Friday, September 23, 2005
Greeks rush for new
By Kmilv Zimmerman
staff writer
Why is everyone lushing? It
isn t to class; instead it is to join
a fraternity or a sororitv. There
are three fraternities at Penn
State Bchrend: Sigma Tau
Gamma. Delta Chi and Kappa
Delta Rho. There are also three
sororities: Alpha Sigma Alpha.
Alpha Sigma Tau. and Theta Phi
Alpha.
This past week has been Dry
Rush and it's been a good week
lor the Greeks. Briana Thciss
from Theta Phi Alpha stated, "A
lot o! great girls, all awesome."
She was very excited about this
past week and all of Theta Phi
Alpha's activities which includ
ed a football luncheon, and
themed parties such as Beach,
friends. Penguin Party (their
Tech Column: Ask ASCII
By Logan Stack
contributing writter
Dear ASCII,
My mouse is a little unresponsive. I move it and it
eventually reacts, jumping around the screen.
How can I fix this?
Dear Jumps.
Your mouse woes are probably due to cither a
dirty mouse or a "dirty" computer. Flip over your
mouse. If you see a gray ball, then you've got a
ball mouse then the mouse is most likely at fault;
it’s dirts. If. when you pick it up. it's glowing red
then you've got an Optical mouse, sometimes
called an LPT) mouse or - incorrectly - a "laser"
mouse T hen the problem is likely with your
computet. If you have an Optical mouse, w'ith a
red I.LD in the bottom, then the most likely rea
son for the jumpiness is an overburdened com
puter. This is usually caused by spyware and
adware. Spyware is software that tracks your
movements online. Adware is software which
s’lvcs urn extra pop-ups and changes the adver
tisements in the banner ads at the top of pages
(depriving those pages of money they need to
survive ) Both are installed surreptitiously by
Do you have a computer question? Then ask ASCII!
E-mail lwsllB@psu.edu with "Ask ASCIT in the sub
ject line and you may have your question answered in
“Pie your RA” was a smashing success
By Anthony Cianciosi
staff writter
Members of the Lawrence
Hall Council had a pie in the
sk v idea lor students of Penn
Stale Lrie that could help raise
funds for the victims of
Hurricane Katrina. As a way to
raise money for the relief effort.
Resident Assistants were clob
bered with pies thrown by way
too eager students who were
willing to make the donation. It
is a sticky situation, but some
body had to do it.
The “Pic Your RA” event
was held this past Thursday at
ft p.m. on the hill in front of
Dobbins Gazebo. For $1
Bchrend students had the
chance to throw pics at their
favorite RAs without conse
quence of retribution.
Fundraisers of this type are an
easy way to get students
involved with helping others.
All proceeds from the event
will be given to the PSUnited
Way Campaign, in cooperation
with the Red Cross, which then
will be disbursed to help vic-
Do you have good ideas for the Student Life section?
Send them to us, we would love to have your input!
c\r
mascot) and an Olympic party.
Thciss went on to say that
"many girls who came out were
freshmen so hopefully they
come back out next semester."
Sigma Tau Gamma has been
actively involved with their rush
plans with events such as horse
shoes, and bowling. Delta Chi
has had a bonfire Monday night,
casino night on Thursday, and
will be having a spaghetti dinner
on Sunday evening. Kappa
Delta Rho (KDR) has had low
key gatherings. Luke Goldner
of KDR stated, "We get our (rat
out through word of mouth and
contrary to popular belief, our
frat is not the soccer frat. In
fact, we only have two soccer
players in our frat! So any sec
ond semester and beyond stu
dent may join."
Chris Fox coordinates Greek
unscrupulous companies, mostly using bugs in
Internet Explorer. Download AdAware
(http://www.lavasoftusa.com/software/adawarc/)
it will clean off most of the spyware. Next,
download Fire Fox (http://www.mozilla.org/prod
uets/firefox/); itwill help prevent you from get
ting reinfected.
If you have a traditional ball mouse, then it's
probably literal dirt - not filth accumulating on
your hard disk. There is a circular disk around the
ball. Rotate the disk in the direction the arrows
point. About a quarter of a turn later, you can flip
the mouse over and the disk and ball will fall out.
Inside your mouse you should see two rollers. The
mouse ball rotates against those rollers and they
measure how far you've moved your mouse. Go
ahead and touch one; you'll see the cursor on your
screen move. At the center of each roller is
a band of crud -that's not a technical term. Use a
razor or knife to scrape the erud off. making sure
to rotate the roller so that you get it off of all the
sides. While you've got the ball out, you may want
to wipe that down too, but it's usually not as dirty
unless you ran your mouse through a pile of cat
hair. Now that your mouse is clean, stick the ball
back in and twist the disk back on. Then go buy a
mousepad so you don't have to clean it again as
next week’s column.
tims of Hurricane Katrina.
As the sun was setting in the
background, sudden splatters of
whipped cream flew off of the
RAs' heads and into the air.
Just a few of the brave RA’s
willing to put themselves on the
front lines for this cause were
Brian Forfa, Minisica Morris.
Adam Rhodes, and Rachel
Zclina. “We are only doing this
for a good cause” said Morris
right before being hit with one
of the whipped cream pies.
