The Behrend Beacon
A View From The Lit
Hey man. Got a chode?
Just imagine a beautiful spring
morning here on Behrend campus.
The sun glows all around outside as
morning reaches noon, the wind is
blowing only a little bit, the
temperature is warm enough for no
jacket, and as you leave the
Academic Building full of good
feelings you open the door to breathe
a nice fresh breath of ...smoke! ?
Your nose cringes, you hold your
breath, and you quietly walk through
the cloud of smoke that encompasses
the entranceway. Then, as you
briskly walk to Hammermill for your
next class, you manage to inhale a
few whiffs of fresh air before two
people in front of you expel a cloud
of smoke from their lungs, hitting you
in the face. You decide to walk
around them. As more second-hand
gases bombard you, you notice all
along the sides of the freshly cut
grass lie many cigarette butts.
"Disgusting..." you think.
Well, if you never have been in
that scenario, perhaps this one fits
As class nears end, you quickly
pack up your books and put your pen
in your pocket. Walking through the
halls of Academic Building, you pull
a small package out of your
backpack and hit it many times on
your hand. As you make it outside
you pull a yellow 99-cent Bic lighter
out of your pocket and pop a
Marlboro in your mouth. Within 4
minutes, you are almost done with
it. A buddy of yours walks up and
says, "Hey man, got a chode?" You
say, "Sure. We have about 5 minutes
‘till class. "
If you can relate to the first
scenario, then you probably
wouldn’t mind if smoking was
banned on campus. However, it'
you're the kind of person that needs
smokes, limiting your areas of
freedom could cause quite a ruckus.
We at the Beacon would like to see
Behrend as a smoke-free school. Not
only would the grounds be free of
used cigarettes, your lungs would be
cleaner as well. It’s not as easy a
plan as it sounds, we know. But is
there potential for such a regulation?
We would like to think it can and will
happen someday.
Smoking is on the rise for college
students. There has been a 2891
increase between 1993 and 1997
according to a Harvard University
study. Why is smoking increasing
among college students? Because
more high school kids are starting the
habit at an early age, and they’re
becoming addicted. Why are they
The Behrend Beacon
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
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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
dal Informah
'hthouse
starting? Well, we won’t dive into
the issues of adolescence during this
editorial, hut most of vou know how
it was in high school - it was the
“in" thing to do. What starts out as
a show for friends becomes a
lifelong habit
- a gross one
What we don't understand is how
many of you like to actually pay
money to live a shorter life. Chodes
are expensive today. What are they,
like $3.00 a pack? Smoke 2 packs a
week? That's $24 a month, almost
$3OO a year, at least! There is also
risk for lung and heart diseases. Just
drop the habit. Save yourself time
and money.
If breathing in the smoke isn't bad
enough, it is quite bothersome that
students aren't responsible enough
to put their chodes out in the proper
places. At least if you are going to
have the nerve to breathe your
smoke in other's laces, have the
courtesy to put the cigarette out in
the butt cans placed all around
campus. If your going to smoke,
smoke responsibly. If there is such
a thing.
Patty McMahon, director of the
Health and Wellness center here on
campus, believes that people may
need some help when it comes to
calling it quits. She says, "support
for smokers to break this addiction
and to prevent others from ever
starting this very addictive habit is
essential to developing a healthier
community." She believes that
smoking should be banned inside
buildings, but should be allowed
outside. "Yes. smoking has been
proven to cause many serious health
problems, but also important is the
individual’s right to choose." That
is a very valid point, the individual’s
right to choose. However, some
colleges banned smoking all over
campus. Although there are not
many like it yet, Lafayette College
has banned smoking both indoors
and out.
So, maybe someday Behrend will
be a smoke-free campus, hut as for
now, those of us who don't smoke
are just going to have to "suck-it
up."
Editor-in-Chief
Jason Snyder
Managing Editor
Michael Frawlex
News Editors
Liz Ha\es
Karl Benacci
Editorial Page Editor
Katie Galley
Features Editors
Katie Przepvsznx
Doufi Smith
Sports Editor
Matt Wiertel
Calendar Page Editor
Nicole Greene
Photo Editors
Jeff Miller
Kevin Brunei (assistant)
Associate Editors
l.ibbie Johnson
Reeky Weindorf
Rob Wynne
r Pol
encourages letters to the editor.
Letters should include the address,
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major of the writer. Writers can mail
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must be received no later than 5 p.m.
Tuesday for inclusion in that week’s
Editorial
A farewell to
Month, you’ve
I was looking through my latest Jane
magazine when it arrived the other day
and you know who was on the cover?
Monica Lewinsky. You know who was
on the back cover? An 85 pound Calvin
Klein model in practically no clothing.
Then suddenly, something occurred to
me. March is National Women's
History Month. Yeah, it Hew by for me
too. Why did an ex White House intern
and a skinny waif make me think of
that? I have to say that it was the stark
contrast of body appearance between
the two and how society views these
women
Like most people I spent the month
of March completely forgetting that it
is the month that we celebrate the
achievements of women throughout
history. Why did 1 forget about it?
Maybe because there has been nothing
monumental done by women to bring
it to my attention in the past 5 years or
so. Don’t get me wrong, I am sure that
somewhere, some woman is curing a
disease or breaking a new world record.
I know that it happens everyday. It just
doesn’t get noticed that much anymore.
Why ? I feel it's because of all the latest
images of women that we are
bombarded with through the media.
Join Me In Real!
Live in a more diverse world...away from Erie
You hear complaints about the city
of Trie all the time. "There's no good
radio stations here." "There's nothing
to do in this crappy town. Hie lake
is a polluted, seaweed filled, zebra
mussel plagued mass of dirty water."
And there's even the concept that we
have lour seasons called ‘almost
winter.' 'winter.' 'still winter' and
'construction.' But, to me, all these
conceptions about our "mistake by the
lake" are nothing compared to the
lack of diversity in this city and the
hateful results of this culture.
This past semester of classes for ne
has probably made me think more
about racism than anything I have
ever experienced before. I have had
many discussions in class about
different people's views about racism,
which have broadened my
understanding about the issue. You
hear views of people that come from
different parts of this slate and even
this country. It is amazing to see how
different those views are; based solely
on the area someone is from.
I recently experienced this concept
first hand. In a trip to Washington
D.C. a few weeks aao, I entered a
TheWa
It’s time for a change
Last week’s Sunday issue of the Erie
Times-News initiated an in depth re
port on the state of the education sys
tem in the Erie area. The report dis
played various statistics from each
school district and gave readers the
ability to look up the salaries of any
teacher employed in the 17 school dis
tricts covered.
While reading the various reports
and statistical data, I decided that now
was the time to bring the public back
to reality.
According to the statistical data,
each pupil enrolled in the public school
system costs the taxpayers $6,000 on
average. Teachers also claim a large
portion of the tax dollars per year. In
this region, all districts are currently
paying their instructors above the na
tional average salary of $38,509. The
Millcreek school district compensates
teachers quite nicely by sending them
home with an average salary of
$46,941 per year. Not too bad for nine
and a half months of work, five days a
week, with all national holidays off.
Now I've heard all of the stories
from teachers saying how the kids are
so terrible these days and that they
aren't making enough money. I didn’t
buy it then and I hope that you don’t
buy that rhetoric either. I understand
that sometimes teaching is strenuous
work that involves working on papers
until the wee hours of the morning, but
The Beacon
March 31, 2000
If you were to look through my Jane
magazine, you would see about 20-30
pages of anorexic looking female
models. Now, I don't know about you.
but I do not look like that. And I don’t
know too many women that do.
However, that is how females are
portrayed in television, print and plenty
of other mediums that it makes me sick.
Not only do the portrayals make me
sick, but the women that buy into this
pseudo-persona make me ill too. If I
have to hear one more girl sitting in
Bntno's whining that her legs are too
fat, or that she gained 2 pounds, I'm
going to go postal. None of us look like
the women in the magazines, not even
the actual women! So deal with it. Do
you think that Tyra Banks or Rebecca
It On
if you don’t feel that you make enough
money try your luck at some other pro
fession. What right-minded employer
will allow you to have union protec
tion, nearly a quarter of the calendar
year off, and still pays you above
$40,000 per year? No one.
This issue requires more analysis
though. Many people, I being one of
them, are dumbfounded when they see
teachers go on strike demanding
higher wages. What in God’s (sorry
can’t say that in public schools) name
could they want when they already
have it so good? Not only do they ask
for more money by going on strike
they hold the taxpayers and school
district hostage. It’s time for taxpay
ers to say that enough is enough. The
next time teachers go out on strike, I
say fire them all, the whole lot of them.
School districts and taxpayers
mall Pi
National Women’s History
come a long way baby.
society much different than Erie's. I
always heard about how dangerous of
an area it is and how to watch out for
the piek-pockcters. What I found in
my week there was something much
different. I found a city with many
different people: blacks, whites,
Asians, homosexuals and almost
every other lifestyle you can imagine.
Everywhere you go everyone you see
is different. It is as if you are forced
to look at people as individuals. You
don't see minorities and majorities.
You see a diverse group of people
going against every stereotype this
city's culture has portrayed upon you.
I have to admit that I have not
always been clear in my views
Romijn Stamos look like that when
they get up in the morning? Nope.
They pay people hundreds, sometimes
even thousands of dollars to help them
look like that every day. If I had that
type of money, I could look like that
too. Unfortunately, I have to pay to
attend college, so I can go and get a
real job someday, so I am stuck with
the body that I have. And it’s not such
a horrible thing, you know, being stuck
with the body that you have. There are
more terrible things that I can think of
than having a pudgy tummy or flabby
thighs. Get over yourselves.
The most frightening thing though
is the fact that young girls, even girls
in early elementary school have been
heard muttering the line, “I’m too fat.”
That is beyond scary to me. When did
we turn into a society that judges
people on how much they weigh? I
blame Twiggy, the 60’s model that
invented anorexia. I blame Barbie too.
For nearly 30 years now, Barbie has
been teaching little girls all over the
world that to be their best they have to
be tall and skinny with unusually perky
breasts. Go Barbie.
How do we, as a society go about
teaching the newest generation of little
towards blacks. I used to have
arguments with people, trying to
understand how people could judge
an individual based solely on the
color of their skin. I’ll even be daring
enough to say that my views towards
blacks changed when I got a job and
rarely worked with anybody of a
different race. I automatically
assumed that blacks are lazy and rely
on the government to pay their way.
But what I saw in Washington D.C.
was something different. There were
some blacks dressed in suits and ties,
involved in the fast paced business
world. There were some serving
food, driving buses and selling
clothes. There was even a young
black boy standing by a metro station
selling The Washington Post to
people that passed by. I saw my
belief that blacks are lazy diminish
in front of my eyes. I began to
understand that you can’t judge a
group of people until you see the
entire picture. And believe me, living
in Erie does not give you the entire
picture.
Besides discussions in class and
my educational trip to our nation’s
tit To Be
shouldn’t have to fear teachers and
their unions. We pay their salaries,
and we have every right to take them
away. But due in part to various laws,
this drastic action never can material-
Another point, public educators are
constantly crying that the education
system doesn’t receive nearly enough
funding to provide adequate education
to the masses. The last time I checked
my parents were still paying school
taxes even though their children never
attended a class at a public school.
The reality is that public schools are
given money for students that don’t
attend their schools.
With that being said, where do edu
cators think that this new money will
come from? Do they think that tax
payers will generously give their hard
earned money to a system that should
have more than adequate funding?
God forbid the teachers take a pay
cut instead of taxing the working pub
lic to death. If the teachers were re
ally in this profession to teach and
were always looking out for the
children’s best interest, then they
should be refusing the automatic pay
increases that are given to them. But
they don’t, and why is that? Truth
fully, some teachers don’t give a two
penny damn about the students and
milk the system for all that it is worth.
Others think that the government has
girls that we are all different and have
different looking bodies? For one thing
the ads in magazines have to stop. Of
course, that is really unrealistic of me
to expect. Modeling agencies are going
to keep hiring the emaciated looking
teenage girls, and they are going to keep
sending them to the photo shoots for
the magazines. So maybe we should
attack Mattel, for their production of
Barbie Dolls. Wait, wasn’t there
supposed to be a Barbie that was more
“realistic looking” with wider hips and
bigger legs? Sure the concept was nice,
but did they even get around to making
the mold for the doll? I doubt it.
So what is the answer? Ban diet pills?
Burn all the Barbies? Boycott the
magazines that use models that look
like they haven’t eaten in more than a
month? Stop watching Ally Mcßeal?
Smash all the airbrushing guns that
decrease the size of the supermodel s
thighs further? No, probably not. I
know that the only way that we can save
the girls and women all over the world
is to help them look at themselves as
beautiful. How do I propose to do this?
Until we can get rid of all the
supermodels, your guess is as good as
mine is.
capital, I have also experienced an
event that, quite frankly, scared me. 1
made the mistake of listening to a talk
radio show. If I haven’t said enough
already, I will continue. After a series
of events, I found myself featured as
a guest on one of those morning radio
talk shows, trying to put to an end to
some hateful views by local citizens.
Much to my surprise, I saw Erie at its
worst, bashing people for daring to be
different and fearing homosexuals that
supposedly have some sort of an
“agenda.” I was frightened to see that
Erie citizens are so against a group of
people that they would actually pick
up the phone to call the radio station
and share their hateful message.
I challenge the students of Behrend
not to get wrapped up in Erie’s hateful
society. See the real world. Not the
selfish and racist views of people that
don’t understand that everything in
this world isn’t like Erie.
I am quickly beginning to believe
that I would rather live in a city known
for violence than to be imprisoned in
a town with angry and racist people
that corrode my mind with hateful
messages.
infinite resources at their disposal,
wrong answer there chief.
Take the Erie school district for ex
ample. Some 66% of its enrollment
comes from low-income families.
Families, I might add, that do not con
tribute as many tax dollars to the sys
tem as an average or middle income
family does. The money simply isn’t
there for the school district to justify
paying teachers these outrageous
wages. Wages that are not based on
student performance or test scores, but
which are based on the number of years
the teachers are in the system.
This high tax burden on the middle
income families will force parents to
choose the public schools, and only the
public schools. Parents who currently
can afford to send their children to pri
vate or parochial schools will have no
choice but to send their kids to public
schools. The new influx of students,
will put even more pressure on the pub
lic system to cut teacher salaries or sac
rifice the education of the children.
It’s time for the citizens of this fine
metropolis to realize that things aren’t
what they seem. What we need are
some leaders that will make the tough
choices and have the vision to fix these
problems before they ever occur. 1
think now is the time to take a serious
look at a Metro school district, before
the entire education system in this area
collapses.
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