property of Collegian Inc
6 1 FRIDAY, Nov. 19, 2010
Tut D It
Collegian
Elizabeth Murphy
Editor in 010
Kelsey Thompson
Business Ali/111w-
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to various fellow students during teams. Racial slurs appear more e-mail is srrsosl@psu.edu
Schools should join state group
University Park Under
graduate Association
President Christian
Ragland and other UPUA
representatives traveled
to Harrisburg last week
end to propose the forma
tion of a Pennsylvania
Student Association, but
they did not receive much
support from student rep
resentatives from state
funded schools.
Ragland will forge on
with in developing the
association, which will
now only involve the four
state-related schools
Penn State, Temple Uni
versity, University of Pitts
burgh and Lincoln Univer
sity
We understand the
smaller state schools' hes
itation in joining an asso
ciation with a much larger
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Regarding race, Penn State prone
to "blocking the sun with a finger"
By Sergio Rodriguez Avila
THE quote "blocking the
sun with a finger" (tapar
el sol con el dedo> is a
very common ,------ ,
expression
where I come
from, El ,(0....(
Salvador, a Ay ~,
small Spanish- j ' '
speaking coun
try smaller
than the size of
Massachusetts
in Central
America
MY OPINION
Unlike most of my fellow
Salvadorans, I have been given
the opportunity to pursue higher
education in the United States,
at Penn State. Just like all other
international students, every-
thing I learn here (not only aca
demically, but from my daily
experiences), I will bring back to
my country
As a Latino student, I can
proudly say I am attending, and
will soon graduate from, a uni
versity where diversity is very
important and different races
live together in harmony. But,
after more than three years of
living here, saying racism does
not exist at Penn State is equiva
lent to "blocking the sun with a
finger."
This expression means that
often, we can clearly see things
that need to be changed, but we
think that by ignoring them or
pretending they are not there,
the issue will cease to exist.
Throughout the last three and
a half years studying at Penn
State, the fact that I am Latino
has most of the time not been an
issue, regarding to race discrim
ination.
But recent news and experi
ences have made me desire to
speak up and inform Penn State
students that racism is not a
thing of the past, but quite
apparent in the pre s ent.
I first started to notice racism
as an issue during the last presi-
Penn State, and that the
issue of tuition increases
affects them less. Howev
er, we believe the power of
Penn State's voice would
allow for the concerns of
Pennsylvania schools of
all sizes to be better heard
by the state.
The more schools be
hind one voice, the strong
er it sounds.
We see no negative con
sequences in the open
communication between
all Pennsylvania schools
within an organization
with the ability to truly
enact change. When a lot
of differing opinions come
together, only good can
result.
What one school does to
help their students curb
financial costs can be
used to help students at
,4P0 0!
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the time, some planning to vote
for and others against Obama,
they would often mention that
the way they decided to vote
was greatly influenced by the
fact that Obama was black.
Voting for or against Obama
solely because he is black is
clearly racist, no matter which is
your race.
Students believe that in the
last presidential election, racism
was in some way defeated with
Ohama's triumph. On the con
trary if racism was not really an
issue, voters should not have
cared if he were white or not.
Several polls suggested Penn
State students overwhelmingly
voted for Obama, and that many
felt and feel proud as if this
means that in some way, we are
a university that is completely
accepting of diversity.
Clearly, Penn State is very
welcoming to all races and ways
of thinking. but there is much
more work to be done.
After the presidential elec
tions, I started to become more
aware of this issue and thinking
of race-related issues I had been
a victim of since my arrival.
Many of you would probably
hope for the opposite, but since I
came here, I have had some bad
experiences related to my Latin
American origin that were not
very pleasant.
It is important to mention that
the amount of fingers on one of
my hands is more than enough
to count how many there have
been.
The interesting part, though,
is most of them have been
recent.
Like most Latinos, soccer, or
fittbol as we call it, is one of my
passions. My Latino friends and
I came up with a soccer team
and are participating in the intr
mural soccer tournament here
at Penn State, organized by the
soccer club.
During many games, we have
been "suggested" to leave
America and speak only English
another similar school.
Organizations like the
Pennsylvania Student
Association have already
proven successful in other
states, including Michigan
and California.
Why can't Pennsylvania
be the next success story?
Christian Ragland
should continue his pur
suit of open communica
tion among school repre
sentatives and the Board
of Student Government
Presidents.
The sharing of ideas
and hearing differing opin
ions can only benefit stu
dent groups.
But other student repre
sentatives should also
realize that the positives
outweigh the negatives
with the formation of this
association.
it
SIN
often when we are winning.
Many would agree that when
you are losing, it is somewhat
`normal" to take out your anger
on the opposing team by some
sort of insult.
It is interesting, though, that
race and country of origin is the
first insult to come to their
mind.
About a month ago, a close
friend of mine was almost
stabbed with a knife by a frater
nity member because he was
speaking Spanish. Thank God
my friend avoided the knife and
only got his shirt cut.
During the last Michigan
game, a married couple was
verbally harassed because the
woman was white and her hus
band black
They had to leave the game
early, the couple admits, after
the woman received racial slurs
due to her relationship with her
husband.
