Friday, December 7, 2007 Forum highlights issues with hazing, the By Krista Jones staff It . riter kejso39(ePpsu.edu What many students don't know about Facebook, hazing and alco hol can hurt them. Janet P. Judge, Esq., a sports lawyer, hosted an informational presentation for student athletes on Tuesday, Dec. 4. The presentation was about hazing, alcohol consumption, the Internet's involvement in these situations and the consequences of these situations. All you need to sign up for a Facebook account is a valid email address. However, when you use a Facebook account, Judge always recommends immediately changing the default privacy settings and checking them every so often. "Only 17 percent of Facebook users set their privacy settings," says Judge. In her presentation, she gives several suggestions on how to manage and understand the privacy you are entitled to as a Facebook user. Changing default privacy settings, understanding account access policies, and reading the privacy policy are three of the easiest ways to manage an account. Other suggestions include keeping accounts for Students defeat faculty in entertaining basketball game By Carly Smith staff writer cass422@ psu.edu Sports are a crucial part of many college atmospheres. They give students a chance to express school spirit. They keep peo ple active and healthy. A lot of the time they are just plain entertaining to participate in or watch. Here at Penn State Behrend, the campus offers more than just varsity sports. Intramurals are a chance for other students to be active. Teams get together and play each other and other students are wel come to watch. Recently a Student vs. Faculty and Staff basketball game took place in the Junker Center. The two teams were com prised of both men and women. Watching both teams warm up seemed to promise an interesting game for those in attendance. The tip-off went from a student's hand into a faculty mem ber's arms. While the ball did do some traveling between teams for a minute. the first basket was credited to the Faculty and Staff. Unfortunately their small lead did not last long as a student ran quickly down the court to make the first basket for the Student team. The students seemed to show some impressive moves. The faculty was not out of their league, however. After some good ball-handling the faculty was able to score another basket. Students may have had a slight advantage over the faculty and staff, but that did not hold the faculty back. With about 15 minutes left in the first half the players for both teams slvitched your personal life and professional life separate, not posting things like pictures and videos, not accessing your account from another per son's computer, and opting out of public search. While the presentation went into detail about Internet responsibility, Judge also gave her presentation on hazing and alcohol problems. Judge's presentation was particularly powerful, and gave a wide vari ety of information about her subjects, as well as resources to look up more information. "The best way to address hazing is for teammates to talk to each other about it," Judge says. She goes on to say that it is more effective for students to talk to each other, because it puts the situation directly into their hands. In most hazing cases, the people taking the pictures are more than often not the people who are actually doing the hazing. They are usually people from outside parties who witness the hazing. Judge's presentations have made a difference in athletic policies around the nation. She has spoken at NCAA conferences, Eastern College Athletic Conference, and other national conferences: she has also worked directly with athletic directors at different universities on their hazing policies. It also has opened the eyes of a lot of students. While it may not directly end hazing, it calls attention to the conse- it up on the court. The second cycle of players seemed to be playing a hit more aggressively. Members from both teams were zipping up and down the court. A member of the students' team scored the first three-pointer of the game. By this point the students were up, but they did not have a huge lead. The faculty did not give up. In fact they slowly began to come back. With three min utes left in the first half the score was 26 to 20 in favor of the students. The players had their intense game faces on. Hearing discussion among the crowd was quite amusing. They paid no attention to the technical skills of anyone play ing. They were more entertained by watching people they knew play basketball. The fact that it was staff members ver sus students was even better. It was amusing, really. At the half the score was 29 to 20 still in the students' favor. The game became a little more intense and it was rather nerve wracking seeing members of the student population crashing into Behrend's faculty. More spectators began to show up as the game continued. With I I minutes to go the players looked a little winded, but they kept going. A couple players may have fallen once or twice and there may have been some people getting hit in the face with the ball, but it was all in good fun. It was apparent that both students and faculty were having a good time. The game ended with a score of 54 to 42. The students won by a small margin. The most entertaining characteristic seemed to be faculty watching their fellow co-workers. ri :....) Internet and alcohol quences and gets the ball rolling for students. Ultimately, however, Judge says that stopping hating is in the students' hands. The hest way to avoid it is tOr students to stand up to things that make them uncom fortable. Judge goes on to tell student athletes about alcohol. Surprisingly, the majority , of alcohol incidents don't have anv Internet involvement. Most are in events involving alcohol involve dorms or off-campus housing. although it varies by campus \A, here these events take place. Judge's best advice when dealing with alcohol is "Think about the consequences—if You're buying alcohol, are you willing to accept responsibility for those that you give it to? And if you're accepting alcohol, do you want to jeopardite the reputation of the person buying it for you! Friends and teammates need to look out for each other. cutting each other off before things get out of control or supporting each other in not drinking. Judge recommends. Stay with someone if they pass out. and look for signs of alcohol poisoning. Take someone to the emer gency room if ►hey pass out and you think they have had too much to drink. Be responsible. Judge says. its the best way to avoid a bad sit uation. The Behrend Beacon I
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers