page 4 - The Behrend College Collegian. Thursday, January 15, 1998 The Behrend College Collegian published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Features Editor K►isti McKim Layout Editor Nathan Mitchell Business Manager Dana Greenhouse Office Manager Gina Gaskey Postal Information: The Collegian 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 16563. The Collegian can be reached by calling (814) 898-6488 or (814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN 1071-9288. Big brother watching Almy Hall Last Tuesday the residents of Almy Hall each had to turn in their keys that allowed them to gain access to the building. The original lock and key format was replaced with a comput erized system that scans residents' Student I.D. cards. Once recognized by the computer, the door will unlock automatically. The new system was put in place for security reasons, which certainly must be comforting knowledge for the residents. However a downside to this new system is that the computer reading the cards will keep a record of when exactly everyone enters the building and will help campus police services monitor who exactly enters the build ing and at what time they do. This sort of documentation is an invasion of the residents' privacy. Many of the students living there feel uncomfortable knowing that ev A call for abstinence Sex is a wonderful thing. Last semester's article about the Safe Sex Cabaret got the old wheels a turnin' in my head. I thought, "That sounds like a good idea; to drop some knowledge about safe sex to the college community." I lowever, I did not attend the "caba ret," so I don't know precisely what they covered at the event, but what I noted in the article was the quote by Sue Daley that "If we don't talk about awkward topics, they will stay awk ward." I agree wholeheartedly, so let's talk about sex. Most people would agree that sex is one of the grist gifts that man kind has been given. It is to be a deeply intimate expression of love between the heart and soul of a man and that of a woman. In fact, it is so intimate that it is to be shared only with "the one whom my soul loves." I believe that truly safe sex leads to truly divine sex. Sex in its purest form is the emo tional and spiritual fusion of a man and a woman and is most surely a heavenly and praiseworthy experi ence. But how can we assure our selves such a wonderful sexual expe rience? Imagine for a moment that you wanted to learn exactly how to use the library's catalog system. To best find out, you'd probably get the best an swer from the system's inventor. So why not do the same thing with sex? Now, stay with me for a second. I know some of you probably don't believe in God, and the rest of you think He's a spoil sport. I might be able to understand that, but just use yob: - imaginations for a minute. If there is a God who created the whole universe and everything in it, wouldn't he know everything there is to know about having perfect sex? And if He happened to put this knowl- Editor in Chief Andrea M. Zaruso Managing Editor Anne M. Raja:le Sports Editor Dylan Stewart Associate Editor Brian Ashbaugh Advertising Manager 12.1 Advertising Photography Editor Jason Blake Advisors Alan Parker Robert Speel I ott , r Policy: The Collegian encourages letters to the editor. Letters should include the address, phone number, semester standing and major of the writer. Writers can mail their letters to behrcoll2@aol.com. Letters must be received no later than spm Tuesday for inclusion in that week's issue. cry time they enter their living quar ters it will be kept on record. Keep ing track of each students' entering time really doesn't seem like neces sary information for security pur poses. IDs are not required for entry in any of the other residence halls on campus and seems like an unneces sary intrusion on those living in Almy Hall. In George Orwell's novel, 1984, an entity Big Brother watches over everyone. Almy Hall is gaining that sort of feeling with the addition of the new entry system. The fact that there is a record of when students enter building has made many residents uncomfortable. The record of when the building is entered by an indi vidual plus the already existing cam eras in the hallways and stairwells has started to violate basic privacy rights. edge in a book, wouldn't you want to read it? If you're not willing to read the Bible, then you don't have to dare to learn about perfect sex, but for the rest of you, let me get you started on some of the keys. First, let me apologize for all the churches you may have attended that never taught you about sex. After all, sex has become a dirty word in most of our churches (tee hee hee...l said `sex'). But now the truth about sex comes out. Churches most often avoid the sub ject of sex but to say that it should stay in marriage and not be talked about openly. But the first command God gave man once He had created us was to "Be fruitful and multiply." (Genesis 1:28) Now, I know all you math/science majors are going to be disappointed to learn that He wasn't telling us to learn about a specific arithmetic operation, but that He was telling us to reproduce, and He cre ated humans to reproduce sexually. It's a shame that most churches aren't willing to help us see how great God wants our sexual experiences to be, so the real question is "What kind of experience does God want sex to be?" First I would ask, "What does it mean that 'the two become one flesh'?" (Genesis 2:23-24) This could be meant to paint a picture of two bodies during intercourse as the two become temporarily one, but I think it means something much more ex citing and much more wonderful than a temporary physical union. Look at 1 Corinthians 6:19. