Justin Curry, News Editor
Question of the Week by Angela Szesciorka, staff writer
What did you do over winter break?
Students share
in King's dream
by Justin Curry
news editor
In honor of Dr. Martin Luther King
Jr's birthday, the Penn State Erie Office
of Educational Equity Programs, in
conjunction with the Student Activity
Fee, has planned a weeklong celebration
to commemorate King's legacy and
lifetime. This year's celebration is titled
"To see a change, be a change," and will
feature performances, lectures, movies
and service projects throughout the
week.
Beginning Sunday at 7 p.m. in Reed
117, there will be a showing of
"Remember the Titans." The movie,
starring Denzel Washington highlights
the perils of integration in a southern
Virginia high school in the early 19705.
Monday's festivities will begin with a
family breakfast held from 7 to 8 a.m. in
Bruno's. This meal is held to honor one
of Dr. King, Jr's. traditions, which was
celebrating his birthday with his family
and friends at breakfast. The guest
speaker will be Penn State alum Jeanine
M. McCreary, who currently serves as
an Erie School Board director.
Later on in the afternoon, the play
"The Meeting" will be performed in the
McGarvey Commons. "The Meetings"
is playwright Jeff Stetson's image of a
meeting between King and Malcolm X.
The setting for the meeting is Harlem in
February of 1965, only a week before
Malcolm X's death and three years
before King's.
Immediately following the play will
be a candlelight vigil beginning at the
Reed Union Building and ending at the
Smith Chapel. Refreshments will be
served in the Chapel.
The final part of Monday's celebration
will be a presentation King's legacy by
Dr. Leswim Laubscher of Duquense
University. Laubscher's area of study is
the differences in culture, ethnicity,
gender, disability, sexual orientation and
their correlation to psychology.
On Tuesday, students have the
opportunity to participate in a service
project to the Child Care Center pre
school. Planned for the children are
discussions on King, coloring pictures
regarding his legacy and listening to
stories about his life.
Dean share a smirk in between a recent debate. The democratic candi
dates have been campaigning heavily in lowa recently, with the upcoming
lowa caucuses, the first of many preliminary votes to ultimately determine
who gets the party's nomination for the presidency.
"It went very well last year, and the
kids really enjoyed it," said Olga
Nacalaban, POLSC 08. "We hope it well
go even better this year."
On Thursday, the movie "Higher
Learning" will be shown in Reed 117.
The movie, released in 1995 and starring
Ice Cube, is set at a fictional college,
Columbus University. "Higher
Learning" focuses on the lives of several
students as they deal with diversity,
racism, sexism and self-identity.
Ending the week will be a Diversity
Summit on Friday, hosted by MCC.
Reps from other colleges and universities
will be on campus to discuss issues
plaguing multi-cultural groups as well as
participate in activities provided by
Leadership Unlimited.
Throughout the course of the week, a
civil rights timeline will be placed
throughout the Reed Union Building, as
well as events being coordinated by the
residence halls.
"We should celebrate Dr. Martin
Luther King Day to remember that he
ended hate and segregation and gave up
his life in order for all minorities and
unprivileged citizens to have equalities,"
said Twynell Kimble, ENG 08.
Thirty years ago, King, a legendary
civil-rights leader, gave one of the most
influential speeches in American history.
On Aug. 28, 1963, in front of the Lincoln
Memorial during a civil rights march on
Washington, King addressed countless
Americans and shared his view for a
more civil and tolerant nation.
"And when we allow freedom to ring,
when we let it ring from every village
and hamlet, from every state and city,
we will be able to speed up that day when
all of God's children - black men and
white men, Jews and Gentiles, Catholics
and Protestants - will be able to join
hands and to sing in the words of the old
Negro spiritual, "Free at last, free at last;
thank God Almighty, we are free at last."
With those words, King inspired
people to rise up against civil unrest in a
nation that preached equality towards all
men.
"Dr. King was one of few who made a
difference, in America," said Julie
Lafferty, HIS 09.
Brian Mitchell contributed to this report.
NEV3'
Friday, January 16, 2004
Winter ushers in new students
by Keith Doak
staff writer
It was at best a cold reception for
the students who moved onto
campus last Thursday for the start
of spring semester. To sum it up
Behrend was, well, barren. A total
of 50 students are new this semester.
Counting those who are
upperclassmen, living off campus,
etc., the number of genuine new
students is under 20. These students
found themselves with more time
than activities. The weather itself
was frigid with snow and
temperatures in the single digits.
There were four planned activities
for the three days the freshmen had
the campus to themselves. On
Thursday there was a get-together
with billiards and pizza at the
Niagara Hall lobby. However, the
Candidates try to
by James Kuhnhenn and
Matt Stearns
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Undecided voters, the last hard sell in
politics, are tuning to lowa four days
before the presidential caucuses and
opinion polls suggest that they may be
giving Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry a
lift and scrambling the Democratic field.
Kerry, whose campaign has never
gotten much traction in the polls, much
to the surprise of many party
professionals, is back to basics. Kerry is
seeking support by stressing his
seasoning as a gunboat skipper in the
Vietnam War and as a 19-year veteran
of the U.S. Senate.
An overnight tracking poll Thursday
commissioned by Reuters and MSNBC
had him leading for the first time in lowa,
in a virtual tie with former Vermont Gov.
Howard Dean and Rep. Dick Gephardt
:,-..,,..:.:"'
8 p.m. episode of "JAG" stole the
show. Friday afternoon was
consumed with the actual
orientation and registration. In the
evening there was a mandatory
residence hall meeting in Niagara,
after which there was a party at
Bruno's.
On Saturday any student who
awoke early was surprised to find
that neither Bruno's or Dobbins
Dining Hall was open for breakfast.
In the afternoon following the
eargerly anticipated lunch, there
was a NFL playoff party at Bruno's.
When asked to sum up the weekend
activities Charles Williams,
ENG.O2, said, "there wasn't many
new people, but it was good."
Williams, from Scranton,
transferred to Behrend for the "good
four year engineering degrees."
It was rare to see a person walking
gain support from undecided voters
of neighboring Missouri, with N.C. Sen.
John Edwards closing in fast.
Polls, however, are notoriously
uncertain in a caucus state such as lowa,
where participants must devote their
entire evening Monday to selecting
delegates for the candidates. The
outcome has more to do with the
organizing skills of the various camps
on caucus night than it does with the
current sentiments of the electorate. But
the polls suggest Kerry and Edwards
may be gaining, while Dean and
Gephardt appear to be static or in a
decline.
For the past year, candidates have
worked to solidify their bases of support
men and women motivated more by a
visceral feeling than by careful study of
character and issues. Dean benefited
early. But undecided voters evaluate late.
They probe. They question. They
demand attention.
The Behrend Beacon
the paths around campus, and
extraordinary to see a group of
people. Residence halls were
predominately empty and only the
occupied rooms were heated, which
made showering a risky business
with the floor halls only a few
degrees warmer than a refrigerator.
Dobbins Dining Hall appeared more
closed than opened at the peak of
lunch and dinner as the number of
students could be counted on one
hand.
The orientation was a shadow of
the larger one enjoyed by incoming
students of last fall. Last semester's
orientation "was a weekend worth
of events and (spring) is not such a
big thing," said Christian 0' Connor.
She also said the most important
thing for the new students is to "get
involved."
Voters who say they're giving Kerry a
second look cite his experience and grasp
of foreign affairs. Nonetheless, many
voters here still harbor doubts about his
energy and his ability to connect with the
public.
Kerry may have lost Virginia Dress, a
53-year old patent agent at an event for
undecided voters Wednesday night in
Des Moines. She bristled when Ken
interrupted an answer to her question to
greet Christie Vilsack, lowa's first lady
and a Kerry backer.
"What it says to me is that her being
here is more important than me being
here," she said. "He's got her vote. He
didn't have mine, yet. I'm not sure that
he does."
lowans are known for being hard to
poll and late to decide, giving campaign
strategists fits. All a candidate can ,i(‘ .ti
this point is beg and hope the message
gets through.
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