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Friday, April 4, 2008
Sen. Clinton campaigns at Mercyhurst
Daniel Smith/C'ONTRIBUTHD PHOTO
Sen. Hillary Clinton waves to supporters at a rally at the Mercyhurst Athletic Center on April 1. Clinton pledges to stop the outsourcing of jobs.
Daniel Smith/CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
Clinton spoke in front of a crowd of about 2,500 on April 1.
Behrend track and field teams succeed
By Connor Sattely
entertainment editor
cisso6o@psu.edu
When freshman Steve Monnie started receiving calls
from Penn State Behrend’s track and cross country coach
es this past summer, he knew that he would have a good
chance of making both teams. "I wanted somewhere that 1
could run,” he recalls. "Behrend's campus was perfect for
it.”
For cross country, many people say it is because of the
many paths through the woods and nearby gorge, that
makes cross-country running an excellent experience.
However, as the cross country season came to an end,
Monnie realized that his spring sport would not have a
place of their own .
He, along with the rest of the track and field team, had
no track to practice on. Instead, they made do with what
ever space they could - parking lots, wood paths, some-
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Contents
...1-2 Entertainment
4 Student Life...
..5 Music
9-10
A Penn State Behrend Student Publication
By Rachel Reeves
opinion editor
rcrss()s7(s' psu.edu
Over 3,000 people huddled in a line
that stretched one football field deep
into the Mercyhurst campus on
Tuesday afternoon, hands crammed
deep in coat pockets and heads bent
into the wind. Whether they were sup
porters. scoping out the competition,
or merely curious, all of these people
endured an hours-long wait, and secu
rity that would rival that of an interna
tional airport, to catch a glimpse of
presidential candidate, Senator Hillary
Clinton.
Erie resident and Clinton supporter,
Amanda Scott, said it was well worth
the wait. Even though her mind had
already been made up as far as the
election was concerned, she was excit
ed to hear Clinton speak. “It’s not very
often you get to see candidates here in
Erie," she said.
Behrend freshman, Jake Pusateri.
was equally determined in his opposi
tion of Senator Clinton. The political
science major had been standing in
line for an hour already. "Eve been
here since 3:30 - have to see McCain’s
competition."
Anyone coming onto campus
through the East 38th St. entrance
would have had to pass through an
anti-abortion picket line. Over 50 pro
testers lined the sidewalk, smiling at
times even just sidewalks. “I run the 800 meter and 1500
meter for Behrend,” says Monnie. “We normally practice
in the parking lot by Almy or in the lower lot by science.”
When asked about the conditions, Monnie began recount
ing stories of bruised shins, knees and sore feet while
practicing on asphalt.
Freshman Steel Flynn agrees. “It’s dreadful. It’s danger
ous, I’ve seen a couple people fall, there are lots of sharp
turns and sometimes there’s ice on the parking lot, so you
have to slow down around the turns.”
The team’s coach, Greg Cooper, acknowledges the dan
ger of running on parking lots. “We’ve had around five to
ten injuries that made people sit out,” he said. When asked
how many members of the team were injured but still run
ning, he estimated the number at over half of the athletes.
These sentiments echo to most members of the track
team, all in a state of puzzled frustration as to why they
don’t have their own practice space. Still, the track
See TRACK on page 2.
the passerby, waving at honking cars
and holding signs that read. "Hillary:
Pro-Abortion Extremist." Tim
Broderick, Director of People For Life
and organizer of the protest said. "[We
want to) make sure that people aren't
confused with Hillary's view on abor
tion appearing at a Catholic institu
tion."
After the doors opened at 5:30 p.m..
everyone in line had to file through a
security station. Keys, cameras and
cell phones were allowed: personal
signs and expandable umbrellas were
among items that had to be disposed
of. When security had screened 2.500
people, they closed the doors to the
main arena and opened up an overflow
room for the remaining 500.
While hundreds of people were
slowly filing into the Mercyhurst
Athletic Center, last-minute prepara
tions were being made. Secret Service
made a sweep of the main room with
police dogs. The traveling national
press prepared laptops and cameras for
the event. As seating filled up and the
only space available was standing
room, students shuffled for a good
place in front of the stage and several
small children found a tall pair of
shoulders to climb onto.
At 8 p.m., Pennsylvania Governor.
Ed Rendell, introduced Clinton who
took the stage to the theme song from
Why are students on campus
so politically apathetic?
Read why on Page 7
See CLINTON on page 2.
despite no on-campus facilities
This parking lot behind the Science buidling serves as the "practice track" for the Behrend
track team. Although they have no real track to practice on. the team consistently wins events
SGA plans to vote
new, controversial
student fee
By Connor Sattely
entertainment editor
cisso6o(o psu.edu
"This could be the most important thing you could vole on dur
ing your time at Penn State Behrend." Ken Miller, the Director of
Student Affairs, told the Student Government Association (SGA).
"It will affect every single student, and students years from now.
and students years from then."
Within the next few weeks, senators and student representa
tives will convene to vole on a new resolution, nicknamed a
"facilities” resolution, which will seek to improve Behrend's
campus. Ideas include adding on to Reed Union Building, reno
vating the Junker Center weight room, or even constructing a
hockey rink. The funding for these projects would be added to
student's tuition, the proposal suggests. An addition of $5O. $75
or $ l(X) could be added to the semester tuition of students.
Ben Gilson. SGA President, says that the effect of such an
addition could be more than some students may realize. "A con
servative estimate." he said, "is that we could raise .$BOO,OOO in a
single semester by adding $lOO [to each student's tuition.| Even
if we did $5O. we'd be raising over $400,000."
While much remains to be seen on who would gather opinion
and appropriate the money, Gilson says that the preliminary idea
is to create a committee which would deliberate on the issue.
When they came up with a list of students' ideas, they would
present it to the Chancellor.
SGA polls, conducted mainly amongst friends, clubs and class
es of its members, have brought mixed results. Christin Tripi. a
sophomore senator, announced that she had polled roughly 150
people and only three were in favor of adding money to tuition.
However, it was unclear whether the students disagreed on what
the money could be used for or whether they w anted the addition
at all. Some students argued passionately for renovations to the
Junker Center's weight room. Others argued for other improve
ments around eampus.
Erie voters change
parties before primary
By Marcus Yeagley
staff writer
mjysOl 20 psu.edu
Over 3.500 residents of Erie have changed their party affilia
tion to the Democrats for the April 22 Pennsylvania primary
according to numbers released by the Erie County Courthouse.
Of the nearly 96.000 Democrats registered. 3.867 were either
Republican. Independent or of a third party affiliation before this
presidential race, according to numbers from Election
Supervisor. Sharon A. Drayer of the Erie County Courthouse.
Registrations were still being tallied when these statistics were
received.
While she could not supply specific numbers for previous pri
mary seasons. Drayer stated that the number of registrations for
both sides are way up, particularly for the Democrats due to the
close race between Senators Barack Obama of Illinois and
Hillary Clinton of New York. When asked if there w ere any other
reasons for the boost in registrations, Drayer cited the resurging
relevance of the Pennsylvania primary as the sole reason.
As of April 2. 175,444 people were registered in Erie County.
Democrats currently make up 55 percent of the registered popu
lace. while Republicans are 35 percent. The remaining 10 per
cent of registered voters are of third parties, such as the
Constitution party, or are registered as Independents.
With a total of 187 delegates. Pennsylvania is one of the last
states w ith a sizable amount of delegates to relinquish. Tw enty
nine of the delegates are super-delegates, the debated pledgers
who get votes
All you need to know about the NHL
Find it all on Page 9
Vol. LIV No. XX
Sec VOTE on page 2.
See DEMOCRATIC on page 2.