page 4- The Behrend College Beacon. Thursday, February 4, 1999
The Behrend College Beacon
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
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Slninnnn Weber
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Xiiiahe (/a^liano
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iJi:abei!\ (inelcher
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published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie, The Behrend
College; First Floor, The J. Elmer
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Erie, PA 16563. The Beacon can be
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19288.
A view from the lighthouse
Show your support for the play
The Visit, a play which will run
from February 19th through Febru
ary 28th. is a rather unique produc
tion which easts both new and ac
complished actors and actresses and
possesses a one of a kind plot.
All of the fourteen east members,
whether they are experienced or in
experienced. make a very dedicated
team of people, willing to spend
much lime and effort on the produc
tion of the play. They all have a mul
titude of talents and skills to offer
Also. Tony Elliot, the Studio The
atre director, is to be commended for
the continuous support and effort he
has demonstrated. Ken Saunders, as
sistant professor of Mechanical En
gineering. is also starring in the play
as may or. Their effort is to be appre
ciated by the Behrend community.
The plot of the play centers around
the evil aspects of human nature, such
as deceit by loved ones and the de
sire for justice through a "small
price", which many college students
are familiar with. The play is myste
rious and full of suspense.
For this semester's production, the
stage w ill run through the middle of
the theatre, with students sitting on
either side. Although this seating ar-
SfinKta*
CUM
Editor in Chief
Will Jordan
Managing Editor
Asoilele Jones
Features Editor
Jon Stubbs
Sports Editor
Jason Snyder
Advertising Managers
Frin
Carey Smith
Copy Editor
Rose Forrest
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Angela Rush
Jessica Tucci
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Mike Frawlev
Distribution Manager
Mark Greenhunk
Letter Policy: The Beacon
encourages letters to the editor.
Letters should include the address,
phone number, semester standing and
major of the writer. Writers can mail
their letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
Letters must be received no later than
spm Tuesday for inclusion in that
week’s issue.
rangement won’t provide a plethora
of seals, it should make for a more
dynamic viewing. These qualities
should draw Behrend students to see
the play.
We are extremely lucky to have a
Studio Theatre on campus and a team
of students willing to exert much
dedication in order to entertain the
Behrend community.
With all the complaints of lack of
school spirit, going to this show is not
only a delightful way to spend an
evening or afternoon, but also a great
way to support your fellow students.
So, please show your support of the
Studio Theatre by attending the show,
which costs only three dollars for stu
dents and five dollars for general ad
mission. The play is a worthwhile
event to go to. You will enjoy it!
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What You Tt
“It can’t happen to me”
What’s the deal with Acquired Im
mune Deficiency Syndrome? HIV is
a virus that attacks and weakens your
immune system, leaving it open to
opportunistic illnesses not usually ex
perienced by healthy individuals. HIV
attacks various types of immune cells.
It then uses these cells to reproduce
itself. When the HIV virus takes over
a cell, that cell can no longer do its
job and dies. When enough of the
cells in a person's body are dead or
damaged, they are no longer able to
protect the body, and opportunistic
infections begin to occur. At this
point, you may be HIV-symptomatic
or have AIDS.
There are a lot of people who are
having unprotected sex and who are
experimenting with intravenous
drugs. For one reason or another,
The Behrend Revi
Campaign finance reform
I don’t know about you but every
time I see another campaign ad. with
a candidate proclaiming that he or she
is for jobs, schools, and lower taxes,
with warm fuzzy music in the back
ground, I feel like I'm going to vomit.
However in this era of capital inten
sive campaigns, w hich ever candidate
runs the most ads. digs up the most
dirt on his or her opponent, and spends
the most money will probably win the
election, regardless of whether or not
they are the most qualified candidate
for the job.
In 1952 when General Dwight
Eisenhower was running for presi
dent, he became the first candidate to
fully utilize television as an influen
tial campaign tool. While his oppo
nent, Adlai Stevenson, ran television
ads which feature him silting in front
of a fireplace discussing his views on
the important issues of the day,
Eisenhower's ads merely bad the
jingle of "I like Ike! You like Ike!
Everybody likes Ike!" The big differ
ence between the two is that
Stevenson's ads were long and bor
ing, and Eisenhower’s ads were short
and entertaining. Now don’t get the
idea the "I like Ike!" ads alone led to
Studying isn’t always the way to get ahead
by Michelle Blair
Cornell University
The Cornell Daily Sun
Hit
Do you get an average of three
hours of sleep on weeknights'.’ Do you
often find yourself studying at social
events? Do you feel that most of your
friends and associates have a much
livelier social lives than you do? Can
you remember the last time you went
to a party or major social event?
If you answered yes to any of the
previous questions, you may be suf
fering from a syndrome known as
over-studying. (If you are not a stu
dent and one of these characteristics
applies to you, you are in serious need
of some fun.)
That’s right. There are way too
many people here who are overly con
cerned with their grade-point aver
ages. Before they even attempt to
learn what they are studying, they
calculate exactly what score they need
to get on a prelim exam so they can
end up with an ’A’ in the class. These
are the people who may graduate
without learning one concrete thing,
since they devoted all of their time to
worrying about their grades. And
sometimes all of these worrywarts
have to ask themselves one practical
question: Whom am I trying to im
press? If they are thinking of apply-
Editorial
Ikin ’ bout Willis
these people are under the illusion
that they will never get HIV or AIDS,
and, in most cases, they are lucky
enough not to get HIV or AIDS.
However, luck can only run for so
long. Within the past seven years, I
have lost two uncles and a cousin to
AIDS. All three of them acquired
AIDS through the use of intravenous
drugs. All of us have heard lectures
about the AIDS virus in high school,
so we know how people contract the
virus and how deadly can it become
when it breaks down your immune
system. A couple of days ago, my
mother made me aware that a family
friend has recently discovered that
she had contracted HIV. She con
tracted it by having sex without pro
tection. It is bad enough that these
people have contracted the virus, and
Eisenhower’s landslide victory, but
they did demonstrate the power that
television has over people.
The 1952 Presidential election
was a major turning point in Ameri
can politics. From there after, any
candidate seeking election to major
office would need to utilize the me
dia for all its worth. This meant tele
vision campaign ads. And television
campaign ads cost a lot of money. So
candidates not born into wealthy
families would need to raise money
any way they could, even if it was
not ethically or morally right. An ex
ample of this was the 1972 re-elec
tion campaign of President Richard
Nixon. The Committee to Re-Elect
the President, or CREEP, spent an all
time record of $65 million (some of
it illegally) to re-elect Nixon. If ad
justed for inflation, that would be
well over $lOO million today which
would still be an all-time record.
Following the 1972 election. Con
gress passed a campaign finance re
form law. Under the law there were
five major points:
1. Limits were placed on how much
any individual or interest group could
contribute to any campaign or can
ing to some kind of graduate pro
gram. maybe their anxiety is justified,
but for the others, you have to won
der what their problem is.
Don’t gel me wrong. I’m not ad
vocating low GPAs and poor study
habits. It’s just that when students
start regularly neglecting important
necessities like sleep, or when they
start depending on beverages to get
them through their classes every day,
there’s a serious need for priority as
sessment. Most students can’t sur
vive long periods of time pretending
they’re not human.
The self-sacrificing student is just
one example oi the grade-obsessed;
worse yet are those who base their
self-worth on their grades. This type
of person ranks his health as less im
portant than his parents’ approval.
Constant stress and desperation, all
for the sake of getting an ‘A’, forces
certain members of this group to
make such serious and final decisions
as suicide.
I’ll never forget asking my high
school history teacher for a pass so
that I could attend an information ses
sion about Cornell University. As
soon as she heard my request, she
said, "You want to go to the school
with the highest suicide rating?” I
was shocked. Why mention such a
thing in such a way? Before then, I
have died, or are dying, but I do not
believe that these people are aware
of how this has affected the lives of
their families. This family friend has
yet to tell her parents that she has con
tracted the virus. I can imagine how
dismayed and horrified her parents
will be when she tells them. I know
that the wives and children of my two
uncles that died were very distraught
when they found out.
Recently, in the New York Times,
an article was written about research
ers who have traced the AIDS virus
to a subspecies of chimpanzees. “The
riddle of the origin of the AIDS virus
has apparently been solved, accord
ing to an international team of scien
tists who reported today that they had
traced its roots to a related virus in a
subspecies of chimpanzee in Africa.”
didate. A $lOOO.OO limit for indi
viduals and a $5000.00 limit for in
terest groups.
