71. , View From The Lighthouse Get in the ring and show us what you' made of! Vince McMahon and his World Wrestling Federation are at it again. And what are they doing now? No, they are not creating a more "extreme" baseball league or taking over more network television. Rather, they are crossing the U.S., registering thousands upon thousands of mostly young American citizens to vote. But even more important than that is the WWF's attempt to get their fans involved. Not just in the voting process, but in the issues that young people face in this elderly-dominated country. So the WWF has invited Al Gore and George W. Bush to take center stage in front of the millions and millions of wrestling fans that watch Smackdown every Thursday night. The candidates could share their plans for young Americans in front of a large number of them. Sure, the candidates are already involved in some debates. But how many of those debates are watched by high school and college students? We'll tell you...very few. All we hear about in the news are issues that affect the parents and the elderly. It used to be that presidential candi dates could get away with that type of campaigning. But when the WWF's Smackdown Your Vote campaign is over with, over 100,000 new voters will be registered and ready to make their voice heard. And that's only a small percentage of wrestling fans that actually signed the WWF form. Just think of the possibilities and power that young adults can have in this country if politicians are forced to make decisions that benefit them. And that presence that young THE BEHREND BEACON published weekly by the students of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College Editor-in-Chief Jason Snyder Managing Editor Michael Frawley News Editor Liz Hayes Editorial Page Editor Katie Galley Features Editors Karl Benacci Jermaine Hardy Arts & Entertainment Editor Deanna Symoski Sports Editor Doug Smith Abby Long (assistant) Wire Service Editor Rob Wynne Photo Editors Jeff Miller Becky Weindorf Associate Editor Christine Kleck Copy Editor Paige Miles • • e • • Alm 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. voters are making should be forcing our presidential candi dates to at least respond to the WWF's Smackdown Chal- lenge, putting the two candi- date in a debate with Jesse "the Body/Mind" Ventura as the moderator Despite how controversial the wrestling business is, this goes beyond the mat and the wrestling personalities inside the ropes. This is politics and a perfect forum for our presiden tial candidates to speak to the youth of this nation. Millions of young eyes are guaranteed to watch, and take to heart the words spoken by these candi dates. Now maybe the wrestling environment might not be the best, but let's face it. Politics are less popular in this country than flamenco dancing. Some thing needs to bring interest. And you can bet that any debate with Ventura as the moderator will bring interest We know that the Smackdown Challenge might be a bit extreme. But the message here is that something needs to change. Our presiden tial candidates need to get with the times and talk about the issues that affect all Americans, not just the people that vote. Politics in 2000 are different than they were 100 years ago. So why do we still follow the same campaigning techniques? Al and "W," make the change and Smackdown your issues. Money Page Editor Amortya Sinha Advertising Manager Kim Zuck Business Manager Kristine Harakal Office Manager Kevin Bruner Public Relations Manager Ainslie Ulmer Secretary Melissa Proba Advisor Robert Speel Letter Porcy: 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 Edit NOW MAT? •r'ftl cd4 Defending Palermo Realty Dear editor We recently received a copy of an article writ ten in the Behrend newspaper. We do acknowledge we did have some confusion during the student move in at Brookwood Village. Brookwood is a (148) unit complex and is 100% occupied. Unfor tunately some of the previous tenants did not re turn the units that were rented to college students to us in move-in condition. We did have to sched ule maintenance, after some of the units were oc cupied. We have made every effort to respond to the needs of our tenants, students or otherwise. As a result of the way the student move-in was handled, we have made staffing changes at the Brookwood project. We apologize for any incon venience our residents may have had, and we will continue to do our best to provide a high quality environment for all of our residents. After reading the article, we believe we need to specifically ad dress some items that we take exception with. The following is our response: 1.) Every group of students who followed our producers and were approved was provided an apartment. In the case of Miss Wise the deposit check to hold the apartment did not clear the bank. We made several calls to have the check replaced, when no response was made, the apartment was put back on the rent roll. 2.) Palermo Realty is not biased against college students. We welcome the student housing mar ket, and currently have over one hundred units in our inventory rented to college students. We be- Who's paying for this anyway? In ancient Greece, if college students felt that a professor Detours and wasn't living up to the academic *OP Small P standards that they needed, they otatoes 44•44` had the right to get them fired. Katie Galley The philosophy then was that "we are paying for this , , education, we should be able to call the shots." As wonderful as that philosophy sounds, it wouldn't work here at Behrend...because we don't live in ancient Greece. However, the central core of the idea sounds great. Now I am in no way saying that we students should have absolute control over our every move here at school, I have a bad feeling that it would turn into survival of the fittest for the professors...or at least, survival of who gives the least amount of homework. The power that would rest in the hands of the students would be too much, the power too great and tempting. Just imagine the situations that could unravel from that power trip...the scale would slowly start tipping in favor of the students. It would probably start small, changes in the menu at Brunos, more computers in the library, all really good ideas...but out of power grows greed. Soon it would be giving professors the old heave-ho for something like a 10-page paper being due on a Monday. Bars and pubs would start taking over the construction sites on Jordan Road. Ok, ok, I admit that those were probably the worst case scenarios. But you have to admit now that we are lucky that we have administrators that take care of all that stuff, none of us have the time to take care of that. Truly, thank you Dean Lilley. Wait a minute though, let's get back to that "we are paying for this" approach. It makes sense in LETTERS TO THE EDITOR lieve we provide the most off campus housing in the Erie area. We have not only provided college housing hut last year we opened up "Papa Joe's Cof fee House", at 402 West Bth Street, geared specifi cally for the college crowd. However in our apart ments we have rules about behavior that not only apply to students hut to non-students as well. We will not tolerate a pattern of misbehavior and that goes for all of our residents. Any resident who does not respect their neighbors will face the conse quences. 3.) The only record we have of any students be ing delayed for a two week period was handled in as efficient manner as possible. When the unit in question was returned to us, the day before the new tenants moved in, we discovered it was in very bad shape. This townhouse was only two years old, and as a result of the damages all the carpet had to be replaced, the entire apartment had to be repainted and many other maintenance items had to be ad dressed. The work was so extensive that it did in fact take two weeks. The new tenants were given the option of cancelling their agreement, or making temporary living agreements elsewhere until the work was complete. It was their choice to make tem porary arrangements, and move in when the work was complete. They were only charged rent for the days they occupied the unit. And in addition we paid their U-Haul charge to move a second time. 4.) A notice was sent to ALL Brookwood Village residents regarding parking. It has come to our at tention that the units rented to students averaged certain situations...a really big one being class attendance. Now, the last time I asked my mom, she said that I could stay alone by myself (I mean, my house is in Pittsburgh and she lets me live here). And she also said I don't need a baby-sitter while I am here, as long as I don't open the door to strangers. So why is it then, that I have to listen to a professor tell me that I need to be in class everyday? Except for 2-3 times a semester or unless I have a doctor's excuse or some written form of verification that it was a life or death struggle to get to class? That doesn't make a lot of sense to me. lb be honest with you, some mornings I just don't feel like getting up for that Sam class. And it's not because I was out partying the night before; I am wise enough to save the fun for the weekends. I am usually tired because I was up until 3 or 4am studying for my SpCom 478 class, and that Sam general education class kinda falls to the backburner. Not to say that any one class is more important than any other is, all my classes make me a better person just for having taken them. But if I'm tired and would probably just fall asleep in class anyway, why does the professor insist that I be there in class? Why waste their time and mine? That's where the 'l'm paying for this education' statement comes back into play. Not to sound whiny and snobby, but it's me, and only me that is paying for my classes. So who is anyone to tell me that I HAVE to attend class a certain amount of days out of the semester? According to the Dean of Students office, it is I 1:3 O. ° .- 4......°1° ,1"; (Y\ FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2000 t tfr i VT MO. three or four vehicles, while the units rented to non-students averaged two vehicles. Our letter clearly stated that because of the parking prob lem we would not rent to as many students in Brookwood Village next year. This was in no way a threat not to rent to students; in fact we are building other units at other locations that we intend to rent to students with more park ing. As far as Brookwood Village is concerned, we need to limit the number of vehicles per unit. 5.) We have no record of being contacted by, the Student Activities Staff, but welcome the opportunity to solve any problems any student renting from us may have. We believe based on printed statements, Karl Gressley has jumped to some conclusions be fore contacting our office. We are very much in favor of renting to students, and are in the pro cess of developing additional housing for stu dents. We however, will not allow a pattern of misbehavior, and have a policy of verbal and written warnings as well as evictions, for those who either destroy our property or disrupt their neighbors. These polices are consistent with our student tenants as well as our non student resi dents. We have and will continue to make every ef fort to satisfy the needs of our residents whether they are students or non-students. Joe Palermo, Palermo Realty the professor that chooses how many days a semester that we students can miss without being penalized by that professor by having our grade docked. Seems rather sinister and egotistical, doesn't it? Obviously everyone that goes to Behrend wants to be here for one reason or another. Mine just so happens to be to train to be the next David E. Kelly or perhaps executive at the Children's Television Workshop, and it's getting me ready for graduate school. And I am saying that if I want to miss class more than 4 times a semester it should not put my future grade in jeopardy to do so. Do I think that professors are here to help us learn and grow as people? Most definitely. Do I think that it is fair that professors get to play God with my time? Absolutely not. Isn't there some happy medium to this predicament? I really don't think so, unless of course professors suddenly realize that if they dropped the whole 'mandatory attendance' thing, they would have to listen to a lot less excuses as to why we weren't in class that day. Note to faculty: you are so much more to Behrend than baby-sitters, so please quit trying to boss us around. We're not 9 anymore and you get paid more than $2.50 an hour. We all love attending classes here, it's obvious by the exorbitant amount we pay to do so. Give us a little slack and we promise to give you the respect that you deserve. Glqlty ti <OIIO7W !!P; , 5 cl.e? ihre, 4:41 ; t14. 7:4*;W:
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