The Behrend -B 6? CIC OTTr^ Spring Fever causes controversy by Ayodele Jones managing editor Spring Fever! Spring Fever! Spring Fever is not only a era/.e that many experience with the onset of nice weather and the ending of classes, but it is also an annual event held here at Behrend. With growing anticipation, students look forward to this end of the year celebration, be cause it is a time to release: a time to release the culmination of anxiety and stress brought on by the semester and approaching finals. Spring Fever is set for Friday, April 23 from 6:30 p.m. to midnight. Performing live at this event will be the Pilfers. Push, and Brownie Mary. Unfoitunately this year's celebration has been the sub ject of complaints, particularly from students. Spring Fever gradually evolved from Battle of the Bands. It is an evening of music, food, and fun spon sored by many of Behrend’s student organizations including Interfrater nity Council, Panhellenic Council, Commuter Council, Lion Ambassa dors, Student Programming Council. Residence Life, Joint Residence Council, The Office of Student Ac- Work needed to make Behrend more handicap accessible by Danielle Marshall stall writer Behrend is considered to be a campus accessible to all students, whether they’re in a minority group or have a disability. All of the build ings on campus are accessible to dis abled students. Janique Caffie, Direc tor of Edu cational Eq- uity Pro- grams, stated, “The Reed Build- ing is acces sible from both grounds- the first and sec ond floors. We realize Handicap accessible doors in front of the Reed Union Building photo by Jason Blake that it is hard for those with disabili- “They need to put an elevator in the ties; however, it is accessible. We did Stair Tower and in Reed. Apparently, a feasibility study. For example, the they don’t want to spend money on disabled students can go out of the it.” All the residence halls are ac first floor of Reed and go up and cessible to students with disabilities around to the second floor. Based on because the back entrances do not the financial end and the question of have stairs. Most of the buildings are the appropriate location for an eleva- supplied with ramps for those in tor, the placement of an elevator in wheelchairs or mechanical chairs. the Reed building is now up for ques- The following buildings have au tomatic door openings: Dobbins, Reed, Otto Behrend, Nick, Academic, Engineering, Erie Hall, Hammermill/ Zurn, and Turnbull buildings. The Science building is on one level and the back doors have automatic open- Erie, PA 16563 The apartment quad tivities and the Student Activity Fee. The only thing lacking from this fun-filled evening is a location, and it is the location of Spring Fever which has sparked numerous debates among students and staff. The rea son for this debate is alcohol con sumption and the safety of students. The apartment quad has the highest concentration of twenty-one year olds, thus increasing the presence of alcohol. In the past, while partici ings that lead to the parking spaces for the disabled. On the other hand, one student feels differently about the issue. “The automatic door open ings arc useful when they work. They work most of the time, but sometimes they don't and that can be inconvenient." .staled Mike Nadolny. 03 EE. The following buildings have elevators: “ For the most part, our campus is accessible. However, there is a major separation between the dorms and the main buildings. I can’t get to Reed from Lawrence Hall with out getting on Jordan Road. I’m sup posed to get a ride to classes every day, but that can be inconvenient also disability cont. pg. 2 pating in Spring Fever, students would go from door to door, obtaining drinks from the various apartments in the quad. This presented a problem be cause underage students were drinking alcoholic beverages and the alcohol levels of some of the students in atten dance raised several questions of safety. Ken Miller, acting Dean of Student Affairs, justifies moving the site of Spring Fever because the apartment quads are in a less controllable envi CORE offers many opportunities for students by Nicole McGee staff writer A new organization has been introduced to Erie County, and its home base is right here on campus. The Center for Organizational Research and Evaluation (CORE) has been established with the help of an endowment from Mrs. Susan Hagen. Her generous $430,000 gift will be utilized by CORE to aid specificially in research and evaluation services for HtirtmurmilV Zurn, Erie Hall, Turnbull, teen pregnancy prevention agencies. But that’s not all CORE will do. CORE can provide services like data analysis, benchmarking, surveying, grant writing, or other research and evaluation methods for any agency. Because agencies do not always have the means or the funding to do this type of research on their own, CORE may become a valuable asset for not only pregnancy prevention agencies, but for Erie County in general. The newly established Erie County Network for Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention (ECNAPP) will serve as headquarters for the 37 teen pregnancy prevention providers in Erie County. CORE will work through ECNAPP in providing research services for all these providers. Thanks to Susan Hagen, the services for pregnancy prevention providers will be free of charge. Dr. Carl Kallgren, Associate Professor of Psychology, is the Acting Director of CORE. He and Susan Hagen are both devoted to the cause of teen pregnancy prevention, and therefore have established CORE as a vehicle to further those efforts. The services of CORE will not be Academic (Library), Engineer- ing com plex, and A 1 m y Hall. Nadolny stated, passed out Porcupine April 15, 1999 Volume XLVI- T No. 27 photo by Jason Blake Pro wrestling getting RAW on campus ronment and it is easier to enforce rules of safety in areas such as the Reed Back Patio, the lawn between Reed and Perry, and the Perry Bas ketball courts. “If alcohol use is more important than the music or event, then we have a major alcohol prob lem, one that I never suspected. It is no secret that underclassmen go the apartments on the weekends to drink. If you asked me, if there is drinking in the residence halls and the suites, I would say yes. Yet it is in these al ternative areas where we can mini mize and reduce the impact of alco hol.” Spring Fever is billed as a great campus wide event, and it is because of this that Miller and many others state they want to maintain an envi ronment of fun without sacrificing safety concerns On Thursday, April 8, the Stu dent Government Association held an open forum. Students spoke of their anger and frustration in regards to the location of Spring Fever. One stu dent claimed that, “Student activity is at an all-time low, and this is the one time that student involvement is high. Moving the location will just lower participation.” Spring Fever cont. pg. 2 limited to teen pregnancy prevention, however. Newly-hired Associate Director of CORE, Dr. Kimberly Skarupski claims, “CORE will be spearheading teen pregnancy prevention efforts in the community, but it was developed to offer research skills and evaluative services to local service agencies and industries.” Agencies and industries may be calling on CORE for a variety of reasons. Skarupski adds, “Some agencies may want information provided by CORE for their own good, [for example] Why aren’t consumers buying this product? Are my employees happy working here? Sometimes consumer evaluation is required by corporate offices. Or if an agency needs funding, we can help them try to find it." The CORE staff is presently made up of Dr. Kallgren, Dr. Skarupski, and Senior Research Technologist Jennifer Pelkowski. Because CORE is a brand new center, the staff is small, but they plan to do more hiring in the near future. Four students are also currently working with CORE, and there is room for Skarupski elaborates that “there are tremendous opportunities for students interested in working for us.” Pelkowski adds, “We have opportunities for internships, work study, wage/payroll, or independent study.” Through working with CORE, students have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience that may be helpful with their future career. C.O.R.E cont. pg. 2 deal PENN Benacci family contributes $500,000 for scholarship iy Mike Frawley assistant editor Recently a $500.000 donation was made hy Joseph Benacci to cre ate a new scholarship lor Bchrend students. This scholarship will he called the Joseph A. and Berit I. Benacci Family Scholarship. Benacci, who owns Dosworth Trucking. Transportation Services and Lake Erie Warehouse and Dis tribution Center, created the schol arship tor the employees of these businesses, and any money not used by them will be made available to others planning on attending Bc hrend. Benacci is also very active with Bchrend as a member of the Bc hrend Alumni Society Board, the board of directors of the Bchrend Council of Fellows, and Behrend's 50th anniversary committee. He is also a member of the Erie Confer ence on Community Development. The decision to create this schol arship was made by the entire Benaeei family. They felt it was a good way to give something back to the Erie community, where they have done business in the Erie area for the past 45 years. "We made the deci sion when everyone was gathered around the table last Thanksgiving. Men’s track nationally r . i ... Our family has been so blessed. We're al a point where it's time to give back to the community, and I’ve always had a soil spot in my heart for Behrcnd," Benaeei said. Raymond Benaeei. who is cur rently the president of the family cor poration, announced the creation ol the scholarship to his employees this ' past Friday, and a reception was hosted at Logan House by Dean and Provost Dr. John Ltlley on Saturday to announce the gift to the general public. Raymond Benaeei graduated from Penn State University Park campus, with a degree in business, ; in 1987, and Joseph Benaeei at- j tended Behrend in the 1950‘5, but ■ had to cut short his college educa- 1 lion because of the untimely death ; of his father. ! Dr. Christopher Reber, associ- j ate provost for Advancement and ' University Relations said. "Many of our students work between twenty and forty hours a week to support their education. The Benaeci's gift , will make a real difference in stu dents' lives..." The college will ad minister the scholarship on behalf of j the family. The guidelines for ap plying for the scholarship will an nounced at a later date.
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