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The Behrend Beaeon
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f Daniel J. Stasiewski, Editor in Chief
Amy Frizzell, Managing Editor
Courtney Kaplin, Advertising Manager
Alyssa Peconi, Public Relations Manager
Dr. Cathy Roan, Adviser
Student Life Editor News Editor
Loh DeFabio Brad Stewart
Calendar Page Editor Assistant News Editor
Rob Frank Dan Snedden
V%THE BEHREND
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“Professionalism Jenn Haight SamKamber
with a personality ” Sarah Weber Sara Kamber
Opinion Page Editor Beacon Assistant
Andy McNeil Carolyn M. Tellers
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.
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Brophy puts her foot
down on bad manners
by Megan Brophy
contributing writer
What ever happened to politeness and
manners? Is it really that hard to smile
and say “thank-you” when someone holds
the door for you (especially those heavy
ones in Kochel)? Civility is on a steady
decline everywhere, but most importantly,
it’s happening here at Behrend.
So what can the students at Behrend do
about it? Well if everyone starts with
themselves, it should be a pretty smooth
process. The fact is, the issue of civility
is so big that Penn State has taken action.
They have launched a college wide cam
paign to rid the school of rude behavior
and hopefully we can all just get along.
The fact that the big guys that run this
school have noticed a problem means that
there is really something wrong here.
They haven’t noticed that we don’t have
enough parking or that the food at Bruno’s
could be at the least slightly tastier. They
have noticed the rudeness.
They’re not the only ones. Many stu
dents on campus have complained about
the lack of manners. “It’s like there is no
sense of community here,” says Nate
Snyder, MANGT 09, “Other schools have
places to meet people.”
Maybe if we had a chance to get to
know everyone better, we wouldn’t be so
mean. Think about it. If you knew the
person whose parking spot you were
about to steal would you still be as likely
to do it? Hopefully not. If you would,
shame on you. Walking a little farther to
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class is inconvenient but it’s not go
ing to kill any of us.
There is actually a course taught
here that deals strictly with civility.
Last year it was taught by Mrs. Cathy
Mester, one of the heads of the civil
ity campaign on campus. It dealt with
everything from ringing cell phones
in the movie theaters, to telemarketers,
to swearing.
Yes swearing. Okay, we’ve all used
colorful language when we’ve
dropped something on our toes or got
ten a bad grade on a test, but is it
needed? Well, what about the First
Amendment you say? It’s true, we
aren’t breaking any laws by swearing,
nor are we if we decide to do cart
wheels down the hallway, but we don’t
do that do we? There’s simply a time
and a place for everything and those
places rarely public.
So why cut back on the swearing?
Why say “thank you” when someone
holds the door for you? Why not? This
is a challenge. This is a dare for all of
you Behrend students out there. Do
one civil thing a day. Start with one a
week if you want, but do something.
Next time you are going to leave your
garbage at the table in Bruno’s, throw
it away. Next time that girl you kind
of know from class smiles and says
hello, don’t ignore her, say “hi” back.
Prove everyone wrong. Show the big
guys up in the offices that Behrend
students do actually care about one an
other.
Chicken war:
Last night I watched Jet Li’s action
packed “Hero,” oddly “presented” but not
directed by Quentin Tarantino. What that
sly straight shooting dog had to do with
this film, the world will never know.
Among the swirl of seizure inducing col
ors and flying Chinamen twirling about
brandishing swords and spears at about
mach ten, I actually learned something.
Ying Zheng, King of Qin Empire, was
the first true emperor of China who both
conquered and united the people. This
spurred a chain of thoughts, as it often
does, which lead me to ponder the great
est and most misunderstood Chinaman in
history: General Tso.
As I mused, I concluded that General
Tso was probably the Chinese equivalent
of Colonel Sanders, who, according to
KFC, did have a short military career and
served in Cuba (at the age of 16), but
never even came close to a rank like colo
nel. Even though he wasn’t a real colo
nel, I salute the man for his awesome
heart-attack inducing chicken. I assumed
“General” Tso was just an affectionate
name attached to some delightfully jolly
Parking on campus is a risky business
By Colleen Applebaugh
contributing writer
An unsuspecting student walks to his
vehicle on a Wednesday afternoon with
no concern other than the amount of food
he intends to buy. To his surprise, and
dismay, he finds his side view mirrors
smashed off, roof caved in, and wind
shield shattered. The student has just be
come yet another victim of car vandal-
In the last three years, there have been
over 90 reported incidents of car sabo
tage on campus. Since the start of the se
mester, 14 cars recorded damaged, some
to the impressive tune of $3,000 dollars.
‘Tis the season again for these acts of de
linquency to appear and it is only a mat
ter of time till there is another target of
destruction.
What is the school prepared to do about
these deeds of careless defacement? Well
according to a recently published article,
Police and Safety aim to continue with
their current method of supervision. One
police officer surveying 14 parking lots,
maybe three or four times a night, will
hardly stop these criminals from their
trade.
Mentioned in that same article is the
proposal for surveillance equipment. The
chief of Police and Safety explained that
cameras would not help the situation, nor
does the department have the funds for
Walking, driving on campus
proves to be risky business as well
By Alyssa Peconi
staff writer
As we all know, the ground will soon
be covered with a thin layer of ice and a
mound of snow. Therefore, conditions on
the Penn State Behrend campus will only
worsen as the winter season goes on.
Snow might be a blessing for skiers and
snowboarders, but for Behrend students,
it usually means a treacherous walk and
or drive to class. It would be an obvious
solution that class would be cancelled or
delayed on days that outside conditions
made it virtually impossible to leave your
home or dorm room, but that would be
too easy.