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?" If our bodies are indeed a place in which God's Spirit dwells, then a sexual experience of "two becoming one flesh" might be a spiritual experience as well. This realization could be the key to Alcohol abuse: no laughing matter There are certain things in life that everyone just takes to be a given: the earth is round, tomorrow will follow today, and college students will drink. That seems to be the opinion of many who ignore alcohol abuse among col lege students. Alcohol usage is an is sue at any school. Recently, questions relating to alcohol have arisen as to what is acceptable, what is unaccept able, and what needs to be done about use among college students. Last year, alcohol use among col lege students was very prominent in the news, specifically "binge drink ing". which claimed the lives of two students. Scott Krueger was an eigh teen year old freshman at the Massa chusetts Institute of Technology. Liv ing away from his Orchard Park, New Jersey home, Krueger joined a frater nity in hopes of meeting new people and making new friends. As a pledge to Phi Gamma Delta, Krueger was allegedly part of a hazing ritual in which he was required to consume a large amount of alcohol. His alcohol blood-level was elevated to 0.41 over four times the legal limit. For Krueger there was no legal limit, he was three years short of the legal drinking age. He fell into a coma for three days before dying of alcohol poisoning. His life ended as it was just supposed to be really starting. Benjamin Wynne was a student at Louisiana State University. Like Krueger, he also pledged himself to a fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon. At one of the frat's party, drank over two 25 years of wasted zealotry over abortion By Patt Morrison=(c) 1998, Los An geles Times Goodness, where has the time gone? Twenty-five years ago Thursday - as luck would have it, the same date Queen Victoria died in 1901 - seven U.S. Supreme Court justices outvoted their two colleagues and declared that truly divine sexual experience. We are told, 'Whatever you do, whether in word or decd, do it in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him." (Colossians 3:17) Sex would definitely fall under the description "word or deed." So we should thank God for our sexual ex periences by (dare I say it) doing it in Jesus' name. We are also told ,"Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship." (Romans 12:1) We show God that we adore Him and respect Him and His rules regarding sex by keeping our bodies holy and pleasing to Him. Now, re member, God commands us to be fruitful and multiply. Keeping our bodies holy and pleasing to God doesn't mean no sex; it means sex within his guidelines for perfect sex. By following God's guidelines, our sexual experiences will be an expres sion of worship to Him, and God will bring blessing to worship. The New Contemporary Version of Matthew 5:6 says, "Those who want to do right more than anything else are happy, because God will fully satisfy them." If you seek to do things in God's way [including sex], you will be fully sat isfied This is a promise from the lips of Jesus and not to be taken lightly. If a God who places a high value on tell ing the truth makes such a promise, we ought to count it as the truth. How can we apply these truths to our own sexual experiences? First, we need to know what God's promises to us and His desires for us are. That is why people should read the Bible; not to be "religious", but to see what God wants for their lives. If we know what God asks of us and are obedi ent, we will receive the things he has promised us including satisfaction. To have truly divine sex, we must recognize God created us as sexual beings and has a plan for sexual in tercourse in our lives. Not only are Editorial dozen drinks, raising his blood-alco hol level to .588, almost six times the legal limit. Once again, the drinker was underage. Wynne died of alco hol poisoning at the age of twenty. Any death is tragic. When the young die, it's even more so. How ever, it's perhaps saddest at universi ties. These are the places we send our brightest, most talented young adults to learn, and hone their abilities so they come out ready to make lasting contributions to society. That, unfor tunately, is the ideal. In reality, many young people find themselves mak ing poor decisions which, if they are lucky, later live to suffer the conse quences of. Many students greatly endanger their opportunities by par ticipating in binge drinking, which has become alarmingly popular on cam puses across the country. A Harvard University poll found forty-four per cent of students had engaged in binge drinking, defined as drinking five or more drinks at one time. The question which must be exam ined is, "Why do so many young people often take part in behavior which they are aware is very self-de structive?" It's a question to which there's no simple answer. The fact that both binge drinking deaths occurred at fraternity houses is no coincidence andhardly surpris ing. While most universities have set policies regarding alcohol they en force in their residencies, it can be extremely difficult for them to do much of anything about off campus the right of privacy extends to a woman getting an abortion without finding herself or her doctor being sent to jail for it. Simple. Obvious. Next case. Curious. isn't it, that in the quarter century since. abortion has become the least private matter on the national agenda (next to President Clinton's underwear)? we sexual beings, but we are also spiritual beings and the Spirit in us takes part in our sexual experiences with us. If we thank God for His cre ation of sex and make our every word and action in the experience one of thanks and praise to God, he will present us with the most rewarding and divine sexual experiences we could ever ask for. If you stay within God's guidelines, your sexual expe riences will be truly divine. The Safe Sex Cabaret made a noble effort to educate the campus commu nity about safe sex. They probably did an excellent job exposing the physi cal risks in sexual intercourse. But how many people are truly aware of the divine nature of the sexual expe rience? I hope you may have realized God's design of sex so that you may one day be able to experience Divine sex. For those that have already lost vir ginity, don't abandon all hope. Though you have broken God's rules. He does forgive. If you want to change your life, start by telling God you regret your past mistakes and want to follow His guidance for a ful filling life. This is the beginning to healing past sexual mistakes. Look for His guidance in the Bible; He wants to forgive you and to show you love like you've never known. With time, He will heal you enough that you may experience His love even in the form of sexual expression. Those that have not lost their vir ginity yet, I urge you to remain a vir gin until you find "the one whom your soul loves" (Songs 3:4). (If anyone has questions or needs guidance but is not sure where to turn, feel free to e-mail me at ryan@millcreek.org.) Sincerely, Ryan Schenck 10, Mechanical Engineering gatherings. Fraternities are the main hosts of gatherings where drinking violations take place. Frat members and their party atteruiers are notori ous for heavy drinking. Residents of fraternities and sororities were found in the Harvard poll to be four times as likely as other students to be binge drinkers. It's understandable how Krueger and Wynne could have made such poor choices. Everyone has experi enced peer pressure. It's always hard not to do something everyone else around you is doing. If you're at a party where everyone has a cup in their hand, it can be very difficult for you not to do the same. Unfortunately, the group mentality that runs rampant among Greeks only amplifies the peer pressure already inherent in any gath ering. Everyone wants to be accepted, and it is easy for many to go along with the crowd in order to attain the sense of belonging they, and every- one, need. There must be strong opposition to this peer pressure if we are to halt the tragedies at campuses like LSU and MIT. A large obstacle facing those who want to crack down on college alcohol abuse is the attitude our soci ety as a whole has about college drink ing. The idea that drinking is simply a part of college life is very preva lent. Almost every older adult has a story to offer about their "wild col lege days," making it easy for today's students to then justify their own abuse by dismissing it with such logic Twenty-five years of screaming and preaching and millions in propaganda money ... all the zealots and scolds like those who stalked and picketed my 08-GYN friend and red-painted the sidewalk in front of her house with the word "murderer" ... the "pro-life" men who shot and killed five abor tion clinic workers in the last five years. If all that venom and vehe mence in the wake of Roe vs. Wade had been turned to worthwhile ends, then perhaps we'd have programs and policies, birth control and counseling. The women I know who have had an abortion wanted to love and care for their children properly, with a fa ther, in a home - the very picket-fence family fantasy some of those very zealots also cherish. They are more loving women by far than the self-righteous who believe the biological title "mother" excuses any failing. They are