page 4- The Behrend College Collegian. Thursday, April 2, /998 The Behrend College Collegian published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Layout Editor Nathan Mitchell Photography Editor Jason Blake Business Manager Dana Greenhause Features Editor Jon ,Crubbs News Editor 1k Chan Kang 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. be 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. $2O million will benefit all students The Behrend College is growing at an incredible rate. Probably the big gest push the college has received since the donation of the 400 acres of the Glenhill Farm land fifty years ago is the twenty million dollars anony mously donated to the School of Busi ness last Wednesday. The fact that the money will be used as scholarships to attract the best students possible will say a lot for the credibility of the Behrend College in future years. The $3 million that will be going to the library will be a benefit to all Behrend students and is something the College needs immensely. Students who now are undertaking research projects are often better off using re sources from outside libraries or or dering books in advance from Univer sity Park's library. This can be a ter rible inconvenience to a student work ing under a deadline. It is hoped that the donation money pledged to this Former student cites violations of Americans with Disabilities Act Dear Editor, 1. I am quoting the following legal requirements concerning the Facilities at Penn-State Behrend as strictly re quired by Titles 18, 28, 29, and 42 U.S. Code: (a) The entire facilities observed as a whole are required to be safe, readily accessible, and usable for disabled in dividuals; especially (1) All Side walks/ Pathways between the follow ing listed buildings, (2) All Academic Buildings, (3) All Administrative- Business Buildings, and (4) Disabled Student Residence Buildings; and (b) All buildings and areas utilized for Programmatic Access of any kind must be safe, readily accessible, and usable. 2. No later than 25 June 1998, in ad dition to any U.S. Federal Torts Claims and Discrimination Actions, I will without a doubt file instanta neous felony violations against any individual, entity, or contractor asso- ciated or contributing in any way to Penn-State Behrend or Pennsylvania State University, that is specifically violating my Civil Rights on the above listed issues and strictly pro hibited by Sections 241, 242, and 245 of Title 18 U.S. Code. Further I will file a motion in U.S. Federal District Court to "BAR ALL U.S. FEDERAL FUNDING" to Pennsylvania State University until 1 January 1999 and for each semester thereafter until they entirely-absolutely-comply with the requirements of ADA/504. I will not mince words any further on Pennsyl vania State Universities obligations and compliance under ADA/504 3. Thank you! Very truly and respectfully yours, JOHN M. EMERSON (SEVERELY QUADRIPLEGIC, SEVERELY DISABLED INDIVIDUAL, AND PROTECTED CLASS CITIZEN/STUDENT) Editor in Chief Andrea Al Lamna Managing Editor Anne M Rajone Sports Editor Dylan Srevt art Associate Editor Brian Ashbaugh Advertising Manager area of the school will take away from these setbacks. Not only will the money help Be hrend with the business program and the library, but recognition of the Col lege has grown as well. The $2O mil lion is the third largest award ever received by any of the Penn State campuses, including University Park. This raises the level of attention people normally give to the College. It helps Behrend earn recognition as an institution not so much apart from University Park, but helps to lift it to a standard of equality. Behrend is a college worthy of re spect and validation and this $2O mil lion donation reflects that. The im provements to the business school are hopefully the beginning of expansion throughout the entire College and all its departments. Student addresses disruptions in class Dear Editor, I am an adult student and have been attending Behrend for eight years part time working toward a degree in com munications. I own my own business, so I've juggled classes and custom ers through the years. I have had pro fessors that are superlative and even the adjunct professors brought for special classes are among the best. I cannot speak highly enough about Professor Kathryn Wolfe who made a dream of learning French and know ing Paris a reality! I have enormous respect for the quality of education I have received from Behrend's profes sors. This semester I have witnessed a problem that is tasteless, and rude and an insult to the caliber of the Penn State professorship. In Dr. Barbara White's course Music 5 - Introduction to Western Music, and Dr. Antonella Cupillari's course - Math 36, I have been embarrassed by the lack of re spect given to these professors. The students, and sadly, it appears to have everything to do with the caliber of Got something to say??? Write a letter to the editor BEHRCOLL2OAOL COM RJ f reit,' Advisor Robert Speel Advisor Alan Parker Lack of student participation not necessarily apathy Recently, there has been a huge outbreak of complaints about lack of student involvement here at Behrend. Nowhere has more of this taken place than in recent issues of this paper. Is it true, what they say? Are stu dents really just indifferent to what goes on around them? Are we like, as SGA president Mike Zampetti said, "mindless sheep?" Without question, student participation on campus is low. What needs to be examined is why this is the case. There are several unfortunate prob-, lems with being actively involved. While it would be great if each orga nization could have a one hundred percent turnout rate for each of their various functions, this is real life, which means it's not about to happen. The fact of the matter is that wide spread participation will never be a reality - not here at Behrend, not in our country as a whole, or anywhere else. This is true at Behrend for a va- riety of reasons One reason is so obvious it's often overlooked: Behrend is not everyone's life. Many students, my self included, live off campus. Some students just go to their classes, then go home. I see nothing wrong with that. They have families, jobs, and activities outside and independent of the University. They can't be expected to attend everything, not when many organizations are geared to or conve nient for only resident students. I know I personally am not about to request off a Wednesday night- one of the only nights I can work- to at tend a SGA meeting. Does that mean I don't care? In the last couple of weeks, Zampetti has used The Collegian as a forum to rant about just that- that no one cares here. Many do care, but sim ply lust &Wt havethe to do anything. College students on the whole are extremely busy, which Zampetti should be aware of. That's why we elect representatives like the student, are rude and have no qualms about talking out loud during a lecture. There isn't even the cour tesy to whisper. It is appalling that a college professor should have to tol erate for even one second this type of behavior. Not only is it a disregard to the professor, but the other students who are there to get something out of the class! There should be some policy that a student is aware, from the minute they enter the classroom and the class be gins, that there is a consequence to this rudeness. Dr. Cupillari is address ing it by having an apology signed by the student's advisor. I think this is a step in the right direction, but this should be a policy that is prefaced on every syllabus at the beginning of the semester It is a shame that these students are coming into college with no knowl edge of common courtesy. Respectfully, Diane Esser Michael Communications Student Editorial Zampetti in the first place- to repre sent us. Why do we need represent ing? Because we're unable to partici pate ourselves! His very description implies that he works in our absence. Consequently, it's upsetting to hear Zampetti continuously complain about doing his job. The other notable complaint of sup posed student apathy was in the March 19th Collegian, in a front page article, "Lack of student support af fecting campus organizations." In short, the article detailed the difficul ties various organizations operating under the Multi-Cultural Council have had with student participation. The purpose of the MCC is, essen tially, to represent minority groups here at Behrend. The red flag should have gone up at "minority" in that last sentence. "Minority," as in "a small portion of a larger whole." While the MCC is Is Image Everything? Is smoking cool? If so is it cool to smoke around non-smokers? These are similar questions posed to many on campus students participating in a smoking survey. The survey con sisted of a random sampling of 200 on-campus students choosen from the Student Telephone Directory. Even though the ratio of smoker to non-smoker students on-campus are separated by a large number, both groups share a common understanding. The survey revealed interesting evidence as smokers and non-smok ers alike displayed consideration for each other's feelings as the majority of non-smokers sympathized with the smoker's addiction, and most smok ers were not intending to offend other students. However, both sides agreed something should be done to address this matter. The question is what. A total ban on smoking throughout the University's premises was not a by Kevin Michael guest columnist without a doubt important to those it serves, it serves a small portion of those enrolled and naturally their turn outs will affect that. If you take a look around campus, one thing becomes pretty obvious: for the large part, ev eryone pretty much looks the same. I read comments from officials from the Organization of Latin American students, and my first reaction was, "We have Latin American students?" It's unfortunate, but true: Behrend is not a very diverse school. Most mi norities here would tell you that. In my morning Psy 002 class, I counted 42 students. The only minority was one, yes, one black student. It's our loss that Behrend has such little di versity, but it's true. Our student body is largely white and like most people worry only about what affects them and many of the functions put on by the MCC don't. If there was a Star Trek convention in town next week, I popular decision among students with only an 18% endorsement. In spite of the unpopular move toward ban ning smoking, students in both cat egories were open to a proposal for designated smoking areas on campus that accommodated both groups. One proposal was to place smoking gaze bos at various spots on campus away from building entraces. This proposal was accepted by virtually all the stu dent participants. The most common reason why non smokers were in favor of smoking gazebos was current with the evidence associated with the health risks in volved with passive smoking. To help debunk the myth that smoking is nec essary for stress reduction Karen Healy a communications major at Behrend suggests: smoking tobacco is more a "psychological" desire rather than an actual "scientific" stress reducer. The majority of smokers were also in favor of the smoking gazebos for wouldn't go. Why? Not becpuse I have anything against Trekkies, but simply because Star Trek doesn't ap peal to or affect me, so why would I spend my time going? It's an offbeat comparison, but it works. In closing, before organization leaders vent their frustrations with cries of, "No one cares but me!," they should look at the other side. Nobody likes being told they don't care or being accused of people like Zampetti of "sitting around watching TV all day." Apparently Zampetti is unaware that insults aren't a great way to win people over. Indeed, participation is low. However, more time needs to be spent on action and less on whining. Crying about poor turnouts or lash ing out at the student body helps no . one. The Other Side appears every three weeks in The Collegian they gave such reasoning as, "a place to go out of the cold", "away from wind", and "would keep us out of the Another element to this situation is image. What kind of image do we want at Behrend? Imagine our cam pus being visited by a well established businessman who is looking to make a contribution to a local college in memory of a passed away loved one. As he tours the campus he may be surprised to find at every entrance he is not greeted by a smiling young col lege student but rather a luminous plume of smoke which is impossible to avoid. The determining factor here is whether the possible Behrend con tributor is a smoker or non-smoker, however, if he was a non-smoker his contribution may find itself employed at a college with a more established smoking policy. Kevin Michael is a junior majoring in MIS
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