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The Behrend Beacon
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News Editor
Li;: Hayes
Asst. News Editor
Erin McCarty
Sports Editor
Mike Bello
Asst. Sports Editor
Kate LevdanNky Petrikis
Editorial Page Editor
Ben Kundman
Features Editor
Karl Bemwei
Arts & Entertainment Editor
Jeanine Noce
Wire Service Editor
Gur Reschenthaler
Health Page Editor
Sarah Orr
FM wrIIRINI ,
44 , BEACON
•Postal Information•
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.
The View From the Lighthouse
Are we the only
ones failing?
Are we alone in saying this semester sucked? Are the Beaconians the
only ones not doing so well in classes? Is anyone else mighty glad this
semester will soon be nothing but a distant
mare'?
What happened this year? Everything s,
normally. Everyone was gung-ho about th(
school year. We all bought the planner
haven't used in two months. We all boug
books we will be reading ferociously next
We all signed up for the 8 a.m. classes we h;
attended since before Thanksgiving Break
It was a typical semester; we started out
siastically and soon just didn't care. But
pretty normal. We swear in September wt
will use that planner, read those books, any
go to classes. Then, by Fall Break, reality
has set in and we are back to our half-assed, procrastinating selves. No
harm, no foul. We just make the grades by the skin of our teeth (usu
ally), and the cycle starts anew in January.
So what the hell happened this semester? What it Sept. 11? Or is that
just an excuse? Were we really that affected by the terrorist attacks and
subsequent war on terrorism that it threw us all off track? An interesting
question, indeed.
For those first few weeks, Sept. 11 could definitely be linked to school
performance. Most of us sat around watching CNN for a full week.
Classes, tests, projects - all paled in comparison to the stress of those
days. Many professors realized the lack of concentration, or at least the
new focus of concentration, and adjusted. Tests were postponed, classes
were canceled or devoted to discussion, project due dates were pushed
hack.
But are we really still suffering from those days? And what about
what followed - the bioterrorism threat and the approaching war in the
Middle East that we would become directly involved in?
It's really hard to say what went awry this semester. But it seems safe
to say something happened. It's hard to remember a time when college
students looked forward to a break more than we do right now. There's
gonna be a lot of intoxicated, celebratory students come the end of fi
nals week, even more so than usual!
Beacon Superlatives Fall 2001
Most likely to hog our AOL account: Mikey Bello
Most likely to turn in a 1000-word editorial
24 hours after deadline: Jason Snyder
Most likely to use odd Clip Art: Karl Benacci
Most likely to threaten quitting: Liz Hayes
Most likely to get mentioned in the BUDPOT: Katie Galley
Most likely to blame everything on Liz: Ann Marie Havey
Most likely to vote Republican: Guy Reschenthaler
Most likely the last person on the planet to use a MAC after
everyone else switches to PCs: Rob Wynne
Most likely to have a "big ass paper" to write: Jeff Han key
Most likely to ask Rob for help: Jeanine Noce
Most likely to wear Pooh inspired clothing: Erin McCarty
Most likely to get lost in overhead compartment of an airplane:
Paige Miles
Most likely to get married: Becky Weindorf - LaDow
Most likely to talk about masturbating: Ben Kundman
Most likely to irritate Kerwin (faculty advisor): Kelly Walsh
Most like to wear overalls: Kristin Rodgers
Most likely to be doggie-style on the front page: Sarah Orr
Editor-in-Chief
Robert Wynne
Managing Editor
Paige Miles
Professional Publication Mgr
Dave Richards
Advisor
Mr. John Kerwin
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 belircoll2@aol.com. Letters
must be received no later than
5 p.m. Monday for inclusion in
that week's issue.
Associate Editor
Kelly Walsh
Staff Photographers
Jeff Hanker
Kristin Rodgers
Advertising Manager
Ann Marie Havev
Public Relations Manager
Katie Galley
Distribution Manager
Eric Kiser
Office Manager
Jason Alward
Copy Editor
Beck} Weindorf
Website Editor
Dave Kusinskv
Technical Support
Doug Buttenvorth
"Professionalism
with a Personality"
•Letter Policy•
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Friday, December 7, 2001
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ul of sound and fury, signifying nothing
Well, this is it, folks. It's the last time
you will ever have to see my ugly mug
gracing the editorial pages or any page,
for that matter—of the Behrend Beacon. I
graduate next week... assuming the
University doesn't play one of its little
tricks on me. Jury's still out on that one.
I've been looking forward to this
moment for two years when I realized I
would get to write The Final Editorial, in
which ! could say whatever I wanted about
whoever I wanted without fearing
reprisals. Not that I really fear reprisals,
but you know what I'm sayin'.
Unfortunately for both you and me, I've
gotten no sleep all week and I'm really
stressed out between getting this last issue
of the paper finished, completing all my
papers and projects, working, and sending
out resumes to all those who will just love
to hire me. Therefore, I haven't given The
Final Editorial much thought and I'm
really unfocused right now, so I have no
idea what I'll end up typing into this space.
Try to bear with me.
First of all, as a super senior (it's not
really that super,) let me give
underclassmen a bit of advice: Go to
University Park. Not to knock Behrend
it's a nice school. The trees are pretty
in the fall, the grass smells nice in the
summer. As a lover of snow, the area
usually satisfies (except this year, but don't
get me started on that one.) However, I
wouldn't want to base my future on,
"Hmmm, it seems like a really nice
school."
Behrend and other Commonwealth
Campuses are a good transition from high
school to college. They get you into the
college frame of mind without sending
you into culture shock. You get
accustomed to the juggling act that is
college, and by juggling I don't mean
keeping three bottles of Rolling Rock in
the air at once. You learn how to balance
class time, study time, extracurricular
'So, how's school going?'
So, how's school going?
Be prepared to answer this question
about 100 times during Christmas
vacation. Family gatherings, work
parties, and similar functions are
breeding grounds for dumb questions;
this being the main one. There will
also be the standard follow-up
question, "So what's your major
again?"
I'm sure the upper-classmen can
vouch for me on this one, but be
warned, freshmen, it's coming.
Usually, I say the same response over
and over again until I begin to sound
like a politician (not that there's
SO, TELL ME I ME.
17U FEELING BACK
TO NORMAL V?
activity time, work time, and drinking see, there is a sender and a receiver. The
sender sends a message through verbal
But after a year or two, you should and nonverbal channels to the receiver.
know the ropes and be ready to move on. The receiver then sends feedback to the
Let's face it: Behrend isn't exactly the sender. Meanwhile, there is all this noise
bubbling pot of cultural, educational, that works
and extracurricular activity. A tale told - to alter the
University Park offers much better nimsages.
stimulus. The opportunities by an idiot
available at at UP overcompensate Liz Hayes
for what Behrend administrators
like to call a lack of student/ ny • ,
faculty interaction. And I
question that lack students just have
to learn to take advantage of their
professors. And yesMeplize I just made
a sexual innuendo. Try to focus, please.
Go to Main Campus and get a real
education; you won't be sony. Unless you
are a plastics engineering technology or a
MIS major, Behrend's got less to offer
you. And if you are a liberal arts student,
leave now. Don't pass go, yada yada.
While Behrend's engineering students get
top-notch attention, you will be lucky to
get a newspaper dispenser in Academic
that will let you use your ID card to get
papers out. That's as technologically
advanced as our side of the campus gets.
And yes, that's right I called it Main
Campus. The administration isn't fooling
anyone by calling it the Center County
Campus or whatever the new PC term is.
It is the dominating force behind Penn
State University, if for no other reason than
Jo Pa resides there. Main Campus is the
focal point on the University, and rightly
so. It only has 10 times more students than
Behrend. Of course it's going to be the
focus.
While I'm whining about Behrend, I
also have to say a few things about my
major. Several people have asked me what
I have learned as a Communication and
Media Studies major at Behrend. I have
an immediate response, as do all COMBA
majors: the model of communication. You
anything wrong with
on this politicians.) I'll raise
my voice in certain
Wynne spots, look the other
person in the eye, and
use some hand
gestures, showing
them just how much my
college education has made
me a well-rounded social
interacting animal. Truth is,
I've just told 40 other people the
same thing, but practice does make
perfect. I'm not criticizing fellow
family members, because sometimes
there is a lot of catching up to do, but
that's due to another situation that I'll
talk about later on.
