Amy Wilczynski, editorial page editor
The Behrend Beacon
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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.
Sometimes in today's world,
college students are stereotyped as
chain-smoking, class-evading
alcoholics. Too much is not
expected of us from the rest of the
world besides being able to rid our
bodies of the hangover we have
from the prior evening's festivities.
Students on campus, however, have
begun to shatter that image with a
recent influx of philanthropic
activities. Today's issue, for
example, notes three student groups
that have been working hard for the
past few months on raising funds
for organizations Aber than their
own. They, of course, are not the
only three that do so on an annual
basis. A few weeks ago, the sisters
of Alpha Sigma Alpha held their
eighth annual date auction, whose
proceeds benefitted two charities.
Throughout the year, numerous
campus organizations hold benefits
for other organizations, with a
plethora of charities benefitting
from their hard work. We, as
students, need to encourage our
peers involved in these
I •I
idisallimP disagreeP disatmoo disagree ;
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write your opinion to The
I e-mail The Beacon at behrcoll2@aol.com
land make sure you include your name, major,
I and semester standing
Editor in Chief
Lauren M. Packer
Managing Editor
Daniel J. Stasiewski
Assistant Managing Editor
Scott Soltis
organizations and let them know
what a good thing they are doing.
Regardless if it's raising money for
children with cancer, raising money
for the homeless or for those less
fortunate than us, all causes are
worthy. When we, as college
students, take on the massive tasks
of organizing benefits for them, we
let the rest of the world see that there
is more to college life than booze
and booty. And that's not that bad
of an image to portray.
Right now, at University Park,
there is a committee devoted to
defining what exactly "We Are Penn
State" actually means. We feel that
whenever Penn State students are
out, taking time out of their already
busy lives, and giving it to raise
money for someone they might
never get to meet, they are
embodying our school's so famous
mantra. The spirit of giving is Penn
State.
The Beacon's View is determined
by a majority of the board of
opinions .
BMW
Advertising Manager
Ryan Russell
Calendar Page Editor
Rob Frank
A&E Editor
Daniel J. Stasiewski
Erika Jarvis
Supplemental Editor
Lauren M. Packer
, .
• •
Friday, February 27, 2004
Penn State may lose professor and my respect
Altoona professor Nona Gerard has
been tenured since 1994 and has given
15 years of service to Penn State. So
what is President Graham Spanier
giving her in return? How about a slap
in the face, followed by possibly
revoking her tenure and terminating her
employment.
The Penn State Standing Joint
Committee on Tenure has recommended
in a 3-2 vote that Gerard "be terminated
for adequate cause based on grave
misconduct." Spanier has 30 days to
decide if Gerard will remained tenured
and employed by the university.
Why?
Because she voiced her opinions on a
degree option that was deficient. Gerard
openly admits to criticizing aspects of
the Integrative Arts program because
she had reservations about lack of space
and properly trained faculty.
Finally, students have a professor who
realizes that we are being robbed and
does something about it.
Excuse me, President Spanier, but the
last time I checked I was paying well
over $lO,OOO to receive an entire
education, not to graduate with a degree
that was only half-complete. The only
grave misconduct here is that of the
university parading around the
Integrative Arts degree option as
complete.
: sner criticized for lad of quality
The Walt Disney Co. has been look
ing for a cold steak to put on its black
eye after the recent fall-out with both
Pixar Animation Studios and Disney
heir Roy Disney, while CEO Michael
Eisner also faces criticism for the de
cline in the quality of the Disney prop
erties.
Unfortunately for the kiddie king
dom and its embattled emperor, the
acquisition of certain Jim Henson
properties only adds fuel to the un
controllable fire that burns closer to
the gates of the Magic Kingdom.
Last Wednesday, the Jim Henson
Co., which is again in the hands of
the Henson family, decided to sell the
Muppet characters and the Disney
Channel staple "Bear in the Big Blue
House" to the mouse house for a re
ported $9O million, adding Kermit
and Miss Piggy to the Disney stable.
This isn't the first time Disney has
tried to acquire the Muppet charac
ters, but the initial offer in the early
1990 s happened during a time when
Eisner oversaw Jeffrey Katzanberg's
revival of Walt Disney Studios with
films like "The Little Mermaid" and
"Beauty and the Beast." Katzanberg
bailed after being accused of not rak
ing in profit from the live-action
Disney films. (Animated films like
"The Lion King" generally outper
formed nearly every live-action film
from any studio.) The Henson deal
fell apart before Katzanberg's depar-
Letter to the Editor
I'd like to disagree with the
opinion of Mr. Massaro, as pub
lished in the Friday, 20 February
issue of 2004.
His opinion—as I understand
it—is that the city of San Fran-
cisco, in the person of Mayor
Newsome, is endorsing and pro
moting an anarchic breach of the
laws of the State of California by
directing the city/county [San
Francisco is large enough to be,
and is, its own county] to grant
marriage licenses, similar in all
respects to those granted a pair
ing of differently-gendered indi
viduals.
This action is further seen as
inconsequential and ultimately
Lauren Packer
editor in chief
Do the students who graduate at
Altoona get only half a diploma? Do
they get half tuition? I think that's the
least we could do for the poor students
who will graduate with this degree. Or
maybe Penn State could make an
announcement to potential employers
on behalf of the graduates: "Please
forgive how utterly useless this
graduate seems. It's not really his/her
fault. We only provided him/her with
half a degree."
As students, we need to make sure
that an end is put to this administrative
garbage. What really is their motive?
Is it to make Penn State and its degree
programs better? Or is it to fix the
problem by firing the whistle-blower?
Professor Gerard should be made an
Daniel J. Stasiewski
cure in 1995, but the Disney and
Henson companies had a friendly
relationship until the German me
dia company EM. TV purchased the
Henson Co. in 2000.
From 1995 to 2002, most Disney
produced films, animated or live,
failed to make any impact with au
diences. "Freaky Friday" and "Pi
rates of the Caribbean" provided the
Company with a financial boost last
year that won't be repeated this year
or even next. That could be why
the Michael Eisner of 2003 is try
ing to turn the Muppets into a profit
steamroller for Walt Disney
The Eisner who tried to buy the
Muppets 14 years ago isn't the same
Eisner who today allows the cre
ation of a straight-to-video sequel
more damaging to those who are
obtaining licenses, who will suf
fer emotional difficulties when
their licenses are rendered in
valid, as the law will win.
As stated above, I don't agree
with this position. Whilst the ac
tions of Mr. Newsome may well
be in violation of Proposition 22,
Proposition 22 violates Article 1,
Section 7b of the California state
constitution, which disallows the
granting of privileges to one or a
class of [for our purposes,
hetrosexual] citizens without
granting them to all citizens. I
imagine that those deemed gay,
lesbian,
bisexual
transgendered can still be citi-
example of, but not the way Penn State
is doing it. Students, in addition to and
especially faculty, need to speak up
about matters such as these.
Apply this situation to plastics
engineering at our campus. What would
happen if we told our students we were
giving them one-half the education they
needed to succeed, one-half the
necessary equipment and faculty half
qualified to teach? I don't think too
many students would be happy or stay
at Behrend for very long.
Plastics engineering and theater are
two extremes, but the underlying
principle remains the same. Students
pay to receive a degree in which they
are taught by the best with the best. I
don't know anyone who says, "Gee, I
hope my professors are really
underqualified," or "Wouldn't it be
great if there was no technology for us
to use?" Strike that, I do know someone
like that, and her name is Penn State.
It saddens me to think that throughout
the system, degree programs may be
suffering and all our administration can
do is turn up the volume on a new
problem to take the heat off the real
problem. Classic "Wag the Dog" move.
A&E editor
zens of California; therefore, the
privilege of using the term "mar-
riage" to describe their state-rec-
ognized relationships cannot be
legally withheld, as constitutions
overrule laws
always resist change; the petition
by a group of students to attend a
school, the board of which re
fused them entry, ended up "de
feating" certain laws—Brown et
al. v. Board of Education et al.
Separate was not, is not, and is
unlikely to ever be equal.
Chris Strayer
POLSC 04
The Behrend Beacon
Lauren Packer's column
appears every three weeks
to every Disney Classic (an idea that
Walt Disney once said was only re
served for "Fantasia"). The Eisner
we have today has seen his empire
fall apart because the quality of the
product has been overshadowed by
the company's desire for profit at all
costs.
Now, the Eisner who lost Disney's
only creative partner (Pixar) is look
ing to save some face. Instead of
pursuing more creative endeavors or
returning to the Disney tradition that
helped save the company ill the late
80s, the Walt Disney Co. is going to
use the Swedish Chef's built-in
popularity to temporarily boost its
stock.
The purchase could even drive-up
the asking price for the entertain
ment company. Despite turning
down cable giant Comcost's offer to
purchase all Disney properties, the
Walt Disney Co. won't take down
the "for sale" sign until Eisner gets
the boot. With all hopes, the board
of directors follows the path of the
California Public Employees' Re
tirement System, which yesterday
said it would withhold its votes for
re-electing Eisner to the Disney
chief executive position. The
Muppets may not be saved, but other
cherished childhood characters may
avoid being prostituted for profit.
Daniel Stasiewski's column
Furthermore, the law doesn't
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