4 I WEDNESDAY, „JULY 14, 2010 THE D%11) Collegian Elizabeth Murphy Editor in Chief Kelsey Thompson Business Manager About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are pub lished by Collegian Inc., an independent, nonprofit cor poration with a board of directors composed of stu dents, faculty and profes sionals. Pennsylvania State University students write and edit both papers and solicit advertising for them. During the fall and spring semes ters as well as the second six-week summer session, The Daily Collegian publish es Monday through Friday. Issues are distributed by mail to other Penn State campuses and individual subscribers. Complaints: News and edi torial complaints should be presented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be pre sented to the business man ager. Who we are The Daily Collegian's edito rial 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 publi cations, is a separate corpo rate institution from Penn State. Editorials are written by The Daily Collegian Board of Opinion. Members are Kevin Cidlll, Jenna Ekdahl. Bill Landis, Elizabeth Mur phy, Laura Nichols, Edgar Ramirez, Andrew Robinson, Heather Schmelzlen, Jared Shanker, Katie Sullivan, Alex Weisler, Steph Witt and Chris Zook. Letters We want to hear your com ments on our coverage, editorial decisions and the Penn State community. ■ E-mall collegianletters@psu.edu ■ Online www.psucollegian.com ■ Postal mall/In 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 writers should provide their address and phone number for verification. Letters should be signed by no more than two peo ple. Members of organiza tions 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 guaran tee publication of all let ters it receives. Letters 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. Drinking latent motive of move Does one week really make that much of a dif ference for summer-long construction projects, downtown retailers and students moving out? Apparently at least, they're all good excuses in an attempt to cover a very transparent, "Let's curb the drinking problem at Penn State" public rela tions move by the admin istration. It's really not that big of a deal to change the date of graduation. But at least administrators should have a legitimate reason that doesn't unnecessarily penalize students legally allowed to enjoy happy hour at Café 210 West on an afternoon in early May. Penn State might have a "drinking problem" quarter for every time that's been said might make up the university's missing appropriations but fixing it isn't going to TAD You HeARMIELG - IBSON? HEYs AN ANGRY, ABUSIVE", RAcl-11;sEXIsT -- ja'RK . ~~ „ ;~ '~ AG.2aICXP , iTG., WE M-Lit.„I4E.NEEL E l ,,ccessive Bieber hype confusing By Lindsay Cryer Ido not hate Justin Bieber nor do I deny his success. While the following column may speak of Mr. Bieber somewhat criti cally, it would be hypocritical to say I don't enjoy some of his music. That being said, if you like Justin Bieber, you may hate me MY OPINION Now, before you begin to rant about how Bieber is the gift of a higher power to make up for pop's music loss of Michael Jackson or something bogus like that, hear me out. I do find Bieber's songs to be slightly addicting, but not in a caffeine, need-to-have-it sort of way. I'd say Bieber is more like an addiction to potato chips. The bag of Lay's potato chips reads "Bet You Can't Eat Just One," and in all honesty I can't eat just one. The same goes for Bieber. If I listen to "Somebody to Love" on You Tube, you can bet your bottom dollar that "One Less Lonely Girl" is my next click. I want to stop, but I can't. I am fully aware of how dumb and uninspiring the little guy is, but I just can't stop. And neither can the rest of the world. start with the 21-year-olds. There needs to be a better plan of action to police the drinking at Penn State. There was a valiant effort made against that particular student-created holiday in February with increased police presence and the cooperation of downtown bars. And Arts Fest didn't see any rise in arrests and no major dis turbances occurred. The student government actively promotes aware ness. Attacking the wrong crowd, however, is not the way to approach the situa tion. Eliminating Senior Week is only punishing students who spend that last week in between finals and graduation with friends often in a bar celebrating the culmi nation of their undergrad uate career. That is not something to make an example out of. If stu- T', "I do find Bieber's songs to be slightly addict ing, but not in a caffeine, need-to-have-it sort of way. I'd say that Bieber is more like an addiction to potato chips." But in four words let me just summarize my thoughts about "Bieber Fever:" I don't get it. Why is this 16-year-old Canadian boy so well known that even my church's pastor mentioned him in a recent ser mon? My initial thought was that, well, he's cute, he's young and he can hold a note pretty well. But in retrospect, the same was said about Aaron Carter, Jesse McCartney and Chris Brown when they were the same age. Did any of them have this much hype, though? I mean, for goodness sakes, there's a website called "Lesbians Who Look Like Justin Bieber." Google it. We could blame his all-star connection with BFFs best friends forever Usher and Sean Kingston, but Aaron Carter had his brother Nick's band, the Backstreet Boys, to fall back on. We could blame his impre sive dancing skills, but Chris Brown had that on lock, too. We could blame his uncanny ability to allow women of all ~~= dents a week away from graduation want to put on matching T-shirts and sample beers at every bar, it's within their right. Also, administration offi cials have said that stu dents are still welcome to celebrate Senior Week the week following gradua tion. How does that facilitate the expediency with which downtown and on-campus projects should move for ward? If students stay in the same numbers as a normal Senior Week would see which is very likely doesn't that mean the same amount of downtown traffic and a later estimated time of departure for all of the new graduates to move out? Changing the date of graduation might be harmless, but with a neg ative undertone attached it's just the wrong choice. 14ElercAT Hes - MR:W-4 H. - THERM No PLP4E IN OW sociElY mg A PATHETIc 149NRAFED Like' HIM. G d IS ages to swoon with each new song he releases, but give "Beautiful Soul" a listen. McCartney did that, too. 'Pruthfully, I blame his hair. It shines. It glows. It sweeps his eyebrows oh so perfectly. It defies gravity I blame a universal obses sion with the hairs upon his head. Otherwise, there is no reason for 3.5 million people to follow him on Twitter. So, I also blame the Internet. That's got to be it. So when Bieber appears on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" or has a new E! channel special on him, I will watch. But don't expect me to be first in line for "My World 3.0" or to include him in some sort of scientific thesis. Why? Because his singing is okay. Because his voice will change eventually. Because I don't like men who groom their hair. But mostly because I just don't get it. Lindsay Cryer is a junior majoring in journalism and is the Collegian's Wednesday columnist. Her e-mail address is Ibcl46@psu.edu lam, 0 c, THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Spanier fails to realize week is about friends, not drinking In the attempt to end a drinking ritual, Penn State President Graham Spanier fails to recognize the most important role of Senior Week: the opportunity to say good bye to four years of friends. By eliminating the entire week between finals and gradua tion, many students will end up taking finals one day and graduating the next, ren dering it nearly impossible to fit in good byes as families flood Happy Valley. Though I certainly valued my PSU education. it would have amounted to very little without the amazing people I met along the way from those with whom I traversed the Great Wall, to those with whom I played soccer with street children in Kenya. to those with whom I regularly spent long nights in Osmond and Davey labs. Ending four years of life-changing experiences with an astoundingly diverse and remarkable student body is difficult enough as it stands; by reducing goodbyes to a day Spanier suggests devaluing the entire Penn State experience. PSU commitment questioned with bike website still down When you quoted a student as having registered his bike online in the - University to enforce bike rules" article in the July 13 newspaper, I rushed to the Transportation Services website to see. Alas, the online registration function is still temporarily unavailable. I called the parking office a few weeks ago and was told the site is down because the PSU and State College bike registration databases are being merged; they had no information on when it would be back online. It is really a shame that online registration is unavailable. especially at a time of the year when bike registra tions are expiring and unregistered or expired bikes are being confiscated. Admittedly, it is easier now to register a bike than a few years ago when you had to fill out a scantron sheet every year. When online registration finally was instituted it was a godsend. But now once again. bicycle owners must visit the parking office in per son, turn their bikes over to read the serial number and fill out a paper form. If you drive to work, you can conveniently pick up your parking permit at an office close to yours. It makes you wonder about Penn State's commitment to encouraging bike commuting. Footblog The Green Bay Packers announced the signing of former Penn State tight end Andrew Quarless on Monday Fox Sports reported a four-year. $1.97 million deal with an approximate $182500 sign ing bonus between the two parties. The deal was agreed upon last week. The Packers drafted Quarless in the fifth round this year with the 154th overall pick In four years, the tight end accu mulated 1,146 yards and eight touch downs for the Nittanv Lions. Former Penn State running back Curt Warner will be enshrined in the National Fbotball Foundation's College Football Hall of Fame this Saturday. The former Nittany Lion, who played from 1979-82. is one of 24 players who will be featured. Jesse Palmer and Mark May of ESPN will host the event at the Century Center in South Bend, Ind. In 2009. Warner -- joining his former coach Joe Paterno was the 22nd member from Penn State to be inducted. Other notables who will be enshrined include former Notre Dame wide receiver Tim Bl'ON‘ and Ibr mer Ohio State linebacker Chris Spielman. Though it's been six months since Collin Wagner kicked his 21-yard field goal to lift the Nittany Lions to victory in the Capital One Bowl, the kick impacted his off-season training. After admitting his nerves never settled down until after the fourth game of last season, Wagner's in a different situation this year With a full year of experience and new-found confidence under his belt. the senior entered the summer with just one goal in mind. Read more from the football blog Footblog and the rest of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucol leglan.com/blogs. Snap, Crackle, Pop During the hot South Carolina sum mer months, Mary Jackson's mother and grandmother taught her the art of basketry when she was only 4 years old. Basketry is a tradition that has existed for 300 years and is a tradition that Jackson is keeping alive with her daugh ter and granddaughter. Jackson's unique sweet grass creations are part tradition and part her own creation. Her collec tions take about a year to create, which makes her too busy to maintain a web site, but you can catch her at Arts Fest every summer, including next year's. Jackson was invited to show her work 26 years ago and has made the long trip to State College every year since. Read more from the arts blog Snap, Crackle, Pop and the rest of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolleglan.com/blogs. Therese Jones Class of 2009 Edward Balzer Programmer Analyst Liberal Arts Department
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers