Friday, March 20, 2009 A Penn State Behrend Student Publication
Students give up spring break for hunicane relief
By Connor Sattely
managing editor
cisso6o«t psu.edu
While most of Penn State
Behrend's 4,400 students de
parted the campus on March 6
for a relaxing spring break at
home, 32 instead chose to head
to Mississippi as part of the
school's Alternative Spring
Break trip. These students,
along with eight advisors se
lected from the faculty and
staff of the school, spent the
week in Gulfport engaging in
construction, clean-up, mainte
nance and repair jobs for
homeowners whose property
was damaged by Hurricane Ka
trina.
Only a handful of the 'stu
dents had been on the trip be
fore; for those who were
heading to the southern U.S.
for the first time since the
storm, they witnessed firsthand
the amount of devastation left
in the area.
Dr. Rod Troester, a professor
in communication at Behrend,
acknowledged the area as one
of the worst casualties of Kat
rina, even three and a half
years later. "The media tended
to focus our attention on New
Orleans, where much of the
Second astronomy open house details
extrasolar planet observation mission
By Matthew Schwabenbauer
news editor
mjss3B7m psu.edu
Students, faculty, and others
gathered in the Otto Behrend
Science building for the second
Astronomy Open House of the
Spring 2009 semester on
Thursday night.
The presentation was given
by Dr. Darren Williams, Asso
ciate Professor of Physics and
Astronomy, and focused on
planets beyond our solar sys
tems that are orbiting stars,
also known as extrasolar plan
ets. According to Williams,
there are currently 295 known
planetary systems, 33 of which
contatin multiple planets, re
sulting in 342 known (as of the
time of the presentation) extra
solar planets.
Williams began the open
house by introducing the audi
ence to the National Aeronau
tics and Space
Administration's (NASA) Ke
pler Mission which began on
March 6. The Kepler Mission,
named after German as
tronomer Johannes Kepler,
launced a space telescope with
the objective of observing ex
trasolar planets. The Kepler
telescope is currently planned
to observe 100,000 stars over a
three-and-a-half year period.
NASA estimates that Kepler
will break down after four
years, inhibiting any further
observations by the telescope.
Williams detailed the tech
nology required by the Kepler
mission, claiming speeds of
about 25,000 miles per hour
are required for the vessel to
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kNo •
MARCH MADNESS
BRACKET INSIDE ONEpIATGE3
damage was due to levees
breaching," he said. "But it was
the Gulfport-Biloxi area that
took the brunt of the storm's
force."
The group of 40 Behrend 25
students from Penn State
Dußois, Penn State Harris
burg, Penn State Shenango,
and Penn State LeHigh Valley.
The entire group took resi
dence at a relief workers' camp
in Gulfport. Presbyterian Dis
aster Assistance, the organiza
tion that took charge of putting
the event together, had several
workers who stayed at the
camp full-time.
Rather than camping out in a
field, the students were shown
to corrugated plastic "pods,"
which were mini-cabins, only
about eight feet across by four
teen feet deep. Anywhere from
two to four students would
camp out in cots in the cabins.
After a night of restless
sleep, students learned quickly
the real reason they were
there: to work and make a dif
ference in the lives of hurri
cane victims. Splitting into
about twelve groups of five to
twenty students, the group was
See SPRING BREAK on page 2
KEEGAN MCGREGOR / The Behrend Beacon
Dr. Darren Williams gave a presentation on extrasolar planets.
reach space.
"Ten or 20 years ago, this
mission would have been a
pipe dream," said Williams.
Williams explained that Ke
pler, the astronomer for which
the mission is named, was
known for his imagination and
vision for life beyond earth.
Friday Saturday Sunday
High: 40°F High: 48°F High: 51°F
Low: 25°F Low: 27°F Low: 33°F
Mostly sunny skies. Sunny and warmer. Partly cloudy.
Forecast courtesy of student meteorologist Matt Alto Forecast continued on page 4
CONNOR SATTELY The Behrend Beacon
32 Students travelled to Mississippi to aid with hurricane relief. Above,
Behrend student Gary Taylor and his work group installs a section of
laminate flooring at a house outside of Gulfport.
