Friday, December 10, 2004 Abandoned trash stinks up residence halls Dorm damages on the rise , students paying By Dan Snedden assistant news editor Damages in the residence halls are a problem every semester at every col lege and Behrend certainly has its share. However, this semester damages are on the rise, resulting in extra hassle for Housing and extra charges for students. “This year is certainly not one of the best years,” said James Bowen, assis tant manager of Housing and Food Ser vices. “One of our biggest charges is students who leave their trash on the floors, leave their trash in the bath rooms and leave their trash outside the back doors of the buildings.” “We hire housekeepers. And our housekeepers’ jobs are to go in and clean those buildings, take the trash out of the bathrooms, the hallways, the lob bies and so forth. But they don’t take personal trash out,” said Bowen. The deterrent fees for a bag of gar bage are $25 throughout the university system and they vary for other dam ages. Extra cleaning includes both the deterrent charge and compensation for the housekeepers. According to Bowen, there have been recurring problems in the lobbies of the various residence halls, students putting trash in the recycling bins being a sig nificant one. He explained that if gar bage, even cardboard pizza boxes, is thrown in a recycling bin, waste man agement cannot use the bag for recy- Inside % * Christmas tree truths, STUDENT LIFE, Page 6 CONTENTS News 1 Editorial 2 Student Life 5-6 Sports 7-8 CONTACT US Newsroom: 898-6488 Fax: 898-6019 E-mail: behrendbeacon@aol.com Our offices are located down stairs in the Reed Union Building. ly <g ot trasn s»ho __ than one hundred feet away from the dumpsters. Violations result in Housing’s extra spending and ultimately charges students must pay. All students in the building are penalized for one student’s violation, unless the culprit is apprehended. cling. Cameras in the residence halls, while they add an extra measure of vigilance, are not meant primarily to be a deter reßtjUjjtapaMFs. The United Way has reached its 90% mark. Support from students, faculty and staff is still desired. Service organizations served free dinner at Logan House By Dan Snedden assistant news editor Yesterday, administrators from the Division of Student Affairs served din ner to representatives from 14 of Behrend’s clubs and organizations at the Penn State Behrend Service Awards. Among the serve* s were Behrend CEO and Dean, Dr. Jack Burke and Di rector of Student Affairs, Dr. Ken Miller. “This is our fourth year holding the service awards,” said Kelly Shrout co ordinator of community service and the Smith Chapel. “We originally held it in Bruno’s, but decided to hold it in the Logan House to provide a more formal atmosphere for the students.” Clubs and organizations that hold community service events are encour aged to send service reports to Student Activities so that they can be given A Penn State Erie Student Publication “The intent of the cameras is not to catch students doing bad things. The in tent of the cameras is for safety pur poses,” said Bowen. “If we do find something on camera where someone’s Credit card research Credit cards have always been a huge part of most Americans' lives, and now Sam and Irene Black’s School of Busi ness wants to learn how. This research will not only prove useful for Behrend students, but the research this center gathers will prove useful to all Ameri cans. The center will help determine the habits of most Americans who use a credit card, with eight years worth of conducted research already being used. Dr. Mary Beth Pinto helped start the Credit Card Research Center and is the director of the center. Helping Dr. Pinto are her two colleagues: Dr. Phylis Mansfield, assistant professor of mar keting and Dr. Diane Parente, associate professor of management. All three of the doctors have been conducting re search from students and faculty since 1998. They have all three appeared at national conventions, promoting their research. The research center even has its own website www.creditcardresearchprogram.info or students can call the center’s hotline at 814-898-6553. The website is informa tive and educates browsers about credit card use. The doctors also created a game called the Credit Card Game credit for their projects. This semester over 60 service reports have been sub mitted, being the most philanthropic se mester in Behrend’s history. “I think that there are more organiza tions involved with community service than ever before,” said Shrout. “We’ve only recently been keeping track of what organizations do service projects, but students have been doing community service projects for years and years and we should recognize them for doing so.” Representatives from various organi zations such as the Penn State Chemis try Club, Senat Hall Council, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Res Life and the Student Advisory Association Council attended. “It shows that the face It) really cares about the students,’ said Ross Zambinini resident assistant. “Different people from across the entire student body, from the Greeks to the RA’s, to "'A..* .^V'J*£ By Jeff Smen staff writer done something wrong, certainly that’s a benefit to us, but first and foremost the cameras are installed for safety. If someone is assaulted then we can refer to the cameras and see who entered the building at what time and use that.” “If a student sees a student damag ing, they should not feel like they’re ratting on someone by reporting it. Stu dents need to take care of their home away from home,” said Bowen. “If we get a report, we can investigate it and charge the individual responsible for the damage.” “Res Life and Housing are always brainstorming to find ways to help stu dents reduce damages,” said Amanda Knerr, associate director of student af fairs, “but students taking responsibil ity for their own actions and the actions of their fellow residents is the key to keeping charges down.” “Our floor meetings have been suc cessful in explaining how the process of charging damages works,” said Knerr. “The damage free program has also drastically reduced damages.” The damage free program encourages students to keep their floors clean by re warding students with a party after a month without damages. “We try to maintain a nice, safe, clean area,” said Bowen. “All in all I think that we have a bunch of good kids on campus, there’s just a few that think they’re here for something other than education.” Show which can be fairly fun, yet still help students learn about the use of credit Not only do Pinto, Mansfield and Parente gather their research right here at Behrend, but they have also recruited help from the Pennsylvania College Per sonal Assoication (PCPA). The PCPAhas enlisted other colleges throughout the state to participate in surveys to further help Pinto, Mansfield, and Parente with their research. The team has even gone so far as to go to other countries like In dia and England to collect international data for their research. “I believe that this research center will be prove very useful and hopefully the research will teach Behrend students more about credit cards and how to use them properly,” said Carl Opet, MET 01. “I’m not really sure if this research cen ter will have any use at all. Do people really care to know that much about their credit cards?” said Mike Satler, CMPSC 01. “I really haven’t heard much about this research center at all; so I’m not really sure if my opinion counts or not, but this center does sound pretty cool and I guess we’ll see if it proves useful or not,” said Jim Rak, ME 01. So whether or not the research center will prove useful among students is still to be seen. Students are encouraged to check out the website and start learning more about credit cards. people from other organizations working together. It shows that Behrend is really active in the community.” There were awards for outstanding philanthropic gift, most original service project, most community service hours for one event, service initiative, cardboard city and unique service project with an educational component. “There are many more student organi zations now and almost every student or ganization has a role in community ser vice,” said Chris Rizzo director of stu dent activities and the Reed Union Build ing. “Almost every student organization sees that an important part of what they do is community service” "We’re trying to get students to look at what community service really is,” said Shrout. “Students have an idea that it has to fit certain parameters, but community service is very flexible.” Vol. LII No. 15 Hanging of greens honors Behrend family By Lisa Lamendola staff writer Last Friday marked the 56 th annual Hanging of the Greens ceremony at the Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery. The celebration, which is Behrend’s old est tradition to date was sponsored by Protestant and Catholic Campus Min istries, commenced at 7 p.m. “It’s a way we can reflect and honor the family,” said Kris Motta-Torok, assistant director of student activities. In 1929, 20-year-old Warren, the son of Mary and Ernst Behrend, was on his way home from Deerfield Acad emy to spend Christmas with his fam ily in Charleston, S.C. While driving, a bus full of school children cut in front of the car. He swerved off the road to avoid collision. A monument now stands before the entrance to the Behrend Chapel, in the Wintergreen Gorge Cemetery, where Warren and other members of his fam ily are buried. “Students, faculty and even alumni attend every year,” said Torok. Each year, people trek to Winter green Gorge Cemetery by vehicle and pack into the small chapel for a candlelight service. Then, Dr. Jack Burke, campus executive officer and dean, and the Student Government Association president hang two wreaths on the Behrend family crypt door. Christmas carols are sung and there are also several speakers. “I can say that it is one of the most memorable things any Student Gov ernment Association president can do. I gave a brief speech about how thank ful we as students are for the tremen dous gift that this campus was,” said Scott Soltis, SGA president. In addition, Benjamin Lane, former associate professor of English and dean of student affairs and author of “Behrend Remembered: A Half Cen tury of Penn State in Erie,” told the history of the Behrend family. “It’s a great way we can kick-off the holiday season,” said Torok.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers