page 4 - The Behrend College Collegian. Thursday, February 19, 1998 The Behrend College Collegian published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Features Editor Kristi McKim Layout Editor Nathan Mitchell Business Manager Dana Greenhouse Advisors Alan Parker Reribert S'peel 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 he reached by calling (814) 898-6488 or (814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN 1071-9288. Activity fee increase would be beneficial to students A decision will be made in the near future on whether or not raise the stu dent activity fee. This decision is a university wide decision, but the de cision on how much to raise is made at Behrend. All of the money raised by the stu dent activity fee stays at Behrend and benefits Behrend students. Currently we pay fifty dollars a year. At other schools, such as Pitt Johnstown, this fee can top $2OO. The decision to raise the fee in small increments, as suggested by some of the members in the Student Activity Fee Allocation Committee, is the most logical one. The fee needs to be raised to accomodate the grow- Anti-gay protest in Charlotte, rift By Randall Bloomquist=Spectal to The Washington Post CHARLOTTE, N.C. _ Meet Char lotte, North Carolina, the golden child of American cities. Over the past 10 years this once-sleepy crossroad has become one of the country's hottest urban areas, and with good reason. The mild climate is delightful. The economy is thriving, thanks in large part to the city's new status as America's second-largest financial center after New York City. New resi dents are arriving in droves to find a magnificent skyline, affordable hous ing, NFL and NBA franchises, friendly neighbors who are active in charitable or community groups and an ease of life unknown in larger, older urban areas. Forbes magazine says Charlotte has "the No. I pro business attitude" among American cities. The U.S. Conference of May ors calls it the "Most Livable City in America." This burgeoning metropo lis of 628,000 people seems poised to make good on all the promise of Southern cities and to mature into a truly livable big city, one free from the traditional woes of the first gen eration of American urban centers: congestion, unemployment and divi- SIGNE PHILADEL Philadelphia USA AGY I b . 15° Editor in Chief Andrea M. Zuffino Managing Editor Anne M. Rajutte Sports Editor f)vlan Stewart Associate Editor Brian A clibaugh Advertising Manager Photography Editor 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 hehrcoll2@aol.com. Letters must he received no later than spm Tuesday for inclusion in that week's issue. R 17711 ing number of Behrend students and to supply them with a range of activi ties suitable for all majors and inter- An increase of one or two dollars will hardly be felt among the other fees charged along with tuition. There have been complaints that students don't get any benefit from the money they pay. However, the amount of re turn a student gets from the fee is en tirely up to the student. A student who is involved with activites will see where their money is going. Clubs and organizations are funded through the fee and bands and entertaiment that come to campus are paid for this way as well. siveness But Charlotte has lately developed a troubling condition that threatens to stunt its growth. For well over a year, Charlotte's power structure has been mired in a series of controversies stemming from the Mecklenburg County Board of Commissioners' obsession with homosexuality. The issue, manifest in various forms since late 1996, has diverted local leaders from serious growth-related issues, endangered the city's national repu tation and raised questions about Charlotte's ability to make the transi tion from insular small town to cos mopolitan big city. Charlotte's debate over homosexu ality dates to a local theater's produc tion of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play "Angels in America" in the spring of 1996. The show's sold-out four-week run was marked by a white-hot de bate over the propriety of using pub lic money to help stage a production featuring male nudity, themes such as the AIDS epidemic and depictions of gay life. The controversy raged on local editorial pages and radio talk shows and at office coffee klatches. Several performances were picketed by both opponents and supporters of the show. The uproar was loud enough RJ lielin Jason Blake Not enough student in anniversary celebration The 1998-99 school year will mark Behrend's fiftieth birthday and tem porary plans are being considered to help celebrate this golden anniversary. Among the events on the itinerary are a black tie dinner scheduled for Au gust of this year, an all class reunion introducing alumni to the new Be hrend, campus tours planned for Feb ruary of 1999, and a traveling video exhibit around Behrend and the Erie area. These ideas, although tentative, appear to not he centered around the Behrend community and the invalu- able students that occupy it. Further more, other suggestions could be made to emphasize the student popu lation and bring a little nostalgia to the forefront. First of all, the black tie dinner is an event that is not geared toward stu dents being that it is in August and will most likely carry a price tag, hut this is a good way to kick off the fes The allocation committee has a fi nite amount of money to spend, and hours are spent discussing how this money will best benefit the students. This money is truly distributed with students' interests in mind. The big gest problem is that there is not nearly enough money to do the things that students want to do. Adding a few dollars to a semester bill in order to really improve life on campus seems like a fair deal. It would give the committee flexibility in distributing the money and would ensure that student groups and activi ties wouldn't get shortchanged. drives N.C. to draw the attention of a number of national media outlets, including The New York Times and "Good Morn ing America." In December 1996, newly elected Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James, Republican, responded to the "Angels" flap with legislation to deny county funding to any arts or education group that provides infor- In December 1996, newly elected Mecklenburg County Commissioner Bill James, Republican, re sponded to the "Angels" flap with legislation to deny county funding to any arts or education group that provides information on homosexuality or other "crimes against nature." mation on homosexuality or other "crimes against nature." While that initiative was narrowly defeated, the commissioners' debate over the mea sure heralded a new era in Charlotte politics. For example, Commissioner Hoyle Martin, Democrat, declared, "If it were up to me, we'd shove these people (gays) off the face of the earth." Early last year, Martin introduced A TES KlsioiN FoR t fkor WWI Editorial tivities for school officials. An effort should be made to integrate current students with faculty members and the "decision makers" that determine the function of the College. An open stu dent/faculty meal could remedy this