Clearly, these examples are
just a few bad apples in the
bunch. What I intend by relaying
these experiences is to urge that
whenever you see something
like this, and do nothing about it,
you become an accomplice.
It is not only the fact that
minority students in tourna
ments such as intrmural soccer
are insulted with racial slurs
it is also that no one in their
teams or the organizers do any
thing about it.
It is not that a Latino almost
got stabbed for speaking
Spanish it is the fact that the
attacker's other fraternity mem
bers did not do anything to stop
it or report the incident to the
authorities.
It is not the bad experience
that a diverse married couple
was insulted it is the fact that
no one stopped the insults.
Every time we say, "We are,
Penn State," truly mean the plu
ral part of the cheer.
semi° Rodriguez Aviia is a senior
majoring in economics and is an inter-
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN
Four Loko ban is un-American
I know connecting alcoholic beverages
with American freedom sounds ridiculous,
but the FDA's threat of legal action regard
ing Four Loko's ingredients is an absurd
violation of the freedom every citizen has to
consume whatever they wish, even if it may
be hazardous to their health. Phillip
Carrington was right with his Red Bull
analogy. What's next? Will the FDA ban
energy drinks because they can be mixed
with vodka? The government dictating
what businesses can and cannot sell is not
only foolish, it's un-American.
Local businesses are vanishing
In response to Monday's column, "Local
businesses integral downtown," bravo to
Katie Sullivan for taking on the influx of
chains that have been creeping into State
College over the last several years. Like
her, I have fallen victim to them where I
live, on occasion, out of convenience.
However, when I visit Happy Valley,
whether on business or for fun, I make it a
point to support those places I went to as a
student. I encourage my fellow alumni, as
well as all current students, to please sup
port the local downtown restaurants and
shops that you will never find anywhere
else.
Hooligans only help rally team
I am writing in response to Wednesday's
letter "Hooligans cause game bedlam."
First I would like to say that I am a proud
member of Hertzog's Hooligans, which is
actually our namesake. Second I would like
to state the definition of ignorance as
defined by Webster's Dictionary: "The state
of being ignorant, lack of knowledge, educa
tion or awareness."
Fbr the entire season, a group of pas
sionate fans have shown up for the men's
soccer games. I take pride in your state
ments saying that we hooligans "protest
after every referee call that goes against
Penn State, even when the call is correct. -
I think I speak for our entire group when I
say, does your statement about our protest
and lack of knowledge of the beautiful
game transfer over to other sports? Would
you have written in to the Collegian
because the student section at a football
game yelled when referee made a call they
disliked? I didn't think so.
As for your accusations against
Hertzog's Hooligans for stealing the Akron
jerseys, I'd like to say that we had nothing
to do with it, and maybe if you would pay
more attention, you would know that we
were the ones who were trying to find
them. In closing, I would just like to say
that the team's so called "fans," such as
you, Mr. Flick, impede on the growth of the
beautiful game in this wonderful country of
ours.
Jesse Shadle
senior-recreation. park and tourism management
Dorms should open for game
I am writing in response to the news that
dorms will be opening at 8 a.m. the day of
the Michigan State football game. For this
game, instead of its normal Wednesday
night start, Paternoville will begin on
Friday afternoon. I do Paternoville for
every home game, and all of our group
members live in the dorms. As we are
eager to camp out for one last time this
year, we realize that there is a possibility
that Paternoville could be shut down due to
weather. In this case, campers are forced to
take down their tents and move inside for
the night. If this were to happen,
Paternoville residents camping out for
Michigan State who live in dorms would be
left without a place to stay for the night
without paying to get into the dorms early.
The university needs to better prepare
themselves for situations like this in the
future. If there is a home game the
Saturday after Thanksgiving, the dorms
should open Friday night. Regardless of
whether you do Paternoville or not, stu
dents should have the opportunity to come
back to State College the night before the
game in order to avoid the heavy game day
traffic Saturday morning. Opening the
dorms earlier would encourage more stu
dent attendance, something that has been
an issue with alumni all season long. With
people already questioning the quality of
student attendance at kickoff, Nov. 27 could
provide student section with more criticism
than before.
Troy Weller
sophomore-broadcast journalism
Hunting as a sport has profits
As the fall sets in each year in Pennsyl
vania, it appears that collegiate and profes
sional sports take the center stage. But
there is another sport that hundreds of
thousands of Pennsylvania citizens are
members of. That is hunting. Hunting is
the state's first true sport, as early settlers
hunted for family survival. Hunting is the
only sport that literally has life dependent
on the outcome. It is a sport that has been
passed down from grandfather to grandson
and father to daughter. Early archery sea
son for deer is over, and bear season begins
its three day campaign this Saturday, but
people most often hear of the rifle season
for deer
Many letters are sent in condemning
hunting as "unethical." Hunting and
hunters are conservationists. Hunting pro
vides cheap and good food to families. It is
local, and uses less resources than buying
groceries shipped in from other statPsnr
countries. Instead of criticizing hunters this
year, let's rather wish them a safe hunt, as
many are injured or die each season. Good
luck, shoot straight and be safe.
Kyle Nelson
senior-international politics
Michael White
Class of 2003
Matthew Truesdale