I Tuesday, Nov. 16,2010 r i r i o ?"'ot r"'""~ 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 are The Dally 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. Ash ley Gold, Stephen Hennessey. Allison Jackovrtz, Andrew Met calf, Nate Mink. Elizabeth Murphy. Laura Nichols. Michael Oplinger, Edgar Ramirez. Heather Schmelzien, Caitlin Sellers, Laune 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.psucollegian.com ■ Postal mail/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 lumber 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 «bOsen also run on The cation in The Weekly Colle gian. All letters become property of Collegian Inc. RIAL; P F Student invohment still needed " Penn State recently received a B+ for recy cling and green efforts in a poll conducted by the Sustainable Endowments Institutes. The school scored an A in maintaining green buildings, recycling and response from administra tion. With many green initia tives already implemented across campus, and an administrative plan for the future that calls for more green growth, Penn State’s grade rose from a NEWS ITEM: MICHELLE PUNS OUT OF CASH WHILE SHOPPING Political opposition needs compromise By Michael Oplinger As my friend’s party ended Saturday night, I found myself in a politi cal conversa tion with a guy who I had met only a few min utes before Other party goers finished their drinks and stumbled out the door as we somehow MY OPINION engaged in a serious discussion. We quickly discovered that we differed ideologically, but we talked about issues like fiscal policy and the Federal Reserve in a friendly rational manner. Neither of us probably changed the other’s opinion, but we left with a better understand ing of an alternative viewpoint. What stood out about this con versation to me is that neither of us reverted to traditional party “talking points” or used any of the buzz words so often spoken in the political realm today. It was just simple, rational political discourse —just two guys chatting about the world. We weren’t going to solve any problems there in that apart ment, but maybe we demon strated that the country and its political conversations don’t need to be so divided. Through talking with him, I realized our views weren’t very far apart. Each side’s views aren’t as radical as it seems sometimes. There certainty is room for com promise compromise that probably wouldn’t be so chal lenging if both sides actually lis tened to each other. The problem seems to be our inability to truly hold a conver ideas. The perceived extreme parti san divide of Washington seems B last year and could con tinue to rise. Any improve ment in the green initia tives at Penn State is commendable and should be celebrated. However, there was one aspect where the universi ty scored low in compari son: student involvement. Even though Penn State has a number of student “eco-reps” and offers an Earth House living option, only a small percentage of students seem active in recycling and energy sav ing initiatives. to have spread to the general public. We all obviously enter discus sions with established beliefs, but that doesn’t mean the con versation should be ended right away. As Kanye West wrote in his song “Power," “They say I was the abomination of Obama’s nation. Well, that's a pretty bad way to start the conversation.” As many musicians intend to do with their lyrics, West sends an important political and social statement. Useful conversations can’t start with over-the-top state ments like that. Nor can they start with saying that President Obama’s a social ist or Muslim or Kenyan or Hitler. Nor can they start with saying that Democrats want to move the country to be a complete welfare state. Nor can they start with saying that Republicans only care about the interests of Wall Street. Nor can they start with saying that the Tea Party is just a bunch of racists. To foster productive political discussions, we must improve at using conversation starters instead of conversation enders. Comparisons to Hitler for a political purpose should be per manently bairned. Terms based on rumors instead of facts, like “death pan els,” must be abandoned. The system is complex enough without adding lies to the mix. To truly make any progress with any agenda, an informed political discourse must taty place. Discussion based on facts wfll allow opposing sides to seetbehr (fiffenmceS, bid more inportMßl ty, their similarities. On the broad political spec trum, Republicans and Dem- GREEN EFFORTS This is something that can change. Students need to step up and take responsibility by practicing things like recycling in their dorms and apartments, by mak ing an effort to turn off lights and unplug unused appliances, and by choos ing public transportation rather than driving. Though Penn State’s grade went up this year, there is always room for improvement, especially in the area of student involvement. -TWeTiMesoF India ocrats tend to remain close to the center. Arguments can’t be won by declaring the other person to be a radical or socialist or fascist. To make such accusations, which are usually false, dispar ages the other person’s argu ment. As we enter a time of at least two years of divided government and as the sides appear to be moving further apart, having informed conversations seems increasingly important. But free debate still seems to be hindered by the fear of being labeled a radical. In theory, modem technology should ease the process. The Internet allows for the free flow of ideas. But the Internet seems to have been used to further sepa rate the two sides. Intelligent discourse is found only in a few places. Comment sections on web sites should allow us to instanta neously participate in debates. People can also share links to farther information. But look at the comments on any news article or Youtube video. The conversation consists of insults and extreme state ments. Instead of presenting logical counterpoints, the comments usually jump to personal attacks and wild assertions. -.. v Maybe the anonymity of the ' Internet allows people to shirk responsibility and feel more comfortable insulting others. But the Internet still remains a valuable tool in facilitating open conversation, winch could extend to aH aspects of our lives. Talk and actually faten to eaehotto Mkhml 9pflspst» a nniormafMnt in Journalism and poNOeal science and is The Daily Collegian’s Tuesday colum nist. His e-mail is mJoso7l9pM.edu THE Daily Collegian LETTERS PSU fans can learn from rival A brief history: In 2005, the Ohio State marching band visited PSU for the Ohio State vs. Penn State game, a matchup PSU would go mi to win and thus upset OSU.. Many current students may not be aware but the OSU band was treated extremely poorly Airing their trip. Bags of urine were dumped on band members as they walked by the student section after their haUtime performance. Some PSU fans attempted to punch OSU band members as they marched to the stadium. The show of disre spect by our fans was so egregious that OSU’s band director (who was a graduate student at Penn State many years ago) has. vowed never to bring the band back to PSU. East-forwarding five years to this past weekend, I had the opportunity to travel to Ohio State with the Blue Band. There was much apprehension within the band fast week, not knowing what retaliation we might face in response to the 2005 fiasco. There were the usual snide remarks, as expected, but no physical attacks. Did the student section cheer us? Of course not but they (fid not disrespect us as members of Penn State’s student section did in 2007 when they turned their backs to Notre Dame’s band and gave them the finger. As we inarched out of the stadium after a tough loss, many OSU fans gave us high fives and thanked us for coming, telling us how much they enjoyed our presence at the game. Penn State students should take a lesson from a university we claim to hate. They were respectful of the Blue Band, as our students should be to all visiting bands at Beaver Stadium. Fbr a student section ranked No. 1 in the country, we sure do not hold ourselves to high standards when it comes to respect and maturity. SMALL WORLD Roman holiday In two months, I will be boarding a plane to Rome, leaving my friends and family behind for three months and stepping foot on to European soil for the first time in my life. I don’t know any Italian and I’ve never been on an air- plane alone before. I’ve never been far ther from home then Canada. I can’t wait. This study abroad thing that has caused my so much stress for the past months and continues to give me anxi ety attacks is rapidly approaching, and, while I’m very nervous, I’m more excit ed about this than I’ve ever been about anything before. Forget about the stress of finding a subletter, finding the funds, booking the flight, registering the trip, requesting housing but not knowing until two weeks before 1 leave and scheduling courses that I may or may not get. I am going to be in ROME], The Eternal City Why Rome? I get that a lot. After tak ing French for five years, maybe France would have made more sense. Not to me. Maybe it’s my romanticized version of Rome from “Roman Holiday” and “The Lizzie McGuire Movie,” but I can’t think of a better European city to spend months in. I can’t wait to visit the Colosseum, the Trevi Fountain, eat tons of spaghetti, pizza and gefato, have my own Roman Holiday-esque romance and trapeze all over Europe... SNAP, CRACKLE, POP Second ‘Blue’ season With “Blue Mountain State” pre miering Oct 20, Darin Brooks, who plays second-string quarterback Alex Moran, talked to me about the pre miere, the second season and his own college experience. Q: How do you think the premiere went? A: I think it went realty well We were advertising it on Spike and I think now we are going to pump up the publicity. We saw the premiere on Saturday, we won out our demographic of 18-30 yea old guys. Q: What can we look forward to in the second season? A: Oct 20’s episodes were “Controversy” and “The Fingering.” Hie “Controversy” introduces two new mam characters, a new quarterback anda new girt Sense Richards wffl premiere in the second week, I think. She has a five episode run with us on season two. It’s going to be a good sea son. There are going to be a lot of cool cameos. Q: What has your experience been like on the show? How was it moving fromasaapoperatoaeomety? _ ~ A: A «ety raunchy comedy SoagManr agreattndmnggnnmdforai^ime.Qn Days of Our Lives, we shot 80-100 pages a day and completed six episodes in five days. I think soaps are the best training ground for anybody who wants to be an actoc On BMS, now I get to let loose. It’s a lot of fun for me, not that Days wasn’t fun. But I hhe being able ta lsfa,. loose and try different things., IVAiMii -1; Read more of The Defy Collegian’s blogs at psucolleglanxoiit/Mags. Dan DePodwln senior-meteorology Somer Wiggins Venues chief
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