I The Behrend Beacon
NATO changes command in Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan: NATO forces officially took over for U.S, troops in eastern
Afghanistan, transferring responsibility for the country’s safety in the process.
The change in command came following a year of steadily increasing violence and
infighting between Afghan war- and druglords. NATO now has authority over 31,000
troops and the entire controlled area of the country.
“This historic day marks another chapter in the continuing progress of
Afghanistan,” said commander of the Combined Forces Command-Afghanistan,
Lt. Gen. Karl Eikenberry. “A key point to remember in this transition is that the United
States maintains its full commitment to Afghanistan. It will be undiminished. As a
NATO member, the United States will remain by far the single-largest contributor of
troops and military capability.”
NATO commanders assert that uniting all the military forces in the country under a
single command will improve cooperation and control between coalition forces sent
by different countries. The takeover had not been planned to commence for some
time, but the worsening situation in the Kandahar region accelerated the timeline.
The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees released a statement Tuesday that out
lined the increasingly dangerous situation for civilians, and reported that an addition
al 15,000 families have left the area as refugees.
‘This fresh displacement adds new hardship to a population already hosting 116,400
people earlier uprooted by conflict and drought,” he said. “We expect further displace
ment may take place until conditions are safe for the population to return to their
homes.”
The Afghanistan peacekeeping operation is now the largest full-scale NATO opera
tion in the alliance’s history.
The Behrend Beacon is always looking for writers and
photographers. Any one interested in getting involved can
we are
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or listen to horrible this constant
stream of ghastlyimpressions will deprive
even the most debate among us of all
respect for humanity."
Cicero (MaruiSttMt^orator, pMoaoph* and
statesman (106-43 B.CJi
Source: CNN.com,Yahoo! News
at the Beacon office for more details.
Janet Neff Sample ('enter HJ9
for Mstmm & Civility
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Harvard considers returning to religion in curriculum
BOSTON, Massachusetts: A Harvard faculty committee
has recommended returning religious studies as a manda
tory component of any degree.
The new committee report recommends that all stu
dents take part in a course dealing with issues of “reason
and faith,” including a currently offered course called
“Why Americans Love God and Europeans Don't.”
“Harvard is no longer an institution with a religious
mission, but religion is a fact that Harvard's graduates
will confront in their lives," the report says, stating that
94 percent of incoming students report discussing reli-
Student archives now going digital
By Jerry Pohl
calendar page editor
The archives of the Behrend
Student Press have been digitized
thanks to a $315,000 endowment from
an area school teacher. Teacher Verna
Lombard left the money to the John
D. Lilley library to commemorate her
life-long appreciation of books. Aside
from books, the most notable use of
the endowment is that a portion of the
archives of the stu-1
newspaper
were sent away to
be scanned digitally
and put online. The
library has been col
lecting all issues of
the Behrend Student
Press since the first
issue nearly sixty
years ago
Only the first four
decades worth of
issues were sent
away, leaving nearly two decades yet variation of the Collegian until 1998.
to be digitized, and as Lilley Library In spring 1998 it was decided that
Director Dr. Rick Hart says, “I have the name might cause confusion
every intention of doing it.” Once the between University Park's Collegian,
money for further digitization is avail- which was also available on campus.
Earth approaching warmest climate ever
WASHINGTON: NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Pacific climatol
ogists authored a paper claiming that the Earth is at or near the warmest point it has
ever been in the last one million years, and links certain weather effects to global
warming,
The report pointed out that the weather effect known as El Nino has intensified in
recent years, and the average surface temperature of the Earth is within one degree
Celsius of its highest temperature ever. El Nino, which is a weather effect that rais
es the surface temperature of the Pacific Ocean, has become more intense as the
global temperature has increased. The temperature in 2005 was as high as it was in
1998, even though 1998 was an El Nino year and 2005 was not.
Scientists conclude that the increase in global temperatures will not only help
accelerate global warming, but also increase the number and intensity of tropical
storms.
“The effect on frequency of either phenomenon is unclear, depending on many fac
tors, but the intensity of the most powerful events is likely to increase as greenhouse
gases increase,” the report states. “Slowing the growth rate of greenhouse gases
should diminish the probability of both super El Ninos and the most intense tropical
storms.”
The new report is released amidst allegations that the Bush administration is try
ing to suppress similar reports by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration stating that global warming is contributing to more numerous and
intense hurricanes,
able, Hart plans to get the more recent
issues scanned and on line. With this
new accessibility, students will be
able to utilize the archives for histori
cal projects, fact checking, and simple
collegiate curiosity. The papers in the
archives room of the library were only
extensively searched once in the past
decade to research an article on
Beacon history. Hart is optimistic
about the on line archives, saying,"lt's
my hope that this will generate use."
“It's my hope
that this will
generate use.”
-Dr. Rick Hart
Lilley Library Director
m
Maketh
gion regularly.
The committee made the point that the new addition to
the curriculum will help students deal with daily prob
lems after graduation. "As academics in a university we
don't have to confront religion if we're not religious, but
in the world, they will have to," Alison Simmons, a phi
losophy professor who co-chaired the committee, said in
a telephone interview with CNN Wednesday.
If enacted, the new program would return mandatory
religion studies to a school that was founded 370 years
ago to train Puritan ministers.
issue of the paper
was on Oct. 6, 1948,
under the name The
Nittany Cub. In 1971
the name was
changed due to the
staff's perception of
a negative image
associated with The
Cub. The name of
the paper would
change several times
but always was some
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Suggestions were solicited, with the
winning suggestion receiving $25.
Several people suggested the name
The Beacon, connecting the paper to
the community with the logo of Erie's
lighthouse. The first to suggest the
name was Nathan Mitchell.
Long before it was The Beacon, the
same group of students that created
the paper also made a yearbook. For
various logistical reasons publication
of the yearbook ended some years
ago, but they are still available in the
library archives room. The room also
has the personal records of the
Behrend family and Hammermill
Paper Company, including legal docu
ments, financial records and personal
correspondence. Students can also
check out DVDs of the Behrend fami
ly's home movies, available from the
circulation desk. The new digital
newspaper records can be accessed by
way of the library's website:
http://www.pserie.psu.edu/academic/
library/index.htm.