THE BEHREND BEACON The Behrend Beacon published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College News Editor Shannon Weber Features Editor Deanna Svmocki Wire Services Editor Angela Rush Advertising Managers Erin Edinger Carel' Smith Photo Editors Jeffrey Miller Kevin Bruner (assistant) Office Manager Brad Wirral 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. UMfillMl Monopoly's just not a game anymore... The recent sellout of Penn State to Microsoft, has all of us here a little bit worried. Apparently the courts hold the same opinion as us: that Mi crosoft is monopoly. Not that we are worried about the Mircrosoft, Bill Gates aspect of it, our concern is that now all the software here on campus is going to he supplied by Microsoft. Aren't there all ready enough mo nopolies here on campus? Look at the Pepsi monopoly. People that like Coke don't have much of a choice. So in Bruno's you can choose from Pepsi 0r... Pepsi. So, basically, if you are a student that prefers Macintoshs, you are out of luck. Not as much free software for you. Yes, that's right, Microsoft will now provide Penn State students with free software. We will only have to pay for shipping and handling. Un fortunately, as stated above, have a Mac and get less software. The money that Penn State made Voice your opinion! Send all letters to the editor to: behrcoll2@aol.com Editor-in-Chief Jason Snyder Managing Editor Michael Frawley Advisors Robert Speel Jim O'Loughlin Letter Poll( 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 5 p.m. Tuesday for inclusion in that week's issue. rom the ii off of these monopolies does not even directly benefit us here at Behrend. It mostly goes to the students at Univer sity Park. It's great that they get all that money for the football stadium, but why should we care about that? ft is really great that Penn State now offers us free software, but please, think about everybody. Let's see some of the effects of all that profit made on the "sellout". Editorial Page Editor Katie Galley Sports Editors Muir Viertel Craig Hazelwood (assistant) Calendar Page Editor Kim Lur k Business Manager Kriqine Harakar Associate Editor Liz Haves Distribution Manager .1111 Malt i The Beacon hthouse EDITORIAL Detours and Small Potatoes Your own personal Berlin Wall It was roughly ten years ago that the Berlin Wall came down. It was roughly one year ago that my per sonal Berlin Wall started coming down. Until a year or so ago, I con sidered myself a pretty tolerant per son. Then I came to Behrend. The anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall made me think about what it meant to me. The Berlin Wall separated one city into two parts. On each side of the wall, there was an entirely different culture. And when the wall came down, the two differ ent cultures mingled and merged and exchanged ideas and thoughts and believes. That's what happened when I came to Behrend. 1 was coming straight out of White Town, USA. Even the previous col lege that I attended had a majority of white people. And now that I look back, I realize that I was tolerant be cause I had never dealt with diver sity. And that is sad. Much like the Berlin Wall kept people from knowing each other, so oin me in rea Jesse Jackson should know better In a time when schools are no longer safe and people around the country try to find answers and solu tions to the problem of violence in our schools, the lesson we are being taught by the situation in Decatur, Il linois is one that I would hope our country will ignore. Rev. Jesse Jack son has taken a side on an issue that totally contradicts the ideas most Americans have fought for regard ing what should be done to stop the violence. We have always thought that in creased punishments towards the stu dents who are causing problems might be a deterrent towards the crime. So why is it that Jackson is suddenly against punishments that make a bold statement to students around the country. I have always agreed on the idea that "if you can't do the time, don't do the crime." I would think that a leader such as Rev. Jackson would agree with that. The students from Eisenhower High School were originally given a punishment restricting them from at tending a school in that district for two years. Maybe that was a little NATIONAL COMMENTARY Cheaters who will just pass by Susan Ager Knight Ridder Newspapers My editor's been on me to write about student cheating. Can I get away with saying I'm against it? Or do I have to work harder than that? Part of me envies stu dents who cheat because they earn points, grades and diplo mas that I worked harder for. Today, 80 percent of America's top high school students admit they've cheated. More than half call it no big deal. Only a handful ever got caught. I never cheated. When classmates hissed to me to tell them an answer, I self-righteously re fused, unwilling to share. In college, I knew about term-paper mills, but never used one. Instead I spent hours and hours in libraries, then more at my typewriter. I didn't cheat for the same reason I didn't shoplift: It seemed wrong, and I'd hate to have been caught. So I'm clean. But was I stupid? Stu dents who cheat have some admi rable qualities. For one thing, they NOVEMBER 12, 1999 Katie Galley did my proximity from the rest of the world. Sure, I had visited numer ous cities in the United States, how ever; I had not spent any real time with people who weren't white or had the same believes as me. Be hrend helped change that. I now have friends of all colors of the rainbow, and I have friends that have differ ent sexual preferences than me and different beliefs than me. And it's wonderful. Have you let your personal Berlin Wall down? By letting mine down I opened myself up to virtually a harsh. But now the punishment has been decreased to one year, and Jackson is still hesistant on letting these students get away with a slap on the wrist. If the students can't handle the punishments given to them by the Decatur School Board, then they shouldn't be irresponsible enough to go out and start a bleacher brawl at a high school football game. Why does Jesse Jackson feel the need to get involved with this issue. He is so against strict punishments, that he led thousands of protesters to Decatur last Sunday and held an other rally this past Tuesday at the Church of the Living God. Jackson, in front of the 500 pro figure out how to work the system. They're enterprising, finding term papers for sale on the Internet, stor ing answers to math exams on their calculators, concocting codes for their beepers. One 17-year-old girl "What can I get away with?" Do I need to stay at my in-laws longer than a half hour? Can I get by dashing off a one-page memo? Can I get away with ironing just the front of my shirt? I read about said she and her friends trade what they know, helping each other cheat, but think of it as "group learning." And, cheaters are practi cal. Why remember who built the pyramids, or who wrote the Feder alist Papers? What difference will those factoids make in your life? The 21st century is here. Any fact can be found on the Internet in 60 Galley is the Editorial Page , .. Editor for the r:\ Beacon. Her I col s umnappeare )1.-:) , • every three whole world of people and ideas. Having culturally diverse friends has nothing to do with being politically correct; it is about getting the most out of the world you live in. If you live your entire life with the exact same friends and views as you did when you were 12, how can you ex pect to grow and change as a person? I know that Erie is not the cultural hub of the universe, not even close. But college campuses in Erie are a great place to start looking for people different than you. The most obvi ous place to look here at Behrend would be the Multi Cultural Council office, or the MCC. Their title says it all. Look beyond the safe, comfort able ideas you have that are most likely unique to your circle of friends and take in some ideas that are new to you. You may learn to look at the world in a new way. Another way that you can broaden your horizons is to travel, even if it is only to another state. There are so many wonderful things and people testers at the church, forced the six students that are being punished to repeat the following statement: "We will not do that again. We'll behave, not fight. Study, develop our minds and do the right thing." They then apologized. I bet, that if we were to count how many times our parents forced us to "do the right thing," and compare that to how many times we actually followed their instruction, the balance would he heavily in the favor of us repeating the same act our parents "forced" us not to. Give me a break. Are we now sup posed to walk through prisons and have criminals repeat the same lame statement, then free them, thinking that criminals will actually take those words to heart? I think not. But ac cording to Jackson, these students aren't criminals. Ile feels that their acts of resisting arrest and endanger ing students is "something silly like children do." My God! If irrespon sible acts such as those can be justi fied by the Rev. Jesse Jackson him self, then we are in big trouble when today's youth , re leading this coun try. I thought today's leaders were seconds. You don't need to spell well, either, because Microsoft Word spells for you. So you cheat through the ridicu lous classes you have to pass for show, and save your brain for those that will shape your career. As I grew into adulthood, I realized nearly everybody cheats, but we call it other names. We call it beating the system. We call it exploiting the loopholes. We call it sparing our selves headaches. TV commercials promote using mixes for dinners that can pass as homemade. And plenty of people still don't wait until their row is in the world; why confine yourself to Erie or your hometown? Just be cause the government didn't build a wall around our town doesn't mean that we have to stay where we are comfortable. Experience things that you have never experienced before. Some of the best times I had were when I was away from my natural environment. The world is no longer black and white and we cannot continue to kid ourselves that we are the center of our own little universe. That men tality should have been left behind in high school. The citizens of east and west Ber lin were prohibited from learning anything about the world that was lit erally just a few feet from their own. Nothing is stopping you; there is no wall in front of you except your own. So knock it down and get out and experience the world and all the people in it. You really have no ex cuse. supposed to he setting a better ex ample than that. I always thought that intentionally trying to inflict harm upon others was wrong and against the law. Be ing a Reverend and all. I would think that Jesse Jackson, such a great leader in our nation, would have heard the preschool statement, "Do unto others as you would have done unto you." Shouldn't we he showing these students and other students in this country that there are some conse quences for causing school violence. If we give theM the opportunjty to just switch schools every time they act dangerously, then what will stop students from that sort of behavior? Why are giving them the privilege of having a big leader in this coun try defend them. Shouldn't we have a leader that shows the youth of America that they are responsible for their actions? Come on, Jesse. Let's start to do the right thing. Every thing isn't "something silly like chil dren do." Why don't you at least hack the schools, the law and the country on that one? win called. They haul huge bags onto the plane past personnel too weary to stop them. A dozen times a day, we ask ourselves: "What can I get away with?" Do I need to stay at my in-laws longer than a half hour? Can I get by dashing off a one-page memo? Can I get II away with ironing just the front of my shirt? If we're going to help our kids, we must be honest with ourselves: We're always looking for ways to do less than we know we ought to. So are kids. They want more for less, too, and they'll cheat if they're under pres sure to earn a grade they fear they can't by legitimate means That's when we must struggle with our children to define integ rity, and promote it. It's a tough sell, no more than a vague, good feeling at the end of a long, hard road. But every ounce of integrity adds up. Years later, long after the Federal ist Papers are forgotten, integrity spells peace of heart, and no com puter can spell that for you. PAGE 6
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