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.