Recently it was my mother who
asked me "the question." I said,
"good." Then what bitterly followed
must have been a reflection of what
I've wanted to tell everyone else who
has asked, "So how's school?"
"Actually, mom, school sucks." If
you think about it, the only kids who
enjoy school are the ones who party
every weeknight and weekend, the
Ben Kundman, Editorial Page Editor
learned. And I learned. And I learned. If
there was something else, I must have
missed it. I want to be a journalist. I don't
think I learned anything about journalism
in any of my writing classes. I picked some
things up from working on the Beacon
and my own endeavors, but other than to
tell me what a lede is (about 30 times)
and what a nutgraph is, my writing classes
did little for me.
My other COMBA classes were mostly
about theory. Theory's a fun thing, if you
are going to be a philosopher. But I'm not.
And neither is anybody else. I do think it
is important to be taught the theory behind
your field. But you gotta learn the field,
too. Ah, but here comes the standard
argument that college is meant to prepare
you for life, not get you a job. Well, you
make college free so I can graduate
without five figures of debt hanging over
my head, and I'll go along with that. But I
have bills to pay, and I don't know any
person who went to college because they
weren't looking to get a good job.
I support the notion of general
education in the curriculum I have
written editorials in the past supporting it.
But I'm not paying thousands every year
ones who write letters home to their
well-off parents crying that they need
$2O for a book (the book's title being
"Coors Light,") and the ones who can
actually find a few quiet minutes to
study. For the vast majority of us,
finding time to get a degree in
between working to pay for school,
maintaining a relationship, and trying
to keep active with some kind of extra
curricular activity just leads one
through a vicious cycle. Usually, the
cycle involves stimulant abuse and a
scenario where the student has spread
him or herself so thin that nothing
seems to work out, and at best just a
mediocre job can be accomplished.
But, this is how the real world
functions so we better get used to it in
college. And who do we have to
thank? It's the hippies of the baby
boomer generation who took it easy
smoking pot back in the day, who now
want to make up for it in their middle
age by running their kids back and
forth to 14 different activities in their
Ford Excursion as they put on a happy
face for the family while arguing with
behrcoll2@aol.com
to be generally educated. I want to know
what I need to be a more intelligent person,
but I also want to know what I need to be
a good employee. So teach me, dam it!
And please make sure you hire some
people who can teach. This goes for all
schools. It doesn't matter how much
experience someone has in a given field.
If they can't transfer that experience into
usable knowledge for me, they may as
well have no experience in the field. I
would recommend to the department
heads to have a serious sit-down
discussion with students and really listen
to what they , say about who's getting the
message across and who isn't. It's not
worth paying a professor who actually
causes freshmen to change majors. And
yes, it has happened! It is happening.
Those are my two messages to students
and faculty at large. And don't worry, I
realize you aren't reading this but using it
to line the bottom of your cat's litter box.
No offense taken, even if it was intended.
These are probably age-old gripes of
students that are standard issue. No one
likes what they've got and the grass is
always greener in Happy Valley. I just had
to join the group. Call me a sheep.
That's
what I
But, I do have fond memories of ole
Behrend. In 20 years or so (hopefully
more), I may shed a tear when I recall my
life and times at Behrend. I may even be
one of the weird alumni who for some
reason want copies of the Beacon so I can
relive days gone by. Or to line the litter
box...
So farewell, Behrend. I bid you adieu.
Fondly remember me, a poor player that
struts and gets his hour upon the stage and
then is heard no more. It was a tale told by
an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying
nothing.
Hayes' column ran every three
weeks for the past two years.
their spouse behind the closed doors.
And no, these aren't my personal and
family problems, but I've heard
enough tales of terror lately it just
makes me wonder.
No family member has time to
interact with one another because
soccer starts at 5 p.m. and
cheerleading lasts until 7 p.m.
Microwave meals are what's for
dinner, and the only activity the whole
family participates in together is
banging on the bathroom door each
morning to get someone else out of
the bathroom. It's a sad reality ? but
one that is often true. And it all starts
in college, where you learn how to
cram more than you can handle into a
day, and the "real world" can be
defined as a life-long competition to
get the most stuff done.
So, how's school? You just had to
ask, didn't you? Anyway, I'm out
for this semester; I'll see everyone
around again in the spring.
Wynne's column appeared
every three weeks.
ELERDI
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71 , 1