Eileen Falkenberg, Editorial Page Editor simmisal The Behrend Beacon , ,„,,, „ „ , I, „, I( II News Editor Courtney Straub Assistant News Editor Justin Curry Sports Editors Kevin Fiorenzo Amy Frizzell Editorial Page Editor Eileen Falkenberg Features Editor Erika Jarvis Staff Photographers Jeff Hankey Heather Myers 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. Contact The Beacon at: Telephone: (814) 898-6488 Fax: (814) 898-6019 ISSN 1071-9288. Perseverance With all that has happened in the two years I have been a student at Penn State Erie, The Behrend Col lege, you would think that a normal 18-22 year old would want to give up. The series of events that devastated our campus as well as those nation wide began when cowardly terrorist killed those innocent civil ians in New York City. Ev ery student that has been here over the past two years can tell you where they were the exact moment that the planes hit the towers. Instead of seeing our campus commu- versity into an opportunity. More and more of our gradu ates are going on to Graduate s t sc,hool, or coming back to 4 6, $6l Behrend to add a major to their degree. We realize that these tough times will pass and we will be ready to seize the opportu nines that nity divide, they pulled to- gether. Forums were held that all students of all backgrounds came to show unity. The phrase `We Are Penn State' came to mind as we rallied together to support one another though those trying times. Next we as students had to experi ence war. We struck back against those who attacked us in Afghanistan. Friends, family members, and current and former students went and served their country to try and keep it safe. They succeeded. This was a trying time for our student body, never knowing what was going to happen to their loved ones. Again we pulled together. I remember seeing a picture of a Behrend alumni holding a copy of our Behrend Beacon student newspaper, with a backdrop of endless sand, and with a gun by his side. This picture instilled a part of Penn State Pride, never seen before. After this our nation decided that it would be in our best interests to launch a war against Iraq. Again the will of the College was tested. Again, our college could have split in two in this controversial issue. Instead I saw us focus on what was important. Several students were pulled out of classes to go serve our nation. It no longer became an argument about whether the decision to go after Iraq was right or wrong it was about the soldiers, our soldiers. Whether stu dents wanted the U.S. to pull out of Iraq or those of us who wanted to see a swift victory, we all wanted to see our Penn State Family re-united safely. With all of these distractions and worries on the minds of all of us, there was another, less evident threat. The lackluster economy has made it diffi cult for many graduates to obtain jobs. Editor-in-Chief Lauren Packer Managing Editor Robert Wynne Ass't. Managing Editor Scott Sottis 1/ Advertising Manager ~,,,-,- Ryan Russell . 1 . ----------- Cale A n m d y ar l / 4 1 1 2 1 ar n E s ipto r 1 Healthy Living Editor -- Leacy Sauer Advisor Beacon Cathy Roan "A newspaper by the students for the students" 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 that week's issue. The Beacon reserves the right to edit letters for length, content, libel, spelling, and grammar. When economies are hurting, it's easy to see the men and women with fami lies that are being laid-off. It's much harder to see the plight of the gradu ating students that have to wait to even begin families and are buried under college debt. Again, our students turned an ad- Scott Soltis body is a lack of support from our state legislature come budget time. The Commonwealth continues to see college students as an easy place to make cuts. As a result of this, a jun ior or senior from Pennsylvania is paying over $lO,OOO in tuition alone for a 'state-related school'. This is leading to an exurbanite amount of debt upon graduation and transition into the "real world". This is slowly starting to motivate our students to mobilize in the politi cal process. I realize that typically out age group is generally the worst when it comes to voter turnout. How- ever, I am optimistic that since stu dents are beginning to understand just how much the government affects our everyday lives, the student vote will make an impact in the next sound of elections. We, as students, have faced many challenges in a short amount of time. We have shown time and time again that we only become strong when faced with adversity. We persevere through challenges and are tougher for making it through them. Our mood is one that we can face any thing, and make it through better for it. The future here at Penn State Behrend is a bright one. Issues are beirfg brought up, talked about, and addressed. Students are facing issues and overcoming them. We are gradu ating, and shaping the face of this Commonwealth as well as our great nation. We are Penn State and to gether we will make it through any thing that can be thrown at us, and will continue to be a nationwide ex ample of what a college should be. 'ya p V f . ,`; s • `, A&E Editor Daniel J. Stasiewski arise. Adding to the woes o' our studen 1 Friday, September 26, 2003 Deep Thoughts (This Space For Sale) Being the ad manager for The Behrend Beacon is a fantastic job. Nice resume builder, plus I get to work with some awesome c tions majors. For the who don't know, munications major ones who are alw: bars, usually sc about how cold it Library 12. I loy , doing this, and hope to con tinue in this type of field after I gradu ate. Either that, or join in Crazy News paper Face's campaign to make the Boiler Hall a better place for everyone to live. Hey, everyone has to have goals. And as Beacon advertising manager, I do. Unfortunately, there are weeks where I am unable to bring in the amount of advertising revenue that is asked of me. For my first editorial, I had planned a scathing expose on what the construc tion crew was really building, (Think of the possibilities if Jimmy of Jimmy Z's fame had gotten that permit...) but due to lack of advertising in this week's is sue, I have decided to sell interview time here in the confines of my editorial to the highest bidders. I will be interview ing some of the best and brightest stars we have forgotten, and I hope you enjoy the ride. Remember, they paid for this so we can continue running the Beacon. First up, we have a Hall of Fame in ductee, Chicago Cubs broadcaster, and File swapping under fire: is article courtesy of The Philadelphia Inquirer What would it take to dissuade nearly 60 million Americans from swapping songs overthe•lmernet? Probably a lot more than filing lawsuits against preteen honors students. But a spate of music industry lawsuits against file swappers seems to have been an effective start _ even if it won't prompt a majority of them to kick their Kazaa habit. The nation's largest record labels tar geted 261 Internet users with music-pi racy claims this month, including a 12- year-old middle-school student from New York. Hundreds more lawsuits are likely, with the penalties for using Internet soft ware to pirate copyrighted music rang ing from $750 to $150,000 a song. The eye-popping fines are a legal shot heard round the nation's family rooms, home offices, and college dorms. Whether or not school-age downloaders are chastened _ indeed, many shrug off Air Force Academy assault scandals article courtsey of the Detroit Free Press One of the nation's elite institutions turned opportunity into nightmare for doz ens of women who went there to serve their country. The entire American military is disgraced by what happened at the Air Force Academy, and the school should be ashamed for fostering a climate that al lowed it. The treatment of female cadets was bar baric, the damage to the military incalcu lable. Two recent reports attest to the trouble In a Department of Defense survey of 579 women cadets, one in five said they had been a victim of some form of assault, typically by another cadet. But only 19 per- WEEDS DeVel-OPINC7 ReStsTocit-ICe To ROVP 4 OUP,Ogt.O 4 f MOST PoPuLAte tiERBIciDE a / .... • -------' 41 6 , U --- ......._. ....1 ii . 11,1-- V ffi ri• .: .7i-, ~ • c -,• ....., .e„. v ::0 - ... et t ry 4„ P.- Tri11.:.,, e..... .. : 4 , ~ ....46: . 0:"-• - . 14 •-•_... --- - • ...›. --- Ryan Russell all-around good guy, Harry Caray. Ryan: Harry, it's great to have you on the phone. You've been my idol for and have officially Soltis, SGA President, imous person who has ,h for me to interview Lhe phone. What have up to? Harry: Hey Mr. rke, how ya' doin? orry about that whole incident with the Durango and my PLET book at last year's faculty party. That's why my friends call me Ryan: What are you talking about? Harry: It's a simple question, Norm! If a Durango was made out of peaches, and you could eat it with a PLET book, would you? Or do you want to live with an RA in Lawrence Hall? Ryan: I suppose I would eat the Durango made of peaches. Harry: Good call, Ryan. If you had chosen Lawrence Hall, I would have taken out my case of Milwaukee's Best Special Reserve Light and made you drink a few. Ryan: That's great, Harry. $8.99 a 30- pack and you have some with you. It's 9 a.m. Harry: I know Buff, nothing like par tying like you go to Edinboro. At this point, I heard some incoher ent rambling, and then snoring, so I as sumed the interview was over and hung up, $75 dollars richer for the Beacon. the suits _ it's a safe bet that plenty of parents have ordered file-sharing soft ware removed from the family PC. In that respect, the antipiracy cam paign of the Recording Industry Asso ciation of America has succeeded: It has the public's attention. It has renewed the nation's conversation on the ethical and legal issues posed by online file shar ing. That discussion is needed, as it be comes more apparent that Internet song swapping isn't as innocent as it seemed in the infancy of file-sharing technology (all of four years ago). Trolling the Internet for your favorite tune _ be it by Britney, the Beatles, or Bach _ was just like taping a song from the radio, only more convenient. Besides, weren't CD sales still robust? Today, though, the musical landscape is more bleak. Recording industry an nual revenues have plunged by one-third since 1999. Was the decline, in part, due to music industry greed that until only lately kept CD prices absurdly high? You bet. But the other factor in the sales dive cent were willing to report such incidents; the rest didn't trust academy authorities to protect them. In a report released Monday, a civilian commission set up by Congress accused academy leaders of creating a culture that did not protect female recruits. The findings validated the claims of current and former female cadets who said they were penalized after reporting incidents of assault. Women account for only 2,921 of the 36,010 Air Force Academy graduates since 1980. Given what they evidently en dured, these women are a remarkable lot. The modern military could use more like them _ and that makes the academy scan dal even worse. .3:..x.rp.,v 4 ' . Peaches Kazaa kaput? That doesn't mean the eventual solu tion is an avalanche of lawsuits against 13-year-olds. The music industry's legal strategy has pitfalls, chiefly, the likely public backlash. Threatening youngsters with excessive _ penalties granted the industry by an overly compliant Congress _ smacks of bullying. What music makers need is a carrot to go with the stick. That is, they should be rolling out a full line of commercial ser vices that permit Internet users to sample and then purchase downloaded music legally, for reasonable prices. Going after music swappers in court was, lamentably, perhaps a necessary first step. But going after their online business is the only long-term answer. 51A151