8 I WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 15, 2010 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 atie 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 Cirilh, Beth Ann Downey, Amanda Elser, Zachary Feldman, Ashley Gold, Stephen Hennessey, Allison Jackovilz, 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. Increased fine needs guidelines State Sen. Jake Corman has proposed a bill to raise the maximum fine for underage drinking and alcohol-related offenses from $3OO to $l,OOO The increase to a fee that hasn't changed since the 1970 s is meant to act as a deterrent to under age drinking. While curbing underage drinking is a challenge that should be taken on, this measure can only be effective if it is marketed properly. Students must know about the consequences before choosing to drink ; A\oo - 4eilue CgAOlgca , g.S.l9 (l l , -- High rise marks town-gown debate By Jessica Uzar FINDING student housing is one of many stressful tasks in college, particu larly here at Penn State. Each fall, a large number of students flood the on-campus and off-campus housing mar ket, MY OPINION These stu dents compete mostly for a limited number of the "most-wanted" places to live. The majority of students want to live somewhere near campus that has cheap rent. The condi tion of the place or the amount of space are sometimes forfeited if the price is right. But the apartments closest to campus, mostly those between the two Are You Hungry loca tions, sell fast. If students aren't on the ball, they're forced to retreat further away from campus and from their friends. Then their friends have to walk 20 minutes to visit them (Leah, you're lucky I like you and your cooking or I would not walk that far). For those students, or those who simply wish to be further from campus, they must move further out into the neighbor hoods and surrounding areas. If in order to be deterred by the increased fines. We doubt that the pro posed change will stop underage students from drinking completely, but it may make them think twice about drinking excessively. The proposed legislation also has a few kinks, like fact that students or com munity members could be fined even more money because they live in a col lege town. This doesn't seem like a just addition to the new penalties. Overall, the legislation could be beneficial for tie*? \N4T )oeS SIAM CdR . ? Imo that's what they wish for, then they are happy and satisfied. If not, they are grumbling, because now they have to pay for bus or car transportation to and from campus for classes, meetings and social events. This problem of housing shortage will only grow worse as the student population contin ues to grow every year. So what's the solution? More housing, like the pro- posed high-rise apartment build ing where Canyon Pizza is cur rently located. But the debate of its construc tion marks one of the many problems that arise between town and gown. Gown wants and needs more housing options. But town rightly so is worried about the contin ued misbehavior of students in these neighborhoods. The town (and more specifi cally the State College Planning Commission) is running into a few issues before they can make a decision on the plans. One issue is zoning regula tions. Some are worried that changing the zoning laws for that address and allowing a high rise will affect the look of the area. It will, yes. But not in a dramatic fashion. There are already buildings like Penn Towers and Beaver Terrance that rise eight to 11 stories. Adding another building that is around the same height should not be a problem. Penn State, which often targets the extreme and destructive behavior that stems from drinking. But if the maximum fine is to increase, there must be a sliding scale to deter mine the amount to which each underage drinker will be fined. The maxi mum fine should be reserved for the most fla grant offenses. If the fine increases, there should be loose guidelines established to prevent unfair fines given to underage drinkers who maintain control and aren't being destructive. 4 t)eil)lF:egt Cel\TßAl...*' 110‘ catLitth I don't think State College will ever have to worry about look ing like the downtown of a major city The charm of the campus is one of the things I fell in love with when I visited the school and I believe the university will work to always keep that charm The committee is also worried that another apartment building would increase drunken student foot traffic through the neigh borhoods on the weekends. I actually think the opposite would be true. The more stu dents you concentrate down town, the more that aren't forced to live in apartment build ings further from campus, so they don't have to walk as far to get home. An increase in the student density is another issue brought up by the commission, but this is not the reason for the drink ing problems the town has. I think this new apartment building is a great idea and should be allowed to go forward. I hope the borough council and planning commission look to student and university input. This is an issue that could really strengthen the relationship between town and student lead ers and the community in gener- Jessica Uzar is a junior majoring in journalism and political science and is the Collegian's Wednesday columnist. Her e-mail is jiul2s@psu.edu O. ( 4 ). cl x , 1 , 1 1ji? I 4 c QQ r . ', A ' THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Penn State fans displayed great behavior at away game On behalf of my 'Bama friends and fami ly (including my Alabama college fresh man son), I want to let ya'll know what a pleasure it was to have the Penn State fans in Tuscaloosa last weekend. It was our honor to encounter such a wonderful collection of fans from "up north," all of whom were very courteous and seemingly happy to have made the trip; the final game score notwithstanding. The heat and humidity were challenging for our visitors, but we sincerely hope that everyone who made the effort to travel such a great distance found the destina tion to be entertaining and worthwhile. You should know that, without a doubt, Alabama fans think the world of Joe Paterno and his friendship and cama raderie with our beloved Bear Bryant. Paterno and Penn State are class acts, and we look forward to your return to Alabama in the future. My family, friends and I look forward to our trip to University Park next year! Best wishes for your remaining season. Terry Calcote University of Alabama. Class of 1979 Nittany Lions have best fans, displayed that in Alabama I am writing to thank and congratulate some of the best fans in college football. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting a number of visitors in Tuscaloosa last weekend. I hope you all were treated well and enjoyed your visit. I look forward to visiting your campus next year. Again, thank you all for being such wonderful ambassadors for your fine university. Perry Jackson University of Alabama, Class of 1999 Islamic texts do incite the violence of Muslim radicals After reading Tuesday's column "Unjust hate defies meaning of 9/11," I find myself left with a question. Michael Oplinger wrote: "Al Qaeda remains a small group acting on a twisted interpretation of a reli gious text.- Mr. Oplinger, have you read any of the Islamic texts? The Quran and the Hadith (a critical tool used by Muslim scholars to interpret the Quran) are documents consumed by vio lence and savagery. Even with the most forgiving liberal hermeneutics, buttressed by claims of mistranslation, a purely objec tive look at the Islamic texts reveal an inherently violent God. To be sure, Islamic texts are just as violent as the other Abrahainic faiths. The knee-jerk reaction that Al Qaeda is - distorting," "twisting," and "misinterpret ing" the faith is false the fundamentalist have the book on their side. Why be sur prised by this? These texts were written in a time when barbarism was a social and cultural banality. 90IBLOG Mid-week football news Football reporters Audrey Snyder and Brendan Monahan discuss the news coming out of Joe Paterno's weekly press conference... Joe Paterno addressed the media and discussed the Alabama loss and what the team needs to do as it moves for ward... Jack Crawford was also made avail able to the media and spoke about bouncing back against Kent State... Football beat reporters CAN YOU DIG IT? Volleyers at the White House Check out these videos from NCAA Champions Day, including a snippet of President Obama's speech, a clip of Sen. John Kerry meandering through the crowd and a look at the TCU women's rifle team and their very fes tive wardrobe choice... Emily Kaplan Women's volleyball reporter SNAP. CRACKLE, POP I can feel your Halo Do you know where you're going to be at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday? Even though I have a COMM 180 test Tuesday morn ing, an eight-page paper for ENGL 487 due Thursday and hours of more home work ahead of me this week, I'm going out Monday night. Not to the bars but to the midnight release of "Halo: Reach." Yeah, it's super nerdy. I'm even wear ing Halo tshirts to mark the occasion, and all three Halo original soundtracks may or may not be stuck on repeat on my iPod... Zach Geiger Police/fire/courts reporter Read more of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolleglan.com/blogs. Saalim Abdul Carter Class of 2007
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