I TUESDAY, Nov. 30, 2010 Tur. D Y 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 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 necessaril 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 Cinlll, 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.psucollegian.com ■ Postal mall/In 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. Bigotry shouldn't be Bobby and Linda Baker came to Penn State Oct. 30 as Michigan fans to watch the match up between the Wolverines and the Nittany Lions. Instead, they were forced to leave the game early by Penn State fans taunting the couple with racial slurs. While we recognize that this intolerable behavior does not represent the majority of the Penn State community, it is still inex cusable. Behavior like this from anyone students, alumni or fans should MAY IT 71-e Co,Pi 'iCXA ',k-)l,lcT-:' ~``~, -~ illeialliMagiumm MEOW AIR ass II IME 1N11111110N11.11114111111 So amessamilmlNllllllllimisi am sal mies a- • .11110111.111M111111111111111111= issimszi .o~ w Dio r IllisossimilinsomMlNllii Mai Min ourr -0•001111111111111111,1111111111111111•111111 Ilineasminuisignumann 11111111MAWNIIIIIINI 1 1 110111111111111111 111111/0111110NSIMMIUMIII IMMI ii11111111111111111 1111111111 • Mium I.IIIIIIIIIIIIIIMINI MINIIIIIIIMMI IMIIIIIUMN OIIIOIIIIMOMM 1.10110111011111111. 1111 . 111111111111111111.111 Iv Sir KO INIMINIMIIIIIOI MAI um ow no no ass saws.2lWaa smoinisimp - lia mar vim 1.• =MI NINIMMI NUM MIN 1111111111•11 11 s me ow la sammiumommonnualltleillinalllNllllllMlllNlN WM we NIIIIIIIIIMINIMMININNIM IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIOIIIII.I M imbowsimmuummoninlillhenniamisiM Nllll IN IS II /1111111MUMINNOMMON111111111.1111111111111111,111rnii lieMill•11111/11.111 1111111 MUIMMIN IMMINIMIN N, CO &MINA No — "NimiliNiaMill11111•111111111111 .Mlllll.l=llllllllll Coverage of Paffil gaffe shows skew By Michael Oplinger SARAN Patin is right. Sometimes the media doesn't treat her faith. particularly dur ing the past week. During an interview on Glenn Beck's radio show, the former governor of Alaska mis takenly referred to North Korea as an ally of the United States ~440. MY OPINION The gaffe was part of a much longer segment in which she clearly and repeatedly referred to South Korea as an ally of the U.S. Palin's slip-up was just one moment in a 15 minute inter view with Beck in which she dis cussed everything from her daughter's appearance on - Dancing with the Stars" to fem inism. After correctly identifying the countries numerous times, Palm said "North Korean allies," was quickly corrected by Beck. and continued with her comment. Yet headlines in numerous publications screamed that Palin didn't know where the United State stood on the Korea situation. Using one of the many outlets at her disposal, Pabn turned to Facebook to defend her state ment. In a post titled "A Thanksgiv ing Message to All 57 States," the former vice presidential can didate listed numerous verbal gaffes made by Barack Obama during speeches. The title of the post refers to a time where Obama once said he had cam- never be tolerated. Being drunk at a football game is no excuse for bigotry. We commend the Bak ers for making their voice heard. Racism should never be accepted or swallowed by those sub jected to it, and the dia logue they have started could empower other vic tims to come forward in the future. We also applaud the uni versity for taking the proper steps to holding the bigots accountable through a criminal investi gation and by personally HAPPY ENDINGS MASSAGE PARLOR paigned in 57 states when he meant to say 47. The post links to videos of ()hama calling Europe a country instead of a continent and say ing the Constitution was written more than 20 centuries ago instead of decades. Most people are unaware that Obama ever said such things, mostly because they're simple slips of the tongue that don't matter -- just like Palin's was. ()barna knows that Europe is a continent. just like Palin hones the difference between North and South Korea. Such mistakes are inevitable. With microphones constantly in front of their faces, politicians are going to slip up occasionally. They make speeches all day and are bound to mix a few words up. In an era where video cam eras are inescapable and every thing is recorded, the mistakes just seem to be pointlessly mag nified. But Obama's mistakes aren't as well known because the media correctly chose not to cover them. The gaffes simply weren't newsworthy and neither was Patin 's. An honest mistake that is quickly corrected should just be ignored. The correction was made and everyone should move on. This rarely seems to happen with PaIM and certainly didn't last week. Instead of just ignoring the misstatement, the Internet exploded with comments that Palin didn't iciow where the U.S stood on the situation. Stories like these are one of the main reasons the media is perceived to have a liberal bias tolerated reaching out to the Bak ers with their apologies and remorse. Students and alumni should follow in the Bak ers' example and not sit back when they or some one they know are being subjected to any type of slur. The excuse of a tense game day atmosphere can also never be blamed for this type of behavior. Anyone who chooses to wear a Penn State jersey should remember the morals our university stands for: "May no act of ours bring shame." • 4 , 114`l , NMT DISS\XeDiS coNseu3k, The difference between news outlets isn't in the big important stories. Every outlet covers eco nomic issues, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the conflict in Korea. It's very difficult to distinguish the coverage of these stories, especially when many media outlets run Associated Press pieces. But the fringe stories that an outlet chooses to cover shows its leanings. Determining that a slip of the tongue is newsworthy demon strates poor journalistic judg ment and integrity. Such decisions fuel the criti cism of a perceived liberal media with an agenda against conservatives. Whether the accusations are true or not, the stories at least start a discus sion. The very existence of such trivial stories does not help the media in its defense of impar tiality. Recognizing an agenda is not too much of a stretch. In Palin's case, the strategy may be working against the alleged liberal media. She con stantly derides what she calls the "lame-stream media" for trying to make her look bad, which only adds to her reputa tion as a person outside the establishment Plus, part of her appeal as a true representative of the peo ple is the fact that she occasion ally makes mistakes and doesn't always give the correct answers. But this time, Palin is right. Michael Oplinger is a senior majoring in media studies and political science and is The Daily Collegian's Tuesday columnist. His e-mail is mioso7l@psu.edu. Irt.MIL'S . TI9,A-e CAGIQCI6ZW•K Vtrtv AGLECARTOONS.COM THE DAILY COLLEGIAN Students right to choose family In response to Monday's letter, "Game shows student section shouldn't grow for next year," I think Mr. Campbell makes a valid point. Mr. Campbell emphasizes how the student section was "embarrassingly underrepresented" while the truly dedicat ed fans of the alumni sections were able to make it up to Happy Valley for such a piv otal game, and rightly so. Surely alumni who spend their time at home with their families on most weekends, or who can come home to loved ones each evening, should chastise students for taking advan tage of their one-week opportunity to do the same. The audacity of those students who didn't leave their families (and in some cases, relatives they may only see once a year) to trek back up and join the "dedicat ed" fans. I personally did make it back for the game, but I can completely understand those students who didn't, or who in many cases, were unable to find a ride back I appreciate Mr. Campbell's dedication to the football program here. No sarcasm to it, the football department here would not be the same without alumni support in its yearly financial contributions and game attendance. And while I agree with the notion that student turnout for games has been disappointingly lower this year, this argument against student section expan sion because, supposedly, every missing student is simply recovering from a hang over or too tired from "studying," is dis tasteful in its lack of thought and considera tion. University has become problem This is in response to Monday's letter, "Game shows student section shouldn't grow for next year" As a student who attended the Penn State vs. Michigan State game this past weekend, I agree with Mr. Campbell. The student turnout was disap pointing to say the least. However, Penn State didn't make it very accessible for stu dents to return to campus in order to see the game. About a week before Thanksgiving break, campus announced they'd be opening dorms up for students at 5 pm. Friday. As an out of state student, there is no way I'd have been able to get back to campus that late if I were still living in the dorms, and I'm assuming many stu dents without cars were faced with this problem. Yes, the student section has been rela tively sparse this whole year, but the school hasn't been very accommodating either. The new ticketing system has undoubtedly caused problems throughout the season and this past weekend's on-campus hous ing problem was another one. Hopefully, now that the regular season is over, the comments from people like you, Mr. Campbell, will stop. I, for one, am sick of it. Lauren Ritchey senior-wildlife and fisheries science Alumni also lacked attendance Dear Whiney Alumni (and yes I realize this doesn't apply to all of you), get off your freaking high horse. Is it embarrassing that the student section was only filled about half-way this weekend? Of course. However, judging from the thousands of empty seats in your sections, it's safe to say I am also embarrassed by you. Yes, you embarrassed me. Take a minute to stop complaining about the student section and look at the empty seats next to you, in front of you, and couple rows back. Also, I missed the part where I was sup posed to be excited that for my senior sea son. instead of having the best seats in the student section, I'm being stuck in the end zone again. And why am I being moved? So that the university can make some more money at football games. So, please, when you wake up tomorrow morning and get dressed fir work, put on a nice pair of khakis and leave your grumpy pants on the hanger. Allison Miller junior-human development and family studies Students showed school spirit Congratulations to all the students that showed for the Michigan State game. As a 30-year fan of Penn State football, it appeared that the underclassman atten dance at Saturday's game was the worst I've ever seen. Granted, it was a holiday weekend,the dorms were closed until early Saturday, it was cold and snowy and we were not expected to win the game, but those that did make the game reflected the true "We Are Penn State" spirit. These are the students that you want in the stands for every game in the future. They reflect the true spirit of Penn State, and should be rewarded for their spirit and loyalty. These students should be guaran teed tickets for next season, and not have to worry about the first come first served lottery. Let's go Penn State, and do some thing good for these kids that showed their true support of the team. SMALL WORLD Lion relocation For what was technically a Hoosier home game, the RdEx field was main ly blue and white... Erica Bracher Small world blogger Read more of The Daily Collegian's blogs at psucolleglan.com/blogs. Grayson Sundermelr senior-biology Tom Rapak Class of 1981
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