New top
for H&SS
School selects
Queens College
professor for
Director post
RACHELLE THOMPSON
news editor
SHANNON EHRIN
culture editor
Dr. Steven Hicks, Chair Pro
fessor of Philosophy at Queens
College, was announced as the
new Director of the School of
Humanities and Social Sci
ences on Thursday.
“One thing that attracted me
to the position as it was adver
tised is that it seemed to be a
very good match for my qualifi
cations,” said Hicks. “1 was
pleasantly sur
prised; it was
gratifying to
know that the
faculty and staff
had confidence
in my ability to
take over as the
Professor director,” said
Steven Hicks Dl . John Gam _
ble, Distin
guished Professor of Political
Science and International Rela
tions and the chair of the Direc
tor search committee, believes
that while Hicks will have to
adjust to changes in the school,
continued on page 8
'THESE AWARDS GIVE STUDENTS SOMETHING TO ASPIRE FOR, AND WORK TOWARDS."
Fraternities and Sororities recognized for outstanding service
IN THIS WEEK'S ISSUE:
Culture: 2-3 n . . in ,,
. , Opinion: 10-11
Local/National: 4 / . „
r „ Sports: 12-14
News: 5-8 v
Provided by Student Government Association
Steven Burger and Hannah White, above, will be the SGA President and Vice President next year.
Contested race sees 30% increase in voting
A race which saw 14 students running for
only ten spots as upperclassmen senators has
drawn over 600 votes, nearly a 30 percent in
crease from last year’s total.
Stephen B.urger and Hannah White, both
juniors, won the uncontested race for Presi
dent and Vice President, respectively. They
ran on the same ticket. Burger is a finance
major, and White is a biology major.
Briana Newstrom, a junior psychology
mttjor, was elected to the position of Secre
tary.
Harshal Patel, a sixth semester supply
chain and information systems major, was
M/43r0^sa
• • * - fl . v
TbPjpHflw w 3/3O showers
Faculty defeats seniors 65-63 sth
annual Swishes for Wishes basketball
game benefiting Make-A-Wish.
BERGER AND WHlTf>
TAKE THE REINS
CONNOR SATTELY
rditot-in (hivt
Day in and day out, hundreds of students at
Behrend toiled all year to improve their campus
community. On Tuesday, many of them were
honored at the Order of Omega and Interfrater
nity & Panhellenic Councils Greek Awards Cer
emony, which recognized students for 2009
work.
According to Lauralee Geci, President of
Order of Omega, the awards ceremony’s pur
pose is to “recognize outstanding individual and
chapter achievement in the areas of leadership,
TY | 6
elected to the position of University Faculty
Senate Representative.
Elected to the contested position of Sena
tor were Ryan Frankowski (freshman - In
dustrial Engineering), Alii Heitzenrater
(sophomore - Creative Writing), Cassie Kos
mal (sophomore - Business), Aaron Morelli
(freshman - Business), Devin Pierre (sopho
more - Undecided), Jake Randolph (junior -
Marketing), Aharon Robinson (freshman -
Business), Jennifer Slane (freshman - Psy
chology), Andrew Sywyj (freshman - Busi
ness), and Ryan Voris (freshman - Computer
Science).
“Steve and Hannah are going to do a great
job next year,” says current SGA President
Brad Kovalcik.
ALLY ORLANDO
news editor
■ A 14 Pages • Volume 56 • Issue 2
EACON
scholarship, community service, philanthropy,
chapter programming, brotherhood and sister
hood within Behrend’s Greek community.”
“The Greek awards have really turned into a
spectacular evening,” said Lindsey Hopkins Hall,
Coord|nator of Student Involvement and Frater
nity and Sorority Life. ‘'lt is wonderful to see so
many fraternity and sorority members and cam
pus community members come to celebrate their
accomplishments.
“This is really their time to shine and show off
their accomplishments.”
44/46 tain / snow showers
Daniel Smith / The Behrend Beacon
A (ire emergency worker prepares to enter the brush.
Emergency crews fight
Behrend brush fire
Firefighters have extin
guished a brush fire at Penn
State Behrend which ignited in
brush by the Behrend Fields
shortly after 6:00 p.m., accord
ing to fire officials.
“We are not sure where it
started or how it started,” said
Brookside Fire Company Fire
Chief Kevin Tobin. No injuries
were reported.
“It was a hundred [feet] by
sixty [feet] brush fire,” said
Tobin, located on the side of a
steep ravine between the Nick
Building parking lot and the
Behrend fields.
“Being on the side of the
ravine, most fire apparatus
can’t fit to get back here. That’s
the biggest issue.”
Companies from Kuhl Hose
and Brookside reported to the
scene, bringing brush trucks,
which are smaller emergency
vehicles that have extra maneu
verability built for dealing with
See a full list of Awards on Page 7.
,f Women’s water polo notches two wins at
W CWPA regional tournament in New
It London, Conn, last weekend.
CONNOR SATTELY
editor-in-chiO
45/40 few showers
SPORTS | 12
A Penn State Behrem
Student Publicatioi
such emergencies.
Christina Nguyen, a fresh
man majoring in health policy
administration, was on the
nearby fields for an intramurals
soccer game when the fire
began.
“We saw smoke coming from
the woods right next to the
field, so we all went over to
where the fire was to see what
was going on,” she said. "|The
brush] was on fire, and it was a
pretty decent-sized fire."
By the time Nguyen got to the
border between the fields and
the woods, emergency crews
were on the scene.
She said that most students
at the Behrend fields were play
ing on fields which were a safe
distance away from the fire, so
police and fire crews did not in
struct them to leave the area.
The students did eventually
leave, though.
“After a few minutes it was so
smoky that you couldn't bear
it," she said, "so you had to
walk away anyway.”
Sonney
faces
criticism
over PSU
comments
CONNOR SATTELY
rditni-m-i hit 1 !
State Representative Curt
Sonney (R-Harborcreek) is fac
ing harsh criticism from his op
posing party following
comments he made at an open
forum in Erie on Tuesday.
Democrats, including Gerald
Price, who is
running against
Sonney in the
fall elections,
claim that Son
ney said he
would cut Penn
State University
funding by 20
percent.
“1 asked him
[if he were Gov
ernor] what
budget cuts he
would make,”
said Price
“Without hesita
tion, the first
thing out of his
mouth was T
will cut Penn
State University
funding by 20
percent
Top:
Current
Representative
Curt Sonney.
Sonney, how
ever, says that the allegations
are being made on a comment
taken out of context.
“I have no intentions whatso
ever of cutting Penn State fund
ing,” said Sonney, who has
See CURT SONNEY, page 8
Bottom:
Democratic
Challenger
Gerald Price