Page 4 - The Behrend College Collegian Thursday, February 5, 1998
The Behrend College Collegian
,Thbli.owdri.ekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Features Editor
Kristi McKim
Layout Editor
Nathan Mite hell
Business Manager
Dana Greenhouse
Office Manager
Gina Gasker
Postal In
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.
SPC events lack
support, attendance
Each weekend, the Students
Programming Committee (SPC)
holds several events that range from
laser tag to comedians to bands. At
most of these events there is a
conspicuous lack of people. Though
there are constant complaints of
students about the lack of things to
do on the weekend, few people take
the obvious solution.
SP(' works very hard to bring
entertainment to campus and hardly
anyone takes advantage of it. These
events arc often fairly early in the
evening, before students go out. There
have been excellent bands of all types
ing in Bruno's, but only a few sit
down to listen. SPC has also started
to hold a few events during the week,
so that students who normally go
~J~
pAY-GPkT'
Editor in Chief
Andrea M. Zallino
Managing Editor
Anne M. Rajone
Sports Editor
Dylan Stewart
Associate Editor
Brian .Ashbaugh
Advertising Manager
RJ Frelin
Photography Editor
Jason Blake
Advisors
Alan Parker
Robert .Speel
r Polic '; The Colle
encourages letters to the editor on
news coverage, editorial content and
University affairs. Letters should be
no longer than 400 words. Letters
should include the address, phone
number, semester standing and major
of the writer. Writers can mail their
letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
home on the weekends would have an
opportunity to participate.
These bands and comedians are
often as good or better than acts that
one would see around town or in bars.
Moreover, all ages can see these hands
and they are totally free. There is a
huge variety of acts brought in from
magic to jazz bands to karaoke. On
any given weekend, there is bound to
be something that most people will
enjoy.
So on Friday nights, when there is
nothing on TV and there are a few
hours to kill before going out, don't
just pass through Bruno's to get
something to eat. Support SPC and
take advantage of something that your
tuition and student activity money is
providing.
That tr
Behrend's bookstore:
room
This semester was the first that my
parents didn't help me out with buy
ing my books. Previously they had
paid for all or most of my books. This
semester, however, I was on my own.
I came hack to Behrend with about
$4OO that I had made working nearly
everyday over the semester break.
Within two days half of this money
was gone.
Now, I realize that buying books is
a necessary evil and these hooks are
essential to an effective education.
What I didn't realize is that Behrend
students are hit harder than students
at some other colleges.
Our bookstore is part of Barnes and
Noble College Bookstore Corpora
tion. It also is involved with the Mis
souri Book Service (MBS). These two
corporations dictate the price of new
and used books and also the book buy
back prices. Basically, the bookstore
has no real control over how much we
pay for books.
However, the Gannon University
bookstore has the same sort of setup
as Behrend's bookstores, but the
prices of their books are considerably
cheaper. Gannon belongs to a corpo-
The High (and Violent)
Price of Losing Choice
intßit\
MO
Editorial
Hou
e o
for improvement
ration called Follett Campus Re
sources. More than 500 bookstores
belong to this corporation and they are
able to use each other for a resource
for used books. The main advantage
Gannon has over Behrend is the sheer
number of used books. The new books
are a little bit cheaper, but the real
savings can be attributed to the
amount of used books.
Eileen Jolls, the textbook manager
at the Gannon bookstore explained
that in addition to the books sold back
by the students, more used books are
obtained through Follett. Jolls also
stated that there is rarely a problem
with not having enough books for stu
dents. She has a computer program
that keeps track of how many students
have taken the class in the past and
how many are scheduled for the com
ing semester. In the few cases when
there is a shortage of books, it takes
around two to three days for the books
to come in. This is mainly due to the
fact that there are over 500 stores that
she can access to obtain extra books.
