Amy Wilczynski , editorial page editor News Editor Justin Curry Sports Editors Kevin Fiorenzo Amy Frizzell Editorial Page Editor Amy Wilczynski Features Editor Dana VRocaro Greek Life Editor Courtney Straub Beacon Staff Photographers Jeff Hankey "Professionalism with a Heather Myers personality" 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. - - . / I :-. •• 1 ing court lacks requirements A 27-member homecoming court? You've got to be kidding me. Excuse in while I dab away my tears of laughter. Whatever happened to the wonderful cliche - quality not quantity?" Is it necessary to waste time and resources with that many candidates? Absolutely nor. Let's be realistic. Of those 27, only a small handful can be considered legitimate representatives of our student body. The other remaining candidates serve only to dilute the quality of the court and contribute to the three-ring circus that is the homecoming court. The whole situation is a complete farce, depriving the eventual king and queen of any legitimacy to the title. Having an absurd number of candidates spreads the votes too thin. Winning with 10 votes is not winning. And just who deserves to be on the court? Guessing by this year's court, any Joe Schmoe. Until there is an established set of guidelines put into effect, no king or queen should be recognized. As of now, one only has to be nominated by another for acceptance onto the homecoming court. There is no semester standing requirement, no GPA requirement, no activities/ organizations requirements and no service requirements. There is nothing. Therein is the problem. This year's homecoming court is nothing more than a repeat of a high school homecoming and is lacking serious value. As of now, it is largely a popularity contest. As a student body, the only thing we have to judge the 27 individuals on is popularity, status, appearance and which club nominated each representative. If this event is to command any respect or reverence in the coming years, provided this is not a one-time SEND Letters must be signed and include a telephone number, major, semester standing and full name. Letters more than 350 words may LETTERS be edited. Letters that are libelous or are personal attacks will not be published. Send to: The Behrend Beacon, Reed Union Building Club Mailbox, 5091 Station Rd, Erie, PA 16563. E-mail: behrcoll2@aol.com Managing Editor Daniel J. Stasiewski Assistant Managing Editor Scott Soltis -,,____-- 1 ,.. 4 .., ..___, _..„- Al LefriST Mul owri4 niglCT yeAril st/Poz 13otkic HALFT(mg ~st o w f _Ai • - i..1c1. 0 40 Lauren Packer thing, which I believe it will be, there has to be an effort made to establish respectable criteria for admittance onto the court. And what makes it respectable? First thing, first-through-fourth semester standing students should not be allowed to participate. They can't even declare a major, so why give them the responsibility of representing our school? Secondly, a minimum GPA of at least 2.0 should be required. You have to have it to graduate anyway. Thirdly, the candidate must be involved in some sort of college-related activity. Lastly, the candidate should have or will stay at Behrend for the entire undergraduate career. If the criteria seem harsh, it is because they should be. Let's let our student body take a serious look at the candidates, and let's have the candidates be serious. King and queen are titles associated with royalty, a state of higher being, not average citizenship. Packer's column appears every three EDITORIAL Advertising Manager Ryan Russell Calendar Page Editor Rob Frank A&E Editor Daniel J. Stasiewski Supplemental Editor Lauren M. Packer Adviser Cathy L. Roan, Ph.D Copy Editors Carolyn M. Tellers Kristin Bowers ,;• s• Mil _ 51:rf-dt*ll4*s%:*s Friday, February 6, 2004 The Great Debate Every other week, two members of the Beacon's board of opinions will choose a topic and discuss the topic from opposite viewpoints. This week, the focus of The Great Debate is class attendance policy. Attendance policies are there for a reason. I wanna rock 'n' roll all night and party every day, as I'm sure many of you do, but I realize that I need to go to classes. If I don't go to classes I might not pass the course. If I don't pass enough courses,) might not gradu ate. If I don't graduate, I might have to pump gas at my local full-service gas station for the rest of my life. I realize the importance of going to class, but many do not. This is why we need to have attendance policies, so that people who don't realize that they are possibly screwing their lives up by never going to class have something there to force them. Think back to high school. I know if it wasn't for my parents telling me to get to school, I might not have gone nearly as much. If my school didn't have a maximum number of days I was allowed to miss, I wouldn't have had Attendance policies suck. There, I said it. I think that the majority of stu dents would agree with me that there are mornings, afternoons and hell, even evenings when you are just too tired, busy or simply hung-over to git through a 50 minute or hour-and-a-half lecture. Professors seem to thrive on these poli cies, with the ultimat duction of our grade: son can stay caught u assignments, readini there is no reason fol sit through classes going over the ma terial assigned the night before. We, as students, have enough resources at our discretion that if we, as adults, de cide to not attend class, we shouldn't be punished for it. The first, and oldest of these re sources is the almighty syllabus. All professors pass them out the first day of class, outlining the class topics, reading assignments, projects, quizzes and exams. Also outlined are the at tendance policies for the various America says no to nudity Janet Jackson should be ashamed of herself. And Justin Timberlake, too. Let's not forget that MTV and CBS are partially to blame here. That's right. Jackson, Timberlake, CBS and MTV, you made a grave mistake. Not one of you went far enough. That's right, not far enough. Contro versy is still brewing as the FCC launches an investigation into the now infamous Superbowl halftime show, but the intentional nipple slip isn't a "shock ing moment" for Jackson or CBS. Jackson has admitted the stunt was planned. No shocker, when you consid ering the line that accompanied Timberlake's grab and rip. "I'm gonna have you naked by the end of this song." By baring her breast on television, Jack son got the press she wants as she pre pares to release another CD. The uproar has also made Jackson's the most searched event in Internet history with even more searches than the Paris Hilton sex-tape. Still, it was just a breast. Jackson shouldn't have to defend the frat-house stunt or even apologize, for that matter. The flash comes off as silly and amateur ish, not as an audacious, limit-pressing stand against antiquated indecency rules. As amusing as it may be to envision FCC Chairman Michael Powell and his cro nies sitting in a smoke-filled room, do ing a shot-by-shot analysis of the boob bobble, investigating this timid attempt Stasiewski's column appears at grabbing headlines only gives the stunt every three weeks. r tillsagreep-disagreeP disagree? disagreeP disagree? disagrfsea write your opinion to The Beacon • 1 e-mail The Beacon at behrcoll2@aol.com land make Sure you include your name, major, and semester standing Is ow iris ma arii ow ail isis los ea credence Now, I understand there are parents out there who feel their children are go ing to turn out to be teenage mothers or sex offenders after seeing a single breast, but no one complained when Bud Light used a farting horse to promote their beer, a cartoony promotion with little value to an adult audience. If children were watching the Super Bowl, and the parental breast logic is applied, then we can't ignore the number of children who will now grow up to be beer guzzling drunks because they saw nine commer cials for adult beverages during a "fam ily" program. Still, that's no reason to ignore the tactless nature of the stunt. It was an un intelligent photo opportunity that got everyone talking (I'm writing this col umn, after all), but the criticism isn't be ing aimed in the right direction. Most to go and learn and get good enough grades to attend a higher education in stitution like Penn State University. Now think ahead. In 10 years when you're working a job and think to your self, " Gee if I work isn't really gonna matter today" or "I can do my job at ftwand good VyingJO hold ~,,.loot yo, in show up late so many times, not show up at all a few times and still be fine as long as you have notes from your parent or guardian. At work you will earn many sick days and vacation days as you are employed over a period of time. After that most employers are very forgiv ing if you go over your sick days if you have to miss work because you were in the hospital or were medicated classes. Attendance policies range from three to six excused absences, and the punishment for exceeding the limit varies from the reduction of a few per centage points to a letter grade to fail ing the class. Students have the complete semester's breakdown of work at their bi a lit ip s e c ko s •>, **off approach to attendance : L ie 46 t o might actually weed out some of the weaker ,r,:.w , ptside Qf students and allow the classes iattwittAttle,o be tOlo further in a semester, with ev e'lojr Meuse is tile' eryone having a better knowledge course management, or ANGEL net- and understanding of the material work. More and more professors are covered. starting to utilize this site to upload In summation, we're spending our homework assignments, notes, read- money here. Professors get paid the ings, additional materials and question- same regardless if we're in class or naires. ANGEL can normally be ac- not, so I don't think they should be cessed 24/7, so students are able to turning into dictators when it comes check out their upcoming work and to attending class. If I feel like go schedule easily. I have used ANGEL ing, or I have questions, you'll see for a few of my classes, and itiu.st adds me there. But if I know what's go to the torment of having to'sitihough 7 ing on and feel like I'm competent another boring lecture when all of my in the material, what's the point? It's work is done and I have all of the read- just a waste of my time and money. Daniel J. Stasiewski and not allowed to drive In college you can miss a week's worth of classes without repercussion. You don't even have to have an excuse to miss class. You could miss class be cause you had been playing Madden all night or be really hung over, or it may have just been really cold outside. It doesn't matter. On top of that after those three days, most professors are very forgiving about serious illness, deaths in the family, and sometimes other extenuating circumstances. We pay (or our parents pay) a lot of money to go to school here. Showing up to class most of the time is simply using the money we are spending. It's not like the school is saying "come to class no matter what!" Instead they are telling you "it's okay if you miss a few classes, but remember what you are here for." 6 r , atPehteOd, and of t.,l#ty':)roti can of the condemnation should go toward the response of producers and perform ers, not the boob that did nothing wrong. It wouldn't be appropriate to just start screaming "liars" from the windows, but Timberlake's "wardrobe malfunction" fib proves no one involved was strong enough to just say, "It happened. Get over it." America's outrage is only strong in the face of controversy, and all the pandering and apologizing just fueled the fire. If the performers would have just shrugged and moved on, Jackson could have lost all her clothes and the lack of response would have left the hecklers dumb-founded. Baring it all would also have made a stronger statement than a flash that equates to a quick lift of a T-shirt for the stadium big screen. It's evident from the stories we hear about European televi sion with its drag shows and "Cou plings," its "f'-bombs and "c"-words, that American teievision is as brave as Dennis Franz's butt is cute. The next time MTV produces a performance, it should remember America says no to nudity. While borderline pornography is worth the trouble, there are more cre ative ways to offend people. Why not show Britney Spears dressed in a nun's habit while singing "The Touch of My Hand." After that, America will be beg ging for naked nipples. The Behrend Beacon ings completed. Ultimately, it should be our deci sion as to whether or not attending our classes regularly is something we like to do. Some students need the class at mosphere to flourish, while others do fine on their own accord. A more Page
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