page 4 - The Behrend College Collegian. Thursday, March 5, 1998
The Behrend College Collegian
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Layout Editor
Nathan Mitchell
Photography Editor
Jason Bloke
Business Manager
Dana Greenhouse
Advisor
Alan Parker
Postal information: The Collegian Letter Policy: The Collegian
is published weekly by the students encourages letters to the editor.
of Penn State Erie, The Behrend Letters should include the address,
College; First Floor, The J. Elmer phone number, semester standing and
Reed Union Building, Station Road, major of the writer. Writers can mail
Erie, PA 16563. The Collegian can their letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
he reached by calling (814) 898-6488 Letters must be received no later than
or (814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN spm Tuesday for inclusion in that
1071-9288. week's issue.
How low can you go and
still get into Behrend?
The admission standards at Be
hrend have been shown, for the most
part, to be fairly noncompetitive. Be
cause of Penn State's size, most stu
dents are accepted more for their GPA
and SAT scores, which are plugged
into a formula, than for their activi
ties and outside interests. In addition,
although the scores needed to gain
acceptance to Behrend are higher than
at the Commonwealth Campuses,
they are not comparatively high.
One of the biggest complaints
among student leaders is that Behrend
students are apathetic and spend far
more of their time complaining about
things than actually doing anything
about it. The fact that Penn State looks
at scores more than outside activities
is probably a major factor in this prob
lem.
Of course, there are many students
who do a lot for this College and are
recognized for it. FroweVer, these stu
dents usually-have - a large work kiad•
to make up for the lack of student in
terest in participating in extracurricu
lar events.
The behavior of the majority of stu
dents who attend Behrend creates an
unfair environment for those who are
active and want to get things done.
Many times when a class seems like
it may become too academically chal
lenging for some students, or the pro
fessor is one who takes his or her
grading moderately serious, the class
is dropped by many in it.
For these reasons the standards for
grading in classes are curved or due
dates for assignments are delayed in
order to make up for those students
who could not meet the capacity of
Equal Protection for
the Last Outcasts
By Robert Dawidoff=Special to the
Los Angeles Times
Last month, Maine voters repealed
that state's law prohibiting discrimi
nation against lesbians and gay men.
Why do most Americans continue to
exclude gay men and lesbians from
the ranks of citizens whose rights to
equal protection of the laws are the
same as everybody else's?
The answer is contained in a recent
opinion sampling by Alan Wolfe of
Boston University, who found that
middle-class Americans no longer
believe that Jews, Muslims or athe
ists are inherently less worthy than
Christians. But Wolfe notes one ex
ception to "America's persistent and
übiquitous nonjudgmentalism." No
matter how much they are willing to
accept most things, Wolfe said, "most
of the middle-class Americans I spoke
to were not prepared to accept homo
sexuality."
Given the homophobic character of
so many of our formal and informal
traditions, the calculated campaign of
the anti-gay religious right to reacti
vate those traditions in the cause of
their special interest in American poli
tics and the prudery of public conver
sation if not conduct, we should not
be surprised. Were Americans to look
candidly at human sexuality, they
Editor in Chief
Andrea M. Zaffino
Managing Editor
Anne M. Rajone
Sports Editor
Dylan Stewart
Associate Editor
Brian Ashbaugh
Advertising Manager
work. Test grades are argued to the
point where a professor has little
choice but to manage some kind of a
curve. Many students seem to not
realize that by merely studying the
material, they will most likely earn the
grade they desire. Instead, many re
sort to debating or begging for extra
credit assignments in order to salVage
their GPA.
For the ones who do work hard to
comply with the requirements of a
class it means a level not as challeng
ing as they may have expected and
they don't leave the class with the
knowledge they assumed they would
have obtained from it at the beginning.
On the side of student activities
there are consequences to be had from
student apathy as well. A very small
number of students make up a major
ity work to be done toward Behrend's
activities and programs, which many
timerare utrattended or unapprerted
--by the etuiteni: body ai a whole, Vet
'the same students who don't attend
or put any time in the school's pro
grams are the ones who complain
about them.
The admissions standards at Be
hrend may have something to do with
this apathy. Behrend is a fairly non
competitive school. Because of Penn
State's size, applications for admis
sions are not given the consideration
they require in order to have a more
adequate selection of students. Now
that the admissions standards are be
ginning to be more selective, hope
fully Behrend will see its student body
become more active and involved in
what the college has to offer.
might recognize that erotic response
is not fixed but changeable and that
"straight" and "gay" are convenient
terms to describe a pattern of varia
tion, not an either/or identity. But why
won't Americans recognize lesbians
and gay men as their fellow citizens
entitled to the same constitutional
rights?
It appears that most Americans con
tinue to think that one chooses to be
gay. If you think homosexuality is a
choice, it is easier to think that dis
crimination one suffers on account of
sexuality is not a constitutional or
social issue, but the consequence of a
personal "lifestyle choice."
Equal protection of the laws applies
to persons because of who they are
rather than what they must do to de
serve it. The notion that one chooses
one's sexual desires in effect removes
those desires from the realm of con
stitutional protection. But do homo
sexuals "choose" their sexual orien
tation? No. Lesbians, gay men and
bisexuals have within them, just as
"straights" do, the congeries of ele
ments that create individual sexual
desire. Gays do not choose to be gay,
but they do in ever growing numbers
choose to live their lives in harmony
with their inner truths.
The choice gays have come to is not
to have same-sex relations; people
RJ Frelin
Advisor
Robert Speel
Professor smoking marijuana
hurts Penn State's reputation
In an open letter to the Penn State
community, President Graham B.
Spanier made the following remarks:
"Drug abuse and crime are destruc
tive forces that divert time, energy,
and resources away from the educa
tional and personal growth that is the
primary reason fro being at Penn
State....We seek a safe and drug-free
environment not only out of concern
for the serious individual conse
quences of abusive or unlawful be
havior, but also that we may have a
supportive campus characterized by
civility and respect." Spanier goes on
to say that these goals "require the
commitment of everyone at Penn
State."
The word that jumps from that last
sentence is "everyone." "Everyone,"
as in every individual affiliated with
Penn State, without exception. No one
would argue that "everyone" excludes
the staff and faculty here at the Uni
versity. Spanier himself mentions
them in the afore-mentioned letter.
Why, then, is a professor leading pro
marijuana protests and smoking weed
in blatant opposition to Penn State's
drug policy left unpunished?
The professor in question is Julian
Heicklen, a chemistry professor at
University Park. To protest the pros
ecution of marijuana users, Heicklen
staged a rally where he smoked a joint
in front of a crowd of about fifty
people on January 15, 1998. He did
Put teachers to the test
By Diane Ravitch=Special to The
Washington Post
Last summer, a suburban school
district in New York advertised for
new teachers and received nearly 800
applications. Officials decided to nar
row the pool by requiring applicants
to take the I I th-grade state examina
tion in English. Only about one-quar
ter of the would-be teachers answered
40 of the 50 multiple-choice questions
correctly.
As Congress considers reauthoriza
tion of the Higher Education Act,
teacher education has emerged as a
major issue. Many states _ and now
President Clinton _ are clamoring to
reduce class size, but few are grap
pling with the most important ques
tions: If we are raising standards for
students, don't we also need to raise
standards for teachers? Shouldn't
state and local officials make sure that
teachers know whatever they are sup
posed to teach students?
Almost every state claims that it is
strengthening standards for students,
but the states have been strangely si
lent when it comes to ensuring that
teachers know what they are supposed
to teach. Most instead certify anyone
with the right combination of educa
tion courses, regardless of their com
mand of the subject they expect to
teach, and many states require future
have always done that. The choice is
whether being homosexual is some
thing to deny or to venture. The choice
is one the sexual majority need not
make. Heterosexuals can skip over the
process of having to choose to be who
they are and go directly to conduct.
One can choose to be monogamous,
to live according to a morality of
sexual conduct, to live out one's feel
ings honestly and ethically. Those are
the choices that lesbians and gay men
would like to make for ourselves.
Gay rights are at the core an attempt
to gain equal protection of the law for
one's intimate associations. You can
not have privacy if you must conduct
your personal life in secret. The "don't
ask, don't tell" policy in the military
is just one example of this double
bind. Lesbians and gay men must
choose daily whether to deny our feel
ings and natures in order to live freely,
to have our work and lives judged by
the way we live them and not by
whom we live them with.
Dawidoff is a professor of history at
the Claremont Graduate University
and co-author of "Created Equal:
Why Gay Rights Matter to America."
Editorial
so in front of the main gate of main
campus at twelve noon in the after
noon. Heicklen made a direct chal
lenge to the University and its author
ity.
How did the University respond?
For all practical purposes, it didn't.
University police informed Heicklen
that he committed a misdemeanor but
that they would not make a citation
The fact of the matter is that Heicklen is an
embarrassment to Penn State, and the University was
seriously mistaken in choosing not to discipline him.
or an arrest. University police super
visor Dwight Smith said there was a
lack of evidence since Heicklen
wasn't smoking the joint when police
arrived. Apparently, the fact that a
large crowd witnessed it, media re
ported it, and Heicklen admitted
smoking the joint doesn't matter to
University officials. Smith then went
on to say that it wouldn't be in the
community's best interest to arrest
Heicklen and that the police felt he
was making a political statement.
It's alarming that the University
elected not to take any action against
Heicklen. As with all laws, the drug
policy must be uniformly enforced if
it is to be taken seriously. Could a stu
dent have gotten away with the pos-
teachers to pass only a basic skills test.
Today, in some states it may be
harder to graduate from high school
. than to become a certified teacher.
s9metticig is !Along with this pictqse.
Last .p.irp,nlef,, the U.S. Depar,tt i pept
of Education reported that approxi
mately one-third of the nation's pub
lic school teachers of academic sub
jects in middle school and high school
were teaching "out of field," which
means that they had earned neither an
undergraduate major nor a minor in
their main teaching field.
Fully 39.5 percent of science teach
ers had not studied science as a major
or minor; 34 percent of mathematics
teachers and 25 percent of English
teachers were similarly teaching "out
of field." The problem of unqualified
teachers was particularly acute in
schools where 40 percent or more of
the students were from low-income
homes; in these schools, nearly half
the teaching staff was teaching "out
of field."
Many states now routinely certify
people who do not know what they
are supposed to teach. No one should
get a license to teach science, read
ing, mathematics or anything else
unless he or she has demonstrated a
knowledge of what students are ex
pected to learn.
A majority of the nation's teachers
majored in education rather than an
session of an illegal substance with
the excuse of it being a "political
statement?" Several students objected
and wrote letters to President Spanier,
asking him to take disciplinary action
against Heicklen, but to no avail. Penn
State made no formal actions against
Heicklen.
The fact of the matter is that
Heicklen is an embarrassment to Penn
State, and the University was seri
ously mistaken in choosing not to dis
cipline him. Heicklen is a poor repre
sentation of Penn State, and that
would be evident to the general pub
lic only if the University would have
taken action against him. Heicklen's
challenge to the University's author
ity remained unanswered and he has
since held three additional demonstra
tions. These demonstrations were re
ported on by media from all over the
country, including the Associated
Press. It's damaging to the image of
Penn State as a leading educational
institution when its staff makes com
ments like Heicklen's. He's gone on
record making comments like, "I'm
trying to get the drug laws abolished,"
academic subject. This is troubling,
even though most of those who ma
jored in education are elementary
teachers. There is a widely accepted
olio thatEFA)W yyho tea'cit i tile
hildrendOn't need tokn'OkrnUCh
other than pedagogical met ods and
child psychology; that is wrong.
Teachers of little children need to be
well-educated and should love learn
ing as much as they love children. Yes,
even elementary school teachers
should have an academic major.
The field of history has the largest
percentage of unqualified teachers.
The Department of Education found
that 55 percent of history teachers are
"out of field," and that 43 percent of
high school students are studying his
tory with a teacher who did not earn
either a major or minor in history. This
may explain why nearly 60 percent
of our 17-year-olds scored "below
basic" (the lowest possible rating) on
the most recent test of U.S. history
administered by the federally funded
National Assessment of Educational
Progress. Is it any wonder that today's
children have no idea when the Civil
War occurred, what Reconstruction
was, what happened during the pro
gressive era, who FOR was, what the
Brown decision decided, or what
Stalin did? Many of their teachers
don't know those things, either.
Many state officials say that they
and, "Today the lighted marijuana
weed is the torch of liberty." When
its staff starts comparing illegal drugs
to patriotic symbols, the University
comes off looking like a joke.
In order to preserve its integrity, the
University needs to make a strong
stand against Heicklen and his radi
cal ideas. Not only is he an embar
rassment to everyone at Penn State,
he is encouraging dangerous and self
destructive behavior among the stu
dent body. Marijuana has mind-alter
ing effects clearly in opposition to
learning, which President Spanier
calls "the primary reason for being at
Penn State." While Heicklen no doubt
has the support of many tye-died, san
dal-wearing hippie-types, the major
ity of Penn State students would rather
not be thought of as attending "that
school where they don't care if you
smoke pot." Students who support
Heicklen do serious damage to the
school's reputation. Frank Burns, a
junior at UP, said, "I smoke it (mari
juana) daily; it would be nice if they
made it legal." Worse yet, he states,
"The war on drugs is bad." Unfortu
nately, this mentality is going to be
seen as representative of Penn State
as a whole unless the University
makes a stand against Heicklen's ex
tremist ideas and disregard for univer-
sity policies.
The Other Side appears every three
weeks in The Collegian.
have an abundance of people who
want to teach and that this is an ex
cellent time to raise standards. For
career-changers with a wealth of ex
perience in business or the military,
however, obsolete certification re
cjiiire'ments get in the way. Instead of
requiring irrelevant education
courses, states should examine pro
spective teachers for their knowledge
of their academic field and then give
them a chance to work in the schools
as apprentice teachers.
As Congress ponders ways to im
prove the teaching profession, it
should consider incentives for col
leges of liberal arts to collaborate with
schools of education in preparing fu
ture teachers. Representatives from
both parts of the same campus should
sit down together, study state aca
demic standards and figure out how
to prepare teachers who know both
their subject and how to teach it well.
Teachers need a strong academic
preparation as well as practical class
room experience to qualify for one of
the toughest jobs in America.
Every classroom should have a
well-educated, knowledgeable
teacher. We are far from that goal to
day. Congress can address this prob
lem by focusing on the quality, not
quantity, of the nation's teaching
corps.