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 Behrend
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beacon
News Editor
Ashley Bressler
Assistant News Editor Assistant Humor Editor
Lenny Smith
Student Life Editors
Joshua Lane
Scott Muska
Opinion Editor
Janet Niedenbereer
Penn State Erie,
The Behrend College
First Floor, The J. Elmer Reed Union Building
THUMBS UP
- Seeing your favorite band live
).„,•
---) - The new season of South Park
...'
)
- Thrift stores
- Tax returns
- Road trips
- New York City
THUMBS DOWN
- Snow
- People who drive in oncoming traffic
- That guy
-,,
- Those who don't flush public toilets -
- Being sick
ft..„.
- Slipping on ice...especially in April mor ..„,
I
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The Beacon welcomes readers to share their views on this page. Letters
and commentary pieces can be submitted by email to jan2l9@psu.edu or
directly to the Beacon office, located in the Reed Building.
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ited to 700 words. The more concise the submission, the less we will be
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as The Beacon does not publish anonymous letters. Deadline for any sub
mission is 5 p.m. Tuesday afternoon for inclusion in the Friday issue. All
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Mike Sharks)
This week
By Chris Brown
copy editor
This past week Speaker of the House,
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), and a number of
other Democrat Representatives visited
Syria and met with President Bashar
Assad. The visit immediately drew crit
icism from President Bush and the
White House, they said it would under
mine their Middle East policy, which
has been working so well over the past
few years. Coincidentally, the White
House was surprisingly silent when
three Republican congressmen visited
with Bashar Assad.
Pelosi justified her trip by saying that
she was only following the advice of
the Iraq Study Group which Bush had
ignored completely. One of those rec
ommendations was to open a dialogue
with Iraq's neighbors to help find a
political solution to the problem.
Instead, Bush chose to listen to the
same team of advisors that led us to this
problem in the first place and continue
to stay the course, only this time with
more troops on the ground, four years
too late.
The Bush administration reminds me
of that cry-baby kid on the playground
everyone knew growing up. They are
the kid that instead of working out dif
ferences when a disagreement arises,
they just get up, leave and run home
refusing to speak to anyone.
Essentially, that has been their strategy
for the past seven years in the Middle
East, because when Iran and Syria don't
play by the rules or don't do everything
we ask them to, we refuse to speak to
Hey writers, complainers and thinkers! The Beacon
Submit any opinions or
letters to the editor to jan2l9@psu.edu. Want to
Let us know; we're losing edi
tors next semester and we need some help!
needs writers and editors!
become an editor?
Definition of diversity?
By Theresa Di Buono
staff writer
As I walk outside onto the lovely
campus of Penn State Behrend I am sur
rounded by trees, I feel the bitter cold
bite my face and I see a lot of hills, and
buildings, and doors. As I walk along
this campus I feel like I am doing some
thing wrong. My legs are healthy and
my arms are too. I am able to walk up
and down hills and open doors and go
up steps without ever thinking really
how lucky I am to be doing these simple
things.
I feel guilty because here I am on one
of the most inaccessible campuses for
handicapped people. This strikes me as
wrong for so many reasons. The school
really focuses on building more, reno
vating, additions, etc, but where are all
the ramps? And why don't the "handi
capped accessible doors" open within a
timely fashion? I am disgusted by the
school's lack of concern for people who
are not as mobile as I am. I think of all
the days I try not to slip trudging my
way up to the REDC in the snow and
then I think of all the times I struggled to
open doors with my hands full. How can
a person who is in a wheelchair walk up
the steps of Dobbins? How can a person
who is physically handicapped in the
arms or legs, open doors? Or walk up
them despite their obvious stake in a
stable Middle East.
Pelosi should he applauded for open
ing dialogue with Syria. She needed to
send the message that the Bush strategy
foreign policy is not the universal of all
politicians in the United States and that
there is hope for renewed contact and
relations after the 2008 election.
Over the past few years China has
been able to keep the value of its cur
rency, the yuan, low enough to promote
exports of its manufacturing products to
the United States and other countries.
By keeping the value low, its products
are cheaper than products produced in
other countries and thus promote
Chinese exports.
Many feel that the Chinese are unfair
ly keeping the yuan low and that it is
taking away manufacturing jobs from
the United States and while the Chinese
took steps in 2005 to reduce the dispar
ity between the yuan and the dollar,
these steps have not gone far enough.
So, last week after a Senate Hearing,
Charles Schumer (D-NY) signaled that
legislation is in the works that would
put trade restrictions on China until it
revalued its currency and made trade
more 'fair.'
The United States has seen a rising
trade deficit over the past few years and
many Americans have lost their manu
facturing jobs to foreign companies that
can produce goods cheaper. these fac
tors have influenced the rhetoric of
common citizens, newspapers, and
politicians. Schumer's comments, and
P.S. Great addition to any resume.
the REDC hill? Sometimes I wonder
how they even get down to the parking
lots when the hills are so steep and they
are not in an electric powered wheel
chair.
This makes me very upset because no
one should be denied an education,
especially because they are unable to
commute about the campus due to its
horrible accommodations for those with
physical handicaps.
I hear so much about DIVERSITY
this and DIVERSITY that, but how can
we be a diverse campus when everyone
on it has to be physically well? I know
of one young man who seems to manage
in a wheelchair, now mind you this is no
simple task for him, especially in the
winter. He is one of the luckier ones,
because he is well equipped with an
electric powered wheelchair, which
many people are unable to afford, but
thank God he can because it is the only
way he is able to get around. Sometimes
I see this young man in church, his chair
covered in dirt, wet snow, and de-icer,
which I'm sure all of these things really
wear away at one of his most precious
commodities. But this young man also
seems to have friends to help. He is
friendly, outgoing, and kind and he is
lucky, not everyone is this lucky.
Diversity is not only about race, eth
nicity, gender, but about DIFFER
ENCES. I am not sure why so much
The Bush admin
istration reminds
me of that cry
baby kid on the
playground
everyone knew
growing up.
in politics
his insistence that such legislation
would have enough votes to over-ride a
veto, are just the latest example of what
has become widespread protectionist
rhetoric and feelings.
Protectionist policies are not a
panacea for our domestic troubles,
could greatly harm the process of glob
alization, and hurt our economy in the
long run. Despite widespread belief
that globalization is inevitable, there is
a great risk it could stop or even reverse
course because it has happened before.
But what about the record levels of inte
gration experienced around the globe?
What people don't realize is that these
records being broken were last set prior
to World War I, when the trend did stop
and did reverse.
Protectionism also does little to help
the economy, regardless of the claims
made by many politicians. When a pol
icy is enacted to protect a domestic
industry it often has unforeseen conse
quences and can drive up inflation.
Take the steel tariffs, which the United
States was forced to repeal after com
plaints. The idea was to protect the
steel industry in the United States by
imposing tariffs that would raise the
price of cheaper foreign steel. By doing
that, it forced businesses that used steel
for their products to raise their prices,
which hurt their competition with for
eign manufacturers that could purchase
cheap steel, so instead of purchasing
American steel hubcaps, or steel I
beams, made from cheap foreign steel,
we end purchasing foreign made steel
products, produced with cheap foreign
steel. Not only is protectionism count
er-productive to the goal, it also risks
global conflict.
Instead of pursuing backwards trade
policies to level' the playing field,
politicians should take this opportunity
to educate the public about globaliza
tion and its affect on jobs. They should
enact policies and programs that actual
ly do help Americans. Policies that pro
mote and fund education after a job loss
for blue-collar workers would go a long
way in helping ease the fears of global
ization for the average American and
promote a sustainable trade policy.
effort is put into crying over how many
male teachers you have, how many are
of color, and which ones teach what,
when that's not it at all, because to be
diverse in a community is to be welcom
ing, accessible, and accommodating to
people of every kind. And if they want
to throw diversity out there, then it is
time they rethink their little game plan,
because apparently they have not taken
into consideration everyone. They are so
hung up on the past, that they do not see
what is already right in front of their
faces. I do not see diversity on this cam
pus, because I do not see accommoda
tion for handicapped people. I see a
small undertone of it, which is almost to
the point of pathetic in its "meeting its
requirements" standards.
Some of the world's greatest people
had physical handicaps that would have
made it nearly impossible for them to
attend Penn State Behrend. Alexander
Pope, who is greatly regarded for being
the best English poet of the 18th centu
ry, was born with a hunch back, and
could barely dress himself without hav
ing someone help. Musical genius Ray
Charles was blind. Franklin Delano
Roosevelt, the only U.S. president elect
ed to four terms, had poliomyelitis
which made his legs almost impossible
to use. I can't imagine how they would
have been able to attend Penn State
Behrend.
Friday, April 6, 2007