I WEDNESDAY, AUG. 25, 2010 z C THE DAILY 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 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 or Collegian Inc. Collegian Inc., publish ers of The Daily Collegian and related publications, is a separate corporate institu tion from Penn State. Members are: Lexi Bel culfine, Caitlin Bumham, Paul Casella, Kevin Cirilli, Beth Ann Downey, Amanda Elser, Zachary Feldman, Ashley Gold, Stephen Hennessey, Allison Jackovitz, Kevin Kline, Samantha Kramer, Bill Landis, Andrew Metcalf, Nate Mink, Elizabeth Murphy, Laura Nichols, Michael Oplinger, Edgar Ramirez, Heather Schmelzlen, Caitlin Sellers, Laurie Stern, Katie Sullivan, Jessica Uzar, Aubrey Whelan, Alex Weisler, Somer Wiggins, Steph Witt and Chris Zook. Letters We want to hear your com ments on our coverage, editorial decisions and the Penn State community. ■ E-mail 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. Expansion on G.I. should pass A bill furthering the edu cational rights of veterans of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq is currently heading to the Senate. The bill would grant more scholarship money to veterans and include tuition to vocational and professional schools. Given the previous suc cess of the G.I. Bill, fur ther expansion of benefits for veterans is a step in the right direction. After devoting years of their lives to protecting this country, the least Congress and taxpayers can do is fund veterans in their pursuit of a career after their time in the service. Expansion shows that Pirates, PSU pride never falters By Jessica Uzar THE Pittsburgh Pirates are depressingly close to adding another consecu tive losing sea son to their resume. This is not just any los ing season, but is predicted to be the worst one in half a century. Their resume is already 17 losing seasons long, more than any other professional team. Ever. That's a very depressing fact for anyone from the Pirates' hometown, for both supporters and non-supporters alike. Yet, the team still manages to fill PNC Park every opening day and sells out a surprising num ber of weekend games during the season. Who the heck wants to go watch their home team lose? I do. Well, I don't want to see them lose but I do like to go to games. I went to at least seven games this summer. Guess how many they won? One. Single. Game. But I'm obviously not the only one attending. The Pirates made $29.4 million in profit in 2007 and 2008, according to financial documents the Associated Press recently acquired. Why would anyone want to go to these games? Well, one, because it's always a give-away night. Whether it's a free Pirate umbrella, Pirate T shirt or Andrew McCutchen bobble head, there's a good Congress understands that veterans take a more difficult path to higher education than most stu dents. Including vocational schools in the bill allows veterans more options once they return from war. The bill would also allow veterans to transfer their benefits to other family members. This key aspect charac terizes education as a social right and a posses sion that can be distrib uted, if the veteran so chooses. Universities such as Penn State could even see added benefits if the bill passes it could chance you'll be handed some thing when you walk through the gates. But people go mostly because Pittsburgh loves Pittsburgh. And Pittsburgh loves sports. During the summer, there are no football or hockey games. But we have to watch something. So we go to the baseball games. We get a Primanti Bros. sandwich. We cheer for our favorite Mrs. T's Pierogi charac ters who race around the field because let's be honest most people are more con- cerned with Cheese Chester's record than the Pirates' record I've experienced this amazing sense of pride in the only other place I've ever lived right here in State College. It's a large part of why I choose to come to school here. I've heard Penn State called a "cult" before by more than one person. And you know what? I don't disagree. We're the No. 1 student sec tion in the country. We have the biggest student-run philanthro py in the world. Our alumni flood the bars and stadium on Homecoming weekend Our tail gating is like no other school's. And students will buy anything with that Nittany Lion on it from T-shirts to shaving razors. I went to a University of Pittsburgh football game last fall. And it was just a sad experi ence. Tailgating, forget it. And they can't even fill the 60,000 person stadium that they share with the Steelers. We fill 110,000 every game. And their student section? Half the size of our underclassmen section. increase the diversity of the student body. The additional scholar ship money would enable more adult learners to be in classrooms and offer their real-life experience into the educational process. Veterans could also potentially benefit local economies in college towns. During their time in college, they could move their families and build houses in the area. Though the bill would only apply to veterans who served three years of active duty after 9/11, it represents positive move ment in the quest to fully compensate veterans for their service. • . Vick - ___ Students wait in line for hours for amazing seats to watch the football team play. Oh wait, they sometimes even wait in line for days. In 32 degree weather. I believe that if knock on wood Penn State would ever have a losing streak, that stu- dents and alumni would not decrease their support in any way. I know, deep down in my blue-and-white heart, that peo ple would still flock to Beaver Stadium and the Bryce Jordan Center. I know we'll have plenty of representation at our upcoming Alabama football game even though it's far away, expensive and chance of success is proba bly low. And the sports fanatics are certainly not the only ones who deserve kudos. We can't forget the amazing student volunteers that participate in THON and helped to raise $7.8 million to help children with cancer. Our pride is special because after the game is over and the dancers finally get to sit down, we will always have the Nittany Lion to hold us together. I couldn't be more proud of my school and my hometown. I know I will be that mom who dresses her daughter in a Penn State cheerleading uni form and her son in a Steeler jersey. I wouldn't have it any other way. Jessica Uzar is a junior majoring in journalism and political science and The Daily Collegian's Wednesday columnist. Her e-mail is pul2s@ipsu.edu. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN THON should provide answers In response to Monday's article "Leaders question THON structure," I do not believe that revealing fundraising totals would negatively affect the kids. Friendly competition is vital to many fundraising efforts. Why is the overall committee rejecting the input of the population that the liaisons are meant to represent? How could letting greeks assist in the selection of greek liaisons go against the mission of THON? I suggest that the THON overalls stop hiding behind their cause (which is certain ly wonderful and deserving) and start pro viding the community they are composed of with answers. As a beloved part of our Penn State community, the overall commit tee needs to be held accountable for its decisions. Shutting out greeks not FTK Greeks 4 Kids was created after the Interfraternity Council (IFC) and Panhellenic Council's (PHC) removal from the THON Overall Committee. The IFC, PHC and 2010 Overall Committee collabo rated on the best way to show the removal of the AVP as a positive and to sustain, if not increase, greek involvement. The solu tion was to create a new organization with in the greek community. The 2010 THON Overall Committee agreed that Greeks 4 Kids was a viable solution. Two Communications Captains would serve as the greek liaisons who were selected by the Communications Overall in conjunction with the IFC/PHC executive boards to ensure each organization's best interests. Now, Overall Kirsten Kelly has said, "At this point, [Greeks 4 Kids] doesn't have a clear enough direction to warrant having input on our communication captains." What happened to the previous year's agreement? How does shutting the greek community out of helping to choose our own captains suppose to be "beneficial for the kids?" THON has no bylaws, no gover nance and no checks and balances. In real ity, THON as an organization hides behind its red tape by continuing to think that all of its efforts to isolate and alienate a large group of fundraisers is for the kids. Stephanie Dell'osa and Erik Lawler 2009 PHC and IFC Executive Board members Class of 2010 No real need for White House In response to Tuesday's letter "No White House home game is bad adminis trative choice," Mr. Korsak's argument that "White House games have become a great tradition" is, unfortunately, countered by the fact that scheduling soft non-confer ence opponents seems to have become just as pervasive a tradition. No offense Temple, but I hardly think a stadium full of white shirts (and a half-full student section) is going to draw as much attention as previous stadium-wide White House games. Alleged "printing error" or otherwise, I echo the Collegian's support for the athletic department's decision to about-face and reserve this tradition for big games that will draw attention to Penn State as one of the best venues in college sports, not simply as a marketing gimmick Islam still threat post-9/11 I was surprised when reading Monday's column, "Mosque opponents are misguid ed," to discover that the columnist is such a strong supporter of George W. Bush. The columnist praised Bush for his "wise words" on Islam. But where have those "wise words" gotten us? Almost a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks, Islamic terrorism is still rampant. From Major Hasan choos ing to slaughter his own men to Minnesota teenagers running off to fight for Al- Shabaab in Somalia, Islam continues to threaten all non-Muslims. Why are we sur prised by this? Doesn't the Quran (Sura 9:5) command "Fight and kill the disbeliev ers wherever you find them?" Meanwhile, the non-Muslims have been so cowed by the constant and invariably baseles claims of intolerance that our own State Department refuses to use the word "jihad" to describe Islamic terror attacks. The columnist claims that the rights of Muslims will be breached if the Ground Zero Mosque is not constructed. This is, of course, incorrect the public has every right to protest this repugnant project, and I've yet to see a "right to construction" in the Constitution. But more importantly, we need to ask this question: "When did Islam become the victim?" Pundits everywhere demand that we respect Islam, but I see no evidence that Islam respects us. Samuel Settle history and political science FOOTBLOG Two Lions earn nominations Just got off a conference call with ESPN analysts and former players Desmond Howard and Jesse Palmer as well as ESPN vice president of pro gramming, DAT Brown. Here's what was discussed... Andrew J. Cassavell Football reporter Read more of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolleglan.com/blogs. Kate Patton Class of 2010 Mark A. Poblete Class of 2007
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