situation with University speakers and food catered by Housing and Food Services. Interaction between the groups is a healthy part of scholarly life. Along with the student/faculty in volvement, the alumni reunion is a key part of the celebration. This is set for June 3 through June 5, 1999. Former students will see what has been done with this campus and ad mire the expansion of the new build ings and renovated facilities. Almy Hall and the future housing com plexes could be highlighted and be come an integral part of the presenta tion to past graduates. Also, current 'r ~ % • legislation that forbade the county to fund any performing arts group in volved in the "sponsorship, recogni tion, endorsement or support of ho mosexuality." The measure also de nied county money to groups that of fer confidential counseling identity issues. In its original form, the reso lution opened with a series of decla rations both cc mic and scary, includ ing: "Whereas, the gay community ... believes they have a right to recruit children for experimenting with anyone, including homosexual adults On April 2, after another loud, di visive community argument, the nine member commission adopted a mea sure that achieved Martin's goals without singling out gays. By a 5-4 vote, the panel simply cut all county funding to the Arts & Science Coun cil, which serves as a sort of United Way for the arts in Charlotte. Under the new law, the commissioners them selves must approve all county arts spending on a project-by-project ba sis. In doling out that money ($2.5 million in the current fiscal year), the commissioners must adhere to lan guage that forbids underwriting for groups that "promote, advocate or endorse behaviors, lifestyles and val ues that seek to undermine and deviatfrom the value and societal role of the traditional American family" or offer "exposure to perverted forms of sexuality." In the days after the vote, there were involvement students and alumni should be able to hold an open forum to reflect on the prior Behrend community and com pare it to the way it is today. New ideas may evolve from this type of interaction. After all, the people who have lived here and the current resi dents would know best about possible improvements. The campus tours planned for next spring may be more effective if they are moved to this coming fall. By the time February 1999 rolls around, the novelty of the anniversary may have worn off. The tours could be better served by holding them sometime during the months of September, Oc tober, and November when the foli age changes and the serenity of the campus can be used as a colorful backdrop for observers. The traveling video exhibit is a wonderful idea for students who re- rumblings of a backlash against the commissioners' action. The gay com munity vowed to be more active. (No small promise, given that most Char lotte gays are more deeply closeted than an overcoat in July.) The presi dent of the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce publicly questioned the wisdom of a vote that might make the city less attractive to relocating busi nesses. Progressives swore they would organize and mobilize, just like the conservatives. Some previously silent clergy warned of a slide into intolerance. Hugh McColl, the influ ential chief executive officer of the financial giant Nationsßank who sees Charlotte as his living monument, let it be known among city leaders that he was determined to limit any fur ther damage. Such chatter did not impress Mar tin and his allies, who continued to divert the city's attention with regu lar sorties against homosexuals, whom Martin says hope to turn Char lotte into "the Sodom and Gomorrah capital of the East Coast, as is San Francisco on the West Coast." In May, Commissioneßill James took the Mint Museum of art to task for show ing a documentary film about how homosexuality is taught in schools around the country. James declared that such works offend the majority values in Charlotte and thus should not be shown in a public venue _ even when the exhibit is privately funded. Republican Commissioner Joel Carter created a brief stir with this assessment of possible opposition in the 1998 election: "They're automati cally going to be branded homosexual if they come after me too hard." In an interview with the Leader, a local weekly newspaper, Carter also re ferred to homosexuals as "queers." Then, in December, Martin joined with the board's Republican minor ity to oust the panel's Parks Helms, Democrat, and replace him with Com ally do not know much about the his tory of Behrend. The exhibit will pro vide a better understanding of the ori gins of this campus and the Behrend family itself. Hopefully, this presen tation will be kept on as a mainstay for prospective students who want to know what Behrend life is all about. These are only a few suggestions to better celebrate the fiftieth anniver sary and expand our general knowl edge about the community in which we live. However, there is always room for improvement. It appears that the students, the lifeblood of the College, are being left behind. This should be of chief concern to the com mittees making these decisions. In the end, without the students that occupy the campus, there would be no Be hrend history to speak of. A Day in the Life appears every three weeks in The Collegian. missioner Tom Bush, Republican. The reason: Helms allegedly encouraged openly gay businessman Andrew Reyes to run for public office. Bush, a chief beneficiary of the mania, now says it is time for the city and its commissioners to move on to more pressing issues such as roads and schools. There are no looming artistic flash points because, in part, the arts community got the message loud and clear. Faced with a budget shortfall prompted by the commission's funding cut, Actors Theatre of Charlotte had to drop one of four productions from its 1998 schedule. The group, in a don't-rock the-boat move, canceled a play called "Dream of a Common Language," which features both male and female nudity. A recent Charlotte Observer poll found that 54 percent of Mecklenburg County residents thought addressing homosexuality should be a low priority for the com mission. On the flip side, 37 percent thought it should be a medium- or high-priority topic for the panel. Whatever happens next, some dam age has been done. A new virulence has been introduced into the city's once genteel public discourse; the arts community has been cowed; a seg ment of the population feels stigma tized; business leaders worry that the controversy is a step away from the city's progressive tradition. And Charlotteans, who want so desper ately to be denizens of a world class city, have been forced to confront an embarrassing narrowness that has left them looking less like Atlanta and more like Cobb County, Ga., which lost its piece of the 1996 Olympics because of similar anti-gay sentiment. Anti-Gay Protest Drives Rift in Char lotte, N.C. (Charlotte, N.C.) Randall Bloomquist moved to Char lotte from Washington in 1996 to be come program director at WBT, a news-talk radio station.
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