PAGE 2 Editor Finds No Answers Discussion Of The Eternal Question: "Where Have We All Been?" By aaire DeSantis For all of you who just might look to this column for "what's new on campus," you won't find it this time. Instead, you'll find what I feel is "what's old on campus." The topic for this week is attendance - not class attendance but atten dance at the various functions the campus offers. (Didn't I do this last year?) I attended the Dotson Racier lecture on runaway children. I found it to be very interesting and informative. But then the thirty or so attendants at that lecture were predominantly those that were invited to the small dinner prior to the talk. Why is it that more students and faculty couldn't have attended? David Voigt, who wrote a book on the history of baseball, was on campus last week. The attendance was an embarassing ten or so. That's strange, since the lecture coincided with the playoff games that week. As a matter of fact, the time of the lecture that night ended up Sailing right down the middle of the games. The lecture was at eight o'clock, while the first game ended around seven o'clock and the second game began at nine o'clock. It seems as if that would have been the perfect compliment to the games-although I may be mistaken. What is our problem? Is everyone - and I address students and faculty - that disinterested? Or are we all bogged down with work? There are viable reasons for the lack of attendance at the functions, but maybe the lesson to be learned is that we need to "stop and smell the roses" more often. These func tions are both informative and relaxing and maybe that is what we all need every now and then. Not long ago, a musician named Buzzy Linhart was at Behrend to perform. A SUB spokesman told me that they lost nearly $lOOO on that performance alone - and it was a very good one. The Student Union Board sponsored that event and they only made - and I'm not joking - $4.50 on it. That's crazy and we couldn't blame SUB if they chose not to sponsor these_ performances anymore. This is not to mention the whopping total of thirty that attended Barbara Bailey Hutchison's per formance. I would venture to bet that SUB lost a pretty good dollar on that one, also. While I can't beg people to attend, (Because I am as guilty as the next Editor) I can call the situaton to your attention. These events are worthy of our attention and practically painless at that. We might even find an evening of music enjoyable. I don't mean to be so sarcastic, since, as I said, I am also at fault, but the whole situation is so ironic that I hardly feel I have a choice, especially when considering all of the students and faculty that are on campus in the evenings. Once again, I can't make people attend, but I can bet you that if you would, you would not regret it. It would be both entertaining for us and beneficial to the programs here at Behrend. Anyone up for the Avante Theatre Company's presentation of "Home?" And so it goes ... until next week.* * The Avante Theatre Company will present the play "Home" on Wednesday, October 19, at 8 p.m. in the Reed Lecture Hall. Behrend Collegian Assistant Editor: Risa Glick Business Manage,: Rod Luery Sports Editor. Joel Campbell Elizabeth Gillian Donald Gwizdz Dave Harrington Mary Hickin Michael Kitchen Edward J. McCloskey Thomas Miller Justin Panson Mailing Address-Behrend College, Station Road, Erie, Pa. 16510 Office-Student Offices, Reed Building Office Phone: 898-1511 Ext. 221 Opinions expressed by the Editors and staff of the Behrend Collegian are not necessarily those of the Univer sity Administration, faculty, or the student body. Editor: Claire DeSantis Staff Lisa Pavadore Cynthia Stipancic Sarah Tamilin Margaret Tomczak Ann Weunski William Whitney BEH REND COLLEGIAN "For Those Of You Who Pahk Your Cahs a • .1.11 • by Lisa Pavadore fortunately, being from Boston, I ritating, but I have come to see an In coming to Behrend College had yet to conquer my greatest advantage. While I thought that this September, I had to cope with obstacle: my speech. my difference in dialect would the fact that once again I was a When my roommate first asked make me seem strange, it draws freshman. I was confronted by the me to hand her the "pop," I took people to talk to me. My so-called many questions that rolled around • a full look around the room to "accent" has not isolated me, but in freshmen minds: Will I make find something worthy of the title. has turned out to be my best social many friends? Will I get along I thought everyone called it contact. with my roommate? and the "tonic." I still can't get through a So for those of you whom I ultimate Will I fit in? conversation with a group of peo- have met, yoi can continue to Soon after the semester started, ple. Soon after a few words, I'd joke —or should I say "jag" I was all-settled in and had made a notice the smiles, giggles, and about my dialect, because I'm still number of friends. Classes were people elbowing each other. Many "going to "pahhk my cah in my fine, and my health was good, have told me to "Say that again." - gahrahge." despite Dobbins' offerings. Un- Once in a while it could be ir- Dean Lane Discusses Behrend's Evolution by Mary Hickin While Behrend is celebrating its 35th anniversary, Dean of Admis sions Benjamin Lane is also celebrating an anniversary. Dean Lane is beginning his 31st year at Behrend College of Penn State. Lane began his career at Behrend as a member of the English teaching staff. Through the years he has seen the college go from Behrend Center to Behrend Cam pus to Behrend College, as well as many other changes, both tangi ble and intangible. Dean Lane chose Behrend after a year at a private school and re mained because he saw