A View From The Lighthouse
Behrend, we're totally
dope!
Did you know that Behrend is
a 'hot' and 'trendy' place to go to
school? Hey, stop laughing, it re
ally is...at least according to the
Kaplan/Newsweek College Cata
log 2001. Ah, are you lost yet?
()k, here's the short version. High
school guidance counselors were
asked questions about local col
leges. 1,100 colleges were pro
filed for things like academics,
tuition dollar value, and best ca
reer services and, much to the
shock of the Beacon, Behrend
was on the top 25 list several
times. There were a dozen or so
different categories that Behrend
placed in.
Enough snickering everybody,
we are on that list, we swear it.
Out of 40 'hot' and trendy'
schools, Behrend was in the top
ten. We rule. We should he proud
Of our academic institution.
Think of all the things that
combined together to make our
college 'hot' and 'trendy'. It
wasn't just one thing that pro
pelled us onto that list. It was
everything on this campus. The
things that the official list says
makes us, well you know, are "se
lectivity. reputation and social
life - (cough, cough), yeah, the
social life part got us too. But if
you think about it, it's true, well,
partially true anyway. Behrend
doe, seem to have an active so
cial life...at times. You know the
times we speak of...the week
classes start when everyone is
buying books, the week that ev
eryone is selling hack books and
the noon lunch hour at Bruno's.
Those things are 'hot' and
'trendy,' right'? Sure they are.
Now the only problem is that
Behrend has to live up to that
'hot' and 'trendy' reputation. And
considering the things that we
figured to be 'hot' and 'trendy,'
that shouldn't he too hard...in
theory.
THE BEHREND BEACON
published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
Editor-in-Chief
ifISIM Snyder
Managing Editor
Michael Frawley
News Editor
Li thoes
Editorial Page Editor
Kane Galley
Features Editors
Karl Benarei
Jermame Hardy
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Drunn~i Slnn~~ki
Sports Editor
Doug Smith
Wire Service Editor
Rob VV,eirtt
Calendar Page Editor
NiCOle Greene
Photo Editors
Jeff Miller
Becky Weindorf
Associate Editor
Libbie Johnson
Copy Editor
Paige Miles
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.
Post 11 In
Let's think of some things that
could spice up Behrend, (refer
to the Question of the Week). On
campus bar, adult dinner theater,
food court? Hum, none of those
things seem especially realistic.
Fun, yes; in the near future, no
way. And nobody in the Beacon
office wants to be the one to
walk into Dean Lilley's office to
propose all those things.
The thing to really be proud
of though is the fact that the 'hot'
and 'trendy' list did not include
Penn State, main campus. Now
that shouldn't mean that we
should he chanting, "haha, we're
better than Happy Valley," be
cause we arc all one big happy
family.
Honestly then, what put us on
that list'? Was it our Greek sys
tem. our clubs and organizations
or our active student govern
ment'? Yeah, probably. Does
anyone believe it yet though?
Probably not. That's line too, the
point is that we made it. And
hopefully we'll make it again in
future years. Let's just hope that
the administrators and 'higher
ups' that we never actually see
on our campus don't put the
kibosh on our hip and rockin'
school. Let's keep it the way is
supposedly is, one more time ev
eryone, 'hot' and 'trendy'!
Advertising Manager
Kim Turk
Business Manager
Kristine Harakal
Office Manager
Kevin Bruner
Public Relations Manager
Ainslie Ulmer
Secretary
Melissa Proba
Advisor
Robert Speel
r Poli
The Beacon
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.
EMIM
Quit talking in codes Beacon
Fo the "editor
I believe that I speak for a large but voiceless
group of students at Behrend when I say: SPARE
US! Please, if there is nothing tc write about, or if
no Beacon columnists have anything original or
worthwhile to say, don't publish the paper. I
thought I was going to lose my lunch while read
ing the Beacon last year, as I read article after ar
ticle of poorly thought out and poorly written right
wing garbage, week after week. Please, save Food
& Housing the expensive, and my dormmates the
Dean Lilley corrects the Beacon
Kristin, a clarification
The Lion design of which you wrote is the offi
cial design for the Nittany Lions, University Park's
athletics program. That program is Division I
NCAA and a member of the Big Ten.
The Lion design for the Behrend Lions athletics
program makes use of the approved university
wide design, and that is the logo that belongs on
all of our campus publications and signs.
The Behrend Lions have their own membership
in the NCAA, Division 111. and are founding mem
bers of the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Con
ference (AMCC). I am sure the University Park
athletics program would not object to our use of
Crying w01f...
O wretched fool, That livest to make thine Beyond the
honesty a vice!
0 monstrous world! Take note, take note, 0 Colored Lzg,
Liz Haves
world,
To be direct and honest is not safe.
I thank you for this [lesson], and from hence
I'll love no friend, [since] love breeds such
offense . . .
I should be wise, for honesty's a fool,
And loses that it works for
Okay, so now that I've lost 99 percent of readers
by opening my editorial with a quote from Othello,
let me tell you what said quote means to me: we
now live in a society in which being honest is often
a crime; in which people have to pick every work
with such precision that spontaneity is lost; in
which we prefer people to lie nicely rather than
speak honestly. (If you want a better interpretation
of this quote, see an English professor.)
Basically, I'm talking about freedom of speech
and why it ' s really not that free. Or, why speaking
freely can get your butt sued quicker than just about
any crime I can name off the top of my head.
Communications majors, I apologize now, but I'm
about to launch into the 400t h debate on freedom
of speech that you will encounter here at Behrend.
I recently was watching a special on 60 Minutes
about sexual harassment in the work force, and I
must say that it made me sad. Now, I'm all for
making life as difficult as possible for guys, but I
think we've gone too far. The show mentioned
some rules that had been added to college policies
regarding harassment. One rule mentioned
something about not eating, chewing, or licking
provocatively in front of others, and the
commentator said that he hoped students at that
school were never hungry or had dry lips.
I understand the basic concept here, and as a girl
I can appreciate the need for harassment
regulations, but how can you possibly enforce those
regulations? I find one phrase or action offensive
when no one else that I've ever met does. Does
, •
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.......... ......,..„ .., _..... ......_ ....e.....
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 200
stench, by never publishing another issue. I'd rather
see the money go towards any number of programs,
including (but not limited to) Free Taco Night.
Katie Galley's cryptic rant about who-knows-what
in the September Ist Beacon honestly makes me
want to cry. Please, oh please, spare every member
of the Behrend community further embarrassment
and shame by either killing or fixing the paper. I
am surprised that the University has not cut funding
due to the simple fact that, with great consistency.
their logo, but why would we use their logo when
we have our own logo?
I hope our students will pull for the Behrend Li
ons and the Nittany Lions, but particularly the Be
hrend Lions. The Behrend Lions (including ath
letes, cheerleaders, pep band, dance team, the Be
hrend Lion, and coaches) received a lot of student
support last year, and I hope they'll get even more
this year.
Concerning the branch campus designation, Be
hrend hasn't been one since 1973 when it became a
college. Before that time, our faculty were a part of
the UP colleges, and, hence, our campus was a
that make it
harassment?
What if
everyone
else finds a
comment
directed at me to be harassing, but I don't. Do I still
press charges for harassment? Who determines what
crosses the line?
Pretty soon we will have to have separate offices
and classrooms to divide the sexes because every
time a guy looks funny at a girl he's going to get
sued. You had to adjust your contact? Tough I
found that look to be highly derogatory. You said
you liked my outfit? Well, I think I heard sarcastic
undertones in there and I'm reporting you for
commenting on my clothing in an insulting fashion.
Why do I care? Pretty soon (if we aren't there
already) there will be so many lawsuits floating
around, none will be taken seriously. So many girls
have cried "Wolf — that we no longer listen. And
then, when I really see the wolf and get fired for not
doing a Lewinsky for my boss, who's going to listen
to me? My complaint will be thrown into a pile of
complaints that could fill the courtyard of the
Pentagon and I will be down on my knees in order
to get a job. Ooops, did you find that offensive? I
was only trying to be honest.
The same thing goes with profanity and obscenity
who gets to draw the white line between what's
acceptable and what's not? I don't care if some girl
wants to gyrate her hips on a stage in Kandy's I
don't plan on watching her do it. So I say let her go
for it. I find Eminem's lyrics highly offensive, but I
don't shell out the 18 bucks for his cd, and I turn the
the Beacon is just unreadable. I can hardly
stand it any longer. If I read one more rant
about the downfalls of General Education
from a MIS major, or another editorial de
claring that people living on food stamps are
"living a life of luxury off the government",
I am offing myself.
Jason Leto
branch of those colleges. When Behrend
College was created over 25 years ago, we
ceased to be a branch campus.
I like that cheer, "We are. . . Penn State,"
and I also like its local tag line, "Behrend...
Yes." It speaks to our unity as a university
and our pride in Behrend. Thanks for mak
ing the Behrend Beacon an increasingly in
teresting student newspaper.
Provost and Dean
This letter I.s in nifernee to Kristin Rodgers' col
umn in the September I issue 0 . 1 the 1301C011.
dial when he's on the radio. I know he's out
there, but I don't have to hear his message it .
I don't want to, and I don't. I don't believe
in the KKK, but when they come to speak in
Erie I'm not going to protest. I just won't
go. If no one shows up, they will have
defeated themselves. If all 300 residents of
Erie show up to protest, then they will get
free advertising on the local stationc
Last year I recall an argument we had in
the Beacon office about Joe Rocker from the
Braves and his little tirade on the residents
of NYC. Some of us thought that he should
never have been allowed to say the things
he did; others thought they were glad he did
say it because he screwed himself. I didn't
have an opinion then, but I' ve thought about
it, and I agree with the second argument. I'm
glad he said what he did because now we all
know what a bigot he is. What if the KKK
never went public with their views? What if
they instead had secret meetings in the gorge
and no one on this campus knew they
existed? I think that idea is scarier than
knowing their fubar ideas.
So how do we fix it? Hell if I know! We
need harassment regulations, but how do we
stop people from abusing them? Some girl
gets dumped by her boyfriend and next thing
you know she's doing the revenge bit and
filing suit because he made unwanted sexual
advances (yeah right). We need to make sure
our children aren't hearing profanity on
Barney, but we also need to have the freedom
to say what we really think. If we make too
many rules limiting obscenity in speech, we
will be left with a vocabulary of about three
words, and people will be sending letters to
the editor because I used the word poop in
my editorial. My suggestion is to chill, puffy
cheeks.