I Friday, Nov. 13, 2009 Tu I D\ I 1.1 Collegian Rossilynne Skena Editor-in-Chicf Holly Colbo Business Manager About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are pub lished by Collegian Inc., an independent, nonprofit corpo ration with a board of direc tors composed of students, faculty and professionals. Pennsylvania State University students write and edit both papers and solicit advertising for them. During the fall and spring semesters as well as the second six-week summer session, The Daily Collegian publishes Monday through Fnday. Issues are distributed by mail to other Penn State campuses and individual subscribers. Complaints: News and edrio nal complaints should be pre sented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. Who we are The Daily Collegian's editori al opinion is determined by its Board of Opinion, with the editor holding final responsi bility. The letters and columns expressed on the editorial pages are not necessarily those of The Daily Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The Pennsyl vania State University. Colle gian 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 are: Chns Bickel. lan Brown. Matt Brown. Adam Clark. Rich Coleman. Matt Conte. Abby Drey. Katherine Dvorak. Beth Ann Downey. Stacey Federoff. Mike Felletter, Stephanie Goga. Mandy Hofmockel. Patrick McDermott, Andrew McGill. Dave Miniaci. Eliza beth Murphy, Michael Oplinger, Dan Rorabaugh. Erin Rowley. David Rung, Alexa Santoro, Heather Schmelzlen. Shannon Sim cox, Rossilynne Skena. Danielle Vickery, Alex Weisler. Aubrey Whelan and Julie Wolf. Letters We want to hear your com ments on our coverage, edi torial decisions and the Penn State community. ■ E-mail collegianletters@psu.edu ■ Online www.psucollegian.com ■ Postal mail/ln person 123 S. Burrowes St. University Park. PA 16801 Letters should be about 200 words. Student letters should include class year, major and campus. Letters from alumni should include year of graduation. All writ ers should provide their address and phone number for verification. Letters should be signed by no more than two people. Members of organizations must inciude 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 can not guarantee publication of all letters it receives. Let ters chosen also run on The Daily Collegian Online and may be selected for publi cation in The Weekly Colle gian. All letters become property of Collegian Inc. Proposal unfair, discriminatory State College is a col lege town. Most of the people who live in, work in and visit the town are here because of Penn State. You can't have a college town without students, and you can’t have stu dents if you don’t give them somewhere to live. With a shortage of stu dent housing as it is, we don’t need any more regu lations limiting where we can live. And yet, the State College Borough Council has proposed amending the definition of student housing to main tain a balance of student and homeowner residents in other words, stu dents might face limita tion of where they can live. That said, it’s a mild limitation, and the practi cal application of such a proposal likely won’t affect many students. It would r '\V YOU ASK ME... THE TUANKS<SIVIM<S PAY PAR APE'S JTUST UOT TUE. SAME SIHCE MAcy> S FU_EP For PANKRUPTOf.. *» Campus resource can shift outlook By Chris Bickel I don't know about everyone else, but racial topics have alwavs seemed to be taboo where I grew up. I come from a primarily white school district and town just out side of Pittsburgh. In fact, most of the neighboring districts and MY OPINION boroughs were also primarily white families. So basically, I didn't grow up among a pletho ra of diversity; and I feel this is the case for a lot of students from the Quaker state. So when I transferred up to the University Park campus. I found out that for one of my communication courses. I would be required to attend something known as the Race Relations Project (RRP). For those who have never experienced this, the project is a closed-door. 90-minute session lead by two facilitators. With a group of fewer than 10 students, participants are given free reign to talk about any racial topic that they may not have been able to discuss openly before whether it be the use of the word/classification "black." affir mative action, illegal immigra tion. personal experiences with prejudice, etc. The facilitators don’t start the topics; the partici more heavily enforce the 225 feet or two houses offset regulation between student-owned houses. While some stu dents purchase homes or have their parents pur chase them and put the student’s name on the deed most instead choose to rent from local Realtors. In the grand scheme of student housing, it may not amount to much. However, a measure that limits students from hous ing opportunities in State College is unsettling. Stu dents cannot control the population density in the borough and are crunched as it is. They’re accepted to Penn State and are required to live on a campus for a year, sometimes choosing to stay longer. But Penn State simply cannot accommodate the number of students enrolled, and pants do (facilitators are there to guide us in a direction of a constructive conversation.) Let s go back to my initial impression of the project. When I discovered that attending one of these sessions was required, 1 11 be the first to admit that I moaned and groaned about hav ing to deal with something to had no apparent connection to the public relations course I was taking. I felt this was the general con sensus of the classroom I saw multiple eye rolls and heard sev eral sighs so I was relieved to feel I was not the only one going into this with a bad attitude. I finally signed up for a ses sion. and I can honestly say I left that cramped room feeling as if a weight was lifted off my shoul ders a weight I never knew I was carrying around. It helped me realize that I was not the only person who felt a similar way about a wide array of racial topics. I didn’t even know the group of people in those sessions, but I felt as if I could communicate without reservation and without being judged. And even though I can’t talk specifically about what was said in the session, I've kept it with me, and it has helped me change my outlook on the mod em day approaches to race rela tions. I’ve had to participate in the RRP each semester since my first term on campus Fall 2008 students eventually look to live off-campus. If buy ing a home is the best option for that student or his parents, he shouldn’t be discriminated against for being a student. We understand if the Borough is trying to establish a tax base. They want people who pay taxes to move to State College and purchase homes, which in turn means keeping students out of these homes. But if the Borough wants to do this, it should take visible measures to address the other side perhaps lob bying the university to add more student housing on campus or to control enrollment; working out the more-than two decade-old West End revi talization plan. Living in State College as a student is expensive and crowded. It shouldn’t be made harder. "GRUMBI a total of three times and each group talked about a differ ent pool of subjects than the previous session. I felt better about myself every time I left. It’s extremely effective, and it works even better if you go into the project with an open mind I know it helped me. It’s hard to explain specifically how because I feel it’s my general outlook that profited most. I just see people in a more fraternal light. Danna Jayne Seballos, facili tator manager for RRR and Michelle Thiry. program coordi nator for RRR said they think these sessions are effective because the facilitators are required to go through semes ter-long training. They also touched on the fact that there is nothing else on campus like RRP where students can “speak freely.’’ And even though this pro gram isn’t widely spread and is not available at other Penn State campuses, both Seballos and Thiry laughed in affirmative uni son when asked if they would like to see RRP happen at the Commonwealth Campuses. So next time you see a class that requires you to partake in the Race Relations Project, don’t fret. I can definitively say the experience will always be memorable for me. Chris Bickel is a senior majoring in public relations and is The Daily Collegian's Friday columnist. His e-mail address is cdbso67@psu.edu. The Daily Collegian Zero-tolerance alcohol policy counterproductive, misguided In response to the Nov. 12 article “PSU alcohol stats on rise,” it’s bewildering to think that university officials are in any way shocked by the reports that alcohol abuse is getting worse. With the administration’s strict enforcement of Pennsylvania’s count er-productive, zero-tolerance underage drinking policy, this should come as no sur prise. Instead of Penn State officials realizing the blatantly obvious reality that students are going to drink regardless of the legal risk, Penn State believes the more under ages they give, the safer students will be. The efficacy of this policy is in the num- bers; kids are being set to the hospital with higher and higher levels of blood alcohol. The reason for this increase in danger- ous drinking is because Penn State officials continue the policy of. if you drink one beer, two beers, or 25 beers, you’re breaking the law and should be punished the same amount. Instead of encouraging students to drink safely and modestly, the university gives students two choices: Do not to drink at all, or since you're going to get in the same amount of trouble anyway, drink as much as possible. Instead of targeting the students who are vomiting, stumbling, slurring or being destructive, Penn State police ask everyone for their IDs at parties and tailgates. If you were drinking responsibly, Penn State doesn’t care. You’re going to get in the same amount of trouble as “that guy” who is pale in the face, throwing up in the bush. Maybe next time you will learn not to drink modestly. If Penn State wants to keep students from unsafe binge drinking, the policy needs to be changed. With the policy tar geting everyone who is underage, there is no incentive for students to participate in safe drinking. With no change to the cur rent policy, Penn State will show its com mitment to student safety or at least lack thereof. Steve Maggio senior-health policy and administration Thon has right to HUB space same as other organizations The Nov. 12 letter “Thon-related event disruptive, monopolized common area” could not be more asinine and inappropri ate. As stated in the letter, “The HUB is a common-use area," a true statement. Because it is common-use, though, student organizations promote and advocate their clubs daily. This is their way of recruiting students to become a part of what they do. The HUB hosts events like this all of the time; Colin Cowherd of ESPN presented his radio show live from the HUB last Friday, and there were no complaints about Thon is a major part of Penn State, and it is run for a great cause. It is an event that brings everyone together to celebrate life, and to bring courage to those who have been affected by cancer. If you don’t want to be a part of something amazing like Thon, move your close conversations to some- where that's a little quieter try the librarv. Citizen dislikes wild parties but still opposes ordinance In response to the proposed Nuisance Gathering Ordinance, I am a senior citizen and a staunch conservative and, unsurpris ingly, I despise rowdy parties. Recently, my daughter’s home on West Foster Avenue was intruded and trashed by an intoxicated student. However, I oppose a rule that would hold a homeowner or an apartment renter responsible for the illegal behavior of his or her party guests. In Nazi Germany, the “Sippenhaft” law held relatives and friends responsible for offenses of persons who could not be arrested by the authorities, such as desert ers to the enemy or people who fled the country. The former Soviet Union had a similar law. It deeply saddens me that State College politicians would even consider such a fas cist and communist idea in holding a per son responsible for somebody else’s mis deeds and I believe it would be irresponsi ble for the Borough Council to vote on this rule. As a conservative, I am not very fond of the American Civil Liberties Union. However, in this odd case, I appreciate their fight against this unconstitutional and un-American rule. As a naturalized U.S. cit izen. I treasure the freedom and the consti tutional rights in America. Such a rule has no place in our country. Blogging, Kicking and Screaming We talked to goalkeeper Warren Gross at Tuesday's practice for the Big Ten tournament edition of the Wednesday Six Pack. Here’s what the big man in goal had to say. BKS: Favorite professional soccer player? WG: I'd probably have to say , right now, Wayne Rooney from Manchester United. That’s my favorite team. BKS: Best FIFA player on the team? WG: I would say I’m probably the... Read more from Blogging, Kicking and Screaming and the rest of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucollegian.com. Maddy Pryor freshman-kinesiology Heal THON Willy Kogelmann Class of 1964
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers