THE DAILY
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
Give DeChellis chance
to get men's basketball
to next year's tourney
- As the nation throws off its collective
straightjacket, ready once again for
- another Mad March, Penn State fans may
gaze eagerly and forlornly on the 65
teams that made this year's NCAA Divi
sion I Men's Basketball Championship
Tournament.
But as 6-foot-10 forwards with silky
smooth moves on the court and NBA dol
lar signs in their eyes throw down alley
oops, the most important things for Nit
. tany Lions fans is passing. That is, give
Penn State men's basketball coach Ed
DeChellis a pass on the Nittany Lions' 7-
23 season this year, which included just
one win in 16 Big Ten games. Sure, the
record is as dismal as were the myriad of
empty seats at many games in the Bryce
Jordan Center this season. But DeChellis
seems to be germinating success in the
Lions' program, which could spring forth
as early as next season. First and fore
:: most is the young talent, which DeChellis
seems to be grabbing in bunches. For
:" ward Geary Claxton was one of five play
ers to make the Big Ten's all-Freshman
team this year, the second straight season
that the Lions have placed someone on
the squad. Add to that shooting abilities of
guards Mike Walker and Danny Morris
; sey, who each showed flashes of better
; things while playing in their first NCAA
seasons this year.
At times this year, Penn State started
four players with two or fewer years of
playing experience at the Division I level.
That situation was exacerbated when
doctors discovered that sophomore guard
Marlon Smith, arguably the team's most
viable offensive threat, had a blood clot in
his brain and had to miss the rest of the
; season. Coupled with the transfers of sev
eral other players, DeChellis' program
was left with little in the way of talent and
:.even less in bench capacity.
And at this point, it's important to
f: remember that each coach requires sev
--;eral years to put his stamp on a program.
Take, for example, Vermont's Tom
Brennan, who is now in his 19th, and
final, year at the school. He has led the
: . Catamounts to a 21-12 record this season
„.
-and a No. 13 seed in the NCAA tourna
..,:ment. Things looked bleak at the begin
ning for Brennan, who went just 14-68 in
his first three years. DeChellis is a tire
less worker, and a program-builder him
'self. He was responsible for the growth of
omen's basketball at East Tennessee State,
' , where he and guard Timmy Smith led the
4.Buccaneers to the NCAA tournament in
;2003. That was seven years after a dismal
';7-20 start to DeChellis' stop in Johnson
City, Tenn. And he is recruiting talent to
:Happy Valley as well, but it must have
ftime to develop. Year three is a crucial
Mime in the process, and much progress
.remains to be seen. For now, however,
:give DeChellis an assist. He can use it.
iiNho we are
the Daily Collegian's editorial opinion is determined by its
►Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final responsibility. The
;4etters 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.
,olembers 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.
)11 E-mail: collegianletters@psu.edu
Postal mall/In person:
he Daily Collegian
dames Building
123 S. Burrowes St.
jJniversity Park, PA 16801-3882
letters should be about 250 words. Student letters should
rnclude 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
hould 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
pnline at The Digital Collegian and may be selected for publica
tion in The Weekly Collegian. All letters received become the
property of Collegian Inc.
COLLEGIAN
Julie Columbus
Business Manager
8 I THURSDAY, March 17, 2005
Opposing-gay people
is not act of hatred
To suggest that one can be a
"homosexual Christian" is oxy-
moronic. It is an irrational and
blasphemous assault on both rea
son (violating the fundamental
principle of non-contradiction) and
faith (counter to the teaching of
the Second Person of the One Tri
une God who existed eternally as
God).
Would so-called "Christian" apol
ogists for the homosexual lifestyle
have us believe that Matthew 5:21-
31 excuses any responsibility for
living it because homosexuality is
not explicitly referred to? It most
certainly is. In particular, see Gen
esis 18:20-21, Romans 1:24-28 and
the Epistle of Jude. Are we to
believe as Christians that some
how homosexuality fell through the
cracks in sacred Scripture?
Thus, from the Christian stand
point, to imply that Jesus, Second
Person of the One Triune God,
never said anything about being
inclined to unnatural acts, as God,
is Bible eisegesis with the conse
quences of Matthew 18:6. To give a
message to those inclined to
homosexual acts that "they are OK
as they are" is un-Christian in the
extreme given the above observa
tions. It makes no more sense than
to tell an alcoholic that you may
continue drinking to get over alco
holism. The Magdalenes of the
Gospel were most certainly forgiv
en, but the words of Jesus follow
ing His forgiveness are convenient
ly forgotten. "Go and sin no more."
That is what it means to be Christ
ian.lb imply that the homosexual
lifestyle somehow has a Christian
blessing is tragic. It is tragic
because souls are at stake those
living the lie and, especially, those
Students' opinions valid despite what old folks say
By Jessica Dellen
S STU
• DENTS
in a
university set
ting, the
majority of us
speak to peo
ple who are
older than we
are on a fairly
regular basis
professors, MY OPINION
advisors, our
family, even
strangers we make conversation
with while waiting for a bus or
standing in line at the bank.
Most of the time, our experi
ences with whom I will playfully
refer to as our elders are positive,
but every once in a while, we run
into Captain Wisdom.
You all know this person
you've met him or her many times
in your lives. Captain Wisdom can
be your professor, your counselor
or even your relative. The Captain
seems nice at first; the two of you
are having a pleasant conversation
about the election and you find
yourself saying something to the
effect of, "Ralph Nader doesn't get
enough credit for his efforts. I
think he's a stand-up candidate."
BAM! POW! KAZAAM!
,\ Captain Wisdom appears from a
cloud of smoke and exclaims, "Ha
OPINION
ci a .
1 11) . "X*4lol.
kg"— 11l 4 INV
sAKjr MA 1
il ) 4 ,
-,.„
.. ri cia i a -
111 •
4 T , 1-^e? AR ' fl
Fleitt-1
_4-1. 0 t ... _ . wp.
-
3 4/
telling it. For Christians, that's not
love but hate for their fellow man.
Gary Morella
graduate assistant
Sports is key part of
our American society
I was somewhat appalled after
reading Lane Weaver's article in
the March 15 opinion section. He
noted that sports seem to be doing
more harm than good to our socie
ty. He went on to refer to sports as
a waste of knowledge and time by
calling it useless trivia.
I highly doubt Mr. Weaver would
broaden his intelligence by erasing
the "useless sports trivia" in his
head and replacing it with "Mac
beth, Gray's Anatomy and a few
chapters of the phonebook" You
see intelligence has to be applica
ble to the people around you.
The truth is that sports (not
Macbeth or chapters in a phone
book) are followed by a vast major
ity of people in America and
around the world. Sports can be
used as an ice-breaker in corpo
rate America or a punch line in a
political speech. After the terrorist
attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, it was
Major League Baseball's playoffs
and the NFL's Super Bowl XXXVI
(coincidentally won by the Patri
ots) that rallied America together
in a time when we needed it the
most. Professional sports played
an integral role in the mending of
our wounded nation back in 2001.
Rarely do I ever see any forms
of patriotism outside of a sporting
event, and I have yet to hear a bet
ter rendition of the Star Spangled
Banner that was sung by Whitney
Houston during Super Bowl XXV
Sports are not harming our society,
Mr. Weaver. They are here to
entertain and bring a sense of
ha! What do you know about poli
tics? You're just a kid! You'll know
better when you're older."
So, you stand there like a puppy
that just got its nose rubbed in pid
dle while Captain Wisdom pro-
ceeds to tell you why your opinion
is completely wrong how you
will have the right opinion once
you've lived long enough to know
what you're talking about.
The Captain will then prattle off
an extensive list of all the other
horrible things he or she thinks
about people your age.
Generally it will be something
about how kids today are lazy,
uninformed, arrogant and disre
spectful not at all like kids "in
the good old days."
Perhaps the scariest thing about
Captain Wisdom is the fact that
you never ln►ow who he or she is
until you express an opinion that
doesn't coincide with his or hers.
Politics, religion, the death penalty,
foreign trade, the war in Iraq, etc.,
are. all topics that people our age
couldn't possibly understand
because we're all still children in
the eyes of Captain Wisdom.
I don't know about anyone else,
but I'm pretty tired of people
telling me that my life experiences
don't amount to jack squat simply
because I'm "only 21." I have done
and seen a lot in my lifetime, and I
refuse to believe that on some
arbitrarily assigned birthday
maybe my 30th birthday God
.-
- AIN 6 1 "
pride to our great nation and her
citizens.
Fla. woman will die
very horrible death
It is easy for facts to become dis
torted in order to promote a cer
tain point of view, and many times
people believe what they are told
without taking the effort to exam
ine the facts.
In the Terri Schiavo case, her
estranged husband and guardian
Michael Schiavo would have peo
ple believe death by removing her
feeding tube will be a painless and
peaceful process. However, depri
vation of food and water leads to
seizures, cracked skin, nosebleeds,
vomiting, and extreme hunger and
dehydration. Think about how you
would feel if you did not eat or
drink anything for just one day
Tern will suffer much more than
that. After winning a malpractice
lawsuit and stating his intent to
use the money to care for her,
Michael has not provided lerri
with physical therapy, medical care
or dental care for years. He did not
even allow a priest to visit her.
Terri is not in a vegetative state
because she is able to respond to
her environment by smiling, follow
big with her eyes and showing
emotion
She is not dependent on
machines, is able to breathe on her
own and does not drool, leading
doctors to believe that with thera
py, she could learn to swallow
Instead of denying Terri therapy
and concentrating on trying to let
her die, her husband should pro
vide her with proper care. It is not
right to jump to conclusions and
say that care has not helped, when
Himself will hand me a big `ole box
of wisdom that suddenly makes my
ideas valid.
Isn't that what Captain Wisdom
tries to tell us young `uns? That we
are simply too young and too naive
to have any idea what we think? I
don't buy it, but then again, maybe
my youthful arrogance is shielding
me from the "fact" that I am a
clueless youth.
I think that as an up-and-coming
generation, we need to nip this
problem in the bud. We can't let
people stifle our thoughts and
ideas simply because they think
we're too young to have them. We
are a generation of bright, talented
people, and we deserve to be lis
tened to, not laughed at or brushed
aside.
People tell me, "You'll under
stand when you're older," in order
to belittle me and make me think
that someday, I'll get my box 'o
wisdom and finally understand the
ways of the world. Most young peo
ple do understand, we're just
demoralized into thinking other-
wise because the Captain doesn't
agree with our views.
I've also been told "You think
you know everything, but you'll
realize as you get older that you
don't." I have yet to meet a single
person young or old who has
made the statement, "I know
everything." This makes me
believe that whenever the Captain
makes this accusation, he or she is
Yo,
PeivveTi
C. .
O C D 0
4153 , '& 1 'AI
t oe
l't,
in reality, basic medical care seem
lingly has not even been provided.
Kristen Brown
junior -human development and family
studies
Garrett Aptacy
junior-political science
Bono deserves Nobel
more than most do
In response to Rich Doyle's let
ter ("Bono not the leader Kung,
Wolfensohn are," March 16), I
understand his point of view on
why Bono shouldn't be considered
for the Nobel Peace Prize, but isn't
nominating Bono actually a step in
the right direction? Bono, who is a
stand-up act, changed the lives of
many for the better.
When you look at some of the
previous winners of this
"esteemed" award, you have to
wonder why Fidel Castro and
Joseph Stalin never received it.
Jimmy Carter, who received the
Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, tried to
sabotage the U.S. plans of liberat
ing Kuwait, asking members of the
U.N. Security Council to vote
against the resolution to free
Kuwait, while also supporting Cas
tro's communist regime. Then we
have Yasser Arafat, who won the
prize in 1994, who was considered
by many to be a terrorist. Kofi
Annan was also awarded the prize
in 2001, and now he's caught in the
middle of the largest scam in the
history of the U.N. the Oil for
Food Scandal.
As far as I know, Bono isn't sup
porting any dictatorships, nor is he
funding money to terrorist groups
or claiming that the West is guilty
of committing genocide. Let's hope
that Bono does win the Nobel
Peace Prize, because it will actual
ly go to someone who earned it.
merely speculating about what
young people think they know.
Having an opinion or an idea and
standing behind it is not a procla
mation of knowing everything.
These types of demoralization
are the most powerful weapons in
the Captain's arsenal. It's so much
easier to tell young people that
their views are wrong and invalid
than to actually listen to them and
have intellectual discussions with
them. If you can convince someone
to accept his or her inferiority and
stop talking; why wouldn't you? It's
much less challenging than intelli
gent discourse and requires less
thought.
I don't speak on behalf of all
young adults. Maybe some people
my age sit in silent agreement that
they won't know what they're talk
ing about until they reach middle
age.
I think everyone's ideas and
opinions are valid no matter
what their age.
So, how do we youngsters defeat
Captain Wisdom's plot to quash
our ideas? Don't back down. Calm
ly continue to state your thoughts
and stand behind them. Everyone
was young once, and most people
remember that, so don't be afraid
to ask your friendly, neighborhood
"elders" for a little help, too.
Jessica Dellen is a junior majoring in
journalism and is a Collegian columnist
Her e-mail is Jmd4s7@psu.edu.
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
1';
L E I?
11. 4 1
3V
0.• s,
t i ls
0.. 4 ..•
a -
gi 1
-:::• . 1 .
..1—
..2
z-
Nick Klein
sophomore-finance