In contrast, it seems that there is
always a class where only half the stu
dents have the book. Often, this
By Paul Ruffins=Special to the Los
Angeles Times
Every January,. my predominanAy
black. neighborhood ,is inundated
baplions of people from out of fpy,in,, l
These folks, virtually 99 percent white
and middle class, come to Washing
ton to protest the Roe vs. Wade deci
sion upholding a woman's right to
choose an abortion.
The protesters seldom spend any
real time in Washington, which, they
might justifiably conclude, has too
much crime and violence. They just
pass through on their way to the Su
preme Court, where they decry the
pain and suffering caused because they
lost. However, it is my family and
community, not theirs, who have to
live with the pain and suffering caused
by the fact that in Washington, the anti
abortion supporters have won.
"Forcing a really poor woman to
have a child she can't afford virtually
guarantees an increase in crime in her
neighborhood," says Tanya Murphy of
the Washington office of the National
Black Women's Health Project. "Wel
fare payments are never enough to get
a child through a month, and women
will do whatever it takes to provide for
their kids."
This situation breeds crime all over
the United States. But it is particularly
acute in Washington, where, as the
anti-abortion Family Research Coun
cil proudly announced in its publica
tion Washington Watch, "Pro-family
members (of Congress) have stopped
federal funding of abortion in several
areas ... federal health care plans of
government employees including the
District of Columbia, and for Medic
aid patients (including HMO plans)."
Washington has the nation's high
est percentage of federal employees.
Under their health plans, thousands of
hard-working women cannot receive
abortions or even lUDs. Although they
pay for this health-care insurance out
of their own salaries, abortions are not
paid for, even if they have more chil
dren than they can afford or have
health complications.
District citizens have consistently
voted pro-choice, yet Congress will
not allow local taxes to fund abortions
for poor women. Conservative politi
cians can tout their anti-abortion cre
dentials by forcing their choices on
Washington, without the political risk
of burdening their own constituents
with a dangerous pregnancy or a se
verely deformed child.
But the most significant way the
anti-abortionists have won in Washing-
Statio
Roa
causes the class to fall behind, as stu
dents without books cannot keep up
with readings and assignments. Ac
cording to Mike Clarke, the acting
manager at the Behrend bookstore and
a student at Behrend, over enrollment
often leads to a shortage of books.
This may be the case some of the time,
but there are classes where a good
number of the students don't have the
book. This can't be entirely due to
over enrollment. In addition, it should
be taken into consideration that stu
dents will over enroll and an appro
priate amount of books should be or-
dered.
Also, there are classes where the
book has been used in previous se
mesters and there still aren't enough
in stock for the class. Where are all
these used books going? Of course,
some students chose to keep books,
but it seems that, especially if a book
has been used before, there should be
enough for the entire class. It is detri
mental to the entire class when there
is a shortage of books.
Another reason that books are of
ten out of stock, Clarke explained, is
that sometimes professors fill out the
ton is by convincing too many women
to choose illegitimacy over abortion,
even if it destroys their prospects of a
stable. fatuity, life.
I; aFd
.imagine anyone suggest
ink, th t
_a vOiteruiddle-class girl drop
out of high school to go on welfare
and have a baby by a man who has
been to jail. But, in many parts of
Washington, where, according the
Sentencing Project, more than 25 per
cent of all the young black men have
been through the criminal justice sys
tem, hundreds of girls do this every
year.
In Washington, 66 percent of all
babies are born to unmarried women.
In the two poorest wards, 7 and 8, the
figures are 83 percent and 84 percent,
respectively. One in five births is to a
teen-ager; 49 percent are to women
with inadequate prenatal care. Be
cause many women are anti-abortion,
they may opt to have the child, de
spite the fact that they are on welfare,
addicted to drugs or abusing children
they already have.
The results: Washington's homicide
rate is at least six times the national
average, with an infant mortality rate
two to three times higher. The public
schools are so poor the local school
board was stripped of its authority.
Liberals say it's unfair to blame all
this on too many illegitimate children.
However, the anti-abortion activists
say a woman should have a baby even
though she knows it is condemned to
violent streets and terrible schools.
