page 4 - The Behrend College Beacon. Thursday, April 8, 1999
The Behrend College Beacon
published weekly bx the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
News Editor
Shannon Weber
Editorial Page Editor
\ahilie Gai’lumo
Business Manager
Jaime Davis
Photography Editors
Jason Blake
Andrea Aiffino
Layout Editors
Mike Perkins
Elitabetli Guelcher
Wire Services Editor
Kane Galley
Features Editor
Jon Stubbs
Postal Information: The Beacon is
published weekly by the students of
Penn State Erie, The Behrend
College: First Floor, The J. Elmer
Reed Union Building, Station Road,
Erie, PA 16563. The Beacon can be
reached by calling (814) 898-6488
or (814) 898-6019 (FAX). ISSN
1071-9288.
A view
A chance for great
opportunity
The master plan calls for rapid
growth (if the Behrend campus
(buildings as well as student popula
tion) due to the fact that University
Park's enrollment is too large.
Knowledge Park, a training center
which will he utilized hy engineer
ing students, is currently under con
struction. Also, a Research and Eco
nomic Development Center will be
built on Jordan Road to accommodate
the needs of Business, Engineering,
and Engineering Technology stu
dents. An athletic building is also in
the works. I bis building will include
a swimming pool, running tracks, and
various exercise equipment. Also,
parking garages will be built to de
crease the amount of space taken up
for parking.
All in all, this expansion will
greatly increase the number of oppor
tunities available to Behrend students.
Know ledge Park will increase the
number of internships and research
conducted. The parking garages will
take up less space than would park-
A response to
forwarded
chain letters
By Maria Savvas
The Simpsonian
Simpson College
"Warning: If you do not pass this
on. something as bad as those in the
stories or WORSE will happen to
Please, it this were really true, I
would have been dead a long time
ago. Fortunately, I’ve been able to
steer clear of any 18-wheelers that
would like to make me their next
road kill victim.
Forwards. They are an almost un
avoidable pan of everyday life for
anyone who holds an email account.
In my opinion, bored college kids
who hav e a lot of extra time on their
hands make up most of these stories.
These little hassles are received
on the average of three to four mes
sages in a day. More if everyone has
your address, less if you are one of
the fortunate ones.
If any of these stories actually
come true, I should receive a check
in the amount of $5OO dollars, a trip
to Disney Land, while possibly find
ing my soul mate in the next seven
days. Do you think that if you for
ward a message to as many people
that you can think of you’re going
to he paid for it?
By sending one of the forwards
to just I Oof my friends my crush will
ask me out. On the other hand if I
don't send a different one in the next
hour of receiving it, I am going to
have bad luck in relationships for the
rest of my life. I don’t think this is a
very legit way to base the future of
Editor in Chief
VViM Jordan
Managing Editor
Ayodele Jones Sports Editor
Jason Snyder
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 letters to behrcoll2@aol.com.
Letters must be received no later
than spm Tuesday for inclusion in
that week’s issue.
rom the li
ing lots. This will maintain the cam
pus' landscape while still increasing
the number of parking spaces; this
should be a relief to all those com
muters who experience great diffi
culty when trying to find a decent
parking space. Also, the new athletic
building will help to maintain the
students’ physical and mental health
through relaxing activities, such as
swimming.
Kudos to the university for for
mulating such an enriching master
plan!
my relationships on. If I was going
to have bad luck in relationships for
the rest of my life, I probably don’t
need some forward to tell me.
What I don’t get is why all the
meaningless ones get passed around
to everyone. In my case I receive
most of my forwards from my
friends. If they know that they are
dumb and they don’t want them,
then why do they send them to me?
With the overabundance of all the
forwards that are being passed
around, I know that I, and some of
my friends, are starting to delete
them without even reading them.
Unless there is a check made out to
me when you send it, or you really
want to be involved in a kiss war
with me, don’t
waste your time.
While most of these forwards are
just company for my trash can,
some of them, I have to admit, can
be comical. Most of the jokes are
pretty funny in a sick sort of way
and who wouldn’t want to take a
cool quiz? So not all of them are
bad, but just learn to sort them be
fore you send them.
As a last bit of helpful informa
tion, here’s a forward not to waste
your time with. If you received the,
“So kewl, gotta try this,” forward
that you have to send to 11 people,
don’t. Sorry to disappoint the people
who want to see the really hilarious
video, because there isn’t one.
Advertising Managers
Erin Edinper
Carey Smith
Copy Editor
Rose Forrest
Associate Editors
Anftela Rush
Jessica Tucci
Assistant Editor
Mike F raw ley
Distribution Manager
Mark Greenbank
Advisors
Robert Speel
Jim O'hntghlin
thous
The Critic . .
NATO bombings accomplishing
According to the Yugoslav Ambas
sador to the U.S., there have been
"about a couple hundred" Yugoslav
civilian deaths due to the NATO bomb
ing campaign in Kosovo. This num
ber is dwarfed by the number of Alba
nian refugees that have been either re
located or killed by Serb forces in
Kosovo. But isn't one civilian death
one too many, especially when it does
nothing to speed up the peace progress
between NATO and Yugoslavian Presi
dent Slobodan Milosevic? NATO
would argue no at this point, certain
"collateral losses" must be accepted.
In war, perhaps, civilian losses may
be unavoidable. But this isn't a war,
yet. So far it has been a heavily armed
police action. A police action that is
A ■ m 7 • 7
Go to the back of the line
Here's the situation: you are at a
store and are in line to buy something.
The lady in front of you steps out of
line and off to the side to speak with a
friend. The cashier gestures to you and
takes your items. The lady, clearly not
in line, announces that she was next in
line.
Has this happened to you? Maybe
you're the person that steps out of line
expecting someone to let you hack in.
Mayhe you have dealt with a line cut
ter that wants to be with a buddy and
so cuts in front of you or the person
wanted something badly enough and
decided tocut in line (i.e. housing con
tracts). Maybe it's because I am short
and people think they can push me
around so they step out of line just to
see how far they can get. Well enough
step out of
Letter to the editor: former staff
member blows off steam
Over the past few weeks I have
been reading the Beacon. This may
seem like a shock to those who know
me because I've had my share of prob
lems with the Beacon. After reading a
few articles on the editorial pages, I
decided that I would write a letter to
express some disgust and anguish.
I would like to start with the March
25 edition of the paper. The column
titled Time to Complain really set me
off, so I am going to start there.
At this point it would help for me
to state that I was a member of the pa
per staff last and the previous year. And
I actually did try to help the newspa
per to become better and not suck.
However, each time I brought up an
idea or questioned changes, 1 was al
ways shot down. Why?
Part of it I admit was because I
didn’t always do it in the best possible
manner. When other staff members
agreed with me that they didn’t like
something or wanted to change some
thing, I was more than happy to bring
it up. I feel new ideas should have at
least been considered. When I did
bring up changes, I was told that they
were not going to be considered and
there was no further discussion.
I tried numerous times to bring up
changes, but each time I was told no.
So what happened to me and the oth
ers who spoke up? Well after making
a few attempts to change things
through my own stubbornness and by
refusing to go along with ideas I felt
were unrepresentative of the students’
desires, an example being the wire ser
vice articles in the paper. As a result
of my actions, I was asked to step down
from being an editor to being a writer.
I did so, not having much choice, be
cause I needed the credits.
This is what I saw happening. The
staff was afraid to go against what the
advisors said, because they didn’t want
Editorial
soon to be even more heavily armed
with the promise of U.S. Apache he
licopters and Bradley tanks to be de
ployed in a week or so if no peace
agreement can be met.
The bombings on Belgrade and
most recently Aleksinac are mistakes.
The refugees don't want to see city
infrastructures destroyed, they want
to go home. Imagine Rudolph
Guiliani expelling all of the native
born New Jerseyans to Newark.
What good would it do to bomb the
Brooklyn Bridge? Troops need to be
lined up along the Hudson River to
stop troops from the expulsion of an
innocent race. However it is too late
for NATO to take these actions
against Yugoslavia. While we were
line to talk to a friend, you're out of
luck, kid. The point is you WERE
next and now you are not. Go to the
back of the line.
Now if you're the person that is
forced to make the decision about let
ting this person back in line what do
you do? Do you decide against a con
frontation and let the person back in
line? Or, do you tell the person, "Hey
you stepped out of line, it's my turn"?
What is a person to do? I am very
bad at confrontation and would usu
ally let the person back in line. I don't
want to make trouble if it's unneces
sary. Then after all this time of doing
that, I realize my time is valuable and
it's time to tell it like it is.
In the same scenario, look at it
from the cashier’s point of view. Here
are two customers wanting to
m ■«-
to disrupt anything. They didn’t even
question, they just went along with
it. I didn’t go along with everything
and I admit I caused problems but
that was because I didn’t agree with
what was happening, so I was re
moved.
But, if changes were suggested
from the outside that were not liked
by some but by others would they be
considered? I tried to keep things in
mind that I thought students would
enjoy. So some people, including
myself did try to change the paper,
but when we did, well, we either
ended up quitting, or were demoted.
So please keep this in mind, change
not only has to come from outside,
but also from the inside.
The next topic I would like to dis
cuss are the pretty strong attacks on
housing over the past few weeks.
Now, I do agree with some of them,
but others I am just blown away by.
The reason is because I don’t think
people have made a fair attempt to
go to housing to ask why things are
done a certain way. If people asked
then they may not have as much to
complain about.
The example, the editorial column
What You Talkin ’ Bout Willis last
week. The author was talking about
having to be out of his room for
Spring Break. Now I know it can be
difficult for people who live far away,
but it is known at the beginning of
the year that you have to be out of
your room for certain breaks. The
sentence, “Now I’m sure that there
is a logical explanation for them kick
ing me out” can be answered in the
positive.
