THE DAIL James S. Young Editor in Chief About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Colle gian are published by Collegian Inc., an independent, nonprofit corporation with a board of directors composed of students, fac ulty and professionals. Pennsylvania State University students write and edit both papers and solicit advertising for them. Dur ing the fall and spring semesters as well as the second six-week summer session, The Daily Collegian publishes Monday through Friday. Issues are distributed by mail to other Penn State cam puses, alumni, sports fans, parents and other subscribers. Complaints: News and editorial complaints should be presented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be pre sented to the business manager. OUR OPINION Professors as parents will look to university to provide childcare With new classrooms and construction seemingly the hallmark of the last four years at Penn State, it seems curious that the university is tearing down one of its most valuable buildings. Recently, the administration opted to demolish the Child Development Labora tory (CDL), which appears to leave pro fessors and other employees without a viable source of daycare for their chil dren. Yet, as new business, chemistry, life sci ences and IST buildings pop up around campus almost by the dozens, the College of Health and Human Development is working to renovate South Henderson building, in which the CDL is currently located, to make room for new class rooms of its own. And that decision will, most likely, leave no reliable source of daycare for profes sors and employees, some of whom already have children on the 600-person long waiting list. Currently, Penn State is anticipating the results of a survey about the decision to demolish the building, which was distrib uted to parents Jan. 10 to 22 and is to be released on March 24. While it is admirable that the administration is attempting to gauge the usefulness of a childcare facility before haphazardly con structing it, the need is clearly evident. As the waiting list grows to 600 children and Penn State continues to espouse its desire for students to gain real-world experience, there seems to be a perfect marriage of two interests. Let the thou sands of undergraduates hoping to work in family services, childcare and elemen tary education assist the professional staff at the daycare. And in trying to attract qualified young professors, childcare would also be a key drawing card because it would alleviate one key concern of those beginning a family. That would further accomplish Penn State's goal of providing a class room environment comparable with that of the nation's private schools because it would couple the state-of-the-art class rooms with the nation's best faculty. But it hardly makes sense, it seems, to invest $6O million in a law school whose future, currently, is shaky at best and leave the current faculty without child care options. And though we do agree with and applaud the university for trying to estab lish something that is more than just a storage unit for children, Penn State should at least commit to building a facili ty to alleviate the concerns of its employ ees. There appears to be ample initiative for construction here, of which the last four years and many brand-new buildings are examples. Just don't leave the parents out in the cold. Who we are The Daily Collagen's editorial opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final responsibility. The letters and columns expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of The Daily Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The Pennsylvania State University. Collegian Inc., publishers of The Daily Collegian and related publications, is a separate corporate institution from Penn State. Editorials are written by The Daily Collegian Board of Opinion. Members of the Board of Opinion are Daniel Bal, Brent Burkey, Allison Busacca, Jennette Hannah, Meaghan Haugh, Kathleen Haughney, Alison Herget, Krystle Kopacz, Bridget Smith, Steve Swart, Claudia Vargas and James S. Young. Write a letter We want to hear your comments on our coverage, our editorial decisions and the Penn State community in general. ■ E-mail: collegianletters@psu.edu ■ Postal mall/In person: The Daily Collegian James Building 123 S. Burrowes St. University Park, PA 16801-3882 Letters should be about 250 words. Student letters should include class year, major and campus. Letters from alumni should include major and year of graduation. All writers should provide their address and phone number for verification. Letters should be signed by no more than two people. Members of organizations must include their titles if the topic they write about is connected with the aim of their groups. The Collegian reserves the right to edit letters. The Collegian cannot guarantee publication of all letters it receives. Letters chosen also run online at The Digital Collegian and may be selected for publica tion in The Weekly Collegian. All letters received become the property of Collegian Inc. OLLEGIAN Julie Columbus Business Manager 6 I TUESDAY, March 15, 2005 O"1. / 1i:4 ~, - OPN..**•:' A: 3 • - • •-y - c'..av ~.• . A - • •,..K:-.- ~._.• ..:-.,••••• ••.,.. VAAN. '—'4V. :-, .404": - - '• ~Wiviii ?lin - : tr-ip4.• ii - kkt. ,. - v oNtios l l :1043",_:.::; - -.1••••:,...bt :V , ' . --4•1tvg..0 I s i w...,...te 1 "... 4:::.. , : 5 0,53....„.. i*V r .i.' 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In speaking about Terri, Natalie makes her own arbitrary decision as to what makes a life worth liv ing by claiming that "those who are in a vegetative state aren't the same [as her]," and that, rather than grieve over Ms. Schiavo (news flash: Terri's not dead yet!), we should "fight for those who still have a chance to live." First of all, it has been well doc umented that Terri is able to respond purposefully with her environment, including reacting to the voices of her family members; don't believe the myth that Terri is a "vegetable." Second, Natalie, of all people, should sympathize with someone who suffers with a disability; how ever, her letter demonstrates, rather cruelly, her belief that Ibrri Schiavo should be starved to death because Terri's standard of living is different from her own. Natalie, what if your parents had decided when you were young to save you the trouble of living with Spina Bifida by speeding up your "death process"? Ryan Sdngle senior-philosophy COLUMNIST If you can't beat sports obession, get on the lazy train By Lane Weaver . NCAA tourna ment time, or March mad ness, if you prefer. Forget Christmas, Spring Break and Arbor Day; to me, it's the real "most wonder- MY OPINION ful time of the year." Sixty-five teams Duke-ing it out for the right to appear in the final four and ultimately capture the national championship. Along this arduous path, former con tenders are strewn, Cinderella's are made and legends are born. There's just something about the collegiate atmosphere and pageantry surrounding the event that appeals to me, and even though it was somewhat of a buzz kill when Penn State wasn't offered an at-large-bid this year (who knew that their 208 RPI would come back to haunt them?), the field is still tremendously exciting. And this is a true national event, no one part of the country has geo graphical preference over another as in other championships: games are played from New Mexico to Massachusetts and everywhere in between. Yes, soon the insanity will be here. In a few days, CBS will trans- OPINION ••:?.••••• • • •:• _t:•••••. ? ••• .•• •• • ::::•::••••• ••••••••:. • :;:„ .. ^ .4t~~ .. ~S may'_. U 2 rocker Bono should lead World Bank By Jeff Danna o YOU KNOW who James Wolfensohn is? I didn't think so. How about Bono? That's what I thought. Paul "Bono" Hewson, the 44-year-old singer for Irish rockers U 2, is one of the most recognizable celebri ties of the past 20 years. Wolfensohn, on the other hand, is the 71-year-old president of the World Bank, the U.N. agency ded icated to improving living condi tions in developing countries definitely not international celebrity material. In June, Wolfensohn's term is up, which will leave the position of World Bank president open. Thankfully, the Los Angeles Times has recommended a replacement Bono. In a Feb. 25 editorial, the Times cited the singer's recent Nobel Peace Prize nomination and history of addressing poverty, trade and AIDS in Africa as his qualifica tions to hold the prestigious posi tion. The Times' editorial might seem like an absurd suggestion given the trend of celebrities run ning for public office in recent years, but perhaps the editorial staff has a valid point about the blandness of today's political landscape. Take a look at Wolfen sohn's credentials: He's an inter national investment banker with a background in social and environ form itself into a veritable basket ball command center, with wall-to wall, sunrise-to-sunset, nightly toothbrush to morning -OJ, George Bush-in-Iraq to George Bush-in- Iran coverage. It's very much like the night before November elec tion day, only for a week straight. However, unlike the outcome of an election, the outcome of the NCAA tournament is, its safe to say, fairly pointless. It has no bear ing on our lives, and the only sig nificance it holds is that which we attach to it. And this is where my confusion asserts itself I'm aware of the tournament's unimportance, but I watch it anyway. I'll spend entire days (in between classes) in front of the TV, looking for back-door passes and last-second buzzer- beaters. Before the tournament even starts, I'll probably spend far too much time analyzing which 12- seed will beat a five-seed, thus ensuring my winning pool entry. I guess my question is why do we watch sports at all? We as a nation are obsessed with athletic events and the statistics attached to them. I'm not criticizing, because as you can see from above, I'm complicit in this fanati cism. I mean, I can tell you the majority of the 1991 Atlanta Braves roster, including world series-MVP Terry Pendleton and not so note worthy Otis Nixon and I don't even like the Braves. I can list the depth chart three-deep for the ..i i ~... _........__.._. . .