I Friday, Sept. 24, 2010 Tm: D \ii. \ 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 #e 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 Burnham, Paul Casella, Kevin Cirilli, Beth Ann Downey, Amanda Elser, Zachary Feldman, Ashley Gold, Stephen Flennessey, Allison Jackovitz, Kevin Kiine, 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 mail/ln 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. Numbers don’t reflect benefits In the first year of the Interfratemity Council’s (IFC) institution of a dry recruitment polity, the number of students regis tered fell, but the bid acceptance rate rose from 62 to 78 percent. Though the overall number of students rush ing fraternities fell, with the rise in acceptance rate, it seems that the dry rush policy made it so ■■ V ts - ' '■ r~« ;^B§l§. IV c - V W&M' Ranking solidifies PSU potential By Jack Rayman Penn State has earned an international reputation for providinf 'de r ' id uates with high quality educa tional experi ences. Through general educa tion, compre hensive major courses of study and rich campus life experiences, Penn State graduates are edu- • cated to be lifelong learners and to be successful in pursu ing their career interests. I believe this is why a recent Wall Street Journal survey of corporate employers ranked Penn State as the top universi ty for producing graduates who they hope to recruit. Ear Penn State students and their parents, this ranking may be far more important than almost any other ranking. It underscores the fact that most students and their parents regard higher education as preparation for a career, and what better place to prepare for your career than at the universi ty that is ranked number one by employers. Clearly, it is the case that rank ings of this sort are subjective. We don’t dispute that, but if someone is going to rank us, we’d rather be ranked number one than number 347! Are we really number one, and if so, why? All of the institutions included that only those who are serious about becoming a part of greek life came out for recruitment. This polity could have weeded out the students who were rushing for rea sons that only involved alcohol and parties. And instead, new members may now be those who chose to rush a fraternity for the reasons of tradi tion, camaraderie and c, -> ' rzs 7/7, in the Wall Street Journal’s list ing of the top 25 recruiting uni versities could make a claim for being a top recruiting university. Here is our claim. First, we have high-quality stu dents in every discipline, as well as very good and very large col leges of engineering and busi ness administration. These are the high-demand academic fields that develop the core competen cies in our students and are most highly sought by employers locally, nationally and interna tionally. Second, we have a talented and dedicated faculty. A univer sity is only as good as its faculty, and not just the faculty in the professional schools of business and engineering. Every Penn State student’s value to employers and to the greater society is enhanced by the solid foundation they receive in their general education cours es as well as in their major field, and that solid foundation has its basis in the liberal arts and sci ences. Third, many employers have reduced the number of universi ties at which they recruit, and they prefer to go to those institu tions where they can find stu dents within the majors they seek in the numbers they require. This so-called “focus” school approach favors large state universities like Penn State, many of which have large colleges of engineering, busi ness, science, information serv ices and technology, agricultural science, communications and education. philanthropy. The new policy also encouraged fraternities to sponsor events such as cookouts and concerts to attract new members, rather than activities like parties involving alcohol. We commend the IFC for instituting such poli cies and hope they contin ues to garner success in recruitment through such positive methods. We are on nearly every major corporation’s short list. Fourth, many of our academic colleges, and quite a number of our individual academic depart ments, have well developed co op and internship programs. Many employers now recruit full time employees almost exclu sively from the ranks of these programs. The quality and com prehensiveness of Penn State’s co-op and internship programs is attractive to employers. Fifth, we have well-rounded students with a strong work ethic who do not have the entitlement mentality that exists at some of the more elite private universi ties. Employers like students with a strong academic back ground who have been involved in a broad range of out-pf-class experiences as well. Most employers also have a strong preference for students who actually like work! Finally, we have one of the pre mier career centers in the world The Bank of America Career Services Center. Because we offer comprehensive centralized career services, we are in a posi tion to serve students from all 11 of our colleges, plus we provide employers with the convenience of “one stop shopping.” Yes, we are the number one recruiting university and our fac ulty, staff, students and adminis tration can be Penn State proud of it Jack Rayman is the senior director of Career Services at Penn State and the Collegian’s Friday guest columnist. His e-mail is Jxrl@psu.edu. The Daily Collegian Blame misplaced on Dado In response to Thursday’s letter to the editor “Anniversary overly publicized,” I think it was not only rude but unnecessary for Mr. Downs to take the time to write his letter to the editor in regards to the publici ty of the anniversary of Joe Dado’s death. He contradicted his opening statements of respect when he blamed this tragic acci dent on Dado. I never knew Dado, but I know that this was not one person’s fault Downs’ disrespect is a shame. There is no need to publicize one’s opinion on such a touchy subject when the opinion is harsh towards all parties. Maddy Pryor sophomore-public relations Hike in fine shows only greed In response to a Sept. 14 article “Leaders discuss possible hike in fine” about a possi ble increase in the fine for underage drink ing from $3OO to $l,OOO only verifies what I thought I knew about the powers that be. From my view, State Sen. Jake Corman, R- Centre, is simply trying to make money for his county off of the students here at Penn State. First of all, the $3OO fine isn’t the only thing that an “offender” has to pay for. The mandatory $2OO BASICS program fee, as well as hospital fees, turns that $3OO fine into a $lOOO nightmare. Secondly, does this guy really think that students will be deterred by a fine? Considering that Penn State is one of the most expensive public schools in the nation, most students will simply dump the bill on their parents and continue to drink without thinking twice. This is why Corman doesn’t fool me, his talk of deterrence isn’t coming from the heart, it’s from his wallet We shouldn’t be fooled by this self-interest ed politician and should fight to keep the fine where it is. Alex Kaplan freshman-division of undergraduate studies Temple rivalry is insignificant Really, Tim Curley? Really? You chose to renew a powder puff rivalry with Temple, a team with which we won 90 percent of the games. That’s really not a rivalry, if you ask me. Are you really that absentminded that you forgot that there is another Football Bowl Subdivision school in the state, the Pittsburgh Panthers, with whom we have had a rivalry since 1893? Or would you real ly like to forget that 0-12 drubbing we had at Heinz Field in 2000? Really, c’mon! Roll up your pant legs and fight for victory again. Speaking of which: Really Joe Paterno? Really? Is it that big a deal if we can only host the Panthers every other year, instead of two out of three years like you demand? Really? It’s a rivalry. Show some respect. Really! My father graduated from Penn State in 81 and talks highly of the former rivalry between the two schools. Penn State, really do us all a favor and get this rivalry rekin dled. Or I will have to tell my children about how the pollsters punished us every year for scheduling the MAC and FCS schools. Really! Doug Dooilng sophomore-international politics PSU responsible for notice In response to Thursday’s article “PSU backs credit claims,” this is a very impor tant piece of information and should be fol lowed up by e-mail blasting every parent and student. If 67 percent of eligible households are not applying for this benefit considering current economic conditions then it is obvi ous they don’t know about it. The university has an obligation to make everyone who is eligible aware of this benefit. SNAP, CRACKLE, POP Gimme more Glee This three month hiatus between sea sons was, to say the least, brutal. What was I supposed to do in my free time? Listen to non-theatrical, non-Gleeful music on You Tube? I'd rather not. Musically, I’m really excited for this season. Mr. Schuester proposes more songs that more people will like. The New Directions proved it by singing Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind,” which was so good. I looked a bit forward on Wikipedia (it’s up to you whether you trust them), and it said that there will be a Britney Spears episode, but also a “Rocky Horror Picture Show” episode. Both sound equally awesome... Dialogue on ‘Diaries’ Sara Canning plays Jenna Sommers on “The Vampire Diaries.” Q: How do you think this show has progressed your career or take you to new places? A: For me, booking “The Vampire Diaries” was the biggest opportunity. I’m Canadian, and was working steadi ly in Vancouver. Great Canadian actors work all the time and fly under the radar. I am most grateful to be a regu lar on a series and hopefully this show will open up other doors for me... Read more of The Daily Collegian’s blogs at psucollegian.com/blogs. George Wlntner Class of 1970 Lindsay Cryar Music reporter Karlnal Yiieal TV reporter
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers