STUDENT ACTIVITIES
SGA hosts open forum for store
MIKEO. WEHRER
n m s fdilni
Student Government Associa
tion (SGA) and Student Activities
hosted an open forum on Sept. 9 to
get students’ opinions about a pos
sible on-campus convenience
store.
Last year, Behrend students paid
a new facility fee and took an on
line survey to determine how the
students would like the money to
be spent. The top student request
was for a convenience store on
campus.
The co-chairs of the student fa
cility fee, SGA President Brad Ko
valcik and Student Activities
Director Ken Miller, explained to
the students and staff in atten
dance that the purpose of the
forum was to determine what form
students wanted the new store to
take.
An average of 35 students sub
mitted responses to an on-screen
survey using the PRS clicker sys-
FRATERNITY AND
SORORITY LIFE
“Yeah, we do not
formally associate
with them. ‘Formally
associate’ means
rush events, mixers,
social parties, and
basically any kind of
sponsored event that
would associate our
name with theirs.”
MARC MANCINI
Interfraternity Council President
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tern to provide instant feedback
and answer tallying. This system is
also used by some classes at
Behrend for quiz and test pur
poses.
Attendees were asked to answer
questions ranging from the store’s
hours to what kind of products a
college convenience store should
carry.
Some of the answers surprised
SGA President Brad Kovalcik.
“The biggest one was what time
should the convenience store
close,” said Kovalcik. “The entire
executive board of SGA had antic
ipated that the student input was
going to be that it needed to be
open as late as possible.”
According to Kovalcik, the exec
utive board figured people would
want the convenience of being
able to go to the store at late hours.
However, Kovalcik also added that
they were not sure if students
would go to the convience store
past a certain hour. The students’
vote made the answer more clear.
HEATHER MCGOVERN
news editor
Following a series of misdeeds by
Sigma Kappa Nu (SKN), an unofficial
fraternity, Behrend fraternities and
sororities are limiting their social in
teractions with the organization.
Sigma Kappa Nu, more well-known
as “Skins,” has become perhaps most
well-known recently for their parties,
one of which resulted in 82 underage
drinking charges last Spring.
As a result, a concerted effort is un
derway from the governing associa
tions of fraternities and sororities at
Behrend to distance the official groups
from SKN.
Panhellenic Council and the Inter
fraternity Council (IFC), the organiza
tions that govern the six officially
recognized fraternities and sororities,
have issued an official statement de
tailing restrictions towards associating
with members of SKN.
The statement discourages officially
recognized fraternities and sororities
to associate with SKN, which Panhel
lenic and IFC does not recognize as a
fraternity, in certain ways.
“Yeah, we do not formally associate
with them,” says IFC President Marc
Mancini. ‘“Formally associate’ means
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SGA President Brad Kovalcik explains poll results at the open forum in Reed 117
“lt seemed like they [students]
were pretty honest about it and
went with midnight.”
“As part of the forum we had
some open-ended questions and
we talked about some of the re
sults,” said Kovalcik, “[store
hours] was one of the ones that we
discussed and it never really oc-
rush events, mixers, social parties, and
basically any kind of sponsored event
that would associate our name with
theirs.”
However, the issue becomes more
complex over the defintion of an
“event.” According to Jennifer Dou
glas, a member of Alpha Sigma Alpha,
an effort was made to limit interac
tions in an extreme way.
“They considered an event at first to
be three sisters with one SKN mem
ber,” she says. Following some meet
ings, that stance was allegedly
retracted.
What has resulted, she says, is a
confusion over the definition of an
event itself. How many of each side
must be present for something to be
considered an event?
According to the IFC constitution, a
“mixer” is defined as an event in
which “people attending are exclu
sively from one sorority and one fra
ternity.”
Regardless of the exact definition,
Panhellenic and IFC are limiting the
interaction in order to distance their
organizations, not attack SKN.
“We’re not going to be bashing them
or anything. I think that would do
more harm than good,” Mancini says.
“I don’t think saying all the bad
curred to me, but it’s a really good
point they brought up.
“[Students] said the convenience
store, if it was made, should prob
ably be open later on weeknights
because people are stuck on cam
pus studying. Then,
things about them, all the things they
do, and why you wouldn’t want to as
sociate with them will do any good be
cause we don’t hate them,” Mancini
says. “There are many members of
each fraternity and sorority that are
friends with [the SKN brothers] so it
would just stir things up a little bit” in
a negative way.
IFC and Panhellenic plan on taking
numerous steps to carry out this state
ment, but the process is predicted to
stretch over a long period of time.
“1 don’t see a change in this year. I
think it’s going to take a while,”
Mancini says.
“The only thing different is that we
are reinforcing this” with an official
statement, says Hannah White, Presi
dent of Panhellenic Council.
“I think this year is the first actual
year that steps are being taken,” says
Mancini, “and 1 feel like it’s the first
step in a process that needs to be done
right now.
“This year, it’s going to be just about
promoting the positives about nation
ally recognized organizations. Which
is why I think the Greek page in the
Beacon will really help a lot. We’re just
going to step up and promote us [as
campus-recognized chapters] a lot
more.”
mostly cloudy possible AM rein
Forecast courtesy Matthew Alto, weather editor
See Forum on page 3
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SGA forum
results
Questions asked of
students at the SGA
forum on Sept. 9
What time should the convenience
store open each day?
A. Before Bam
B. Between Sam and 12pm
C. Between 12pm and 4am
D. 4pm or later
What time should the convenience
store close?
A. 10 pm
B. 11 pm
C. 12 am
D. 1 am
E. 2 am or later
Which category of items is the
most important to you?
A. Food
B. Personal Care Products
C. Cleaning Items
What type of food would you like
to see?
A. Snaclu/Pre-prepared
B. Frozen Foods
C. Nonalcoholic Beverages
D. Deli Items
E. Pre-prepared Meals
Would you like to see Creamery
Ice Cream come back to campus?
A. Heck Yes
B. Yes
C. No
D. Absolutely Not
Which personal care products
would you want?
A. OTC medication
B. Shower supplies
C. Dental Care
D. Misc. Hygiene
E. Cosmetics
What cleaning items would you
like to see?
A. Laundry supplies
B. Disinfectants
C. Dusters
D. Computer-cleaning
E. Kitchen Cleaning
Do you have a car on campus (or
U-Gate)?
A. Yes
B. No
Would you buy a loaf of bread for
$3 on campus if you could get it
for $l.BB at Wal-Mart?
A. Always
B. Sometimes
C. Rarely
D. Never
How important is tobacco sale to
you?
A. Very Important
B. Somewhat Important
C. Only during Finals
D. Not Important At All
Would you like to see Slushies or
milkshakes?
A. Ym
B. No
Would you like to see a small cof
fee bar at this store?
A. Hi
B. No
sunny and mild