•f ::t'~~ y~i•~ r = : . I ~~~~ mental issues who has visited more than 120 countries. Bono is the voice behind hits like "I Will Follow," "With or Without You" and "Even Better Than the Real Thing," who has toured impover ished regions of Africa and co- founded the organization Debt, AIDS and Trade in Africa. What Bono lacks in economic and political education, he makes up for with charisma and zeal, qualities sorely lacking in today's most powerful leaders. We all followed the November election, and we all saw that nei ther candidate possessed a very well-defined sense of contempo rary culture. On the other hand, Bill Clinton had the right idea: Stay positive, play the saxophone and, last but not least, possess the knowledge of social and eco nomic issues necessary to ... well ... be the president. How many world leaders can say they've been on MTV and exercised such sound economic policies that they helped a country eliminate its deficit? People don't want a stuffy politi cian or businessman making poli cy decisions when they can have a compelling personality with a firm belief system. After all, presi dents and other leaders are the faces of government. They might have the final say in putting plans in place, but there's a line of edu cated, intelligent officials behind them. In Bono's case, the World Penn State football team the past five years, including one of my favorite all-time players Ricky Upton. And I can certainly tell you that Kenny Mayne was the great est Sportscenter anchor ever. But I would classify this fandom as a personal and generalized one, because I don't really follow many teams anymore and the ones that I do I'm not vocal about. This is in stark contrast to most NFL fans. State College is awash with these people mostly Eagles and Steelers fans who find it necessary to incessantly scream chants every night outside my win dow. In fact, I'm sure that for some reason I'll be hearing them during the tournament. I bet Donovan really appreciates you. These fans identify with an artifi cial grouping of athletes (hardly any of the players nowadays actu ally hail from the city they repre sent) so strongly that they actually go into depression if their team loses. In fact, I'm thinking of open ing up a sports psychology office, not to help players cope with the crushing disappointment of defeat, but to console these fans. Tapping into this unrealized market might even allow me to accrue enough money to be featured on that episode of Family Guy with Bill Gates and Ted Rimer. But depression is the least seri ous result of sports. Worse yet are the fights that begin over argu ments regarding sports. In some parts of the world, rivalries can THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Bank's principal decision-making body would be a board of gover nors composed of one governor per member country. Look at California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. His policies might not be the most respectable or original, but to many, he's a good politician. He plays to his image as "The Gover nator" without shying away from hot topics like pension plans and education, no matter how much media or public scrutiny he receives. That's not to say all entertainers should try their hands at public policy, though. But an educated entertainer could be an effective leader. Arguably, no celebrity is more conversant and knowledgeable about the plight of the people of developing nations than Bono, and it's hard to find a compelling reason to say he shouldn't be a candidate to head the World Bank In the song "One" from U2's 1991 masterpiece "Achtung Baby," Bono sings, "Love is a temple / Love the higher law / You ask me to enter / But then you make me crawl / And I can't be holding on to what you got / When all you got is hurt." That is the voice of a world leader-idealistic, confident and diplomatic. If only our cur rent leaders could be so eloquent Jeff Danna writes for the Columbia Chronicle at Columbia College. even become deadly, as hard-core soccer fans can attest to. So back to the question, why do we watch sports? It seems to be doing us more harm then good. Even at its best, it just seems to be a waste of knowledge and time. With all the useless sports trivia I have stored in my head I could probably have memorized Mac- Beth and Gray's Anatomy, and still have enough space left over for a few chapters of the phonebook. So perhaps it's time for me to stop being wrathful in March. Maybe I could use the time saved from watching the tournament more constructively. I could read, study, tie some flies for my fly-fishing class, watch some hockey (sike) or maybe even play a little basketball myself. Because no matter how cool it is to see someone my age have a mon ster jam, its much cooler when I do it (ok, so I can't dunk, but I do have a mean lay up). The thing is, I can rationalize like this all I want in this brief respite between conference and national tournaments. But when tip-off happens in a lit tle more than 24 hours, I'll just throw all this rationalization out the window. So maybe I'll try to break free from the tournament's grasp ... next year. Lane Werner is a senior majoring in chemistry and biochemistry and.molecu lar biology and is a dollegan columnist. His e-mail is Ijwl4o@psu.edu. . '1 ..%:-.4•.• AYeleu.4?v.: r• • •••:: r••• Or » p *SO .6 SA - 454 M 4. 1 ? 1 ,7 :e 1.1! t. . . • k 1 i g
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