the growth potential and was "very much en tranced by the campus" and its beauty. While the beauty remains, the campus itself has changed dramatically. When. Dean Lane first came here, the faculty as well as the students lived on campus. Lane's first child was born while he resid ed here. The only buildings were the Behrend building, Erie Hall and the Administration building which housed the women. Turn bull was the cafeteria and Lane's Editorial Comment Cheating . . .A Contagio By Risa Glick Cheating is a disease that is cur rently spreading throughout the schools of our country. There are three, degrees of this disease: minor, serious and critical. Cheating is highly contagious to those people who are .mot strong enough to battle it. Once this disease is caught, it runs rampant through the body of the infected person, making it difficult to cure. Some cheaters have been . cured during the early cheating phase, but once the total cheating process has been reached, chances of being cured are quite slim. Continual use of cheating will result in an addiction to cheat. Many of the symptoms of this disease are visible. The first stage of cheating is the failure of a stu dent to study for a simple quiz. Instead of honestly sacrificing a few points, the student resorts to "borrowing" the answers of a fellow classmate. This small symptom leads to cheating on a much grander scale, including ma jor tests and final examinations. During the early stages of the disease, the symptoms are very minute. They consist of roaming eyes, whispering during the exam, the exact same wording of office in Turnbull was once the electric lab. Since then he has seen the college grow and over a dozen more buildings erected, including three dorms and the library. Along with the growth of the campus, the faculty and students have increased greatly. The stu dent body has grown from 260 to over 2000 full-time students. The changes in the students arefew he said. Attitudes haven't changed. Dress codes have. Back when he started, the men wore coats and ties to dinner, women wore skirts and heels. But the students themselves, he says, haven't changed much. He concedes they are more "world ly'." than those of 30 years ago. He attributes this to the emergence of television as a common household item and to the computer. These two inventions alone have chang ed the American student considerably. Dean Lane also feels that the students are more competitive. The entrance procedures were much simpler 30 years ago. SAT scores (a common requirement for answers by two different people, or two students with the same pro blem incorrect, made by the same mistake. As a result, it must be mention ed that these symptoms con sistently worsen. Methods of cheating are as numerous as the symptoms, if not more so. Most of these methods are mischievous; all are dishonest. Along with symptoms, are sim ple methods of cheating, in cluding cheat sheets with either notes on them or answers to .the test. Notes written on the desk is an easy but risky method of cheating. Writing answers or notes on one's hand is always a popular style. These are a few of the common methods of cheating. There are more imaginative techniques such as writing notes on a rubberband and then stret ching it across the desk. The notes become blobs of ink when the rubberband is removed. Writing notes on a calculator or a shoe is quite common, as is a graffiti stricken pencil. Sometimes there can be found a -student who takes cheating to its fullest extent. He sits down to take the test, and after taking a good look at it, he feigns a OCTOBER 13,.1983 most colleges now) were non existent. Entrance requirements have grown more competitive and more difficult. The one change Lane feels may not be for the better is the attitude toward education. More students and faculty regard "a college education as a means to a better job." The emphasis is no longer on educating a student, but train ing him instead. He feels there isn't "the delight in learning for learning's sake" ,and that the "intellectual delight, the fun of the whole area of study ... is lost." This is not the fault of the student but of our culture he said. The strong point of the college is one he thinks has been a strong point through the years. That is the advantage of a small .college with a strong faculty. The student-faculty interaction is good for both parties. The formula for education is still the teacher and the student. And with as small a college as this, the faculty can get to know the student personally which can make for a better learn ing experience. us Disease headache. He then asks the teacher if he can go to the nurse and he schedules to take the test at a later date. In the meantime, be. works out all of the problems on the test and subsequently, obtains a higher score. Thus, he is an ex ample of the compulsive cheater. As a result of cheating, there are a variety of different punishments that can be ad ministered to the victim. They range anywhere from receiving a failing grade on the test, to failing the course. Some schools take cheating seriously enough as to expel the cheater from school: Overall, the compulsive cheater does not realize that by cheating, he obtains a good grade dishonestly and that this affects the grading scale for the students who do not do as well by being honest. He also doesn't want to believe that cheating will catch up to him sooner or later, and he will be punished. The compulsive cheater does not stop and think that his actions are disturbing and disheartening to the honest stu dent. The honest student can only sit and hope that someday a cure will be found for this disease known as cheating.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers