Paige Miles, Editorial Page Editor
The Behrend Beacon
The Behrend Beacon
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News Editor
Erin McCarty
Sports Editors
Scott Soltis
Zoe Rose
Editorial Page Editor
Paige Miles
Features Editor
Karl Benacci
Staff Photographers
Jeff Hankey
Heather Myers
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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.
Five ways to improve Behrend
At the Beacon we hear a lot of
complaints by students who are upset
with something at Behrend. The
Beacon is an outlet for this school's
bitchin'. And that is fine, that is
what we are here f
Beacon should be a v
the students and a
place where many
opinions are heard
However, far too
often, people end
their quest for a
better campus at
their complaints.
Your voice should
be the starting point
for changes not the
end.
Here are things
you can do to improve this campus:
1. Support other Behrend students.
Unlike University Park, at Behrend
students are not just a number. We are
a community. It is possible for someone
who spends four years at campus to get
to know a lot of people. If you put forth
the effort you could probably get to
know hundreds of people, just from
your classes alone. When you know
that many people on a campus this size,
it is a good percentage.
If we all take the time to get to know
each other Behrend will become a
stronger community. We should
support our fellow students. Go to the
school play. Take time to see the choir
concert. Attend one of Multi-Cultural
Letter to the Editor
Common courtesy is still important
8 a.m., Bruno's fishbowl, studying and
watching CNN. Been there since 7 a.m.
Not a fun morning. Suddenly, two guys
also walk up to the fishbowl and sit down
behind me. One of them, after a while,
stands up and changes the television
channel to ESPN without even looking
at me. "You could've asked if I was
watching that," I said. He replied, "But
you weren't."
"You could've at least asked, you
know, that was really pretty rude."
He responded, "I'm alright." Now,
maybe I'm not cool enough to know
what he meant by replying "I'm alright"
to my accusation of rudeness, but at this
point I just rolled my eyes and moved. I
also began thinking about a serious prob
lem here at Behrend.
People don't say "thank you" anymore
when you wait and hold the door for
them. They breeze by you and do not
say "excuse me." They sit in the com
puter labs and continue to IM their
friends, occasionally looking up to see
the look of despair on your face because
you urgently have to print something and
ALL of the computers are occupied.
This is an issue.
Editor-in-Chief
Kevin Fallon
Managing Editors
Rebecca Weindorf
Robert Wynne
111;11
BeTI, P.N "1r
acon
"A newspaper by the
Technical Support
students for the students" Doug Butterworth
Professional Publication Mgr.
Dave Richards
Advisor
Cathy Roan
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. Monday for inclusion in
Council's events. Go root for the
basketball or swimming teams.
I go to a lot of on campus events and
there are usually not a great number of
people there, or at least not as many
that could be there. Just getting to
know others and supporting them
goes a long way in building strong
communities.
Government.
Sure, SGA does its fair share
of complaining. But it usually
doesn't stop there. Brandi flovis,
SGA president, works hard to
make sure complaints turn into
positive action. SGA
makes a lot of important
decisions that affect
student clubs. It also
lobbies the Penn State higher ups when
it comes to student concerns.
If something bothers you, don't just
run your mouth. Do something
constructive. SGA is a good place to
start.
Kevin Fallon
3. Join a campus club or organization.
There are more than 80 clubs on this
campus. You can join a fraternity, sports
team, band, religious group, or political
group. It doesn't stop there. There is a
club for just about any interest.
I know a lot of people that just go to
classes and go home. They are missing
the point of the college experience.
Classes are just a small part of college.
College is more that what you learn in
books, it is where you learn about
After Sept. 11th, I felt that people had
really upped their levels of courtesy. It
seemed like people were taking more
time to stop and talk to one another and
were, in general, much more aware of
the fact that they did not own the world.
Unfortunately, I think that this mentality
has gone back to it's pre 9-11 state.
People just really don't seem to give a
sh** about anyone else, and I for one
think that is really sad (I know that there
are some of you out there who actually
DO practice common courtesy. Obvi
ously, this article is not addressing you).
People tend to become so absorbed in
their own needs and problems that they
forget that EVERYONE has needs and
problems. Sure, even the most consci
entious of us become self-absorbed from
time to time. But some people ALWAYS
act this way, and I believe that they are
in for a harsh reality.
I don't know what they're teaching
people around here, but from my own
work experience I know that it usually
doesn't matter how good you are at what
you do- if you are an overall nasty per
son that no one feels practices any man
ners or courtesy, people are not going to
Advertising Managers
Melissa Powell
Christine Kieck
Calendar Page Editor
Ennn Hansen
Humor Page Editor
Ross Lockwood
Associate Editor
Jen Henderson
Distribution Manager
Scott Soitis
that week's issue
2. Get involved with Student
Friday November 22, 2002
The Beacon is looking for editorial columnists
for next semester! Please send a 500-1000
word editorial column sample to
Behrcollnaol.com for review.
yourself and life. It is where you should
experience different things. People who
just go to class are missing out.
4. Start a club.
Ok so you don't like any of the 80
plus clubs? Well, start your own. It
does require some work, but it's not
very hard. Although being an "official"
campus organization has its benefits.
namely funding, you don't even have
to be an "official" campus club. You can
hust get a bunch of people together who
ave the same interest.
By starting . a
club you provide a place
for people to gather and things to do
that would otherwise not exist.
5. Give back to the community.
This campus can show the rest of the
Erie area it cares by going out and doing
good in the community. Show the rest
of Erie that Penn State students care
about things besides partying.
Volunteer for a charity. Go canning for
THON. There are countless things you
can do
Basically, if you want to improve this
school there are more ways to do it than
complain. Of course, complaining is
the easiest thing to do. That is why we
hear so much of it.
Fallon's column
appears every three weeks.
want to employ you. And even if they
do employ you because of your skill,
your colleagues will not enjoy being
around you.
Why? Because common courtesy still
matters. No one is asking you to cut off
your right arm or donate all your belong
ings to the Salvation Army. But, for the
love of God, hold the door for the people
right behind you! And when someone
holds the door for you, thank them! And
if you know that you aren't doing any
thing important on the computer and
someone else needs to, offer your seat
to them! (You may be thinking, "I pay
for the computers, too!" Again, keep in
mind that EVERYONE pays for the
computers. Not just you.)
And please, please, don't just change
the television channel on someone in the
fishbowl without asking. As you can
see, it really gets a rise out of people.
Amanda Grolemund, 05,
Marketing/Political Science
MEMO
tatEll2ll2/e:
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How things should be
Honesty. Honesty is the skeleton of a
successful relationship, and I am con
vinced that without it, there is no way for
people to he happy.
Sadly, my girlfriend broke u
with me on Saturday, and
less to say, I've spent a II
time at home thinking way
much. I decided that I thir
finally know what a good ri
lationship is all about, ho \
you know you found
ii
someone who deserves
Dere
your heart.
A good girlfriend is
someone who will always tell you how she
feels. She won't hide in fear of hurting you
when something is wrong. This is crucial,
you have to he completely up front and
honest any time something doesn't feel
To balance this, of
course, she should always tell you when
you do something that makes her happy.
A good girlfriend is someone who is
completely different than you in so many
ways, but you still agree with her on how
someone should live their life. More than
anything, a good significant other doesn't
just make you happy, isn't just someone
that you think is amazing. You know what
a really perfect person is, when you know
she's someone special? It's when she sud
denly makes you think more of yourself
someone who makes you realize how spe
cial you are to the world, and to them.
Someone who makes you feel better about
yourself, and gives you motivation to be
come an even better person for the rest of
the world. That is what a real relationship
is all about.
Of course, there has to be room for fun
to do some crazy things now and then, and
to do things together you wouldn't tell
anyone else about. To know things about
What's the rush?
Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
(KRT)
Full credit to Yale and Stanford for crack
ing the seal on pressure-cooker early ad
missions: No longer will students be locked
into going to those schools if accepted early.
Prospective Yale and Stanford students
will be able to weigh their choice through
the regular winter-to-spring acceptance pe
riod. If they determine that another school
is a better fit, or land a more attractive fi
nancial-aid package, they can decline Yale's
or Stanford's offer.
Loosening the timetable makes sense,
even though some selective schools—
among them, the University of Pennsylva
nia—still back traditional early decision.
Penn says students who commit early
prove to be happier. But for too many stu
dents and their families, early admission has
become a desperate tactic to improve their
odds of acceptance to selective schools.
Lost in the competitive fervor is the ability
to choose a college based on what is best
for students.
The Yale-Stanford approach allows for
more informed decision-making by stu
dents on the important —and expensive—
choice of a school.
the other no one else knows. Trust. Ahh,
that mighty tool of destruction. Trust is
something that needs to be there. Trust
and honesty, without those two, all else
is ho.eless.
Bledsoe
What about love? Love is just a
word, and nothing more. A real relation
ship is so much more, so much more than
just a word. It's about that look in their
eye, that feeling that you just know, but
you can't describe because no matter how
hard you try, no work can do it any real
justice.
I had never thought of this until just a
short while ago, and now I know. This is
what it's all about. I know that she may
never read this, but to the girl out there
who broke my heart, I want to say thank
you. Thank you for being the one I've al
ways wanted, thank you for being the one
to make me into a better person, and than
you for being honest in the end. I'm glad
I had the opportunity to know what the
ultimate relationship was like, and I hope
that the rest of you reading this will one
day find something that awesome.
For the first time ever, even though my
heart is broken, I can finally say that I am
more happy it happened than I am sad it
ended.
1 - :kbwoll2@atcom
your name,
major, and
If you are not corn
honest with someone,
one day, you just might
1 them by coming up out
the blue to tell them how
rou really feel. Don't ever
break that trust, or else
you're. just dooming
yourself,. and your
I will never be the same
Bledsoe's column
appears every three weeks.
Too much
on your
mind?
Write a
Letter to
the Editor
Include
semester
standing.
Page