I FRIDAY, SEPT. 10, 2010
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Tilt DAIL\
Collegian
Elizabeth Murphy
Editor in Chief
Kelsey Thompson
Busines Manager
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EDITORIAL: RENAMING OF El
JoePa field will give just honors
Penn State alumnus
Warren Armstrong
recently met with univer
sity officials about renam
ing Beaver Stadium after
long-time football coach
and philanthropist, Joe
Paterno.
Armstrong would like to
see the stadium name
changed before JoePa
retires.
The university said it
will consider all options,
but no decision has been
made.
We agree with Arm
strong that the best way
to honor this individual
would be to rename the
stadium after Paterno
9via. Ski&
e(ikkins
gior -
(Rog nit, Tiefr,
GUEST COLUMNIST
Student borough council member
will help town and gown relations
By Christian Ragland
Cevil Rights Leader A.
Phillip Randolph once
said, "a community is
democratic only
when the hum
blest and weak
est person can
enjoy the high- lib :
est civil, eco
nomic and
social rights - 4
that the biggest
and most pow
erful possess"
MY OPINION
I am pretty sure many of you
have heard about your student
government fighting to incorpo
rate a non-voting student mem
ber on the State College
Borough Council. Some of you
may ask what the point of hav
ing this position is.
My answer is very simple: a
body of students who make up
the majority of a community
needs a student representative
on the council.
Before I go any further, I
would like to mention that dur
ing my time as a leader in the
University Park Undergraduate
Association, the borough offi
cials have been extremely help
ful and supportive in numerous
ways.
This past year, UPUA has
made tremendous strides in
developing a positive and effec
tive working relationship with
the council. The two entities
have worked with each other on
several initiatives, clearly dis
playing the importance of con
sistent communication.
With that being said, as your
student body president, I believe
the next step with enhancing
a legendary representa
tive of college football. We
respect Paterno as an
educator and mentor to
thousands of students
throughout his many
years at Penn State, but
the man his built his lega
cy on the football field.
That is where he should
be immortalized.
The 82-year-old coach
has dedicated his time,
effort, money and spirit to
Penn State, making this
school a place to be proud
of.
His commitment to edu
cation, philanthropy, team
spirit and humility
embody what Penn State
- , A
1 w i
the vision of a great town-and
gown relationship is by adding
this student member to the
council.
Students play very intricate
roles in the enrichment of the
State College community. We
provide service, leadership and
economic benefits to the com
munity as students. Having a
non-voting student member on
the council legitimizes the
importance of the student voice.
Now, some people have sug
gested that students should just
run for a seat on the council.
Yes, that's an option as well.
Matter of fact, I strongly encour
age students to run for office in
the council if that is a conven
ient option for you. There have
been some students who have
run for council, but unfortunate
ly have not been successful. My
main issue with encouraging
students to run for council is
that being a part of council is a
four year commitment.
If many of you are like myself,
we will go on to hold future
careers or academic plans after
our years at Penn State. You
see, when I graduate, I am look
ing forward to applying the lead
ership skills and education that I
have attained from Penn State
in my own personal community.
Therefore, running for council
does not quite fit for me, and I'm
sure that goes for many stu
dents.
So how can we compliment
the borough council with the
student voice if running for
council can be extremely incon
venient for us as students? Well,
again, this is where a non-voting
student member to the borough
council will play a role. We want
AVER STADIUM
strives to be about.
Coach Paterno has
served this university loy
ally and faithfully for the
past 50 years, and his
legacy is something that
must be celebrated, soon
er rather than later.
Paterno is a humble and
a low-key man who proba
bly doesn't want to draw
time and attention away
from the current football
season.
But with JoePa coming
up on his 400th win, the
end of this potentially
monumental football sea
son would be the ideal
time to honor him this
way.
to work with the council and the
borough officials on finding a
way to incorporate a year-long
representative with a student
voice.
We are not the first school to
ever try to push for this
resource. Some of our Big Ten
counterparts have non-voting
student members on their
municipality councils as well as
other schools outside of our con
ference.
With this specific student
voice on the council, we will now
have a greater opportunity to
work side by side on issues that
affect the borough, such as safe
ty, housing and the further
development of the town and
gown. Allowing a non-voting stu
dent member on the council will
also further exhibit that we as
students are truly stakeholders
in the community
In essence, when UPUA Vice
President Colleen Smith and I
ran for these positions, we ran
with a vision of finding concrete
ways to continue to positively
enhance the town-gown rela
tions.
With concrete initiatives to
uphold these relationships, such
as a non-voting student member,
relations will always be on the
forefront of student and student
leader's yearly agendas.
So if you see the importance
of enhancing the student voice
in the community through a
non-voting student member,
please join us as we move for
ward with this initiative.
Christian Ragland is a senior major
ing in political science and is the pres
ident of UPUA. His e-mail is
cdrso63@psu.edu
' .f
LETTERS
Pluto's demotion was not
supported by ail astronomers
In response to Wecinerlay's article
"Professors research atmospheres of plan
ets light-years away - saying that some
people are - reeling from the loss of Pluto"
is inaccurate and a public disservice, as it
is portraying one side in an ongoing debate
as fact, which is not the case.
The International Astronomical Union
(lAU) demotion of Pluto was done by only 4
percent of its members, most of whom are
not planetary scientists. It was opposed in
a formal petition by hundreds of profession
al astronomers led by Dr. Alan Stern, prin
cipal investigator of the New Horizons mis
sion to Pluto for the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration (NASA). One of
the leading scholars of Pluto in the world,
Stern continues to refer to Pluio as a planet
in his regular New Horizons updates.
Pluto as a planet is no!'cis: because in
spite of what the lAU may have intended in
2006, there is no consensus ,in - lor) ,
astronomers in favor of its decision.
Astronomers who agree with Sturn and the
petition signatories reject the notion !hat a
planet must "clear its orhir hold to a
simpler definition that „Irly non
self-lumineu sphereid:ll
star.
Dwarf planets :u f_ ~01)
term was coined h stc.n f .
third class of
trials and jovim,
It is irrespon , :io!( f'll t`
time portra - ml2. :1,( , " tf
done deal \\ her:
time, please do nrt
debatr and ,
Quran burning i'.l:.*l - .‘,ls rights
and violence i;ii ; , :i teligions
AS Ail ^• th,,,-'
religion :;,
I mean thk
pe;tuetnl ryt!s
ists haw tilt'.
This is eTrt.i:
Western re'i , l
Hitchens %.,n;rs
erant, allied, to ra,isilr ::1(1 • : arid
bigotry, invested in ignw7inee and hostile to
free inqull - y, conteinpl;;:7
coercive toward chli,il,--;
However repugii.)
actions. He:. Tem. ,l()
tional right to burn as tug
he wishes. Al :uggc•.l;:
are not keeping with t!ie
To be sure. Rtw.
idiot, but as much I like to f.4llafe in the
outrage. am I one of con
cerned that we have if, '' ' C!'
wards in condemnation of his actions
stop the faithful from killing pcopil for
burning a book? I ask that we all think
about that.
One David Guetta love
I'd say that David Guetta ttp,
favorite singer right not%.
n't even sing his hits th‘ produces
them. His are
now. They're in dohs. trats !J! l a : , ra dio
and, even more spe(.diclll - :,. -
through my aparttnc ,- ,1
moment. He's 13r0:)5,Thl tusioil o f
hip-hop, techno
I'm obsessed...
A word from q:-i' , -.,/itats
It's Thurs,iay
for the visitors
This week'
play man Eli Gold. .\.l an 6 1 ,cuss
the history of the rivalry ihe e.:ifeflls of
Mark Ingram and ); : y el oossi
bly being on!. and ' ,
Robert Bok1(11
Students, staff share picks
Following are all the nicks for the
week one NFL games fi - cir, each of our
guests. Here is the quick rundoxkil of
the people ho will ui , rlieiNif ein this
year-long contest:
Christian Ragland - IjPI_TA president
Brad Pataky - Penn State wrestler
(this spot will rotate among Penn State
athletes)
Alex Cohen - Paternoville president
Zack Krieger - Executive director of
Student Programming Association.
Jack Gashi - Senior student (this
spot will rotate among Penn State stu
dents)
Jim Regan - Nittany Lion Fund presi
dent
Steve Hennessey - Daily Collegian
sports editor
Bill Landis - Daily Collegian sports
copy chief
Paul Casella - Daily Collegian assis
tant sports editor
Read more of The Daily Collegians Hogs at
psucolleglan.com/blogs
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