81 Behrend Beacon
September 25, 2009
I www.thebehrendbeacon.com
MY VOICE
Life's a roadtrip
JEN SLANE
Life is one big' road map
your life is one big road trip.
Get in vour car, turn the key,
roll the windows down, and hit
the road.
Everyone's life is a big mess
of street signs, unmarked high
ways. detours, pit stops, car ac
cidents, and everything else
you could imagine. The point is
this: Life is not about the end,
because we all wind up with the
same ending, the same destina
tion.
It is about the process in
which you take to get to that
end. Life is about which high
ways you take and where you
stop along the way.
Every flat tire, failed relation
ship, and broken heart is just a
little detour and stop you’re
going to have to make along the
way The trick is getting back
on the road and knowing how
to change a tire along the way.
Sometimes you pick up hitch
hikers or bring along friends.
Some only stay for a little bit
and others stay for the long
haul. Sometimes you just have
to leave one at a sleazy motel.
Not everyone chooses the
major highways and inter
states. A few of us take the un
marked roads, the spooky
highways, and sometimes we
just drive aimlessly.
A lot of time, you get lost.
You're usually too stubborn to
stop and ask for help, and you
Have somthing on your mind?
Want to give your two cents?
Send an email to opinion@psu.edu
Submissions must be
| less than 350 words in length.
Check every week for our new section:
-Letters to the Editor
Response
Plans for a
Convenience Store
In response to Raul Mon
etjo's opinion article last week,
I want to ensure students that
plans for a convenience store
have not changed. There is a
lot of data, information, and
ideas that are going into this
project, and 1 will attempt to ex
plain them as best I can in the
space provided.
First, it is important for stu
dents to realize that the sugges
tions provided at the open
forum that the SGA hosted is
not the end all. be all of data
collected. We were hoping to
get some additional student
feedback and, most impor
tantly, use their responses to
the automated questions to
help foster open discussion.
Just because students at the
forum said that they would like
to see the Convenience Store
open until midnight does not
mean it will close at that time.
In fact, key administrators want
to see it open until at least one,
if not later.
Also, just because snacks
were the highest ranked item
does not mean it will be the
only item carried. The stock
list is well over 1 (),()()() items
long, and we wanted to get an
idea of some of the things stu
dents would like to see. The
biggest driving force of what
will be stocked if a store is built
would be what items students
bought most frequently. The
store will surely carry necessi
ties like toothpaste, Tylenol,
and shampoo. Also, "misc. hy
giene” did not refer to con
doms, but things more along
the lines of deodorant and fem
inine hygiene products, and
while things like laundry sup
plies are offered in the book
store, research showed that
they only had one brand and
size of detergent in stock.
While it’s true that Bruno’s
carries some of the mentioned
don’t find your way back for
awhile.
You occasionally get in an ac
cident or two, maybe you make
it out fine and don’t learn any
thing; but you might be more
careful the next time. However,
sometimes people don’t get that
second chance and if the acci
dent is bad enough, you end up
stuck with the consequences.
Sometimes you’re stopped in
traffic and sometimes you drive
by a car wreck. You see your
friend's car and all you can do
is sit and look in horror. You
think that you should pull over
for awhile. Maybe you step on
the gas, realize it can happen to
anyone at anytime, and you've
just got to keep on going.
Not everyone has insurance
and AAA, which makes things
harder, and some people's par
ents pay their insurance their
whole lives, and buy them nicer
cars every time they wreck one.
Some people pile up speeding
and no seatbelt tickets, but
that's just how they drive. It
works for some and not so
much for others.
A couple people find them
selves driving the same old city
streets over and over, driving in
circles
The point is, don't be afraid to
stray off of the main roads, and
don’t be afraid to get a speeding
ticket every once in awhile, or
to drive aimlessly for a night or
two.
All of your unpaid tickets
won't matter in the end.
items like pre-prepared food
and snacks, if these things were
moved to the store and discon
tinued in Bruno’s, it would
open up space for additions of
nonexistent options or areas for
students to see in the cafe. One
suggestion for an addition to
Bruno's was a “build your own
salad” bar that could be sold by
weight. Also, the inclusion of
snacks and pre-prepared foods
in the convenience store would
allow students to get something
to eat late at night instead of
having to find a way to Sheetz.
I promise that if a conven
ience store were to be recom
mended by the Student Facility
Fee Committee and built, there
would be a large selection of
items and reasonable hours. I
also promise that it wouldn’t be
deemed infeasible simply be
cause of the selection of items
students at the forum sug
gested. If you have any further
ideas, suggestions, or ques
tions, please feel free to contact
me.
BRAD KOVALCIK
Vn/or (icnrul Ait s Mid
S( /<*/)('(**' A/j/'o/’
Response:
Behrend vs. Main
Dear Editor,
I recently had the opportu
nity to examine the Beacon On
line and am very impressed
with the new site. As a Beacon
Alum (former managing editor
and sports editor) 1 am excited
with the direction the paper is
going in finally embracing this
medium. I am disappointed,
however, with one particular
piece of content that I stumbled
across while navigating the site
in the editorial entitled
"Behrend vs. Main".
First, according to the opera
tional definition Ms. Lanich is
using all Penn State campuses
are part of a greater central or
ganization (Penn State Univer
sity). I thought this was an
excellent way to frame the arti-
MY VOICE
BRANDON BOYD
Throughout schooling, stu
dents have faced five letters
that determine how well they
did. They, of course, are A, B,
C, D, and F. An “A” usually
meant a reward, whether it was
the satisfaction of a job well
done, or perhaps some money
from your parents. A “C” says
you’re average, and we all
know that being average is just
fine. An “F,” however, is treated
like flatulence in a mini-cooper.
Too many of those “F’s,” and
you’re grounded, or, in the case
of college (and the mini
cooper), kicked out.
What if the tables were
turned? What if you no longer
had to face the tensions of tests,
the quirks of quizzes, and hel
lacious homework? Alright,
while that isn’t happening any
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YOUR VOICE
-Letters to the Editor
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EDITED ONLY FOR LENGTH IF NECESSARY.
cle as by this logic we are all
branch campuses, but instead
she deviates from this defini
tion to turn the central organi
zation into a central campus.
This is analogous to stating that
Erie is a branch of Pennsylva
nia as it is part of the greater
system of municipalities in the
Commonwealth and then
switching to say that Harris
burg (by virtue of being the pri
mary administrative center of
state government) would be the
main municipality that Erie is
truly a branch of. Therefore,
we could relegate Erie, Pitts
burgh, and Philadelphia to be
branches of Harrisburg despite
the unique benefits that each
provides to the Common
wealth.
Second, the editorial states
that Behrend is not equal to
University Park and lists all of
the ways that University Park is
bigger than Behrend. I don't
think anyone who objects to the
use of main' would dispute
these facts, however, they ac
knowledge that bigger is not al
ways better and that each
campus is better than the other
in different ways to different
people. To this end, Ms. Lanich
suggests that students at
Behrend are suffering from a
superiority complex which
would mean that they think
their campus is much better
than University Park. If this is
truly the case then this is a sea
Grade my professor
time soon, a (somewhat) rea
sonable change could be to
grade teachers everyday. “I’m
sorry, professor. While the lec
ture was decent, nine out of six
teen students fell asleep.
You’re a math teacher, so I’m
pretty sure you know what per
cent that is. Enjoy your F.” How
fun would that be? Seeing pro
fessors on the edge of their
seats, anxiously awaiting their
grade. They can feel what we
feel now. One site that
st.if) writer
provides the possibility of this
is ratemyprofessors.com. By
being anonymous, students can
say what they want, how they
want. If you want to say your
professor has breath that could
drop a fly, you can say it. If you
think an infant could teach the
class as well as your teacher,
you can say it.
However, I can’t support this
site completely, as it allows for
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change in the life of the Univer
sity as it has typically been an
inferiority complex that has
been difficult to overcome
thanks to phrases like branch'
and main'. Just like at any
campus there are students who
think theirs is the best, and oth
ers who long to move on to new
places.
I applaud Ms. Lanich for
bringing attention to this issue
and once again allowing people
to think about the origins and
logic of the branch' and main'
terms. I am a proud alumni of
Penn State University, regard
less of if I went to a branch or
the trunk of the system.
Response:
Behrend vs. Main
Last week, staff writer
Marissa Lanich wrote an opin
ion article titled ‘Behrend vs.
Main” in which she attempted
to prove that Penn State
Behrend was a “branch” of Uni
versity Park. The definition she
gave in the first sentence of her
article, however, completely
negates her entire argument.
If you think of Behrend as a
“separate but dependent part”
of University Park, than you’re
misinformed of the politics and
operations of this school sys
tem. Behrend does not gain
people to be rude, like the com
ments above. It’s one thing to
give a teacher an “F”; it’s an
other thing to berate them.
How would a student feel if a
teacher’s feedback on a paint
ing said that their fifth-grader
could do better blindfolded on
a unicycle? I’m sorry your
painting sucks, and now that
you see that the truth hurts,
let’s keep it simply by letters,
shall we?
If we are to implement this
new grading scale, professors
should also have a GPA. If a
professor has under a 2.0 GPA,
they don’t get credit, much like
students. Better get to bribing!
Teachers can even have their
own version of the Dean’s List;
we’ll call it Boyd’s List (I’ll be
way more famous than this
Dean guy). Teachers with a 3.5
GPA make this prestigious and
well-named list, and are given
funding from UP Unlike other
schools, Penn State receives a
lump sum from the state, all of
which stays at UP. In fact,
Behrend loses money from
being part of the Penn State
system. Portions of Behrend
students IT Fee is sent to UP, as
well as tuition dollars, and our
students see no return. In some
Behrend circles, this is referred
to as the “franchise fee.”
Franchise, from Merriam-
Webster’s Dictionary, is defined
as “the right or license granted
to an individual or group to
market a company's goods or
services in a particular terri
tory.” This term is more closely
related to the true nature of
Behrend’s relationship to Uni
versity Park.
What does Behrend gain from
its affiliation to Penn State?
The first is that Behrend stu
dents receive a Penn State de
gree upon graduation, which
has “brand name” status. The
second is enrollment.
UP has many more applicants
each year than it has available
space, so UP tries to use the
commonwealth campuses as a
sort of waiting room. The idea
is that students can spend two
years at one of these campuses
and transfer to UP as an upper
classman. Statistics show,
however, that Behrend retains
at least 80% of its students.
SCOTT SOLTIS
Penn State Alumnus
Does Behrend actually get
the benefit of an “increased en
rollment”? People are attracted
to the Penn State degree, and
UP does refer students to
Behrend, but the drawback is
that Behrend is only allowed to
recruit from certain counties
rather than anywhere. Since
Behrend’s name is not exposed
as freely as UP’s, isn’t it a safe
guess that we’re almost a secret
which is being kept?
The issue is much deeper
than can be expressed in a let
ter on the opinion page of the
Beacon. If you would like more
insights on this issue, Ms.
Lanich, please contact me and
we can do lunch sometime. I
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first pick on choosing what
classes they want to teach, and
at what times they want to
teach them.
Through this new system,
teachers and professors around
the world will be motivated to
do their best. On the contrary,
they will probably worry more
about their grades than ours,
but maybe to get their good
grades, they will give us good
ones. Little work, big reward.
It’s the way of students, right?
This works out for everyone!
Of course, I’m always open to
hearing a teacher’s argument. I
do have office hours. Drop by
and we’ll have a friendly game
of Madden ‘lO. Win as the
Cleveland Browns, and we’ll
talk.
Talk about a harsh grader.
promise not to show a superior
ity complex, but just explain
the source of my Pride.
BRAD KOVALCIK
(Icncrdl Arts jnd S( ivni t\s Md/ot
Parking Assesment
I’m a rational kind of guy. I get
that money is not easy to come
by these days. Income needed
to operate this school and to
pay for programs, activities,
and the function of student or
ganizations comes via an intri
cate web of connections
created and modified over
decades of time by numerous
proponents. However there
came a point when the web
could no longer serve its pur
pose, when its strands became
tangled and stretched to their
limit. I say this because $270
per year is an unacceptable
price to use what might be the
most deficient network of roads
and parking lots among area
colleges.
Parking permit revenues
fund interests beyond parking
lot maintenance. Maybe that
explains why our parking lots
aren’t in better shape, why the
REDC parking garage serves
only faculty and staff, and why
we pay over seven times as
much as Gannon residents,
who park in a densely popu
lated downtown Erie and still
have cheaper ticket fees. Why
are policymakers forcing stu
dents to fund undisclosed inter
ests with their purchase of
parking permits? Why do they
make us pay six times what Ed
inboro charges, then watch us
suffer through twenty minute
waits in line to get out, idling
our gas and time away, when
they have the resources to build
a better traffic system?
Before we can see a fair park
ing system, the school must tie
up its loose ends, and there’s no
catalyst for change like good ol’
transparency and accountabil
ity. Ideas welcome.
RAUL MONTEJO
Senior ■ Mathematics major