CThe Behrend College m Q ollegiaft Thursday, April 30, 1998 photo by Jason Blake Erie’s Bicentennial Tower rises above a warehouse on Erie’s Presque Isle Bay (see story page 10). SGA hears budget appeals by Joet Kolano staff writer The Student Government Associa tion wrapped up the year with the fi nal budget allocations for next year. Trigon members disapproved of the allocation that they received which fell short of their request of $4747.50. Trigon’s purpose is to educate the community about gay and lesbian is sues. It is a lot harder for students to be open about their membership in this club because as Assistant Coor dinator of Residence Life Dan Merson said, “People don't risk physical vio lence by coming out for the engineer ing club or choir." Trigon asked for money to provide “brochures that will provide those who are afraid to step forward with information.” The brochures will be Collegian names new editorial staff by Andrea Zaffino editor in chief The year is winding down now and as students, faculty, and staff are get ting ready to fulfill their summer plans, many of the student groups on campus are looking ahead to the Fall semester. Just last week the new members of SGA were confirmed and have begun the planning for next year. Much of the same is going on with the student newspaper, The Collegian. The first and most prominent change that most will notice is the name change of the paper to the Be hrend College Beacon. The new edi torial staff for next year is completely in place. Anne Rajotte, who was the Managing Editor for the past two se mesters has been officially named as the Editor in Chief, and will pick up on her duties with an orientation is sue at the end of August. Rajotte is excited about her position for next Fall and plans to continue in the spirit of change that took place over the past year. “I plan to continue many of the changes started in this year’s Colle gian,” she said. for the students here at Behrend as well as prospective students, high schools, community centers, and youth groups. Trigon President Chris Caraballo said that his organization wants to “create an environment where (gay and lesbian) students feel safe to come to.” When it came time to decide whether or not to grant Trigon the $150.00 needed for their brochures, the Greeks came to the rescue. In or der to keep the budget balanced, the money was taken from the “High on the Hill” Tau Kappa Epsilon and Theta Phi Alpha Co-sponsorship al location. Chris Rizzo, Director of Student Activities, said that he would reimburse “High on the Hill” with money from his office account. Thanks to him, a lot of headaches Rajotte’s previous position of Man aging Editor will be filled by Ayodele Jones, who was a general assignment reporter this past year. "Ayodele is a hard worker and will be a great asset to the ‘Beacon’,” Rajotte says of Jones. Jones is pleased by the chal lenge she will be faced with next year. Of this she said, “This is a great op portunity for me to learn leadership skills and to gain managerial experi ence.” There will be two News Editors in place. Ik Chan Kang, who picked up the position earlier this semester, will be joined next year by Will Jordan who was a beat reporter covering weekly events this semester. The Associate Editor, Brian Ashbaugh, who was in charge of the Calendar section of the paper, will be replaced by Mark Greenbank a beat reporter who covered articles on aca demic programs for the paper this past semester. The Features Editor, Jon Stubbs, the Sports Editor, Dylan Stewart, and the Photography Editor, Jason Blake, will all be resuming their current positions Sen. Rick hall meeting on by Anne Rajotte managing editor US Senator Rick Santorum visited Behrend on Monday morning to hold a town hall meeting concerning so cial security reform. Many students and faculty plus a few area senior citizens turned out to hear Senator Santorum’s own ideas for a different social security system. Santorum, a Penn State alumni, is preparing to introduce a bill to the Senate that would drastically change the social security system in the United States. He asked the audience if they thought that social security would still be paying benefits when they were ready to retire. He noted that none of the students raised their hands and commented, “It’s hard to be upbeat in context to a government that seems indifferent to your needs.’’ Santorum went on to give a brief history of social security and why the system needs to be changed. He em phasized that the percentage that people pay to social security has risen from about $3O per year when the pro gram began to 12.4% of income to day. “The temporary, but serious glitch of the baby boom generation,” is a were spared. Had it not been for his offer, the Budget Committee would have had to make many changes in order to find funding for the new al locations. Trigon was also unhappy that they were not provided with the money needed for speakers. They had re quested to have gay and lesbian speakers but were told to look to Multi-Cultural Council or the Speaker Series, neither of which mentioned any such speaker. MCC said that they would look into having a joint speaker with them, and Trigon seemed eager to discuss this possibility. At the close of the meeting, SGA President Mike Zampetti said, “I’d like to applaud the budget committee for all their efforts.” He also thanked everyone else for a fun and exciting year. for next semester’s Beacon . Layout Editor Nathan Mitchell will be as sisted by newcomer to the paper Rose Forrest. Mitchell is confident that Forrest will work out well for the up coming semester. “I think she (Forrest] will work out very well and the help will surely be appreciated.” The Editorial section will be en hanced with six additional columnists above the current three. Staying on as Advertising Manager will be RJ Frelin, who will be joined in his du ties by Erin Edinger and Carey Smith. Jaime Davis has been named as next year’s Business Manager. With everything in place on the editorial board, the staff’s current mission is recruiting competent re porters to help cover important events and issues on and around the campus. Returning Features Editor Jon Stubbs is looking forward to his po sition next year, “I’m excited about writing and editing for the paper next year.” Erie, PA 16563 Published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Santorum holds town welfare reform major reason why the system should be reformed, he said. He feels that an optimistic estimation of when Social Security will go bankrupt is 2029. He stated that the way the social security system has always been remedied was to raise taxes and cut benefits. “That's a problem for all of you... I don't think that’s an idea anyone in working America should support, “ he said. “Social security for working people is not a good deal anymore. It used to be a great deal,” commented Santorum. He went on to say, “Gen erations of Americans got more out of social security than they put in.” He used the famous story of Ida Fuller, who retired shortly after the social security program was imple mented. Ida Fuller paid only $22 into social security, but by the time she Improving by Damion Miller “The furniture is old and falling apart," stated Josh Ennis, 02 Geoenvironmental Engineering. Ennis thinks that it can be better, but he got used to it. What is it that Ennis got used to? The dormitories on cam pus are what many students end up getting used to. Students have been complaining amongst themselves about the quality of living arrange ments in Behrend campus resi dences Some of the complaints range from the quality of the furniture to the ability to hear through the walls. Ed Hanlan, 08 MIS, dis- liked the rules and regulations of the dorms. After getting into the apartments, which are more expensive, Hanlan would never return to the dorms to live. One rea son was that, “I like the kitchens”, stated Hanlan. Jaime Ellis, 04 Inter national Marketing, lives in Almy Hall. Ellis stated, “I don’t think I can go back and live in the dorms. We have brand new furniture, so I can’t complain.” Most students never want to go back to the dorms after they leave, even though it is more convenient, cheaper, and easier to meet people. Dan Denning, 02 Chemical Engineering, used to live in Niagara Hall. Now Denning lives in the suites and he said, “I like it very much.” Denning was aware of the benefits of living in dorms but it was not enough to convince him to go photo courtesy of Robert Speel This year’s editor in chief Andrea Zaffino (right) congratulates next year’s editor in chief Anne Rajotte (left). staff writer “Housing drives enrollment, if you can’t live here, then you won’t want to come here.” died, she had received over $lOO,OOO in benefits. However, Santorum added that a majority of Americans support the current system not because of the benefits they will receive, but because of the benefits their parents receive. Santorum’s plan would partially privatize social security. Four percent of each dollar earned would be placed in a personal account. That money could then be invested in mutual funds that would be approved by the gov ernment. When a person retired, they would buy an annuity with the money that had accumulated from their in vestments. Santorum argues, that even if the investment returns 4.5%, which is one percent less than an average investment return, recipients will be better off than under the current sys tem. Also, any money in the account dorms a slow process Does anyone like the dorms? Patrick Kramer, 02 Environmental Resource Management, stated, "Pretty good dorm. I don't really mind it." Kramer lives in Niagara and was satisfied with his quarters. From a Resident Assistant's point of view, “1 like dorms, I get to meet a lot of people." stated Jason Ruhlman. 08 Mechanical Engineering. Ruhlman is an R.A. for Lawrence Hall. Some of his thoughts were that the dorms were convenient, there is a lot of in- Ed Mulfinger Manager of Housing and Food Sendees teraction, there are many people, the furniture is terrible but you learned to respect others' privacy. These two individuals stand up for the rest of students who feel that the dorms are a great place to live. Ed Mulfinger, manager of Housing and Food Services, understands the complaints about the furniture and the walls. Mulfinger wants students to know why things arc the way they are. Some of the facts that he pointed out are: *The dorms have 25 year old fur- niture in them *Niagara Hall was built in 1970, Lawrence in 1972, and Perry is the oldest. Perry will be celebrating its Volume XLVI. No. 27 would be given to survivors, instead of to the government. Another benefit of the new pro gram, according to Santorum, is that increased investments may strengthen the economy by increasing corporate profits. He stated that you can, "do no worse, but you can do better." There were mixed reactions to Santorum’s ideas. Helen Brown, the 21st congressional district American Association of Retired Persons rep resentative, commented. "Communi ties are beginning to talk about it. Something does need to be done." Christian Maguire, 04 accounting, stated, “I think it is a good idea be cause our generation will have social security income when we retire as opposed to the present system, where we won’t 30th anniversary, it was built in 1968. *The walls and doors are specially made to resist fire. (They arc sup posed to contain a fire inside of a room). *There are concrete walls because they are great (or (Ire protection. The dorms are old. admitted Mulfinger, hut he wanted to point out that there were projects underway to bring the old dorms up to date. For example: *1995-1996, The bathroom parti tions were put up in Ferry & Lawrence Hall. * 1995-1996, The lobby fur niture of Perry was replaced. *1995-1996. The lobby fur niture of Niagara and the chairs of the Apartments were reuphol- stered. *1995-1996.150 new mat tresses were bought, and more will be bought every other year from then on. *The heat in Perry was repiped so that students had their own individual regulators. Before, there were 2 regu lators per floor in Perry. That meant that if one student changed the tem perature everyone could feel the ef fect on that end of the hall. *The lobbies received new carpets, and 10 new carpets and 24 new doors were put in the apartments. Everything that housing does is based upon its budget. Furniture and equipment is replaced based upon how bad and old it is. Most of the Dorms continued on page 2
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers