
withdrew from sale several 19th-cen
tury slavery documents slated to be
auctioned to the highest bidder. In
stead, Christie's will donate the items
to museums. Equating Christie's
aborted sale with cultural exploitation
is a continuation of a cultural war that
gained momentum among black
people after Emancipation.
At the turn of the century, the battles
on the cultural front took many forms
as black people were bombarded with
negative images of themselves every
where. In minstrel shows, whites
blackened their faces and performed
as imitative black folks. Circus side
shows, called 'nig shows,' depicted
black people as "missing links,"
America's consummate freaks. Mov
ies like "The Birth of a Nation" por
trayed the Ku Klux Klan as heroes and
black men as rapists of white women.
Many advertisements depicted big
eyed, jet-black "darkies" eating wa
termelon with wondrous delight.
Early in this century, black people
from all walks of life joined in the
struggle for black cultural liberation
themselves as well as the institution
they belong to.
In addition to research and
publishing, there is also teaching and
service to the community. Each
school's reputation is like a very
heavy, slow-moving ship. Once it gets
going, it keeps going even if the
engine gets turned off. A reputation
is hard to improve and just as hard to
decrease with time.
It should be pointed out that there
exist some very famous public
universities that have a reputation just
as good as those of some of the Ivy
League schools. Consider the
University of California at Berkeley,
the University of Michigan and the
University of Washington, to name a
few. But that is getting away from the
main point.
Some of the benefits of going to that
big school are the connections made
that can be used after graduation, and
sometimes the cnhanced reputation of
the school will enable you to get that
good, first job.
On the down side of attending the
expensive school is primarily the large
cost that may put a family in an
undesirable financial position,
especially if there are other kids
waiting to attend college. Large loans
historic
rightful place
just as they would do later during the
better-known civil rights movement
of the 19605.
Black educators waged war on
children's literature featuring such
characters as "Little Black Sambo"
downing piles of pancakes, "the Ugly
Ducking" decrying its blackness and
the popular "Ten Little Nigger Boys"
fated to be killed one by one.
Black scholars combatted the sci
entific racism of the time, which
claimed to have developed irrefutable,
scientific proof of black genetic infe
riority.
Many black intellectuals com
plained loudly about the hypocrisy
Europeans displayed when they char
acterized Africans as inferior and de
generate, while stripping Africa of
invaluable artwork and artifacts to
enrich their own civilization.
Those black people who kept an eye
on Europe were outraged over that
continent's practice of taking Africans
from their homelands to be exhibited
as freaks and alleged proof of white
supremacy.
As recently as a year ago, South
African government representatives
appealed to the French government to
return the remains of Saartjie
Baartman, a woman who was billed
as the Hottentot Venus and paraded
naked around 19th-century Europe.
Baartman created a national sensation
in France that was on a par with that
may also be present after graduation
that need to be paid off, eventually.
In addition, classes are often taught
by Ph.D. students (many of whom are
foreign-born and have difficulty with
the English language), freeing the
faculty to do research that will lead
to publications and an enhanced
reputation.
Attending a less costly state
university has the benefit of not
leaving a large loan to pay off. It
doesn't have the big impact on family
finances that the expensive school
has. But here is where the main
argument is to be made: in the actual
education of your child. If you look
carefully at the credentials of the
faculty at many state-supported
schools, you will find that many of
the faculty have gone to those big
name (and perhaps expensive)
universities themselves, and they now
use the same textbooks that are used
at the big schools. Classes are taught
primarily by faculty. What I am
implying is that the education that
your son or daughter receives at a state
university is academically just as
good and perhaps better than at the
expensive schools!
A third alternative is to go the
cheapest route living at home and
images
created by the famed black dancer,
Josephine Baker, in this century. But
throngs paid not to see Baartman
dance, but rather to ogle her huge pro
truding buttocks.
They could pay more for the oppor
tunity to touch her - to see firsthand
that she was not padded. Baartman
was a member of the Khoi-Khoi
people, known as Hottentots by Dutch
settlers in South Africa. (The Khoi-
Khoi tended to store fat in their but
tocks, not stomachs and thighs.)
After Baartman died in 1815, Eu
ropeans remained riveted to her
anatomy. Her skeleton and body parts,
including her genitals, were preserved
and put on display in the French Mu
seum of Mankind until 1986, when
they were placed in storage.
The Christie's affair must be seen
in the context of black people's efforts
to gain control over how they were
and are depicted and represented in
both European and American popu
lar culture.
Earlier efforts to gain control over
their own cultural products centered
on getting world, state and local ex
positions to highlight black achieve
ments. For example, Maryland's
Frederick Douglass vociferously pro
tested black exclusion from the 1893
World's Fair in Chicago; but the ques
tion white exposition officials con
stantly asked was: "What achieve
ments?"
commuting to the community college
for two years. Then transfer to a larger
school and live on campus, as that also
is part of the overall education
experience.
If your son or daughter is that good,
academically, he or she will flourish
at the state- supported university just
as well. If the big name school is that
important, then go there for that
graduate degree after one has received
good grades and a bachelor's degree
at URI. But don't forget, students
themselves have to work to get those
good grades.
If you want to pay double or triple
the overall cost to send your child to
college, send them to the big name
school. If you want to have your
offspring receive a good solid
education for a reasonable cost in
Rhode Island, then a state university
will do a great job. Why not take
advantage of this great resource
right in your own backyard!
William P. Kovacs is a professor of
civil engineering at University of
Rhode Island. He graduated from
Cornell University (G. I. Bill) and the
University of California at Berkeley.
Three of his seven children have
graduated from URI; the youngest is
now a sophomore there.
The next step black people made
was to reform white museums. The
goal was not only to get these muse
ums to stop advancing stereotypes in
exhibits, but also to get them to grant
full access to black museum-goers -
without Jim Crow accommodations.
The black museum movement grew
out of black people's frustrations with
the practices of white museums. But
this movement developed late, during
the turbulent 19605, when authentic
black artifacts were scarce (often hid
den in the basements of museums like
the Smithsonian).
Even when black cultural products
and artifacts are up for auction at
places like Christie's, black museums
are generally too financially strapped
to outbid the larger white museums.
Christie's should be commended
for responding in a positive manner
last week to the voices of black pro,.
test. Hopefully, Christie's pledge to
donate the slavery-related items to
museums will set an example for oth
ers to follow.
It is a small step but an important .
one since the cultural war, like the
black struggle for first-class Ameri-i
can citizenship, is continuous and pros
tracted.
Martin is a sociology professd' r at
Morgan State University and co
founder of the Great tacks In `Wax
Museum