more loving than the careless teenager or the indiffer ent woman whose children, begotten in heedlessness and born into indif ference, are destined for police files or newspaper stories: left alone, shaken, neglected, beaten, burned, starved, even dumped into a trash can on prom night. But hey - at least Miss Prom Queen didn't have an abortion. It was hard to know where to rub berneck first at the Planned Parent hood luncheon in Los Angeles last Aleek marking the Roe vs. Wade an niversary. There was the superb Dina Merrill - a Republican, she told the crowd merrily, and intending to stay one, but with a little midcourse correction from the party - and the remarkable Sarah Weddington, who as a 26-year old pleaded her first contested case and won it Roe vs. Wade. And there were young doctors and lawyers, not yet born in 1973. who cannot imagine a world even before Roe, before the 1965 Griswold vs. Connecticut ruling, where advising a married couple about contraception was a crime. Knocking on the Supreme Court's front door has so far failed to over turn Roe vs. Wade, so anti-abortion forces have spent years worrying at the windows and back door, chewing away bit by bit, state by state, like mice in a cupboard, with restrictions like these: -A 24-how waiting period for an abortion. A burden and expense for a woman who has to travel to a clinic, a rule not imposed for breast cancer as "All college students drink." The idea that any form of substance abuse among students is not only illegal but also in direct opposition to what so ciety holds as acceptable needs to be conveyed in a firm, convincing man ner if we are to prevent any further drug-related tragedies. An anonymous respondent to the Harvard survey made the comment, "I was having a great night. I drank fifteen beers, then completely passed out." This is a perfect example of the mentality schools face. It's incompre hensible that the speaker sees noth ing wrong with this. The speaker put themselves in great personal danger and even went so far as to call it "a great night," rather than admitting to a lapse in judgement. Unfortunately, similar statements are frequently heard around campus here at Behrend. Student drinkers need to stop and reassess what's really important to them. Students are at college first and foremost to learn and develop person ally. Alcohol impairs learning abili ties as well as having negative social effects. sadly, the attitudes among many students, and in society also, only serve to permit and even encour age behavior clearly detrimental to the students themselves, who often suf fer from the effects of alcohol abuse. Worse yet, as two students tragically found out last year, sometimes one poor choice can cost you everything. "The Other Side" will appear every three weeks in The Collegian. treatment or breast implants. And pa tronizing: Go home and think it over? What woman hasn't? Here's what they must think we think: "Gee, Thursday. What should I do today - get an abortion, or a manicure?" -Parental consent. (I thought the idea was keeping courts and govern ment out of family values.) Kids don't need permission to get pregnant, and not having a note from home won't stop the contractions nine months later. -The defunct gag rule. At any clinic that got any federal funding, patients could not be told about abortion op tions. Think of an orthopedic surgeon being able to tell a patient not that he could have his broken leg set - only amputated. (Abortion, about the most common surgical procedure in the country, is the safest; first trimester deaths per 100,000 are less than one; for tonsillectomies, it's three in 100,000.) There's much more beyond the marble steps of the Supreme Court: wrongheaded medical insurance that pays for abortions but not for birth control pills; doctors who forget to tell women that antibiotics can make birth control pills useless; and the hysteria about RU-486, the so-called abortion pill, whose approval means women won't need to go to clinics, and that deprives abortion foes of the chance to wave their bottled fetuses. Let's say we go down that road, all the way. Make abortion illegal. Go back to the days when hospitals had an 108 ward, infected obstetrics _ women sick and dying from illegal abortions, self-induced or otherwise. Handcuff them to the beds. Press them to confess. Prosecute them and their doctors. Sentence them to prison. There's lots of room. And, of course, declare the fetus a person from Cell One. Now, if a fetus is a person, then any woman who gets pregnant can claim a tax deduction for a dependent in utero. Hundreds of thousands of women could file 1040 returns claim ing dependents, even miscarried ones. The IRS would have to pay out huge refund checks. The government goes bankrupt. The economy collapses. A dictatorship takes over. America as we know it will vanish. But they'll have gotten their way. Abortion will be illegal. Morrison is a Los Angeles Times col umnist and frequent commentator on National Public Radio.
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