Friday, November 12,2004
Should P&S officers carry firearms?
“Yes. I think it’s ok in case
they need protection from
others with firearms when
they are trying to stop
crime."
Dustin Noivoczynski,
EK ED 01
Poverty, philanthropy collide during hunger awareness week
By Tim Mak
staff writer
Next Monday will begin the sth Annual
Hunger Awareness Week, which will run
from Nov. 15-21. It aims to raise the aware
ness of the care for the homeless people and
the community.
If you are interested in the plight of home
less people, you may attend the Empty Soup
Bowl Dinner on Nov. 15, in the McGarvey
Commons. A guest speaker from Mercy Cen
ter in Erie will be invited to talk about what
is happening to homeless people. Free soup
and bread will be served.
The second event, Cardboard City, from
Nov. 16-17 may give you a taste of being
homeless. Clubs and organizations are en
couraged to use cardboard to build their own
houses and stay inside for a whole day while
asking for donations.
“I need the Behrend students to understand
them and to go through what the homeless
had gone through,” claimed Kelly Shrout, co-
VOTING from Page 1
we’ve ever seen students in a national
election,” he said. “There is no compari
son.”
Both Miller and Soni, in separate in
terviews, were quick to point out that
local politics may be where students are
able to make the most difference.
Now that the election is over, Soni
sees Harborcreek Township getting
more attention from SGA.
“We are going to try to attend local
township meetings to let people know
that Penn State Erie has a voice,” she
said
Ken Miller mentioned that the SGA has
met with local officials including state
Rep. Tom Scrimenti and the Republi
can who took his seat in the election,
Curt Sonney. SGA President Scott
Soltis, just a few days before the elec
tion wrote a letter to the Beacon encour
aging students to take a look at Curt
Sonney.
Sonney was a political unknown prior
to this election season. He unseated the
Looking for a new car or truck?
Rick Weaver Buick Pontiac GMC
Rick Weaver Buick Pontiac GMC
714 W.l2th ST
Erie,Pennsylvania 16502
(814) 455-8071
www.RWßuypower.com
• “Yes. I think they should be
l allowed to carry them as long
• as they know what they are
• doing. It's fine if they are
using it to protect the stu
dents. "
Dave Jackson,
DUS 01
Have a suggestion for Question of the Week? Email your question to us at: behrcoll2@aol.com.
ordinator of Hunger Awareness Week. “Col
lege students are unlikely to have the oppor
tunity to get hungry or without a home.”
Not only can college students leam what
it is like to live with the stigma of being home
less, but they also can raise money for any
charitable organization they want.
One of the clubs involved is the Asian Stu
dent Organization (ASO). “Other than for
charity, we want to do something good for
the world,” said Johnny Tseng, ME 03, Presi
dent of ASO However, he expressed his pes
simism towards this program.
“I think not that much can be raised since
nobody will be willing to give out their
money.”
The free Thanksgiving dinner, Dinner for
Six Strangers, is regarded as the climax of
Hunger Awareness week will be held Thurs
day night. Students will have the chance to
meet students, faculty and staff they do not
know from all over the campus. Shrout hopes
all students will be able to leam more about
the community and the people around them.
eight-term incumbent Scrimenti by less
than 200 votes. With 25 to 30 people
heading to the polls for 10 hours, stu
dents could have turned the Scrimenti/
Sonney election one way or another.
Miller even estimated that the cam
pus population had enough registered
voters to turn the tide in the last
Harborcreek supervisor election. Im
proving Jordan Road and the various
zoning issues that the township faces
are just two of the local issues on which
students may be able to make an im
pact.
Miller mentioned the possible expan
sion of the EMTA bus line to the new
Buffalo Road developments, noting that
it too was “a political decision.”
With much of the focus on youth
voter turnout, it is easy to forget that
48.4 percent of registered voters from
18 to 30 years of age didn’t vote.
One of those non-voters was Jerome
B. Pohl, 111, a communications major
whose Election Day attire included a
shirt that said, “Voting is for old
48P Penn State Behrend 48P
faculty, staff, students, and family
will receive $lOO below
Offer Expires 12/31/2004 • Offer Exdudes GTO • Customer keeps all applicable rebates
Please bring this ad and your Penn State ID to redeem discount
in stock new car or truck!
“Yes. Let's say someone else,
not from campus, came here to
steal stuff and the only way to
stop them would be to use
force."
Jairo Carrasquero,
ME BD 01
“We expect the students can at least think
of the homelessness and can figure out one
way that can help them,” stated Shrout. One
of the practical ways is to participate in the
Community Service Opportunity next Sun
day at the Faith Lutheran Church. Partici
pants have to make Thanksgiving gift bas
kets and deliver them to needy families. “By
doing so, we can show our acceptance to
them.”
Targeting hunger and homelessness has not
been changed for the past four years because
they found that the situation of homelessness
is getting worse and worse.
‘The homeless number increases each year
and I think they really need our help,” con
firmed Shrout. “They are a huge population.”
Finally Shrout would like the students to
realize that small things can in fact make a
big difference.
“As long as they can experience and un
derstand their circumstances, they have al
ready helped the homelessness in one way,”
said Shrout.
people.”
From Pohl’s perspective, young vot
ers will never be a demographic that ei
ther party will easily court. He doesn’t
see one issue that can unify the entire
18 to 30 age group.
When confronted with the topic of
tuition as the unifying issue for
college age students, Pohl said, “It
would be if they could get over their
problems with everything else.”
“We are not paying our tuition bills
in October and November,” he added.
A skeptical Pohl said it would take
“a candidate who is not a hypocrite,
which I think we’ve never had” to get
him to the polls.
Miller, however, took a quite
different stance. He noted that
nationally and locally youth voter
participation in on the upswing.
“Student’s I think underestimate the
amount of influence they have,” said
Miller. “As long as students vote,
people will listen, the politicians will
listen.”
Bad Credit/No Credit?
The Credit Solutions
Dept can help!
“Yeah, I think it’s appropri
ate, in case there was an
emergency or just to be used
as intimidation. ”
Janet Niedenberger,
COMB A 03
Minority representation on the rise
By Bradley Stewart
news editor
Recently, University Park released stu
dent enrollment data for the 2004-05 aca
demic year. In total, there are 81,664 stu
dents enrolled at 24 campus locations.
Among these figures was the recognition
that since last year, the percentage of mi
nority students had risen by two percent to
9,827 students or 12 percent of the univer
sity-wide student population. At such a low
percentage of the student population, is this
rise in minority numbers a significant in
crease, or simply bringing attention to a
lack of diversity?
Behrend itself has a lower percentage of
“under-represented” groups than the uni
versity average. Native American, Alas
kan Native, African American, Latino, His
panic, Puerto Rican and international stu
dents are considered part of the minority.
Enrolled at Behrend are 3,593 students.
256 of them are minority students and 53
are international students, making up 8.52
percent of the student population. This is
an increase in four students from fall 2003.
“We try to be very pro-active in recruit
ment, to make sure that students who are
from under-represented groups are very
aware of the opportunities here,” said
Mary-Ellen Madigan, director of admis
sions. “But the numbers aren’t where we’d
like them to be.”
Recruitment of diverse groups is not
easy. Behrend is permitted to actively re
cruit in only three local counties: Erie,
Warren and Crawford. Each respective
Penn State campus location is limited in
active recruitment for their satellite cam
pus.
Another factor in the lack of diversity is
Behrend’s high standards. Many qualified
individuals choose to attend universities
that are closer to large urban areas or have
nationally recognized programs and de
grees. Also, students accepted to Behrend
often desire to attend campuses away from
their homes in an attempt to encounter new
people and places. Therefore, since the sur
rounding Erie area has lower numbers of
qualified minority groups and many quali
fied students choose non-Erie universities,
invoice on any
The Used Car Store
at Rick Weaver's
Cars/Trucks and SUV's;
some starting at $1,500
and always a great selection
The Behrend Beacon | 3
“Yes, because if something
bad happens then they
will be able to protect the
students.”
Sara Kamber,
COMBA 07
the lack of diversity is reflected in
Behrend’s population.
Behrend combats the small pool of quali
fied students by employing recruiting pro
grams that focus on under-represented
groups.
Penn State has what we call community
recruitment centers in areas within Pa. that
have a higher minority population,” said
Madigan. “We work real closely with the
community recruitment centers, particu
larly with the recruitment center in Pitts
burgh, to make sure that students there are
aware that they can still go to a small cam
pus at Penn State and be away from home.”
Penn State also has several out-of-state
recruiters who work in areas that have
higher minority or under-represented popu
lations. These recruiters ensure that there
is a personal connection between prospec
tive students and Penn State.
Why such a push for diversity on cam
pus? Affirmative action no longer exists.
No minority quotas or student slots are set
aside for under-represented groups.
“Getting people associated with more
ethnicities gets them ready for the real
world, the business world and college is
the best place for it,” said Donte Hart,
MKTG 03, explaining the importance of
diversity in the university setting.
“Diversity will help [Behrend] grow,”
said Tranette Scott, Crime, Law, Justice and
Psych 03, agreeing with Hart. “The best
everything is where there’s diversity.”
Dr. Gregory Fowler, professor of En
glish, when questioned about the impor
tance of diversity on campus said, “I think
it’s extremely important. Diversity allows
an engagement of a different series of ideas
and theories, otherwise learning just be
comes a reinforcement of ideas and there
is little critical thinking or rationalization.”
Behrend’s low minority numbers might
be disconcerting for some but according
to Fowler and Madigan, the low numbers
are not from a lack of recruitment efforts
on Behrend’s part, but are the result of a
number of factors.
“It’s getting better,” said Hayolom
Tadesse, FNC 06, providing an optimistic
outlook on Penn State’s minority situation.