This feeds the black speculation that
the real anti-abortion agenda is not to
"protect life" but to pressure white
women to have more children so they
do not become a minority. Murphy
doesn't go that far, but does say, "We
certainly know that these anti-abortion
laws weren't passed by African
Americans, and aren't intended to
benefit the black community." She
adds, "Black folks make up a large
percentage of the people who are per
sonally anti-abortion but who are po
litically pro-choice because they see
what happens to a neighborhood when
people have children they can't feed
or supervise."
The dirty secret of the conservative
right is that some of the same groups
who have made it hard for poor black
women to obtain abortions have also
conducted the clearest research on the
death, bloodshed and violence that
occurs in black neighborhoods when
women choose illegitimacy over abor
tion.
The Heritage Foundation's senior
policy analyst, Patrick Fagan, author
ANNE RAJOTTE
book order forms incorrectly. If the
form is filled out incorrectly, the
wrong book could be ordered. Now,
if these forms cause such a problem
each semester and lead to numerous
classes with book shortages, revise the
system. Make it easier for professors
to avoid mistakes or double check
with them before any books are or-
dered.
Somehow, Gannon seems to be be
yond these problems. Whether their
methods of knowing which books
professors want or just the fact that
they are involved with a different
company, the fact remains clear:
Behrend students are paying unnec
essarily high prices for books. In all
fairness, our individual bookstore
can't do anything about the prices that
Barnes & Noble sets for them. They
can, however, anticipate that the sup
posed over enrollment problem or
even consider the possibility of be
coming involved with another book
corporation.
"That Strange House on Station
Road" will appear every three
weeks in The Collegian.
of "The Real Root Causes of Violent
Crime: The Breakdown of Marriage,
Family and Community" writes, "Of
all the social indicators, the one which
is tied most closely to serious violent
crime is illegitimacy." He continues,
"Each 10 percent increase in single
parent families produces a 17 percent
increase in violent teen crime." Fagan
asserts that 50 percent of girls who have
a baby out of wedlock before age 18
will be long-term welfare recipients.
A similar conclusion was drawn by
the
, co?serv , tive theorist William J.
Bennett, wno Lo-wrote the book "800
dikumenting the large percent
ages of young black and Latino men
victimizing their neighborhoods, driv
ing out jobs and stable, tax-paying
families. Like Fagan, Bennett believes
this violence is not caused by racism
or economic discrimination, but "moral
poverty," defined by children growing
up in an environment without respon
sible or caring adults. According to
Bennett and his co-authors, the results
are "super-predators" so remorseless
that protecting society requires nearly
100,000 more prison cells to cage these
boys when they enter the violent teen
age years.
What about adoption? For poor black
women in Washington, it's not a real
option. According to Harold Singletary,
who counsels abused and neglected
children in the District, "Because of
religious and cultural biases, less than
10 percent or 15 percent of young black
women consider adoption. And, if there
were enough homes for these children,
we would not already have 35,000
abused and neglected children in D.C.'s
foster-care system."
That system has been so misman
aged and overwhelmed, it was forced
into receivership. "Conservatives don't
really think it's important for black
children to find caring homes," say
Singletary. "If they did, why are they
fighting to stop gays from adopting?"
One person who understands illegiti
macy is Leon Dash, who won a Pulitzer
Prize for his research on Washington's
underclass. "The most common out
come is the perpetuation of an
intergenerational cycle of violence,"
Dash explains. "Most young teen moth
ers constantly slap, push and scream at
their children _ just like their own
mothers did. By the third grade, these
kids, particularly the boys, respond to
any frustration with physical aggres
sion, becoming a problem for the
schools and a threat to the community."
The real tragedy is that, even when
a young women understands how an
illegitimate child can threaten her life
and her neighbors, the anti-abortionists
are insisting that she have the child
anyway. Yet, as both the Heritage Foun
dation and Bennett have pro , 'ed, by
encouraging illegitimacy, anti-abor
tionists are responsible for much of the
violence outside my house.
Ruffins is executive editor of the Crisis
magazine, published by the NAACP