4 I WEDNESDAY, AUG. 25, 2010
Students look through a variety of posters during the annual sale at the HUB-Robeson Center on Tuesday
Sale provides quick fix for decor
By Leah Gillen
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Year after year, students flock to
Penn State's poster sale to deck
their whitewashed walls with
everything from the threatening
mugs of mobsters to Van Gogh's
"Starry Night."
"Van Gogh's 'Starry Night' we'll
have forever, and it always sells,"
poster sale director Eric Erdoes
said. "We used to carry a lot of
`Pulp Fiction,' but now it's
INvilight,' and 'The Hangover' and
`lnception.' "
The sale running through
Friday offers a selection of
posters from art to movies, Kristy
Cowfer (senior-criminal justice
and sociology) said.
"They pretty much have every
thing," she said. "It's good
because you can decorate your
apartment for cheap. It's really
great they do it every year."
Run by the Pyramid America
Company and sponsored by the
Fundraisers planned for flood victims
Devastating floods in
Pakistan have students
scrambling to reach out
By Eddie Lau
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
Until she knew they were safe,
Penn State student Sidra Maryam
said she was worried about her
family members from Northwest
Pakistan an area recently
affected by flooding.
"I couldn't get in touch with
them in the first few days,"
Maryam (junior-industrial engi
neering) said. "Their phones, elec
tronic devices everything was
not working."
Maryam said that fortunately,
her husband's family was able to
relocate to a relative's house. But
their home in Nowshera, a city on
the northwest side of the country,
was completed destroyed.
With more than 20 million peo
ple affected by Pakistan's worst
flood in 80 years, the Pakistani
Student Association (PSA) at
Penn State said it will organize
fundraising activities soon to
ensure the victims can receive
some necessary aid.
"They lost everything that they
had," PSA President Yasar Awan
said. "They are in need of a lot of
support."
Awan (senior-science) said the
floods turned the mud houses in
northwest Pakistan into a sodden
mess and many small villages
were inundated.
The floods started in late July
after a monsoon struck the area,
Awan said, and it has affected
about one-fifth of the country's
territory.
So far at least six million people
are homeless, and 20 million peo
ple have been affected overall,
according to the latest United
Nations report. The current death
toll stands at about 1,500 people.
Hafsa Haseeb, Class of 2009,
said though the floods didn't
directly impact her Pakistani fam-
Penn State Bookstore, the poster
sale helps students design their
dorms or apartments at affordable
prices.
Erdoes is a tour director with
Pyramid America Company and
helps organize poster sales for the
company at different college cam
puses throughout the country.
Students can find posters rang
ing from $4 to $l2 under a white
tent on the HUB lawn and also
inside the HUB-Robeson Center.
Some upperclassmen return to
the poster sale year after year, like
Brian Gray (junior-agricultural
systems management).
"It's just convenient," he said. "I
go pretty much every year, even if
just to stop by. Just by the turn
out it looks like a lot of people like
it."
Pyramid America Company
sends out poster sale tours to dif
ferent campuses in the nation.
Erdoes' particular tour spends six
weeks traveling to schools like
Penn State, the University of
Pakistani flood survivors struggle for food in a displaced-persons camp
ily, her cousin's babysitter lost her
house along with many other valu
able possessions.
"It's really devastating," she
said. "The effects have been more
severe than the tsunami, more
than Haiti because it affected a
[greater] number of people."
Haseeb said she is sad because
the floods happened in the most
technologically underdeveloped
area of the country, where many
people don't have any connection
to the outside world.
"It's a region that wasn't fully
built. It didn't have any basic infra
structure to begin with," she said.
Awan and Maryam, both PSA
board members, said they will
hold the first fundraising event in
the coming weeks, but the exact
date has yet to be confirmed.
PSA is working closely with two
humanitarian organizations to
provide financial relief. Mahvash
& Jahangir Siddiqui Foundation
and Pakistan Youth Alliance, Awan
said.
Michigan at Ann Arbor and Ohio
State University.
"The students love it," Erdoes
said. "They all have empty dorm
walls and they like to personalize
their space and make it their
own."
Erdoes, who has worked at the
poster sale for 11 years, has seen a
flux in the theme of posters over
the years.
The students themselves,
though, don't change as much as
the posters, he said.
"I get a year older every year,"
Erdoes said. "But they always
stay 18 to 22."
To e-mail reporter: lags2s7@psu.edu
If you go
What: Poster Sale
When: Wednesday-Friday
Where: HUB lawn and inside
the HUB-Robeson Center
The number of people suffering
from the most recent floods could
exceed the combined total of peo
pie afflicted by the 2004 Indian
Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir
earthquake and the 2010 Haiti
earthquake, according to a U.N.
report.
In the first few weeks of the cri
sis, international aid flowed rela
tively slowly to Pakistan, accord
ing to a U.N. report.
But when U.N. Secretary-
General Ban Ki Moon visited the
region and urged other nations to
pitch in, donations started to
increase.
Pakistani officials said Tuesday
in a press briefing that flood vic
tims will each receive 20,000
rupees equivalent to $230 as
"initial assistance."
The flood aid is desperately
needed. Maryam said, because
the situation requires a lot of time
and money to rebuild.
To e-mail reporter: tolslos@psu.edu
Drive pushes
for new blood
By Mike Hricik
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
The American Red Cross will
host its first on-campus blood
drive of the fall semester
Thursday in a campaign to
increase blood supplies after a
summer of operating at near
emergency levels.
The blood drive will be held
from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the
Hintz Family Alumni Center.
Wendi Keeler, donor
resources field representative
and club adviser for the Penn
State Student Red Cross Club,
said high schools and colleges
account for about 32 percent of
yearly totals in the region.
Donations will go to the
Greater Alleghenies Blood
Services Region that distributes
blood supplies to 100 hospitals in
areas ranging from central
Pennsylvania to northern
Kentucky.
Though Penn State holds
classes during the summer,
donations collected are not
enough to keep totals below
near-emergency levels, Keeler
said.
The fall campaign kickoff
offers patients aid, especially
from freshman students who
donated in high school.
"Donors are very willing to do
something they're familiar
with," Keeler said. - Freshmen
are most familiar with blood
donation, especially at events in
East Halls. People know what
it's all about."
Matt Sky shows his support for the construction of the Islamic Center
Students respond to
NYC Islamic center
By David Bodin
COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER
The planned construction of a
13-story Islamic center about
two blocks from Ground Zero
has prompted controversy
nationwide and those in the
Penn State community come
down on both sides of the aisle.
Some say the center's con
struction is constitutionally sup
ported under the First
Amendment, but others say sen
sitivity to 9/11 victims' families
should be the real concern.
Ahmed Hamed, former presi
dent of the Muslim Student
Association (MSA) at Penn
State, said people have the right
to be confused by the proposed
construction plans.
Still, he said, they should con
sider that the majority of
Muslims firmly disapprove of the
killings that took place on Sept.
11, 2001.
"[Muslims] are people just like
everyone else," Hamed (junior
industrial engineering) said.
"People associate Islam with the
attacks on 9/11, but I don't asso
ciate members of the KKK with
Christianity"
Hamed said non-Muslim stu
dents at Penn State should pur
sue open dialogue with Muslim
students to prevent intolerance.
Current MSA president Zaid
Albulushi (senior-civics) said
communication between stu
dents on opposing ends of the
debate is crucial to fostering
greater understanding of the
complexities of the issue, as well
as of Islam's religion and cul
ture.
Albulushi encouraged stu-
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
The supply goal for the alumni
center drive is 45 units of blood,
which equals about the same
amount of pints. Blood types A
negative, B negative, 0 positive
and 0 negative are needed the
most, Keeler said.
Those interested in donating
must be at least 110 pounds and
4 feet 11 inches.
They also must not have trav
eled to countries with high
malaria risk or have received
tattoos within the last year,
American Red Cross donor
client specialist Krystyria
Gentry said.
During Hurricane Katrina,
blood supplies were also sent to
affected areas, Keeler said.
The American Red Cross will
host another blood drive from 10
a.m. to 4 p.m. on August 30 in the
HUB-Robeson Center.
Several blood drives will he
held in September with a goal of
yielding 1,000 units. Keeler said
with the help of students. this
goal should be exceeded.
To e-mail reporter: mjhsso7@psu.edu
If you go
What: Penn State Red Cross
Club blood drive
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Where: Hintz Family Alumni
Center
Details: Donors must meet
eligibility requirements
Bebeto Matthews 'Assor.,aterl Press
dents to attend future MSA
events to accomplish this goal.
Some of the center's oppo
nents say its construction is con
stitutionally legal, but ethically
flawed.
College Republicans Vice
President Anthony Christina
said the center's backers preach
tolerance, but the whole idea
comes off as disrespectfUl to the
families and victims of 9/11.
"Sensitivity is key here,"
Christina (sophomore-political
science) said. "It is a real smack
in the face to 9/11 families to
build this mosque."
Debra Burlingame
founder of 9/11 Rtmilies for a
Safe & Strong America and the
sister of the pilot who was on
board the plane that struck the
Pentagon, said the ongoing dis
coveries of the remains of those
killed in the collapse of the Twin
Towers has disoriented families.
That's the reason many affect
ed by the tragedy are opposed to
the center's construction, she
said.
"That is why it is so sensitive
for families and people who lived
through 9/11," she said. "The
pain is pervasive."
Burlingame said the reported
70 percent of Americans who do
not want the center built are not
being intolerant of Muslims.
"If we were - Islamophobes, -
we would want all mosques
[near Ground Zero] to be
removed," she said. "This is not
the case. We do know there are
peaceful Muslims, but please
have sensitivity and respect for
those who have lost loved ones."
To e-mail reporter: dlb367@psu.edu