Rhodes kept the rest of the RAs
in a playful mood by wiping
the whipped cream off of his
own face and sneaking up
behind one of the other RAs
who was just about finished
cleaning themselves off, usually
Rachel Zelina, and throwing it
in their face. Towards the end
of the event, noticing some
thing peculiar about his skin,
Rhodes said “My face is sur
prisingly smooth.” To which
Morris responded “Does
[whipped cream] work well as
an exfoliator?”
Lawrence Hall Council mem
ber Stef Main said, “This is the
PUD ENT LT
members
Life here at Penn State Bchrend
and walked me through the
process of signing up for a
Greek organization. First after
deciding which fraternity or
sorority you would like to
become part of. you fill out a
form so that Fox can see if you
have earned the minimum
twelve credit requirement. Also
each member must have at least
a 2.25 grade point average to be
in a sorority or fraternity. After
that, the organization decides to
extend an invitation, also known
as a bid, for you to join their
organization. Then, it is your
choice to accept or decline the
invitation. Next is the New
Member Education Program,
better known as pledging.
These regulations arc decided
on and voted on at the Greek
Council meetings. For the fra-
first time Lawrence Hall has
held a “Pie Your RA” fund rais
er, but other resident halls have
held the event before, and it
always turned out to be benefi
cial. We wanted to come up
with a fun and easy way to help
the relief effort and this seemed
like the way to go.” Events like
this are not just a way to raise
money, but also create a way
for students to get out and meet
one another, and also get to
know their RAs in a more
amusing way.
This is not the only fund rais
er Lawrence Hall is holding to
help the hurricane relief efforts.
The Lawrence Hall Council has
been holding a trash pick up
fund raiser not only to help
keep their hall and dorms clean,
but to help clean up the damage
left by Katrina. Every
Wednesday at 9 p.m. during the
month of September, Lawrence
Hall residents can have their
trash picked up and taken to the
dumpsters for them for $1 per
bag. And once again, all pro
ceeds will be given to the PSU
United Way Campaign.
SLeditor@psu.edu
Emily Zimmerman/ BEHREND BEACON
Della Chi brothers Jim Duehnowski. Paul Nick and Charlie Morrison (shown k-l'i to right) enjoy a game of “Texas Hold *Em“
ternities, that council is called
the Inter-Fraternal Council. For
the sororities the council is
called the Panhcllcnic Council.
Fox believes that rush week
"is important because it's a life
ASA’s sell students for a
By Ashley Bressler
staff writter
Looking for a good time
Tuesday night .' Having trouble
finding a date".' That's ok - just
buy one. The Alpha Sigma
Alpha (ASA) sorority is holding
their annual date auction on
Tuesday, September 27. in the
McGarvey Commons at Xp.m.
This year Courtney Straub, sen
ior Communication and Media
Studies major, holds the ASA
Date Auction chair position.
Straub explained that the date
auction is ASA's annual charity
event supporting the S. June
Smith Center and the Special
Olympics. The sisters have been
taking volunteers all week to be
auctioned off as dates for the
All students are invited to
attend this event to enjoy the
free food and music. Most
importantly, all are encouraged
to participate in the auction to
help raise money for the S. June
Smith Center and the Special
Students walk the runway for a good cause during Alpha Sigma Alpha's annual date auction held in the McGarvey Commons
Kathryn Carstater/ BEHREND BEACON
A Resident Assistant takes a pie to the face during I.awerence Hall s "Pie your RA" fundraiser held on Thursday afternoon.
time commitment so it is impor
tant for these organizations and
prospective members to have a
good relationship and really get
to know each other so that it is a
good experience for the organi-
Olympics. The sisters have put a
lot of time and effort into organ
izing this event year after year.
The hard part is trying to find
ways to incorporate new ideas
into a long standing tradition,
and this year's Date Auction
will center on a tropical beach
theme. The emcee for the event
will be ASA's sweetheart. Justin
Curry, and the DJ will be Jamall
Erskine.
Date Auction is just as it
sounds - students volunteer to be
auctioned off and the audience
places bids on them. All the pro
ceeds will be donated to the
ASA's National Philanthropy.
Those who win the bidding are
also given an entertaining date
package. Some of the date pack
ages may include gift certifi
cates to local restaurants, movie
rentals or bowling passes. These
packages come with the pur
chased date, but do not guaran
tee an actual date with that per
son. Courtney Straub comment
ed. “If the student who is auc
tioned off doesn't want to go on
The Behrend Beacon I
zation and students.’
All of the sororities, except
Alpha Sigma Tau, have extend
ed their bids so far, and the fra
ternities will be extending theirs
in the next week.
good cause
the date, they don’t have to. It’s
just a lot of fun and I encourage
every student to attend even if
they don’t want to buy a date.
It’s always a lot of fun to
watch!"
The ASA Date Auction has
always been a great success for
the sorority and they have been
able to raise a lot of money in
the past. This year should be no
exception, as students at Penn
State Behrend have always sup
ported the various charity events
and seem to genuinely enjoy
them. Events like this are what
keep our Behrend community
thriving and it is the involve
ment and support of students
that has made the ASA Date
Auction such a notorious suc
cess. So anyone looking to take
a break from the books Tuesday,
come to the McGarvey
Commons in the Reed Union
Building and have fun with the
sisters of Alpha Sigma Alpha as
they have an auction for charity.
Contributed Photo