All that has to be done to answer
most of the questions brought up in
the editorial, is to go to Housing and
ask. I am sure they will be more than
happy to explain why they don’t al-
?tV\\W\SM
bombing miscellaneous cities,
Milosevic was completing his ethnic
cleansing, which he has just about
finished by now.
On Tuesday, the Serbs announced
a unilateral cease-fire in Kosovo,
now that they have removed most of
the Albanians from Kosovo.
Belgrade announced that it would
enforce the cease-fire through the
Eastern Orthodox Easter weekend,
beginning Tuesday. Another state
ment also promised to allow the re
turn of ethnic Albanians to Kosovo
sometime in the future. However,
nobody's surprised by this. "It's easier
to fight Milosevic when his troops
are on the rampage,” says Time U.N.
correspondent William Dowell. "By
purchases. The cashier sees you in
line and takes your purchases when
this lady announces she was next.
What are they to do? Are they to
believe the lady's word of being next?
Are they to say that they didn’t see
the lady and continue helping you?
The cashier that I dealt with recently
asked me if it was okay if she take
care of the other lady. I said okay.
The lady was checked out and then
went back to talking to her friend.
Maybe for problems like these we
should go to a "take a number,
please" way to conduct business. At
some delis and other places you take
a number and wait for it to be called.
When the number is called it's your
turn. Simple, all problems of line
cutters and ladies thinking they are
o
<=> •
o
w 9
low students on campus during
breaks or why there isn’t a
McDonald’s or Taco Bell on campus.
This lack of questioning leads me
to the third thought of this editorial.
Why people bitch about things they
could just as easily go and ask ques
tions and find answers to.
There have been two A view from
the lighthouse editorials making
some pretty strong accusations. One
was, once again, against housing and
the computer center was under attack
in the other. In one of the articles
they attacked housing for telling stu
dents to be off campus during breaks
and then handing out hotels in the
area. The other was about the laser
printer in the library and having to
pay for it.
Both of these articles ask ques
tions that can be answered. Ex
amples from the current, ’’Where was
the sense of logic?,” article about the
laser printer and printout cards are
Why can’t the card be bought in the
library? Why does it need to be
bought at Hammermill or the RUB
Desk? Well all that has to be done to
answer those questions is to go to the
computer lab and ask. I have done
it, why can’t you?
I have a feeling that if the
author(s) of both of these editorials
would have just gone and asked the
same questions of the right authori
ties they would have gotten answers.
However, if they did they probably
wouldn’t have had anything to write
about for the paper.
Lastly, I have one general ques
tion for the Beacon. Who does write
the A view from the lighthouse edi
torials? Numerous times I have heard
people talk about and wonder who
writes them. When I was on staff they
were supposed to be staff editorials,
meaning they represented the voice
TON STIJBBS
nothing
suing for peace he raises the po
litical pressure on NATO to settle
and make a bad deal. And the
way this has gone for the Kosovars
may make it harder for the allies to
maintain their bombing campaign."
So whether the bombing cam
paign worked or not ( we have yet
to find out), it was a bad strategy.
The ground war should not be
counted out just yet either. When
Milosevic backs out on this re
cently proposed agreement,
NATO's ego will step in and begin
bombing again.
Jon Stubbs is the features editor of the Bea
con. His column appears every three weeks.
SHANNON WEBER
well, maybe. Until that same lady
declares, she didn't hear her num
ber being called. Then we start
from square one.
There are a few exceptions I
would be willing to make. If the
person in front of me forgot some
thing and just asked me if I minded
if they ran back to get it, I would
wait and let them finish. Or if I
have the time to waste I would let
that lady step back in line to buy
her items. For the most part, though
enough is enough. That was the
last time I am letting it happen to
me. Line cutters, beware!
Shannon Weber is the news editor of the
Beacon. Her column appears every' three
of the whole staff, but they usually
ended up being just one or two
people’s opinion and not
everyone’s.
Now I think that out First
Amendment right is a great one and
that you should be able to bitch and
complain about whatever you
would like. But I also think if you
are not afraid to put your thoughts
in writing, that you should also not
be afraid to put your name on it. If
it is a staff editorial like in some
papers then alright, but even so,
grow some cahonies and put your
or the paper’s name on the edito
rial. The USA Today in their edi
torials at least puts the words, “Our
view,” near it. At least that way
people know who to respond to if
they write a response to the article.
I wrote an article about Greeks
and hazing last year. As if the sub
ject wasn’t bad enough not only
was it on the front page, but it was
also in the issue that went out dur
ing rush week. I thought that what
I was writing about was worth the
press. And, even though, I’m sure,
Greeks all across campus wanted
to kick my face in, I still put my
name on it.
So, if you have something to
say, be proud and admit that you
said it. If it is the whole staff’s view
say so, that is all I ask, because I
am sure readers would not mind
knowing who is the keeper of the
lighthouse.
Mike DeSantis
08 MIS