4 I The Behrend Beacon
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or
the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. - The First Ammendment to the U.S. Constitution
The Behrend Beacon
Published Weekly by the students of Penn State Hiie
Bun m 11 ri \D
eaCOn Assistant News Kditor
Patrick Webster
Penn State Erie,
The Behrend College Contact the Beacon at:
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Quote of the Week
“College football is a sport that
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tion that bullfighting does to agri
culture.”
-Elbert Hubbard
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Letters to the Editor
Annie Gianoglio needs to make a few corrections to
her rather biased editorial about abortion published
on the 3()lh of September. She writes about
the travesty of "millions of children being mur
dered." as if to conjure images of kindergarteners
being systematically exterminated, not several-week
old fetuses being removed in a surgical procedure.
She then goes on some tangent about HIV which,
even after reading the paragraph several times, I still
cannot connect to the rest of the article. Annie then
claims that a woman going to the hospital after rape
will immediately have upon her performed a “DNC,”
(its actually D&C) which apparently prevents con
ception from ever occurring, and is thus morally
Dear Beacon.
Last week, a columnist of yours, one Jasmine Lee, whored
the Beacon out for a strange, and inaccurate, protestation of
the American legal process. She claimed that the removal of
the words, “under god,” from the American pledge of alle
giance is a violation of the First Amendment of the
Constitution, as it censored the rights of the authors of that
pledge. She also claimed that students have the right to not
recite this pledge in school, which, supposedly, allows them
the freedom of choosing their own beliefs. As well, she threw
in some weird legal critique of the civil system.
People, the American pledge of allegiance never contained
the words, “under god,” until Congress decided America need
ed to distance itself culturally from the Communist party in
1952. They censored the original text of that pledge. So, if
someone wants to allow writers the creative freedom to
express themselves, and chooses the pledge as the means to
express censorship, the addition should be removed. Adding
words to a bit of writing is as much censorship as is taking
away. What the hell was she thinking, saying removing,
“under god,” is censorship? She’s the censor. She wants to
force upon the original text of our pledge a belief in some sort
of deity.
Aside from Ms. Lee trying to censor the pledge, she claims
that students have the right to not recite the pledge. So is she
trying to say that unless one chooses to ascribe belief to a
deity, one should not be allowed to declare allegiance to the
United States? Is she trying to say that agnostics and atheists,
and some aspect of Buddhists, and those weird Californians
who've formed an actual religion of Jedi, and Unitarians, can
not swear their devotion to the concepts of the Constitution?
Annie Sevin, Editor in Chief
Rob Frank, Managing Editor
Courtney Kaplin, Advertising Manager
Jerry Pohl. Public Relations Manager
Kim Young, Adviser
News Kditor
Jennifer Haight
Sports Kditor
Chi iN Kill linn
Opinion Kditor
( 'til ls 11 \ i/ditk
( nrtoonist
/iiek Ment/
Photography Kditor
Michelle Vera Stiroviec
Student Life Kditor
KJ Mart!raff'Jr.
C alendar Kditor
Siobhan Conwav
Humor Kditor
Jerrv Pohl
Copy Kditors
Kale Keleesenv
Kachael Conway
Allison Gray
Iraeie Kend/iora
acceptable to do .
Conception occurs at the time of the sexual act, not
at some random later point, so the D&C is still, in
effect, ending the existence of a fetus in its earliest
stage. WebMD even defines this procedure as a
“...surgical abortion done in the first 12 weeks (first
trimester) of a pregnancy.” I know the abortion
debate is still very controversial and is based on a lot
of opinions, but when facts are introduced, I simply
ask that they be correct. Also, what do “the terror
ists” mentioned in the last sentence have to do with
abortion?
That is an elitist expression, which does not adhere to the
expression of freedom, which she touted throughout the edito
rial.
She also came up with some ridiculous idea of double jeop
ardy in the civil courts. Her support for this was the fact that
Michael Newdow, the individual bringing the lawsuit to the
courts, had had his case dismissed by the Supreme Court last
year, due to the fact that he did not have legal custody of his
daughter while she was in school, and so did not have the right
to sue on her behalf. This was a technical response, which was
corrected, and so Newdow would, even in a criminal court,
have the right to bring this case back to the courts.
As well, she mentioned the country being founded on
Christian beliefs. Even if this were accurate, we are not living
in the world of the founding fathers anymore. We have deter
mined, legally, that a separation exists between Church and
State. Quite frankly, that does not give public fields, like
schools, the right to make people, like students, subvert their
patriotism by refusing them the right to say the pledge.
I agree that this is not, by itself, a terribly significant issue.
It’s kind of a “politically correct,” issue, which does take up
valuable court time. But a line must be drawn somewhere, or
religious influence may inveigle itself into every aspect of
society, as Pastor Ted Haggard of the New Life Megachurch of
Colorado wants. And apparently Jasmine Lee, as well, accord
ing to her editorial. Do we really want the United States to turn
into a Taliban-ruled State? Apparently, by this half-cocked edi
torial, some people do.
PINION
STAFF EDITORIAL
Please step anywhere but
At the top of this very page we print the First
Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of
America. We print it every week because we want stu
dents to know that they are free to express their opinions
in our paper (as long as the opinions are not libelous or
threatening). Free speech and freedom of the press are
protected by the First Amendment, and this protection
applies to all sections of our paper.
As journalists, we often are scrutinized by the choices
we make when printing the news. However, freedom of
the press means that any press publication has the right
(protected by the Constitution) to print anything other
than libelous material (under an active judicial review),
under the scrutiny of the staff only, no one else.
Metaphorically speaking, a picture is worth a thousand
words, and pictures (being part of a free press) often are
the center of controversy. Thus was the case this past
week for The Behrend Beacon. On the front page of last
week's issue, we published a photo of a Behrend student
at the Alpha Sigma Alpha (ASA) Date Auction. The photo
showed said student in shiny red shorts dancing in a pre
carious position.
This picture told the story of part of an event that hap
pened on campus. Pictures tell stories, they relay news to
the readers. It is up to journalists to make sure that news
is told accurately and completely. That is part of adhering
to journalistic integrity. Leaving out pictures because
they would be deemed too obscene or grotesque by a
select few would not be cohesive with our ethical guide
lines.
There are obviously certain pictures that would not be
acceptable to place in a college newspaper and we recog
nize that fact. However, there are certain photos (such as
the one we placed last week) that are acceptable to publish
in college newspaper; but would not be totally appropriate
in other publications. The majority of our audience is
comprised of our peers, and we are well aware of how they
will react to certain things. Our audience reacted exactly
Reflections from a Jaded “Super” Senior
By Michelle Vera Suroviec
photography editor/mis 1210@psu.edu
What’s the easiest way to get to Bruno’s if you live in
Ohio Hall 1 ? There isn’t one. What’s the best way to get
there from Senat Hall? Just go outside. These fresh
men today have it too easy. Back when I was a fresh
man. we had traditional dormitories far, far away from
the hustle and bustle of.inner campus. .Thedistance
perpetually grew each time a stomach growled. Did we
give into the temptation of casually skipping to the
nearest eatery? Of course not! It was cold outside, and
that's how we liked it - hungry and cold. We didn’t
have any of those fancy-schmancy suites with private
bathrooms and at a convenient location designed to put
like-minded students together.
No, we were chaotically thrown together against our
will and there was only four showers for a whole hall
way of girls. Not just ordinary girls, but skinny fresh
men girls who wanted to hook a college stud before the
weight gain started. The energy used by the sophisti
cated models of hairdryers and curlers would have been
Paul Zielinski
Junior, Management Information Systems
- Ben Haire
Political Science Major
on our First Amendment
as we expected them to last week, criticism included
We understand that some of our audience members were
not pleased with our choice of photo. However, we placed
that picture in a student-run publication. Our entire edito
rial staff had a say in whether or not that picture was to be
placed. We published the photo because we knew that it
was part of the Date Auction story - it happened at the
event. It vividly told a story of events that happened at the
Date Auction. Also, it was not the only picture attributed
to the article written about the charity event.
As to the question of whether or not it was an error in
judgment to publish that picture, we hold to the truth that
it is our right (protected by the First Amendment) to speak
freely as part of the press. The First Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States of America will not stand
for censorship by anyone, and neither will the free press.
There seems to be a problem with distinction lines.
Issues arise when students become journalists. People
question whether or not to treat us as students or as jour
nalists. The law treats us as journalists and we are held
accountable as such. We ask for the same treatment and
respect from our peers and our superiors.
As journalists, we provide a media that relays a medium
(message) to an audience. As journalists, we provide the
facts of actual events that have happened at some time and
place in either textual or pictorial form. We do not cater
to anyone’s personal agenda - that is not our job nor our
responsibility.
Journalists cannot cower when citizens flex their
proverbial muscle in order to intimidate and quiet them
(i.e. take away their inalienable First Amendment right).
For centuries, citizens in positions of power have tried to
shake their mighty fist at the free press. However, the
press has and will always prevail because that mighty fist
is as ineffective as our mothers shaking their finger at us
when we walk out the door on a Friday night. It is under
no circumstances acceptable for citizens with authority to
be under the delusion that they can stifle news.
strong enough to power a small country. And that was
okay, because it built character. Nothing affirms a per
son’s inner strength like battling for an electrical socket
that hasn't been burned out or a coveted spot in one of
the remaining clean showers. There were four, but the
good things in life rarely last. The other two got cov
ered in puke once the guys on the other floor discov
ered that the former residents forgot their secret liquor
stash in the rafters.
We also didn’t have as many pathways. There is now
a new convenient infrastructure of pavement that guides
the poor directed freshmen to the Science building.
Back in the day, we didn’t have pathways of cement.
We had pathways of ice and mush. We didn’t walk.
We fell. Hard. And we liked it. Nothing makes a per
son appreciate a pair of warm, dry pants as the chill
soaks through your soiled jeans and nearly numb bot
tom.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate the new breed of
pampered freshmen at all. Actually, I happen to like
them very much. Especially for breakfast.
Beacon Thumbs Up
Llamas on campus.
- Sherbet on sale at Brunos.
Charging Health and Wellness
prescriptions to your Penn State Bursar
account.
Beacon Thumbs Down
Painfully slow PSU Webmail.
‘Family Guy’ reruns so early in the
season.
-Inconsiderate cell phone talkers in the
library computer lab.
Friday, October 7, 2005