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-
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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<ii ,
The Behrend Beacon
Finally, the other interview I was paid
to do was from another old favorite,
MacGyver.
Ryan: Mac, what's been happening
since 1988?
Mac: Ryan, I need a Beacon, two rolls
of toilet paper, a MET book, two chicken
cosmos from Dobbins, three locks of hair
from your business manager, and the
pants from your advertising manager.
Ryan: Why?
Mac: I need to stop Murdoch's plan
to destroy Behrend via his phony front
of a construction crew. They already
have control of your elevator/staircase!
The Reed Union building is next!
Ryan: Do you realize that I am the ad
vertising manager?
Mac: Do you realize that the fate of
Behrend rests on your pants?
Ryan: Ok then, I can get everything
but the MET book. Can you use a
COMMU book?
Mac: No, I need something of sub
stance and value. If I needed a COMMU
book, I could just grab some TPS reports
from the Phoenix Foundation.
Ryan: That hurts, MacGyver. Right
here. So how is your mullet these days?
Mac: Touché. Its fine, a nice Kentucky
Waterfall these days.
Ryan: And why didn't you ever get
any from all the hotties that were on your
show?
Mac: Interview over.
And then he hung up the phone. At
least I got his $5O, albeit in rolls of guar
ters. I hope he stops Murdoch's evil
plans. And I need to find more adver
tisements for the paper.
must be Napster-type software.
Copyright laws don't just protect
megabucks corporations and singers who
preen on MTV Cribs. They also protect
struggling composers and artists. It's no
longer possible to view file sharing just
as a free-spirited byproduct of the
Internet.
Get
extra
credit
fory our
classes.
Send a letter to
the editor!
Behrcoll2
@aol.com
Include your
name, major, and
semester standing.
Page 5