PAGE 2 THE BEHREND BEACON MARCH 17 2000 NEWS AND WEATHER Amnesty human rights forum by Mike Frawley managing editor "Human rights is something we all need to be concerned about, and do something about," stated Ray Morelli, the co-president of Amnesty International. Morelli's comments kicked off a discussion of human rights by a group of international students. This forum was held on Wednesday. March 15, at 7:30 p.m. in the Reed Lecture Hall and lasted a little over an hour. Nearly 40 students and faculty attended the forum. The goal of this forum was to, "allow Behrend students and faculty to appreciate the cultural backgrounds of Behrend students and how their lives have been affected by human rights violations," according to Morelli Four students spoke and answered questions about human rights: Ron Hayes for the United States, Question of WHY DO WE CELEBRATE ST. PATRICK'S DAY? "To celebrate different cultural backgrounds.- -John Williams, 06, Computer Engineering "To celebrate St. Patrick and his accomplishments." "My husband's family is Irish, so we really don't have much of a choice!" Chayanant Hongfa for Thailand, Rehab Elzeney for Egypt, and Moya Student speakers at human rights forum Mouline Odendaal for South Africa. Each student discussed the dilemmas of human rights in his or her country, with a following question and the Week -Jon Beckman, 04, DUS -Bev Coleman, Penn State Bookstore International holds "It gives you a good reason to wear green and celebrate four-leaf clovers." -Jen Kuntz, 02, DUS "Because it was when St. Patrick drove out all the snakes in Ireland.- -Robin Dayley, 04, Film and Video answer period for listeners to address questions to any of the speakers being. Each student touched on the major human rights issues that are currently affecting his or her respective country. Some of the topics that were discussed included the use of the death penalty in the United States, the 1992 military coup and prostitution in Thailand, women's rights in Egypt, and the after affects of apartheid and the AIDS epidemic in South Africa. Amnesty International is an organization that is involved with many issues around the world, including such topics as human rights abuses, freeing political prisoners, and increasing awareness of these and other problems. The Amnesty International organization is relatively new on campus. It holds meetings on Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. in Reed 112. Anyone interested is encouraged to attend. Additional information about Amnesty International is available from their website www.amnesty.com. A complainant reported witnessing vandalism in the Stair Tower. A complainant asked an officer to meet him at the Perry Hall Lobby. The complainant reported more vandalism in Perry Hall. Someone found that the wooden barricade at the end of Overlook Drive had the top two sections of wood broken in half again. M&O will be notified. A complainant reported being harrassed by his roommate A duty officer was dispatched to the area near Engineering for a "Man with a Gun" call 3/5/00 A faculty member reported cleaning up a small mercury sill in one of the fume hoods in H4OD. The faculty member stated there was no pending hazard, but was concerned about the circumstances involving the spill. A student asked if he could legally stage a protest against a staff member. An officer contacted the Chief of Police and the Director of Student Affairs. 3/12/00 A suspended student vehicle was parked in the S Lot. It was towed by TM and issued state citation A 5295077-4. 313/00 An officer discovered a misuses of a permit 3/14/00 n I . •Id ey to e au ) • . 'see I y ), sy 3/14/00 A staff member reported that the Lion Cash machine in the Reed Building was hit by a student. The student reportedly hit the machine with a fist and caused damage to the LCD Read Out. 3/15/00 Police And Safety R EPOR T: ‘‘l, Do 0 0