Spring Break editorial - pg. 6
Vol. XXXIV, No. 6
ed
Penn State University, Delaware County
3 Cpe
PENNSTATE
March 7, 2003
Delaware
County
48 hours on their feet ... and still spry
KATHLEEN IACI
and JOHN COYLE
By ED RICH
For the Lion's Eye
EIR102@psu.edu.
More than 700 students danced for 48
hours the weekend f Feb. 21 with only one
cause in mind — a cure for childhood can-
cer
The dance marathon at University Park
is what THON is all about, and many from
the Delco campus were fortunate enough
to stand with Delco's two dancers, John
Coyle and Kathleen Iaci.
The dancers arrived at University Park's
Recreational Building — known as Rec
Hall — around 5 p.m. and preparation for
the long 48 hours began.
Delco's duo sat down for the last time
until the marathon was over. The count-
down began, all 700-plus dancers rose to
their feet, and THON 2003 officially
began.
During the event, cancer patients walked
around, played ball with dancers, and got
into water-gun fights with dancers. There
INSIDE
Student Life staff ......... page 2
Campus wildlife .......... page 3
New intersection.......... page 4 |
THON pictures........... page 5
People poll.................. page 6
Dr. Love/ Mr. Hate...... page 7
Women’s History......... page 8
was also entertainment from many bands,
including The Collective (see review, Page
7) and Green Eggs. The organizers made
sure there was plenty for the dancers to do
to keep them entertained during their 48-
hour quest.
Staying on your feet and dancing is no
easy task, and all of the dancers, and espe-
cially Coyle and laci, deserve a lot of
applause and admiration; admiration for
their spirit, their endurance, and most of
all, for their hearts.
Many people who have never done it
before say dancing is easy.
"Staying up for the 48 hours is the easy
part,” laci said, “The toll that it takes on
your body is what is hard to deal with."
By the end of the two nights, like many
dancers, laci had both ankles taped and
very sore legs. :
The dancers do not attempt the feat by
themselves.
Penn State football coach Joe Paterno
gave a speech in which he said that if his
football players all showed the same spirit,
endurance, and dedication that the dancers
showed that weekend, he would win the
national champiqnship every year.
laci got a piggy-back ride and back-rub
from MTV's “The Real World” actors
Blair and Malik. Delco students made sure
that their dancers were not alone. Students
See THON: Page 4
Auditing the books
Campus store
proves to be
no bargain
By KAREN KARASZKIEWICZ
and AMANDA TROMBETTI
KMK304@psu.edu
AUT114@psu.edu
Lion's Eye staff writers
With e ver-increasing tuition
costs, students may also find it
harder to pay for textbooks.
Some students at Penn State
Delco pay up to $500 or more
for one semester on books
alone. Even considering that
they re-sell books to the book-
store after the semester, students
receive only a small percentage
of what they had originally paid.
One option is buying used
books at the campus bookstore,
operated by the Barnes & Noble
chain. However, used books at
the campus bookstore are dis-
counted just 25 percent of the
cost of new books. Also, some
books are not available used,
and, if they are, sell out quickly.
' So ... are there any other
options for students to cut book
costs?
To find out, the Lions Eye
staff conducted research of
online stores and bookstores.
The prices of 10 specific books,
chosen at random, at the campus
Bames & Noble store, were
compared to those at online
book sites and bookstores.
Our research found that
online sites such as
Amazon.com and Half.com
have the lowest book prices, fol-
lowed by retail stores like
Book Title Campus | Half.com | Amazon.com | Amazon.com | Barnes | Borders
: Bookstore (new) (used) & Noble
Writing Talk $57.15 $12.50 $50.00 $9.65* $43.75 N/A
The Longman Reader $50.75 | $31.95 $47.33 §1400| $4733] NA
History of Art $76.00 $42.54 N/A N/A | $60.00 N/A
Microeconomics $85.00 $39.99 $89.15 $63.95* | $28.75 | $61.50
The American People $42.70 | $26.00 N/A NA| $3575 N/A
Management Information Systems $77.00 $39.95 $120.70 $56.99* | $100.00 | $55.00
College Algebra: Concepts & Models $105.00 $22.00 $76.75 $13.49* | $76.50 N/A
The Art of Public Speaking $85.00 $30.00 $66.75 $13.00* | $62.75 | $60.75
Chemistry: The Central Science $133.95 $39.95 $125.00 $39.95% | $120.00 | $119.35
Psychology: Themes & Variations $97.50 | $20.00 $91.95 §22.98* | $6095| N/A
*starting price
Barnes & Noble and Borders.
The post poignant finding,
though, was that Borders and
off-campus Barnes & Noble
stores consistently sell books
needed for classes here at Penn
State Delco at less expensive
prices than the campus book-
store.
Borders, w hich carries only
four of the 10 books selected,
had the lowest prices on’ aver-
age. Barnes & Noble had all 10
books available, and was under-
sold by the campus bookstore
on only one instance. The cam-
pus store sells “Management
Information Systems” for $77.
Barnes & Noble lists the book at
$100. Borders lists it at $55.
At Half.com, only used
books were available.
Amazon.com sells both new and
used books.
For the most part, Amazon's
new ‘books were cheaper than
the new books the campus
bookstore.
Amazon had the cheapest
used book prices. However,
while their starting prices were
the lowest, not every used book
was available for the same
price, because they’re sold by
individuals. Half.com has con-
sistent prices for each book.
The Half.com Web site still
offered very low prices com-
pared to the campus bookstore.
Although books from Web
sites cannot be resold at the
campus bookstore, the Web site
research concluded that you still
save more money at Half.com
and Amazon.com than you
would save by buying them at
the campus bookstore and
reselling them.
While the Web sites feature
used books, retail stores are
another option of buying new
books at a lower price.
Almost all of the books were
less expensive at the retail stores
listed on the chart than at the
campus store.
If these stores and sites are
not options for you, there are
alternatives, such as buying
books from upperclassmen who
have taken the same courses,
trading books with friends, or
selling them yourself to incom-
ing students.