I Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2010 I in: 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 subsenbers. Complaints: News and edi tonal 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. Cardin Burnham. Paul Casella, Kevin Cirilli, Beth Ann Downey, Amanda Elser. Ash ley Gold, Stephen Hennessey. Allison Jackovitz. Andrew Met calf, 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 Chns 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.psucoliegian.com ■ Postal mall/ln person 123 S. Burrowes St. State College. 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. Ban is not The Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board recently encouraged local alcohol distributors to take Four Loko, an alco holic energy drink, off the shelves pending approval from the Food and Drug Administration. After incidents including hospitalization of some college students from drinking the product, the PLCB requested shops drop the product. Though we understand the PLCB is only looking Cohabitation shows true personality By Jessica Uzar Living with roommates can be a nightmare. Everyone has different expectations on cleanliness, guests, chores, loud music you name it. it can become an Coming into this year, I signed a lease for an apart ment with two girls whom I shared a dorm room with for a year, as well as one girl I had met only once or twice. It had the potential to either turn out great or become a dis aster. As it turns out, it has been a fantastic time. It's three-quar ters of the way through our first semester of living together, and we have reached a point where there are no secrets, no judg ment and no holding back. We tell our life stories to each other and complain about how much we don't want to study. We talk about anything and every thing no topic is off limits. And, at least for my side of the apartment’s bathroom, we even pee with the door open. We’ve become good friends simply by living with each other. Sharing an apartment with someone, you see them in their worst moods and all their bad habits quickly come out. You also quickly realize what traits people have that annoy you. Though I’ve always had a roommate in the dorms, living in a necessaiy measure out for the health and safety of Pennsylvania cit izens and students, it is not right for them to tar get one specific product. There are many alco holic energy drinks out there that were not requested to be taken off shelves. If the FDA is going to ban one, then they must take a hard look at all. Wouldn’t Red Bull and vodka need to be banned as well? Another issue this situa- an apartment has been so much different. It’s a lot more respon sibility, and I think that brings up more important issues than living in a dorm did. Not only do you learn what your personal cleaning habits are I’ve learned that I have definitely picked up my parents’ trait of obsessive cleanliness but you learn how to work around others’ habits. One of the most important life lessons is compromise. A room mate of mine refuses to take out the garbage, but she does other chores, like cleaning the kitchen. I think living together has developed our relationships for the better. We haven’t hit any major bumps in the road yet, but with the little issues that have popped up, we’ve been very open about it and talked our way through it. Our roommate experience has made me realize that living with someone is the best way to get to know them. This solidifies the tact that I want to live with whomever I plan on marrying before the wedding actually happens. I want a relationship or engage ment long enough to live with someone for a while before I make that commitment. The divorce rate is high enough to cause concern. Having the opportunity to live with someone before making such a big commitment reduces the risk of failure for the rela tionship. For a long time, my years of Catholic school education told me that living with a guy before I many them is a bad thing. But tion touches on is social responsibility. As young adults, it is our place to control our own drinking and to avoid dangerous drinking prac tices, not a government agency’s. Four Loko is just like any other alcoholic bever age, there is some risk involved if you drink irre sponsibly. There are always col lege student drinking fads An outright Four Loko ban is unnecessary. I've decided that I’m okay with the idea. I think the most important thing that comes out of the roommate relationship is the communication skills. With strong communication all other problems can be resolved. If one roommate doesn’t feel that he or she can bring up small issues like the fact that they hate when you leave dirty cups on the cof fee table then the small issues will pile up and become big issues. This is particularly important when it comes to marriage and serious relationships in general. If you can’t tell your potential husband that you hate that he leaves his dirty dishes piled in the sink, then it might be hard to tell him that you want him to stop his excessive drinking. I’m very happy with how this year has gone in my apartment and I wouldn’t change a thing. It’s been a great time. I’ve forged close friendships that I might not have if we hadn’t ended up living together. I also think the things I’m learning about myself are important what my quirks are, what my standards are and where my lines stand in a living situation. But as a side note, my stan dards do not include toleration of stealing, so whoever stole our kitchen sign should probably return it. Jessica Uzar is a junior majoring in journalism and political science and is The Daily Collegian's Wednesday columnist. Her e-mail is jlul2s@psu.edu. Embrace climate skepticism Tuesday’s article, “Student project aims to prove global warming is occurring,” is an excellent demonstration of why the public has adopted a (rightly) skeptical position on global warming. According to the article, students in engineering were required to “prove the credibility of a number of peer reviewed sources related to climate change.” If you’re assignment is to prove the credibility of a paper, then you’re not coming in with an open mind you have an agenda from the outset. The close-mind ed nature of the exercise is made evident when you consider that the class apparent ly disregarded all skeptical research as not “valid." What does this mean, exactly? Apparently, “any of the sources the class found against global warming were against a specific study." In other words, when the class found two contradicting sources, they automatically assumed that the non-skepti cal one must be correct. This is a mockery of science. One term that the article used over and over was "peer review." Alas, this is one of the great misconceptions regard ing global warming. People hear that alarmist science is “peer reviewed" and assume it to be true. Have we already for gotten Climategate? We have ample evi dence of climate “scientists" colluding for political purposes. Peer review is corrupted when controlled by a like-minded clique, as was evident from the Climategate emails. The public is right to turn away from cli mate alarmism. Now, more than ever, we must embrace skepticism. Spanier should be applauded As a proud member of the Penn State family, I am disgusted by the immaturity of the student body, both past and present, by their booing of President Graham Spanier at this weekend s game. Dr. Spanier should be commended for the remarkable job he has done in his 15-vear tenure at our insti tution, the one I call a second home. We all need to take a good look around the campus and beam with pride at the renovations done to it. When I left in 2001 there was no sty bridge across Atherton Street. There was no "new" Berkev Creamery. The classroom buildings by the golf courses were just finished. During his tenure, he has created the Schreyer Honors College, the College of Information Sciences and Technology, the Penn State World Campus and is responsible for the merger with the Dickinson School of Law. He hosts a radio show on WPSU. plays the washboard, intramural racquetball and is a magician. He embodies the meaning of JutH involved." We should all thank him and his wife Sandy, for their contributions to our colle giate home. Enough with the carrying on about arbitrary' issues. Tailgating has not been eliminated. The changes in the greek system were needed because some houses could not conduct themselves responsibly. Grow up a little. Penn State is a better place thanks to Dr. Spanier. Students still disappointing For the second game in a row, 1 was very disappointed in the Penn State students' attendance at the game. First, you have a night game against Michigan and the stu dent section is half empty at the start of the game and never fills to capacity. On Saturday, with Penn State's legendary coach going for his 400th win. the same thing happens. Then, during the post game ceremony, the classless students boo the university president when he is trying to say some kind words to Coach Paterno. While 99 percent of the fans stayed after the game for the awards ceremony, several hundred students decided they had more important things to do than be a part of football history'. Best student section in the nation? I don't think so Tom Bradley, Defensive coordina tor: “All the people who have been involved in this from players and the managers, the coaches, to the people that supported this program, to the great fans we have, I think it’s a 400 win for Penn State." Ron Vanderlinden, Linebackers coach: “It’s so unprecedented, and it’s doubtful it will ever be broken again for so many different reasons. It’s been a thrill to be a part of it." Derek Moye, Wide receiver: “Really, it’s crazy. I'm honored to have played for him. I kind of thought before the game that it wouldn’t be a big deal, kind of just another game. Then as we go out there and play, and the clock starts winding down toward the end, and we realize that we’re going to win, it was really something that gives you chills. In the ceremony at the end, it’s just crazy something I’ll remember, and I think the rest of the players on the team will remember for the rest of our lives.” Read more of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolleglan.com/blogs. The Daily Collegian Samuel Settle junior-history and political science Young Americans for Freedom Chairman Kyle Greenwood Class of 2001 More on 400 Brendan Monahan Football reporter John Lynn Class of 1973
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers