8 I FRIDAY, AuG. 27, 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
*Nis. Pennsylvania State
tillikeNsity 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.
Camphints: 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
Th, Daly Collegian's edito
ilat 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
lit; 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 Jackovez, Kevin Kline,
Samantha Kramer, Bill Landis,
Amin* Metcalf, Nate Mink,
Elizabeth Murphy, Laura
Nichols, Michael Oplinger,
Edgar Ramirez, Heather
Schmelzlen, Caitlin Sellers,
Laurie Stem, 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.
■ Elm!!
collegianletters@psu.edu
■ Online
www.psucollegian.com
ftstereillVhe person
123 8. 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. LetterF
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.
Think twice when leaving Iraq
United States military
commanders do not fore
see any need to resume
combat operations in Iraq
Unless there is a com
plete breakdown of Iraqi
security forces, 50,000
troops are expected to
leave by the end of next
year.
But military leaders
warn there is a rocky road
ahead and if the Iraqis
ask that U.S. troops
remain in the country
past 2011, that the request
will be considered by the
president.
Eiji
tau
pima _
1% WIG
Vg111.10. 1 111 1 10 1 ,;,-,
(5 )
• '2l 9w
' ' l )
.= • \
,
idecAßretNe. caul
Competition in THON adds to
By Max Wendkos
DISCLAIMER: I love THON. During my
time at Penn State, I have served as a
THON Chairman for my frr
fundraised thousands of dollars '
for the cause, spent hours with
our Four Diamonds Family and
I have danced.
I have also lost both friends
and family to cancer and have
received meaningful emotional
support through THON. As
such, I fully support THON's
goal of keeping the philan
thropy's primary focus on conquering pediatric
cancer.
That's how it should be.
However, I believe that the Overall
Committee's goal of decreasing the amount of
competition and the manner in which the deci
sion was made is concerning.
It has become almost taboo on Penn State's
campus to question THON. Understandably,
very few people are comfortable questioning a
philanthropy that has done so much good for
such a worthwhile cause. However, we enter
dangerous territory when we allow an entity to
achieve a status so high that its actions are
above reproach, for the ability to critique and
question everything has formed the foundation
for progress across all spectrums throughout
history.
With that said, I do wonder whether the
THON Overall Committee made the correct
decision when they decided to no longer release
the fundraising totals of individual organizations
beyond the top five organizations in four differ
ent categories. According to THON Overall
Chairwoman Kasten Kelly, the reasoning behind
the decision was "to take focus away from com
peting with each other." The THON Overall
President Barack
Obama needs to proceed
with caution in his
address to the country on
Aug. 29 about these
details. Pulling out of
combat is a good start,
but this war is still far
from over.
Giving Iraqis a choice
for U.S. military occupa
tion after 2011 is a good
decision and reflects well
on America's reputation.
But if something hap
pens to necessitate our
return, we could be right
back where we started.
cePadEsgg
• --- 7 ., ,
-,,,,-
-, , ,7?
fr.„,:p
Despite the waning mili
tary involvement, there is
still a lot of work to that
needs to be done for Iraqi
civilians.
Charities should not see
this as an end to the need
for help, for there are still
plenty of citizens of this
war-torn nation who live
without basic resources.
Whatever the initial
opinion on the war, its end
is a momentous occasion,
and we offer gratitude to
all those veterans who
served in its seven-year
duration.
j
170
1 7
J o , '",,/,.....•;;;;
/7
"/' • /..; kile-
Committee insists that the presence of competi
tion between participating organizations nega
tively detracts from the focus on the kids.
This is where we start to disagree.
I cannot possibly accept that competition neg
atively detracts from our focus on the kids when
that very competition undoubtedly drives so
much of the money that we raise for them. Not
to say that competition drives all, most or even
half of the money that is raised for the kids, but
we would be foolish to pretend that its presence
doesn't help.
Consider this: without competition, Apple
would not have introduced the iPod, Microsoft
would not have developed Windows and Google
most likely would not exist. In any arena, compe
tition fuels creative thinking, innovation, hard
work, and, ultimately, more positive results. This
has been proven time and time again in a variety
of organizational psychology studies and in real
practice. The members of the THON Overall
Committee are some of our campus' brightest
leaders, so I think it is safe to assume that they
are aware of this.
But if they are, why would they knowingly
make a decision that potentially jeopardizes the
amount of money that we are able to donate to
the Fbur Diamonds Mind? Why would they risk
the very money that funds the cancer treat
ments, the gas bills, the meal tickets and practi
cally every other form of aid offered to the Four
Diamonds children and their families? Call me
crazy, but it sure seems like THON leaders have
chosen to fight for the innocence of THON's
image over the money that helps the children
and their families to survive the nightmare that
they face
Ido not mean to suggest that THON's highest
leaders are doing this intentionally of course
they're not. However, considering t even the
foremost experts in a field are proiz, ilg
mistakes, I would say that a group of stucieri:. in
MEE
.1
14
ERicNE
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Guest columns
on Fridays give
the pen to you
By Elizabeth Murphy
IT'S your turn now.
The Daily Collegian's Friday opinion
page is renting real estate out to you.
There are plenty of things
to sound off on in our com
munity, so we thought we'd
turn the pen over to you
one day a week on our opin
ions page
Today, Interfraternity
Council President Max
Virendkos kicks off our new
Friday feature.
Check out what he's got
to say about competition within THON in
his own words below.
Who knows, maybe next week it will be
you.
If you've just got to get something off
your chest, shoot us an e-mail at guestfd
day@psucolleglan.com with your name, title (if
applicable) and description of your column
idea.
This page is as much yours as it is ours
Whether you're the student body presi
dent or a freshman still figuring out what
"DUS" stands for, we want to hear from
you.
We don't really care if you've got a big
fancy title we want columns with a clear
voice and opinion.
We aren't drawing the line at just stu
dents, though. Penn State staff and faculty
members, State College residents, commu
nity leaders: Take this as your call to
action.
Maybe the latest borough council ordi
nance really ticks you off. Maybe you have
the solution to the Penn State quarterback
question.
And maybe, just maybe, your words can
get the state legislature to pass a budget on
time.
As the Penn State student newspaper,
it's our belief that the pen is mightier. The
words on this page your words have
power.
Embrace it and show us what you've gat
Elizabeth Murphy is a senior majoring in journalism
and women's studies and the Collegian's Editor in
Chief. Her email is editorinchlef@psucollegian.com
Mosque will never bridge gap
between religous differences
First and foremost, no one is disputing
the legal right of the people behind the
Parksl (Cordoba House) project at Ground
Zero to build their building. It is simply an
issue of ethics and common sense. The
idea that this project will lead to better
relations or "bridge-building" between
Muslims and non-Muslims, as has been
stated, is somewhat laughable considering
how much unrest it has caused before
ground has even been broken for it.
I will give credit to the project's planners
for scrapping the original plan of opening
the facility on Sept. 11, 2011, which was just
a terrible idea. However, the project still
reeks of deliberately intended controversy
and a very poor way to actually improve
relations between, well, just about anyone.
Disregarding everyone who opposes this as
an "Islamophobe" is an inaccurate and des
picable, yet sadly, it is an all too common
unintellectual kneejerk response that
needs to end. Whether or not Parksl ever
gets built, its negative "legacy" is secure.
David Can
junior-economics
Young Americans for Freedom Vice Chairman
total and cause
their young 20s with only three to four years of
experience definitely are as well.
So THON supporters like myself should voice
our concerns.
We should let the THON Overall Committee
know that we do not support a decision that will
jeopardize a chemotherapy session, a blood
transfusion or maybe even a life.
Unfortunately, THON's organizational struc
ture currently has no checks and balances.
There is no mechanism to hold the Overall
Committee accountable for its decisions. In
essence, THON's governing structure is an oli
garchy with the 15-person Overall Committee
holding all of the power. What this means is that
none of THON's passionate and hard-working
volunteers have any say in the decisions that are
made. We may be rolling now, but this power
structure is not a safe formula for long-term suc
cess.
On a large scale, I believe that THON must
shift to a more democratic structure in order to
prevent future reckless decisions concerning the
philanthropy
The Overall Committee must find some way to
give a voice to the volunteers that they are so
thankful for, or at least to its elected leaders. And
regarding its most recent decisions, the Overall
Committee must reconsider its stance on the
role of competition within THON.
It is not easy to publicly acknowledge a mis
take, especially this early on, but if THON's lead
ers truly care about the kids and the interests of
the students they represent, they will do what is
right and reinstate the honorable and noble
competition to see which organizations can do
the most FTK.
Max Wendkos is a senior majoring in marketing and psy
chology and is the Interfratemity Council President. He is
a Collegian guest columnist and his email is
mawsos3@psu.edu
MY OPINION