page 4- The Behrend College Beacon. Thursday, January 28, 1999
The Behrend College Beacon
published weekly by die students of Penn State Erie. The Behrend College
Editor n Chief
UfO Jordan
Mwiaging Editor
News Editor ******** Features Editor
Shammam Hi’htr Jon Stubbs
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tnnur Onvit Erin Etknger
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ttou Zqpn Rose Forrest
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Jtm O'LoagUm
Ppfjql htfomtQtioa: The Beacon is Utter Policy: The Beacon
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9288. week’s issue.
A view from the lighthouse
Disorganization
The manner in which Housing
and Food services conducted the line
of students turning in their housing
contracts for fall 1999 semester on
Sunday night was disorganized. First
of all, housing knew that students
would come early to wait in line
based on the way they dealt with it
in past years.
They were also aware of the fact
that students are willing to do almost
anything to obtain the housing that
they prefer. Housing did nothing to
address these issues, and drey were
definitely harassed for this through
responsible students who had arrived
earlier in the day and did not cut in
line. Understandably, these people
who had been waiting in line for
hours became angered, and a riot al
most ensued. They began to chant,
“Asshole,” and they began to ver
bally and physically fight with the
students who cut in line.
Unfortunately, just when students
who were waiting in line needed Po
lice and Safety to regulate and pro
tect their welfare, they were nowhere
to be seen. When Police and Safety
did arrive, they only made the prob
lem worse. They threatened the stu
dents by telling them they would
send them (the students) all home if
they didn’t abide by the rules and
regulations. What rules and rcgula-
Letter to the editor Men’s
Clinton as
Our very own president of the
greatest, most influential nation of
the world is a unique, onoe in a life
time president- His presidency has
even arrived at the point where
people say even though be is not a
good person, he is a fantastic leader.
These two conflicting ideas simply
cannot coexisL
There is an unwritten prerequi
site required that in order far a per
son to became a true leader, he (or
she) has to be a person of strong
character, integrity, and principles.
This is a simple concept known as
principle-centered leadership, and
this is not what President Clinton has
in mind.
True leadership starts from an
inside-out approach. A person must
be an honest, principle-centered per
son on the inside before he can reap
the benefits and become a leader on
the outside to other people. This is
how he becomes a leader in the first
place.
People turn to him for direction
and important issues that need to be
resolved. If that leader is driven by
self-interest instead of values and
truths, then he will lead his people
Letters to the
leads to disaster
tions were they talking about? Hous
ing never provided any rules. And,
by the way, threatening almost never
works.
When Housing finally arrived at
9:30 p.m. to transfer the students to
the Reed Commons, students voioed
their grievances to Housing about the
line cutlers. Housing did listen but of
fered no solutions at that time.
Instead of choosing to take re
sponsibility for what might occur,
housing ignored the problem. What
resulted was a near riot, with abso
lutely no Police and Safety officers
present, disgruntled and angry stu
dents who were cheated out of hous
ing by line cutters, and physical and
verbal altercations.
a leader
astray. He will lead them through
a web of deceit, away from all
troth, and away from a God-fear-
ing society.
This is exactly what has hap
pened to the American people. In
stead of leading us towards a value
based society. President Clinton
has continued us towards a “feel
good”, hedonistic society, where
he even has the nerve to challenge
the definition of “is”. This fact,
though, cannot be questioned: Wil
liam Jefferson Clinton has utterly
disgraced himself, his family, the
American people, the presidency,
but most importantly, the law. The
presidency is bigger than one per
son, and it is a prestigious position
that cannot be mocked.
This is exactly what President
Clinton has done; how much
longer will it last? If any nation is
led with a leader who has no sense
of any deep, fundamental troths,
then society will devalue itself.
Chaos will result.
Nicholas I. Carter
Freshman
editor:
The Critic
The kids are alright
The story of 16-year-old Jessica
Hottmeyer of Clearfield. PA, being
tried for the bludgeoning death of an
etgjhdi-grader seems tragically remi
nisoent of the wake of deadly school
shootings and parricides that the na
tional media was happy to bring to
our attention over the past year. Last
Mother's Day, 15-year-old Kimberly
Dotts’ face was beaten beyond all rec
ognition with a shoebox-sized rock
after two unsuccessful lynching at
tempts by Holtmeyer. Leaving the
soene, Hottmeyer remarked to her ac
complices that she wouldn't mind do
ing it again.
Such explicit scenes horrify soci
ety and make us ask ourselves, “What
is happening lo our kids' 7 ” And when
the media has a good thing, it tends
to roll with it for a year or two. So
sensational was the story of the two
Jonesboro, Arkansas, students who
opened fire on their own classmates,
killing four students and one teacher
that it was immediately followed up
by news stories on similar happenings
in Pearl, Mississippi; Springfield, Or
egon; and Edinboro, PA. This sensa-
A Flower in the G
There really
You may be one of those kids, like
me, dial grew up in the Leave it to
Beaver family. You know what I
mean—the happy home where the
philosophy is, “the family that plays
together, slays together." I was a
product of that type of family.
I have a mother, father, and a little
brother that are very dedicated to our
family. When I was a little kid, my
family and I would go on various trips
and have fun activities together.
Sometimes my parents would do
things for my brother and me just be
cause. Sometimes on Friday’s my fa
ther would buy me a happy meal from
McDonald's. My mother wouldn't
think anything of taking time ofT of
work to take me on college tours. We
kept going to movies and out to din
ner as a family, and my parents still
did things even in my teen years.
I thought I had an abnormal family
life compared to that of my friends.
today’s
By Ashley Bach
Oregon Daily Emerald
University of Oregon
The image of an ideal '9os man
ranges from feminine to fiendish, but
most men lie somewhere hopelessly
in-between.
A friend of mine likes to talk about
all the women he's slept with, about
all the hearts he's broken and about
how he really doesn't care about those
things very much at all. He’s a poster
boy for men behaving badly, and
that's the way he likes it—no smiling
in photos, no commitments, no con
fessions. He’s a trick wall of mascu
line enetgy.
But like so many men, he’s really
a big sissy. Fashion is a priority,
bottles of cologne fill the bathroom,
and it takes him 30 minutes to
“sculpt” his hair on a quick day. For a
guy who cares about so little, he
seems to put a lot of stock in what
people, especially women, think of
him.
Sadly, he is a model to live by far
Editorial
tionalism made it all the way to die
While House. “This recent series of
killings in our schools has seared the
heart of America about as much as
anything I can remember in a long,
long time," remarked President
Clinton in response to this recent
“rash" of teenage predators. Arkan
sas Governor Mike Beebe was dumb
founded by these events: “If you had
told me 10 years ago dud an 11 or
12-year-old could do what happened
in Jamesboro, I’d probably thought
you were crazy.”
The gods must be crazy, Beebe.
There has been almost no increase
whatsoever in violent crimes com
mi tied by juveniles since 1980. But
if one watched the news at all last
year, she would think that our
nation's children were in a state of
complete moral collapse. Kids aren’t
killing each other. 90% of all chil
dren under age twelve were killed by
adults last year. With the all of the
highly publicized shootings in Mis
sissippi. Kentucky, Arkansas, Penn
sylvania and Oregon combined. 11
children were killed. Every two days.
Most of my friends came from fami
lies that had experienced divorce and
remarriage. Some of them never had
that constant togetherness with mom
and dad.
I had told my family when 1 came
to college that I wouldn't come home
on the weekends and not to expect
too many phone calls from me. I
don't live very far from home, but I
wanted to be the “"independent stu
dent". I came up here to Bchrcnd,
and. in my first semester, I spent a
total of three weekends on campus,
while spending the rest doing the
family thing at home.
My family is very important to me,
and it always will be. I guess 1 never
realized how lucky I am. It didn’t
occur to me until 1 came to college
that there are parents out there that
could care less about their kids. If I
need something, I can call home, and
my parents are more than willing to
image is changing in
society
most of his species. We men like to
play up our independence and love
for sports and hanging with the guys,
but deep down we're more emo
tional, conscientious and insecure
than we care to admit.
Don't agree? Then witness the rise
of the men's magazine. Not so much
Playboy or Penthouse, but new kids
on die block such as Details, Maxim
and Gear. Hidden behind those pho
tos of beautiful, buxom women are
articles containing tips on everything
from “how to make her scream your
name in bed” to “picking the perfect
suit for that big interview.” The mags
reinforce men’s perception that
they’re all young, hip, and handsome,
while at the same time calming their
fears that they're not attractive, not
masters of the bedroom, and not
chiefs of the “war-drobe.” The maga
zines present a paradox because they
know that’s how men are.
Many men - my friend for start
ers - would dispute all of this, of
course. They'd say that a lot of guys
are secure in themselves and that they
is no place like home
eleven children become the fatal vic
tims of child abuse or neglect.
However, because the mothers and
fathers of our country were now con
vinced that the amorality of this radi
cal new age was beginning to turn
thearchikken into brutal killers, a bill
written by Republicans but supported
by Resident Oimon was entered into
Congress. The lint pari of the bill
(which has already passed) allowed
for the adult prosecution of children
as young as 13 and could hold the
parents of juveniles criminally re
sponsible far their son or daughter’s
crimes. The Supreme Court has al
ready okayed the bill in that h does
not violate the 18th Amendment (it
is not cruel or unusual punishment).
This bill is justified, of course. The
United States of America, the coun
try with the best damn morale in the
world, cannot just sit back and let ju
veniles make our country look like a
Third World nation. The truth is, the
U.S. has the highest child imprison
ment record in the world and had been
indicted by Amnesty International for
help me.
I realize college kids need to
brand) off, become individuals, and
even learn to rely on themselves.
These things are important to becom
ing an adult with a degree. Becom
ing independent of your family is im
portant, because you can learn more
about who you arc as an individual.
Students need to learn to rely on
themselves, because sometimes it
seems there is nobody else to rely on.
I didn’t think I was going to need my
parents when I came to college. I
thought 1 could rely only on myself
with no help from parental units.
During my first semester, I started
to miss the little things I took for
granted. 1 missed my dad buying me
a Happy Meal on Friday’s or having
my mother there to make me tea when
I was sick. I couldn’t believe I was
admitting to missing my brother’s
constant teasing.
certainly have no need for petty reas
surances at the newsstand. I won't try
to pin down the demons of a 40 year
old married lather, but in the realm
of 20- and 30-somethings, it's a sine
bet that insecurity reigns supreme.
To make matters worse, many men
don’t understand what they feel, or
why they do the things they do. Ask
any of the former sports heroes pump
ing iron in your local gym why they
do that every day, and most won't be
able to give an answer any more solid
than "To get huge?”
In the end, they may be there to
impress women or fulfill some di
luted image of what a man needs to
look like, but articulating that fact,
probably because it’s so baffling, usu
ally proves difficult.
The mass media spew images
which affect men just as profoundly
as women. Guys’collective fears and
obsessions also come as much from
external sources as they do from
within. American males are torn be
tween a society that values symbols
of hash masculinity, such as the Rat
behrcoll2 @ aol.com
JON STUBBS
just that. Also, the U.S. is in viola
tion of international human rights
codes for its use of solitary confine
meal on children.
Whether or not stifler laws are the
solution to juvenile violence is not the
issue here. The fact remains that these
types of crimes are not increasing.
The introduction of stiffer laws is not
changing the status quo to battle a
new problem. It is. instead, changing
the artillery to battle the status quo.
The media reports what it wants to
report. Nobody’s going to care about
an infant beaten to death by a white,
middle-class father if guntoting teens
are all the rave at the moment. Net
works and newspapers have a show
to run. Somehow the violence must
make sense, so news agencies turn it
into a trend. Don’t fear your kids, fear
the media.
Jon Stubbs is the features editor for
the Beacon. His column appears ev
ery three weeks.
SHANNON WEBER
During the week, you are learning
to rely on yourself and becoming very
independent. You are learning to bal
ance classes and activities, not to
mention a stress level. I am still learn
ing how to balance my college life,
and by the end of the week I need a
break.
Another thing I learned is that
families can be like mine or they can
be vastly different. Families are all
normal in their own way.
I love my family, and I think 1
might even go home this weekend.
There really is no place like home.
Shannon Weber is die news editor for
the Beacon. Her column appears ev
ery three weeks.
Pack, but also pushes them to con
stantly redefine their role in a post
feminism world.
Fortunately for men. they aren't
the only ones who can't figure out
exactly what constitutes “a real man.”
Even the most die-hard feminists
shudder A the thought of a bunch of
spineless, ultra-sensitive she-men
walking around.
All of this puts men, especially us
young guys, in a bit of a quandary.
We’d no doubt help ourselves a lot
by just being ourselves, and respond
ing to concerns from the fairer sex as
they come up. But I'm not going to
pretend that doing so is easy.
For all the women out there at a
loss far words about our many defi
ciencies, I urge a bit of understand
ing. Sure, we're guilty of creating a
lot of our own problems, often comi
cally so. But we also have the hardy
task of living among confusion,
where masculinity is a valued com
modity, but often measured only in
doses.