2. Any party that received more than
25% of the vote in the last presiden
tial election would receive full pub
lic financing in the next presidential
election. And also any party that re
ceived between 5%-25% of the vote
in the last presidential election would
be partially reimbursed after the elec
tion and receive partial public financ
ing for the next election.
3. Limits were placed on the overall
spending for Congressional cam
paigns.
4. Limits were placed on Candidate
self-financing.
5. Limits were placed on spending
allowed by so-called “independent”
groups that were not officially con
nected which a campaign or a can
didate. Unfortunately though, in
Buckley v. Valeo (1976) the Supreme
Court ruled points 3,4, & 5 of this
campaign finance reform law uncon
stitutional. While the Court ruled that
points 1 & 2 were constitutional, it
was of the opinion that points 3,4,
& 5 violated the First Amendment
Right to free speech.
had never realized that there was a
suicide rate ranking for American col
leges.
Sadly, there are many students
who define themselves by their
GPAs. If you know someone who
seems like they take their grades too
seriously, try to make them under
stand GPAs are never more important
than their existence.
If you are an "over-study,” please
talk to a family member or close
friend who you know would love to
hear from you. If you’ve given some
thing your all, console yourself with
the realization that your best is good
enough.
It may be a nice plus for an em
ployer to be able to read that you’ve
been on the dean’s list eight semes
ters in a row, but in the end, that won’t
be the pivotal factor that gets you the
job. Book knowledge is book knowl
edge, so for those who think GPAs
automatically make up 75, percent of
a person’s eligibility for a job, please
try to remember the important distinc
tion between book knowledge and
practical knowledge. Your GPA won’t
help you after you walk into the
interviewer’s office.
There are many organizations and
on-campus jobs that help students
exercise at least one or two of the
skills they’ll need to be successful.
WILL JORDAN
Scientists speculate that this virus was
transmitted by chimpanzees through
“bites and exposure to blood in hunt
ing and dressing of chimpanzees.
Hopefully, through continued re
search, a cure for the AIDS virus will
be found. Until then, people should
learn to respect their bodies by not
experimenting with intravenous
drugs and practicing safe sex. Chil
dren, as well as adults, should realize
that they can contract this awful vi
rus and that it will affect them and
their families for the rest of their lives.
By doing so, they will avoid putting
their families and loved ones through
the pain that my family has experi
enced.
Will Jordan is llie editor-in-chief of the Ben
con. His column appears even three n ecks.
CHARLES TESTRAKE
While the opinion of the Supreme
Court in Buckley v. Valeo (1976) was
legally accurate, it was nevertheless
the wrong decision. By this ruling
the Supreme Court opened Ameri
can politicians up to the exploitation
of those who finance there political
campaigns. And thus unwittingly
sold American politicians out to the
special interests.
The only way to correct this grave
error by the Supreme Court is to im
mediately pass a Constitutional
Amendment on campaign financing.
Any proposed Constitutional
Amendment of campaign financing
should include all the previous points
the Supreme Court ruled unconsti
tutional in Buckley v. Valeo (1976),
provisions against donations by for
eign nationals or governments, and
most importantly, a time limit on
how soon campaigning could begin
prior to an election.
Charles Test rake is a junior political science
major. His column appears every three weeks
in the Beacon.
It’s a good idea to check out those
options, because a senior who has
never participated in a single extra
curricular activity may not fare well
when job hunting. One job inter
viewer told me that most students she
sees don’t participate in enough
things to even fill out the small sec
tion set aside for them on the job ap
plication. That, she said, is not im
pressive.
The bottom line is this: Sleep.
Enjoy social events to the fullest -
which means leaving your books at
home. Make a commitment to do at
least one thing each week that doesn't
involve schooiworK. if you're reaiiy
concerned about getting that job, in
volve yourself in at least one extra
curricular activity. (Your social life
will improve by leaps and bounds.)
If this seems like too many
changes to make at once, implement
one at a time. The key is to enjoy
something - anything. After all, isn’t
some degree of happiness required
for a truly beneficial college experi-