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THE BEHREND BEACON
Friday, November 5, 2004
Plastics Engineering students posed for a photograph during their convention trip in Germany. Students, staff and alumni
toured 17 plastics sites, as shown in the background.
Engineers
By Alicia Raffensberger
staff writer
As many of us were handing out candy
to the swarms of trick-or-treaters, a
group of Behrend students and faculty
were returning from a 10 day trip to
Germany.
About 75 percent of the plastic engi
neering seniors, four faculty members
and several Behrend plastics alumni par
ticipated iu. this international trip. The
group attended the K Show in
Diisseldorf, Germany, which is the larg
est plastics convention in the world. The
show consisted of 17 buildings full of
new plastics technology and materials.
The K Show is held every three years
and this year the show was expected to
have 200,000 attendants from all around
the world. The show featured nearly
Inside
Students respond to election,
NEWS, Page 3
CONTENTS
News 1-4
Editorial 5
Student Life 7-9
Sports 10-12
CONTACT US
Newsroom: 898-6488
Fax: 898-6019
E-mall: behrendbeacon@aol.com
Our offices are located down
stalre In the Reed Union Building.
return from abroad
3,000 exhibitors from all parts of the
world demonstrating a wide array of new
products and technologies.
Brian A. Young, lecturer in engineer
ing, was one of the faculty members who
organized the trip. “It was my first trip
to Germany,” Young said.
Young said it was a great opportunity
for students to be “exposed to another
culture” and a good experience for stu
dents to utilize public transportation on
the rail system with their 10-day rail
passes.
As a faculty member, Young learned
a lot from the K Show. “I saw new tech
nologies that I haven’t been exposed to.”
The educational value exceeds past the
trip and will not only benefit the students
that attended the show. “I was able to
take some great pictures that I can use in
my other (plastics) classes,” said Young.
Eric Paszkowski, PLET 07, went on
Campus cameras keep tabs on students
By Lisa Lamendola
staff writer
As of last week, security cameras are
now being more widely used on the
Behrend campus. The cameras, which
are located in the Bruno’s dining area and
in the entry ways and main lounges of the
residence halls, were installed a while
ago. They’ve now just been switched on.
“The cameras are for security pur
poses. Hopefully the presence of secu
rity cameras will deter behaviors that
cause theft and damage of property,”
Scottish fellow critiques President Nixon
By Kim McCray
staff writer
Monday, Dr. Robert Mason from
Edinburgh University of Scotland was
here to talk to students and faculty about
“Richard Nixon and the Quest for a New
Majority.”
Mason is a professor of history at
Edinburgh and he is also the 2004-2005
Library of Congress Fellow. Dr. Mason
graduated from Oxford with a degree in
20* Century United States Political His
tory. He provided comers with his in
sights on Nixon and Nixon’s ideas to
make the Republican party dominate in
politics during his time. Because of his
achievements and his failings, Nixon
was one of the most important politicians
of his century Dr. Mason believes.
Thirty-two years ago, America made
a decision to nominate Republican can
didate Richard Nixon into presidency.
The margin of Nixon’s victory was re
markable and there were many Nixon
supporters in the country. Nixon though,
had an unusual response to his known
triumph because he foresaw that
Watergate would cause problems for
him. He assumed the public would find
A Penn State Erie Student Publication
the trip and attended the K Show in Ger
many. “Seeing the plastics show was
informative and exposed me to a lot of
new and working technology,” said
Paszkowski.
Once the convention was over, stu
dents had 4 days to themselves to sight
see in Germany. They had the opportu
nity to tour Krauss Maffei, a machine
manufacturer, make a visit to
Neuschwanstein Castle, a famous Ger
man castle that was built in the late
1800’s and complete any additional sight
seeing they wanted on their own.
The K Show occurs every three years
but the Plastics Department organizes an
international trip for interested seniors
every year exposing them to different
cultures and constantly changing tech
nologies. Past trips have included places
as far as China. Next year they are think
ing of visiting England and Rome.
says Randall Geering, director of Hous
ing and Food Services.
Most students are in support of the
cameras, saying that they will have a
positive impact on dorm life.
“They’re good to have because they
can see everyone come in and out and if
something goes wrong, we’ve got them
on tape and the whole building won’t be
charged,” says Lindsay Wiley, resident
of Lawrence Hall.
However, the use of these cameras is
meeting some opposition by other resi
dents.
“They violate the students’ right to
out about Watergate and when they did,
there would be trouble. Though skepti
cal about his presidency because of the
scandal, Nixon saw his term as a chance
to change politics in America.
“By 1972, Democrats dominated poli
tics for decades. Nixon believed as presi
dent he was governing at a time of op
portunity in politics,” Mason said. There
was a huge turbulence arising from dis
agreements about the Vietnam War and
race that were causing problems in the
Democratic party during John F.
Kennedy’s presidency. Many Americans
did not agree with the idea of liberalism,
an idea that the Democrats supported
greatly.
“Democratic dominance appeared to
be under siege,” said Mason. It was then
that Nixon reached out to troubled
Americans. “Nixon thought there was an
appetite in Americans for political
change.”
Nixon didn’t leave quite the legacy he
envisioned for the Republicans during
his time. His envision for the party’s new
dominance was a failure, mostly because
of Watergate. “Nixon’s quest for Repub
lican majority was thoughtful, but
flawed,” said Mason. Although some
CONTRIBU
Maginnes to present poetry
Creative writer series continues
By Bryan Spry
staff writer
Students can experience creative writ
ing first hand when A 1 Maginnes comes
to perform a reading in the Smith Chapel
on Nov. 11 at 6 p.m. There will be a
reception prior to the reading at 4 p.m. if
you would like to meet Maginnes and
ask him about his award winning work
or his experiences in creative writing
Maginnes’ poetry collection “The
Light in Our Houses,” which was pub
lished in 2000, won the prestigious Lena
Miles Wever Todd Award. This award
is given to the winner of the annual po
etry manuscript competition that is co
sponsored by Winthrop University and
Pleiades Press.
Maginnes’ other book, “Taking Up
Our Daily Tools,” was nominated for a
National Book Award in 1997.
Maginnes is currently a teacher at Wake
Technical Community College in Ra
leigh, North Carolina.
“It gives you an opportunity to be ex
posed to art and to hear a living author,”
said Mr. Sean Thomas Dougherty, asso
ciate professor of creative writing, about
the advantages of attending the Creative
Writer’s Speaker Series. “It reaffirms
that art is not dead. It also gives you the
opportunity to ask the author questions
about his or her works.
George Looney, assistant professor of
English and creative writing has pub
lished Maginnes in several reviews.
“I’ve known Al’s work for about twenty
years. As I went through the Mid-Ameri
can Review, Al’s work stood out from
the rest,” said Looney.
“Al’s poetry fits a southern tradition
of poetry, but it is much richer than
simple narrative due to the fact that it is
more complex; it is constructed in medi
privacy,” says Robert Cook, resident of
Perry Hall. “It takes a little bit of our free
dom away.”
In addition to the cameras in Bruno’s
and the residence halls, security cameras
are also located in the stair tower and in
the computer labs. According to James
Amann, manager of Safety and Security,
the primary purpose of these cameras is
to “enable the police officer on duty to
monitor the activity in these areas from
a central location and to record the im
ages for use in any criminal investiga
tions.”
“Our primary concern is for the safety
Nixon initiatives were enacted, says
Mason, they were not substantial enough
to rival the Democrats’ issues. While
Nixon built Republican strength at the
presidential level, Mason argues that he
did not succeed in mobilizing popular
support for political conservatism.
“Richard Nixon and the Quest for a
New Majority,” is a book written by
Mason in which he analyzes Nixon’s
response to the developing conservative
climate. Mason also challenges claims
about the activist nature of the Nixon
administration. Mason contends that
Nixon was an activist in intent, but not
in deed.
Many students from Behrend History
classes were in attendance. Some of
those included students from Dr. Dou
glas M. Charles’ History 21 class.
Since the presentation took place a day
before the 2004 election, Mason was
asked to share his opinions on the event.
He said that Tuesday was an important
day of decision. “As a foreigner, I don’t
like to make judgements about current
politics. According to past calculations,
were due for another realignment of po
litical party dominance. Election day
should be quite interesting.”
Vol. LII No. 11
tative argument,” said Looney. “A 1
Maginnes uses what seems to be child
hood memories to tell a story, which
momentarily disguises the deep philo
sophical underpinning of the poem.”
Behrend has been expanding its cre
ative writing program. Many students
do not know this, but Penn State Behrend
has several award winning writers and
poets as their professors. This award
winning staff includes George Looney,
author of “Animals Housed in the Plea
sure of Flesh,” which won the Bluestein
Award in 1995, and Sean Thomas
Dougherty, author of the award winning
essay, “What You Walk Away From.”
Behrend has recently added a B.F.A.
to its degree programs. The Bachelor of
Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Penn
State Behrend is the only creative writ
ing program that is offered in the state
of Pennsylvania. It is also headed by the
award winning poet George Looney,
which gives young aspiring writers the
chance to work with someone who has
been experienced in the creative writing
field.
“I believe it adds a more rigorous
structure in course work giving Penn
State Behrend the potential to produce
some of the best young writers in the
country,” said Dougherty.
Behrend M.B.A. student, Chris Frey
said, “I think the creative writing pro
gram at Penn State Behrend will help the
school attract a broader range of students
because they will have the ability to
study something that most other schools
cannot offer.”
“It would definitely help the students
develop better writing skills and allow
them to have fun furthering their ideas
that are geared more toward the creative
rather than the technical,"’ said Brian
Zechmeister, EEBD 05.
of students and employees who may be
using these facilities after normal busi
ness hours,” says Amann.
Some students have expressed that
they feel safer with the stair tower cam
eras activated.
“It’s good to know that someone’s
watching out for our safety when we’re
walking around campus at night time,”
says Katherine Redington, resident of
Niagara Hall.
The cameras are monitored by the
police officer on duty each night, and the
tapes are reviewed carefully.
DANIELLE FAULKNER/BEHREND BEACON
Mason educates students on
intricacies of Nixon’s term in office
He spoke on Monday in Reed 117.