Students visit Holocaust museum By MICHELE DIGIACINTO Collegian Staff Writer WASHINGTON, D.C. Members of four religious groups traveled back in time to more than 50 years ago last weekend back to Nazi Germany. About 70 members of Penn State Hillel Foun dation, Penn State University Catholic Commu nity, University Lutheran Parish and Episcopal Campus Ministry and their friends traveled Sunday to experience the memories of the Holo caust, many for the first time. They travelled together during the first annu al Interfaith Trip to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Tuvia Abramson, director of Hillel, said he organized the trip to go along with the theme of tolerance, trust and acceptance started during the "Take a Stand Rally" last semester. The trip, he said, was not about pointing fingers, but about understanding the results hatred and big otry can bring. "The past we cannot change. The future we can change," he said. "Not all Jewish people should just remember the Holocaust, but every single individual in this world should." • Episcopal Chaplain Edward Messersmith said people of all the different faiths need to engage 'in the history of the Holocaust as one communi ty. CATA improves quality of transit buses By JEFF SCHLANGER Collegian Staff Writer Those who ride the Centre Line will soon be looping State College on cleaner, quieter and roomier buses. In the next few weeks, the Cen tre Area Transportation Authority will be replacing existing Centre Line transit vehicles with 16 new natural gas buses. "It's good to see that the Penn State community has an environ mental conscience," said Andrew Gade (freshman-finance). The new buses will be powered by compressed natural gas which will be cheaper to run, less noisy and will contribute less black smoke than the diesel fuel the cur rent buses operate on, said Hugh Mose, CATA general manager. The current buses operating on the Centre Line route will replace old buses currently operating on the Loop route. Semih Eser, assistant professor of fuel science, said he thinks nat ural gas buses make more sense. . . ``Natural g as is - a Abinestic •resource and that xvill lessen our . depemkney on fuelS imported from abroad," he said. Currently, 60 percent of U.S. petroleum is imported from All yvu need to know Coilegian "History involves all of us. The Holocaust involved all of humanity," he said. The museum's three-year-old exhibits are divided into three floors that take visitors from the years leading to Adolph Hitler's rise to power to liberation. The museum is divided into ticketed and non-ticketed sections, but no fee is charged unless tickets are reserved through Ticketmaster, a private agency. Before entering the ticketed exhibits, visitors are given an identification card booklet which tells the story of a real person who lived during the Holocaust. Each page of the booklet corre sponds with a time period depicted on each of the museum's three floors. At the end of each exhibit, visitors are asked to turn the page and a new time period is entered on the next floor. Visitors learn whether the person lived or died at the end of their tour. Some University students were moved by the exhibits. "I thought it was incredibly sad," said Ina Lieberman (senior-economics). On the first level, films and photographs chronicle the support Adolph Hitler gathered and the Nazi propaganda he used to further his plan of creating a superior race by cleansing it of all its "racial enemies." Those enemies included Jews, Gypsies, communists, and gay and disabled people. "Natural gas is a domestic resource and that will lessen our dependency on fuels imported from abroad." abroad, Eser said. Although natural gas produces less carbon dioxide on a BTU (British Thermal Unit) basis than diesel fuel, Eser said natural gas, or methane, is a more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide because it absorbs more ozone per molecule. Not only are the new buses envi ronmentally conscious, they are equipped with a rear-door lift mechanism to comply with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act and fold-up seats to accommo date passengers traveling in wheel chairs, Mose said. The buses will also have more aisle room to facilitate more pas sengers, he added. "Most of our buses are past life expectancy," Mose said. Many of the buses currently in operation were built in the 19605, Mose said. The impact of the new buses will allow CATA to retire 16 obsolete buses and replace them with new ones that will be more rWhat will LARGE 1-TOPPING PIZZA FREE DELIVERY ASK FOR STUDENT SPECIAL assistant professor of fuel science comfortable, accommodate more passengers and have cleaner exhaust, he added. Mose said CATA has a commit ment to convert their entire fleet of 41 buses to compressed natural gas buses. Each new bus costs $259,000 and CATA has an order for another eight buses equipped with the same features to arrive in 1997, he added. The new buses will also have the same seating capacity as the old ones, but they will be able to accommodate more standing pas sengers due to wider aisles, Mose said. Mechanically, the new buses will have other benefits. Natural gas tanks, which are located on the roof of the bus, will have the capacity to run a bus for 300 miles before refueling, Mose said. The tank will contain enough gas to allow each bus to run for the entire day and be refueled every night, he said. The refueling station U be reading tomorrow? For great coverage of campus life across the U.S., dive into U Magazine, in tomorrow's Daily Collegian. When you've had your fill of music, the social scene, job advice, and more, toss the magazine into the nearest recycling bin. Or, pass it on to a friend. Please recycle newspapers and inserts. I I I Sb CIAL 569 9 The second level takes visitors through a hall way of old shoes worn by the victims and into the concentration camps and the medical labo ratories of the Holocaust. Lieberman said seeing the shoes moved her the most. "It made my eyes fill with tears," she said. "They're so real. You know people once had those shoes." And on the third level, a time of liberation, Holocaust survivors tell their tales of what it was like in concentration camps. Erin Bronstein (junior-history) went to the museum for the third time with her friends from Hillel. Bronstein said she liked the muse um because it includes the different groups persecuted during the Holocaust. Bronstein also said she liked that the people on the trip were of mixed religious groups and that they chose to come voluntarily. "The lesson of the Holocaust is not just about Judaism. It is about humanity," she said. . Lutheran Parish member Maggie Peterson (graduate-Spanish) said she found the museum interesting and educational. She also liked the interaction with the other groups, especially hearing Abramson's point of view. Abramson said he will be holding a discussion group about the museum after Spring Break. Semih Eser r* km i N for CATA buses, which is currently under construction, is located on Whitehall Road. "It will benefit everyone's health to have cleaner burning buses around and natural gas buses will certainly be cleaner," said Andre Boehman, assistant profes sor of fuel science. Boehman said less soot is gener ated with natural gas burning engines, and as a result, they reduce the amount of fumes that people breathe. The rear-door lift mechanism will also help disabled passengers travel more easily. Brenda Hameister, director of the Office for Disability Services, said the lift will help Centre Coun ty's disabled people. Currently, they have to call the para-transit system in advance if they wish to travel, she added. "I think the main benefit is that it gives people with disabilities a choice," she said. "Once you have lifts on buses, you can be more decisive without calling in advance." Rajika Draviam, co-director of Eco-Action, said the switch will be beneficial. "It's important that CATA sees the need for the switch," Draviam said. dlt;Collegian =I siohions...sAVE 45.0,01A1 Now two locations: 444 E. College Ave. 234-4344 Open 7am to 3pm Mon.-Fri., Bam•3pm Sat. Happy Value General Store . • • • I'• • - Get 2 FREE Sodas I Get 2 FREE Sodas Tax included Tax included I One Coupon per 2 Calzones One Coupon per 2 Calzones EXPIRES 5/3/96 EXPIRES 5/3/96 iFREE! w/any purchas• 1 111 • i 0ff1Ak,,,,,0„.e, (Orly *tile sumly Imes very Wed parity avelftlial I - , , I I so gels b. fit t Z. •.• . • ! . till'ivb:— • I I - Not Just a Diner... --. ig-_-:----- ~ , I N But a Real 50's Experience! *-- 1 --0 I 111 und CMG =WWI Par 041ga~ Downtown State College 131 S. 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