Remember when it snowed in grade
school or even high school? We were all
excited because we knew school would
at least be delayed a few hours or even
cancelled. However, we are now at Penn
State Behrend where we see more snow
than grass year round. Therefore, the
chance of getting class cancelled because
of a 9 foot snow squall is slim to none.
Erie is used to the snow, so we, as stu
dents, just do not have that luxury of
“snow days” anymore. However, faculty
does.
Tso would whoop Sanders
Andy McNeil
opinion editor
chef who dreamed up the tasty concoc
tion. Boy was I wrong.
General Tso Tsungtang, also known as
Zuo Zongtang, was a real military leader
during the Qing dynasty. Tso served dur
ing China’s greatest civil war spanning
over the second half of the nineteenth
century, which claimed millions of lives.
Tso rose to power during the Taiping Re
bellion around 1850. The rebellion was
adequate camera security kits.
The chief of Police and Safety must
sleep well at night knowing he does not
have to foot a bill for $3,000 in car van
dalism. How can cameras not help the
victims of these crimes? With the video
clips provided, regardless of the quality,
an investigation can at least be launched.
Further information about trends, patterns
within chosen cars and any relevant in
formation are better than the common
“we’re sorry” routine.
Where does the money from each
student’s parking permit go? With $220
times the increasing amount of students
with cars, the department could surely
find some monies for campus security.
Students ought to feel secure enough in
leaving their parked vehicle when they
pay to park. The fear of returning to a
thousand dollar mess is too high of a con
cern for the already stressed out college
student.
Responsibility is the greatest discour
agement in reviewing these crimes. Who
is ultimately responsible for the protec
tion of student vehicles? Why pay to stay
if there is no guarantee that your car is
safe and sound. The school does not men
tion their policy on car vandalism. It is
rather taboo in the eyes of many officers
on campus. Who should pay the damages
if the school cannot properly secure all
parking lots? The insurance companies
are not always willing to cover such ne-
As stated in the Human Resources
Guidelines, “staff may charge their ab
sence to vacation time when weather con
ditions cause a concern for personal
safety.”
It seems only fair that faculty should
be allowed to take “weather day ab
sences” to take responsibility for their
own safety during inclement weather,
while we have to brave our lives trying
to get to class during a snow storm only
to find out that the professor left a note
that “class is cancelled.” That seems fair
right?
Where is our “weather day absence”
when we can barely see an inch in front
of our faces as we attempt to walk to class
in the midst of a blizzard, with a foot of
snow covered in an inch of ice under our
feet?
Students simply do not have the power
to use an excused absence due to the
weather situations that often occur dur
ing the winter. Do we not have the choice
to be responsible for our own personal
safety just because we are lower on the
rung of power in the higher education
ladder at Behrend?
As students, we should also have the
opportunity to take responsibility for our
Friday, December 10, 2004
started by Hong Xiuquan, who believed
he was the younger brother of Jesus
(DNA tests still pending of course). Tso,
or General-tasty-chicken-man as I call
him, put down various revolts from vari
ous Chinese and Muslim rebel forces.
But where did the name come from
you ask? We’re getting there.
Tso had the top leaders of the Nian
Rebellion executed in the grimly named
“death of 10,000 cuts” fiasco which may
have lead to the naming of the dish.
Overseas expatriates are said to have
named the dish in dark-humor for their
old enemy? The famed chopped-up
chicken dish may have indeed recieved
the name “General Tso’s” from the diced
up victims of Tso’s campaign.
Is this going to change my love for
the spicy and sweet dish? Hell no, but I
do think it’s ironic that we glorify a
rather gory military leader and don’t
even know it. We certainly wouldn’t
want to eat Castro cookies with
Milosevic milk, yet we definitely dig
General Tso’s and if they made a Che
Guevera Guacamole dip, I’d be all over
it.
Therefore, students are forced to scrap
up funds from elsewhere in order to pay
for the repairs.
My fellow students, why is this even
happening in the first place? The fact
that someone is actually capable of lit
erally destroying another person’s car is
curious. Those persons are also sleep
ing peacefully knowing that they are at
low risk of being caught and they too
are free of a costly bill.
Many students comment about the
ruthless pursuits on innocent people and
the newly developed recreation of a few
random heartless people, but are they
willing to report them?
Honestly ask yourself if in fact you
would turn in the culprits. Students with
holding any supporting information
about the people involved or schedule
of attacks are silent accomplices of the
offenders. These people are considered
co-conspirators of the “serial vandalists”
and since these crimes are in fact against
the law, these individuals should be held
to the same punishment.
The school should purchase or de
velop a more efficient way of securing
cars on campus. Quite frankly, this is a
problem, not a fluke coincidence or fad.
In case people did not notice, money
these days is hard to come by, so why
should we have to waste it on public dis
regard for personal property?
own safety while we are on this cam
pus. After all, we do pay thousands of
dollars for our education, not to fall on
a patch of ice trying to get to our educa
tion.
It would not be so bad if the plow
trucks would actually clear the snow and
salt the walkways so that we could at
tempt to make it to class in the event
that a snowstorm is occurring. Instead,
the trucks can often be found parked,
waiting for the snowfall to lighten up or
stop before driving, while we are slip
ping, sliding and falling all over cam
pus.
So, how are students supposed to
avoid taking a spill down the icy stairs
by the Reed Building or getting their
cars stuck trying to brave the hill on Jor
dan Road? Should we all just stay in
our rooms, comfortably lying in our
warm beds until the snow season is
over?
That solution would be easy, but it just
would not work if students want to pass
their classes and eventually graduate.
So, what should we all do?
Maybe we can all buy our own shov
els and bags of salt to use while on our
journeys to class. Now there is a good
way to be responsible for our own safety.