Page 2 The Behrend Beacon WEEKEND WEATHER SATURDAY SUNDAY MONDAY ‘ t? r Alk Snow High: 45° Low: 25° BEHREND BRIEFS EESC recognizes faculty, students Several faculty members and students from Penn State Behrend earned recogni tion from the Erie Engineering Societies Council at the Erie Engineers Week Awards Banquet, held Feb. 21 at the Clarion Hotel. Outstanding Member Awards went to Tracy Halmi, lecturer in chemistry and a member of the American Chemical Society; Dr. Robert Weissbach, assistant pro fessor of electrical engineering technology and a member of the Institute of Elec trical and Electronics Engineers; and Lucy Lenhardt, a member of the Society of Plastics Engineers. )avid Duherow, a junior majoring in chemistry. received one of five EESC Louis W. Balmer Scholarships. The Balmer Scholarships are given to students for their achievement in the science or engineering curricula. Duherow is a member of the Schreyer Honors College and is involved in undergraduate research. He is a 2000 graduate of Fairview High School. James Chistenson, a returning adult student majoring in electrical engineering technology, received one of three EESC Robert B. Gray Technology and Engi neering Scholarships. These awards are given to students in the two-year technol ogy and engineering programs. Christenson is a former employee of International Paper. Gary Lada and Cassandra Willey, both juniors majoring in mechanical engineer ing, were each awarded the Wives of Professional Engineers Hugh M. Nelson Scholarship. This award assists one or more students entering their sophomore through senior year and pursuing a B.S. degree in an ABET-accredited engineer ing program. Lada is completing an internship at GE Transportation Systems. Willey, who is a member of Lambda Sigma honor society and Alpha Phi Omega service fraternity, will work as an aerospace engineering intern at Lord Corpora tion this summer. Faculty and staff awards forms due Nomination forms for this year's Penn State Behrend faculty and staff awards arc now available on the Penn State Behrend Web site at www.pserie.psu.edu/ facultyawards/awards-index.htm. Nominations may be submitted online and must he submitted to the Provost's Office by March 21. Nominations are open for the following, awards: Council of Fellow Excellence in Teaching Award recognizes a faculty member who, in the opinion of students, alumni, and colleagues, most truly fills the role of an effective teacher. Any member who has completed two years or more of con tinuous undergraduate teaching at Penn State is eligible. * Guy W. Wilson Award for Excellence in Academic Advising is awarded to encourage excellence in academic advising. All full-time faculty are eligible for this award. * Council of Fellows Faculty Excellence in Outreach and Service Award recog nizes a faculty member who, in the opinion of students, colleagues, and commu nity leaders, most truly serves the college, the community, and an academic pro fession. Any full-time faculty member with more than two years of continuous service at Hehrend is eligible for this award. Benjamin A. Lane Outstanding Service Award encourages and rewards out standing service to the college by a faculty or staff member who has been em ployed for at least one year at Behrend. These awards will he presented at the Honors and Awards Convocation on April 27. POLICE AND SAFETY 1150 A complainant reported damaging a student vehicle while he was operating a university truck. A report was filed of a stolen palm pilot. A complainant reported receiving three threatening e-mail -1 /26/01 3/3/(13 ;/ I/0 1 Illetitia2Cti 20: 10 A complainant reported a male who had been directed not to he in the resident halls by the dean of students had entered Niagara Mayside Motel Niagara Falls Free shuttle to clubs, Canadian Side Falls, and casino www.maysidemotel.com 905-358-7844 from $2O US per night "Americanism is a question of principles, of idealism, of character; it is not a matter of birthplace or creed or line of descent." - Theodore Roosevelt Janet Neff Sample Center- for Manners 6' Civility *l:4 * i'4E‘ Snow High: 32° Low: 15° CLASSIFIED Snow High: 28° Low: 22° • - •••••4', , $?! , ';: k•,\ :•• . • '..',',,, •, , • 4,\•. •• ‘‘,.,„.:, ......*„ ,4„...- ' tt. , • "--,' ' -i , ' l',;. ' ..,, -:,,i;:x ', • • Friday, March 7, 2003 STAN Stand is a band with four completely different personal approaches. They do not always get along, but all this input is what creates the flavor of their unique style. As Eurelle said, sometimes he and Doyle would sing lead vocals together, or perhaps even harmonize on an entire song. Try to imagine any other hand like this. They sometimes get crazy fans. but this is not the norm, only occurring in areas where they were more established. Eurelle says: "It just comes with the territory." Even though they are workaholics Greeks defy television stereotypes by Erika Jarvis staff writer With television shows starting like MTV's "Sorority Life and Fraternity Life" and the recent investigation into Delta Chi at University Park, Greek life has been thrown into the media lately. Greek life is everywhere you go on col lege campuses across the country and has been for so long now, so why the sudden interest in these organizations? What makes people hate sororities and fraternities yet turn on the TV to pry into their life? Maybe it is just that America is so caught up in "reality" programming, yet there has to be more to it. It seems that the buzz that runs with these "sisters" and "brothers" is hot and cold; people tend to love or hate the Greeks. These organizations normally consist of guys and girls who have the same interests, get more involved on campus, and who also are into helping the com munity with philanthropy projects. Be sides the fundraising, is this any differ ent from any other organization on cam pus? Sport teams can be just as cliquey as any fraternity or sorority. Yet, it seems that because of negative media attention, Greeks tend to get a had rap, with reports of hazing incidents gone wrong and some fraternities and sororities not letting people pledge due to race. It seems as if the only type of press these college students can get is had press. No one seems to report a soror ity raising money for Special Olympics. Greeks all across Penn State helped the school raise more than 3.6 million dol lars for THON, yet all people can seem to talk about is how these college stu dents are buying their friendships. "It took a lot of work to convince my parents to let me join a sorority due to all the bad things they had heard about them in the past," said Amy McElhaney, a sixth semester junior and a sister of the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority. McElhaney joined her sorority because she was shy and eager to form new friendships. She also believes that "Greeks have always done so much, and it finally attracted the attention of MTV. I wouldn't go back and change anything I've done. This experience has been so beneficial." Her sorority sister, Dee Nowacinski, also a junior, believes people watch these MTV series to see if Greek ste- reotypes are true "People want to see if their ideas on the drinkiilg and partying are true, to see if we hold up to our stereotypes," said Nowacinski. N•j FROM FRONT PAGE FOCAL POINT they do make time off to relax, and to be creative. Eurelle definitely feels that rock music is making a significant comeback from all the Hull of the late 1990'5. He says that the lineup for the famous Slane Castle Festival in Dublin was all pop just a few years ago, but U 2 opened up the door for more rock-oriented hands such as the Chili Peppers and Queens of the Stone Age to play this year. They plan to release a new CD as soon as possible, and hurdle cites one of the main reasons the hand is still together since 1991 is that: "Because we're How did these stereotypes of fraterni ties and sororities only being interested in drinking, partying and especially haz ing come about? Hazing does go on in some Greek organizations, but it is against the rules. The Delta Chi chapter at University Park is under investigation by the Interfraternity Council (IFP) for allegedly hazing its pledge class of fall 2002. Chapter president Brian Kantor denied the fact that he and his brothers hazed any of their new members. He chalks up the allegations to students pull ing a prank on the fraternity. Allegations have been proved untrue and the broth ers are continuing on with their pledg ing process. Dane Burgwald, a second semester freshman at University Park, ended up de-pledging the fraternity early ill De cember. "I thought that my experience pledg ing was going to be a piece of cake, but I was really scared," Burgwald said. He wouldn't comment on the allegations of hazing out of respect for the friends he has in the house. but he said that he and the brothers are still on good terms and he wishes them the best of luck. joined in the beginning for the parties and girls and found out that all Greek life is about the insecurities we have with ourselves, at least in the beginning." Though some TV shows give frater nities a bad rap, don't take what you see on MTV to heart. The Sigma Alpha Ep silon Pi sorority from UC Davis isn't even recognized nationally as a true so rority. This goes for the Delta Xi Omega sorority and the Sigma Chi Omega fra ternity, both hailing from Buffalo Uni versity, which were each created recently and have yet to get a chapter license from nationals. They don't have any rules to oblige by yet, so they can do whatever they want, including hazing. Hazing is anything that pledges or new members have to do that active sister and brothers don't have to do. "We don't haze any of our members who decide to pledge Delta Chi. There's such a thin line sometimes and we don't want to cross it," said sophomore Rob Smith who joined the Delta Chi chapter at Behrend last spring. Bethanie Falletta, new member edu cator for the Alpha Sigma Alpha new members added, "If I told my girls to play hide and go seek, and that the new members would hide while the sisters sought them out, that would be consid ered hazing. It is such a shame that by these TV shows we are all getting ste reotyped. Think of how many girls aren't rushing because of what they are going to see on television." Hazing is a huge controversy among Erin McCarty, News Editor behrcolls@aol.com friends. We all have the same reasons we're doing it." As for the Behrend show, sponsored by the Lion Entertainment Board, Eurelle says that you should come ready for a rock and roll show, and be prepared to hear a variety of songs from the more upbeat to the mellow. With Stand, variety is the key. Stand most definitely has a very promising future, one band we all would he foolish not to follow. Stand will play at 8 p.m. in Bruno's on March 2 1 . Greek organizations and it is incredibly a hush-hush topic. Yet the sororities and fraternities are blatantly hazing their new members on television. If they were part of a national organization, they would have their chapter license revoked and would he investigated before the first show could air on TV. It seems, how ever, that the stereotypes put out by tele vision have reached many people, in cluding second semester freshman Jon Chapin. "I think the whole idea of brotherhood or sisterhood to serve a common goal is all good, but when you boil it down all people really join fraternities and sorori ties for is status," said Chapin. "They think they might achieve something by pledging to one brotherhood or sister hood when all they have really done is commit themselves to a select few friends and tied up a lot of their free time. I think a lot of young people out there think it's the trendy thing to do in col lege. You're not cool unless you're Greek; college won't be fun unless you're Greek." This seems to be the common theme among the non-Greeks on campus, that Greeks buy their friendships in college. "Every organization has dues, and the money we pay goes to buying our pins, getting a subscription to our sororities magazine, paying for our chapter license, and more," said Nowacinski, defending the dues that each fraternity and soror ity pays. "Everyone attacks us, but they don't see what we do like our date auction rais ing money for charities and our philan thropy," said Falletta. The stereotypes will always be out there against fraternities and sororities. "We love other sororities, being Greek has its benefits, you're always going to be connected," said Chrissy Speranza of her time in the sorority. When you're staying in and watching MTV glorify the Greek system, remem ber that isn't how it is with every Greek organization. To truly understand these sisters and brothers you have to see it through their eyes, yet fraternities and sororities aren't for everyone and that is OK. "We don't want to be judge. As we like to say, 'From the inside it can't be explained, and from the outside it can't be understood, — Smith said. The Greek system is complicated and if you're not in it, it is hard to see its appeal. Yet, next time you see a sister, or a brother around campus, don't think that because you saw a show on television that you know what they're like and what their organi zation is about. Reality TV isn't always reality. .„ :_ 1,.; This little girl shows the adults how to get down during Friday's El Carnival, sponsored by Behrend's Spanish culture club. PHOTO BY CHRISTINE KLECK / BEHREND BEACON
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