page 2 - The Behrend College Beacon - October 22,1998
Drinking- continued from page 1
fee, students must meet with either
Sue Daley or Allison Parr-Plasha, who
are both personal counselors, for four
one on one sessions. At these confi
dential sessions students are encour
aged to moderate their drinking,
change their lifestyles, and set goals
for themselves. A Moderation Sup
port Group is also offered at this level
where students can meet with a group
Underage drinking a national
problem among college students
By Angela Rush
staff writer
Prosecutors recently took the ex
traordinary step of charging a Mas
sachusetts Institute of Technology
fraternity with manslaughter in the
case of Scott Krueger, eighteen, who
drank himself to death at a party last
year. Suffolk County District Attor
ney Ralph Martin decided not to pros
ecute individuals because he said,
“the fraternity promoted and orches
trated activities that led to Krueger’s
death.” Krueger was a new pledge
of the MIT fraternity. Scott Krueger
died on September 29,1997, two days
after he was found unconscious fol
lowing the night of the party. Krueger
apparently had an alcohol level four
times over the legal limit. MIT shut
down the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity
after Krueger died of an overdose of
alcohol.
Charges were brought up against
the MIT fraternity and they face fines
for manslaughter and hazing. The
trial is set to take place soon. The gov
ernment is pushing for a change that
will help people come to the realiza
tion of what binge drinking can do to
a person. They are making laws that
will enforce and crack down on fra
ternities and other groups as well.
However, cracking down seems to be
causing more problems then it is solv
ing.
The Boston licensing board voted
to ban alcohol at another MIT frater
nity, on August 19, 1998, because
party-goers pelted police officers with
beer bottles during the summer. That
fraternity will not be allowed to have
haunted
of peers on a weekly basis to talk about
their substance use concerns.
About underage drinking, Peggy
Molnar, 05 Communications, said,
"most people start drinking before col
lege, so they will continue once they
are here. Police and Safety should
concentrate more on safety than pun
ishment." Rob Lingo, 05 History, said,
“if students were allowed to drink on
alcohol on the premises until 2001.
The members of that fraternity
claimed that it was summer residents,
not fraternity brothers that held the
party. The city officials say that the fra
ternity should take responsibly regard
less of who was there. A university
police officer was seriously injured
after being hit with a beer bottle, and
MIT was outraged that the officer was
assaulted. But it is still unknown who
the perpetrators were, and the frater
nity is willing to cooperate with all
parties to bring justice to the guilty
party.
Binge drinking, as well as abusing
alcohol is a serious issue and problem
in our nation. An American Medical
Association survey showed the dan
gers of binge drinking. It reported that
15% of people consume six or more
drinks in one session, and another 13%
consume four or five drinks. One in
five respondents who drink admit to
occasional drunken driving, while 5%
say they drive every time they con
sume alcoholic beverages. On occa
sions 13% of those who drink and
drive say that they have been in a car
accident. The survey revealed that 7%
binge drink regularly, while 19% do
so frequently.
Ken Miller, Acting Dean of Stu
dent Affairs, said, “Binge drinking is
an interesting concept because of the
data I have seen; there is a group of
students that binge drink and> then
there is the other group that drinks re
sponsibly.”
Studies have shown that college stu
dents are one of the biggest abusers of
alcohol. There is a lot of pressure to
be socially accepted especially if you
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campus, then they wouldn’t drink off
campus and get into accidents.”
Brooke Rhodes, 03 DUS, said,
“something should be done to make
fraternity houses closer to campus so
people wouldn’t have to drive.” Erin
Baker, 04 Management, said, “it’s
part of the R.A.’s job to watch out
for underage drinkers, and they need
to be respected for that.”
are new to the group.
There are a lot of programs that
help make someone aware of alco
hol use and what they can do to help
themselves. The universities and
colleges have classes that discuss
these issues and help you deal with
the problem at hand. Miller said,
“The awareness campaign for under
age drinking and driving for instance
has come a long way to raising stu
dent awareness, but it comes down
to a personal choice.”
Miller stated, “If you choose to
violate the law you are running a
risk.” Everyone knows that when
you are caught you have to take re
sponsibility for your own actions.
When someone is caught they have
to talk with a staff member about
what happened and depending on the
situation it is dealt with. Some stu
dents have to take an alcohol and
drug awareness management pro
gram that lasts for three weeks. It is
used to examine and help the student
understand what they have done, “It
is a program to give you a better
sense of who you are and what you
are doing as it relates to alcohol,”
said Miller.
There is now a new bill that is in
the US Senate, and if it is passed it
will give a university the option of
whether to contact the student’s
guardian if the student has been in
volved in a situation involving alco
hol. As of now, one’s discipline
records cannot be released to a third
party without the written permission
of the student. Miller adds, “alcohol
is not a problem specific to Behrend.,
it is a problem nationwide.”
News
10/13/98 Complainant requested access to a storage closet in Hammermill. Vats were
needed for chemical dumping for the photo labs.
10/14/98 Complainant was at station for fingerprinting. Officer did so
10/14/98 Complainant called to report a urinal overflowing. Upon arrival it was found
to have generated an inch of water in two classrooms, the hall and leaking into labs
below.
10/15/98 Father called concerned about the well being of his son, who he hasn’t been
able to reach for several days. Officers went to room and found that student had left on
flight to Puerto Rico. Father was notified.
10/17/98 Student called from her apartment to have Academic 42 opened. The building
was unlocked for her. She called 20 minutes later rather indignant, from Reed. Officer
was able to open the building by simply turning the handle.
10/18/98 Shotgun for storage in the lost and found room
SGA continued from Page 1
hrend has been a “collaborative pro
cess.” Input from students, faculty
and staff have influenced the plans
of Behrend’s development. The de
velopment of Behrend is a continu
ous process, and students will witness
changes that will ultimately be to the
advantage of the entire Behrend com
munity. Miller will again present
Behrend’s master plan to the entire
student body at the upcoming SGA
student forum on Wednesday, No
vember 04.
Other business at the SGA
meeting included the final election of
freshman senator Chris Buchanan.
Buchanan, 01 Political Science,
stated “I want to put Behrend on the
map, I care a lot about students’ wants
and needs. I am here for the students
and whatever the students want, I’ll
try my best to give it to them.”
Students have
opportunity to study
England for the summer
By Christina Salizzoni
staff writer
Studentsinterested in spending
a summer studying in a foreign
country now have another op
tion. Behrend has just estab
lished a student exchange pro
gram with The University Col
lege of Northampton, England.
Dean Baldwin, Acting Direc
tor of the School of Humanities
and Social Sciences, was ap
proached about a year aga by
The University College of
Northampton to establish a link
with Behrend. A number of
other colleges in the surround
ing area were also approached,
including Gannon and Edinboro,
plus a few colleges in Ohio and
Florida.
On October 8, four represen
tatives from Northampton vis
ited Behrend to discuss the de
tails of the program. They in
cluded Cliff Dedynski, director
of the program, Paul Phillips, en
vironmental sciences, lan
Buchanan, social sciences, and
Patrick Quinn with the English
program. Quinn grew up in Erie
and went to Cathedral Prep High
School. Baldwin and Quinn had
previously worked together on a
book in which Baldwin wrote a
Folice And Safety
chapter and Quinn edited.
The exchange program will be
developed in three steps. Start
ing in the summer of 1999, there
will be study abroad. Students
from Behrend will go to
Northampton. In the Fall of
1999, there will be a full ex
change, with students from
Northampton also coming to Be
hrend. The third step will be a
joint faculty research program.
This exchange program can be
beneficial to a variety of students
due to the fact that they are of
fering a wide range of study in
cluding English, Sociology,
Business, and Environmental
Science. The credits obtained
will most likely fill general edu
cation requirements for any stu
dent.
During the five weeks of the
English program, students will
visit numerous places. Trips to
Oxford, Stratford, London,
Cambridge, Warwick and an en
tire week in Ireland are all in
cluded.
Northampton is located north
west of London. Although vary
far from Behrend, it is very simi
lar in appearance and student
body. The facilities are fairly
new and very updated, though
students don’t spend very much
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time on campus.
The cost is $2,000 for 3 cred
its, $2,000 for 6 credits, and
$2,900 for 9 credits. Lunches,
dinners and airfare to England is
not included, though the airfare
from England to Ireland is in
cluded in the price.
Baldwin stated, “this is an ex
citing opportunity to get study
abroad experience at such a rea
sonable price. If you stayed at
Behrend and took nine summer
school credits, it would cost
close to $2,000.” He went on to
say, “this program gives the most
credits and extracurricular activi
ties for the least amount of
money I’ve ever seen.”
Northampton is hoping for
anywhere between 10 to 20 stu
dents within a year, from all of
the participating schools to be
involved with the exchange pro
gram.
Any student interested in ob
taining more information about
the program should contact
Baldwin. For more information
about The University College of
Northampton visit their website
at http://nene.ac.uk