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THE BEHREND BEACON
Friday, April 7, 2006
Military recruits sought at school
By Hayolom Tadesse
staff wrter
The military, in recent years, has been extremely aggressive in
recruiting young men and women, due to the unfortunate circum
stances that occurred on 9/11. This ongoing war between the
United States and Iraq has accounted for the deaths of many
American solders, as well as innocent citizens of Afghanistan and
Iraq. The pressure mounts for recruiters to find nearly 200,000
volunteers due to the
number of casualties.
Since 2003 the death
toll in Iraq has sur
passed 1,300 dead and
over 10,000 wounded.
The Army with the sup
port of the federal gov
ernment is willing to go
to great lengths by visit
ing schools and running
numerous advertise-
ments in order to per
suade young people to
join the military. The
officers are well trained
to analyze students and
motivate them to join by
offering job training,
adventures, signing
bonuses, service to
country and scholar
ships. Recruiters not
only visit campuses, but
also target young people
in their hang out spots,
sporting events, shop- The military searches for educated talent to serve in the current war in Iraq
ping malls and conven-
fence stores. Those who sign up for five years get a bonus of
$12,000 including up to $70,000 for college aid. One high school
described the Army recruitment as "a product that can be sold."
The U.S. Defense department spends nearly $2.6 billion each
year just for recruitment expenses, including administrative costs,
advertising and college funds.
Many schools disagree with the way the military recruits sol
diers and want to stop them from visiting their campus. They
have realized these young men and women are being put in dan
ger for a war that should have never taken place to begin with.
The United States infil
trated Iraq with false
intelligence information
of having weapons of
-Page 8
Contents
...1-3
Editorial 4
Humor 6
Student Life 7-8
Sports 9-10
News..
Contact Us
Newsroom
898-6488
Fax:
898-6019
E-mail:
editorinchief@psu.edu
Our offices are located down
stairs in the Reed Union
Building.
hgt 102(€ 6 pstLedu
Behrend boasts best registration numbers
Behrend is the fastest growing college campus
in town, according to registration numbers over
the past few years. The number of students offered
admission to Penn State Behrend so far has
increased 32 percent; from 1,614 at this time in
2005 to 2,134. This is apparent because of a cam
pus wide increase in applications at all locations
in the Penn State University system. Allegheny
College in Meadville is expecting its third consec
utive year of record applications. Currently, they
have received more than 3,600 applications, with
150 students already indicating their intent to
enroll. At this time in 2005, Allegheny only boast
ed 120 students with intent to enroll. About 2,465
students have applied to Mercyhurst in Erie so far,
similar to 2005's numbers, said J.P. Cooney,
Mercyhurst's director of admissions.
An incoming class of 700 to 715 "puts us up to
capacity," says Cooney. Gannon University, in
downtown Erie, and Edinboro University are also
seeing the effects of the growth of the education
market.
The number of students who have already com
mitted to attending Behrend is up 13 percent from
this time in 2005, said Behrend's director of
admissions, Mary-Ellen Madigan in a recent inter
view. "We're on our way to a record-breaking
class," she added. "It's probably one of the
strongest applicant pools we've seen in the last
couple of years." This rise is most likely attrib
uted to the fast growth of the school, including
more housing buildings and the new Research and
Economic Development Center (REDC).
Part of the reason for such high enrollment and
application is much higher standards in the work
place. Even some entry-level jobs require, at a
minimum, an associate's degree. It seems now that
one cannot get far without some form of higher
education.
With higher enrollment and higher graduation
A Penn State Erie Student Publication APR Ir , /005
mass destruction and might have targeted the wrong country for
revenge of 9/11. After realizing this, the Supreme Court has
ruled unanimously that colleges must accept military recruiters
on campus if the schools desire to continue receiving federal
funds. This new law may stem from the recent shortfalls in the
Pentagon's recruiting as well as officials worrying about military
preparedness being threatened. The Defense Department has
already denied federal funding to two law schools who were
opposed to having recruiters on their campus. Currently, univer
sities are receiving about $35 billion a year from federal pro
grams mainly for research
and expansion.
Penn State may not have
a policy for controlling
military recruitment with
out losing funding, but the
school does have a policy
for Army Reserves that
are called for active duty.
After presenting the
school with a military
order, the students are per
mitted military withdraw
al. This allows the stu
dents to get their full
tuition back and automatic
re-entry into the universi
ty. The students that are
called to duty will retain
any financial aid they
were given and are let out
of their housing contract
free of charge, and they
are refunded money for
their room and board.
Employees of Penn State
tect them if called for
duty. They are given their previous or a position of equal status
by Penn State upon returning.
The military said it has pressing needs for educated talent with
highly specialized skills, such as translators, engineers and
lawyers. The Pentagon has suffered recent shortfalls in its recruit
ing, and officials worry that military preparedness may be threat
ened. They say schools are free to ban the government from cam
pus, but they should not continue receiving government money if
they do. Over the past year, as casualties in Iraq have filled the
news, recruiting has become much more difficult. For the 2003-
04 recruiting year, which ended in September, the Army's active
duty and reserves recruiting effort narrowly met its quota, but the
Army National Guard missed its goal of 56,000 soldiers by about
5,000 -- its first shortfall in a decade.
By Greg Lanich
staff writer
gdl 118@psu.edu
also have policies to pro-
numbers in post graduate studies, including mas
ter and doctorate degrees, the market is being
flooded with highly educated workers. Behrend
also sees a higher level of postgraduate studies
than in previous years.
High schools in the area are urging their stu
dents to continue their education as well. The Erie
school district is not quite up to par with the
national average concerning students continuing
their education at the college level. In addition,
the school's average in SAT scores is also below
the national average. Because of the No Child Left
Behind Act pushed forward by President Bush, all
The student populations continues to grow at Behrend as well as at Edinboro University and Gannon University
Lawtifii i 2lefends diversity
By Miranda Krause
staff writer
mlk3l9@psu.edu
A Penn State University student is
causing some controversy at
University Park. The Alliance Defense
Fund (ADF) filed suit against Penn
State University's alleged violation to
student A.J. Fluehr's free speech
rights. The suit was filed against Penn
State on behalf of Fluehr on Feb. 22.
The lawsuit claims, "the university's
anti-discrimination and intolerance
policies violate the First Amendment
by Preventing Fluehr from openly
expressing his political, cultural, and
religious opinions." Fluehr belongs to
a student organi-
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zation that allows
its members to
express their feel
ings that may
offend other stu
dents on certain
diversities such
nospetivt.
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as, gender, race,
sexual orientation
and religion.
According to the lawsuit, the policy
of intolerance is preventing Fluehr
from his freedom of speech rights.
Penn State defines intolerance as an
"attitude, feeling or belief in further
ance of which an individual acts to
intimidate, threaten or show contempt
for other individuals or groups based
on characteristics such as age, ances
try, color, disability or handicap,
national origin, political belief, race,
religious creed, sex, sexual orientation
or veteran status."
At Behrend, diversity is highly
respected. Andres Herrerra, Director
of Education Equity and Diversity
Programs here at Behrend, encourages
students to express their opinion, "We
here at Penn State respect freedom of
speech with any student. You can
express your opinion but try to main
tain some level of respect." Herrerra
worked to create a new diversity web
page to support Penn State diversity
policies that will help students share
their opinions on diversity and take a
stance on diversity.
The Behrend College definition of
diversity states, "We acknowledge
that while individuals are distin
guished by a myriad of factors such
as ethnic heritage, gender, sexual ori
entation, age, religious beliefs, ideolo
gies, socio-economic status, life expe
riences and physical characteristics
and capabilities we demand that no
one should be defined or narrowly
perceived by these terms."
Behrend strives to maintain a high
level of respect in terms of diversity.
The play, "The Laramie Project" helps
students understand
the significance of
diversity and is being
performed here at
Behrend. "The
Laramie Project" is a
story that expresses
how crucial it is to
understand diversity.
The play is about the
kidnapping, brutal beating and the
death of Matthew Sheppard by
teenagers in his town of Laramie,
Wyoming because of his sexual pref
erence. Herrera feels this play helps to
bring awareness to the importance of
diversity, "This is something that will
help people understand that these
things happen all the time. This hap
pens throughout the nation. There is a
lot of bigotry. This is what happens
when we don't work on trying to
understand each other."
Fluehr is seeking damages and an
injunction against the policies.
According to Tysen Kendig, the Penn
State spokesman, Penn State
University does not have a Speech
Code because people are entitled to
their free speech rights and the intoler
ance policy does not violate Fluehr's
free speech rights. However, the law
suit will not be settled until the
University changes its policies.
public schools are now given a "report card"
known as the Adequate Yearly Progress targets, or
AYP. According to the PAAYP website,
www.paayp.com, "Adequate Yearly Progress is a
key measure of school performance established by
the Federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001.
The Pennsylvania Accountability System evalu
ates all Pennsylvania public schools annually for
Adequate Yearly Progress based on the results of
the spring PSSA testing cycle and indicators of
participation, attendance, and graduation". All of
these report cards are posted on the AYP website.
Vol. LIII No. 25