The first civilization to theo
rize that there is life on other
planets was the Greeks,
Williams said, and mentioned
the philosopher Giordono
Bruno specifically, who was
killed for his theories.
"I share this vision,"
Williams said. "Good thing I
See ASTRO on page 4
Is Behrend really accessible?
By Lauren Dißacco
staff writer
led5100(a psu.edu
Walking through the snow
filled campus is difficult, but
how about trying to maneuver
on four wheels? For freshman
Will Dorsch, making his way to
class in this manner is an every
day occurrence.
Prior to this week's heat
wave, a common complaint on
campus were salt rings staining
Who watches the Watchmen?
Behrend Students
By Neil J. Peters
assistant arts editor
njpsBo3q/ psu.edu
Trailers and hype for the lat
est comic book film, Watch
men, has flooded the web, TV
and pretty much every other
conduit of information; and like
all highly anticipated movies,
potential viewers wonder if it
can live up to the advertise
ments and expectations.
The answer is yes, but only if
you are looking for a very dif
ferent cinematic experience.
Watchmen, under the direction
of Zach Snyder, follows the
story of ex-masked vigilantes
Night Owl and Rorschach as
they investigate the death of
another former hero. More ad
ventures are attacked and the
deteriorating political climate
charges head long towards a
nuclear apocalypse.
The story itself is an alternate
history about what would
See WATCHMEN on page 5
Speaker aims to change the
pottrayal of beauty in the media
By Rachel Reeves
editor-in-chief
rcr5057 ,,, psu.edu
Every row in the Smith
Chapel was full of people eager
to hear about real beauty on
Thursday night. Penn State
Behrend's Panhellenic Council
invited Stacy Nadeau of Dove's
Campaign for Real Beauty to
speak on her experience as one
of the first models used in the
campaign designed to combat
unrealistic expectations the
media has generated for
women.
Four years ago, Nadeau was
on her way to her part-time job
blissfully unaware of the fact
that her life was about to
change. She was aware, how
ever, of a strange woman who
following closely behind her as
she walked. Once Nadeau ar
rived at the buildoti, , 4er spft,
was in, the woman Orepped in
side and asked to hang up a
flier for modeling auditions.
Nadeau agreed, and the woman
told her that Nadeau should au
dition.
Six callbacks later, Nadeau
was on a plane headed towards
New York City for a photo
students' attire, and the cold
conditions they endured on the
way to classes. Dorsch wasn't
concerned about the salt stains,
unless of course he was on his
way to the weight room. He
was more preoccupied with try
ing to make it through the
snowy sidewalks in his wheel
chair.
Despite all the hardships
Dorsch faces when it comes to
making his way to and from
lu~iI!I1IIHI'!I' )1(
Watchmen opened to a wild response from students and lan,
News 1-4
Arts 5
Perspectives 6
Sports 7-9
Local Dining 10
Vol. LV No. XXI
shoot. She was one of the six
women who would participate
in an unprecedented marketing
campaign by Dove, in which
they would advertise their
products with "real beauty and
real people. - The campaign
would run ads featuring six
women with no previous expe
rience or training in modeling -
wearing nothing hut under
wear. The women ranged from
a size two to a size 12, and the
photos would remain unair
brushed and un-retouched.
Compared to the digitally-al
tered models that pervade
American media, Dove \\ anted
to use these advertisements to
celebrate natural and healthy
women instead.
Shooting the ads took two
days, both more than 12 hours
long. Nadeau said that at the
end of the last workday, the
producers told the non-model
models that this was a com
pletely new strategy. and that
they weren't sure how the
media would respond. "They
could chew you up and spit you
back out," one producer told
the women. Despite their trepi
dation, all six
Sec SPEAKER un page 4
class, he does not fault the
maintenance crew. In fact, he
states that the campus has dune
"an excellent job" keeping the
walkways cleared. His only
complaint about the state of our
campus is the accessibility of
the REDC
While taking to Dorsch, it be
came clear that the hike to the
REDC, which is no treat for any
See ACCESSIBILITY o page 4
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