Category: Editorial

After the sad removal of Pi Beta Phi sorority from campus at the start of this semester, it is encouraging that Alpha Xi Delta sorority will be joining the University’s Panhellenic ranks this spring. While adding yet another organization to the Greek system on campus seems like it may increase the overall Greek presence on campus, it may accomplish more positive goals than negative ones.

“The goal of extension is to increase the opportunity for interested women to become affiliated and to slightly decrease the average sorority chapter size,” Kevin Pons, assistant director of sorority life, said.

This goal of greater opportunities is right in line with perceived needs of the Greek system.  We see a major disadvantage of sorority life compared to fraternity life at the University in the sororities’ significantly larger sizes. With approximately 135 members per sorority compared to about 70 per fraternity, the sororities can’t offer the same kind of intimate relationships the fraternities are able to cultivate. The boys’ smaller pledge classes provide them with more intimate settings to get to know each other and form a common bond.

In addition to the more intimate relationship opportunities, a smaller chapter size allows for more leadership roles. With fewer girls vying for limited positions, more women can benefit from the leadership aspects of the Greek system. The smaller chapter size will also help with individual accountability of the members. With the current sizes, it’s easy for members to get lost in the shuffle and not be missed from mandatory events, like chapter meetings, philanthropy events and speakers; with a smaller size, it will be more difficult to bail on these things.

Fraternities will also benefit from the additional chapter in social and philanthropic opportunities. With another organization to participate in events, we believe the fraternities will be given more women to interact with and have the chance to meet another group of women with their own personality.

Beyond the benefits from changes in chapter size and relationships with fraternities, the addition of AZD will bring a new sense of attention to next fall’s formal recruitment. The increase in competition from the new chapter will force all of the sororities’ recruitment chairs to up their game and fight for their ideal pledge classes.

Hopefully, these benefits will pan out over the next year and the University will have the opportunity to open the campus for extension again to accomplish the same goals, continuing to propel Greek life to success.

This week’s email to campus regarding the extension of the gym’s hours sparked a lot of discussion on campus this week. It was nice to see that a student’s efforts to improve the campus were taken seriously and the administration chose to better our school. It’s important to listen to the student voice, identify issues and solutions and then find ways to implement them.

With extended hours of the fitness center also comes extended pool hours, more fitness classes and more intramural athletics opportunities. If group fitness classes and open swim hours are extended later into the evenings, this may allow students who are in class or meetings during the day or early evening the opportunity to utilize these resources. Those who choose to participate in intramurals will also benefit from the increase in opportunities, whether it is in number of sports or in scheduling.

The addition of the uphill basketball court is also a great achievement for student activity.  Since the court was built early in the summer, both it and the court by the KLARC have been in constant use, indicating that the addition of another outdoor court was a necessity.

With all of these pluses to the changes being made by Rec services come some negatives as well. For those who work at the gym as lifeguards, weight room attendants or even the guys at the check-in desk, these extended hours late into the night will probably cut into their personal time. However, if more students are given the opportunity to fill these roles as work study or on campus jobs, it’s just one more plus for the changes being made.

Another concern are the days chosen for late-night extension. Why are Friday and Saturday nights included, but not Sunday and Monday nights? With the social culture on campus, we would expect more students to hit the gym after 10 p.m. when there aren’t any parties going on. The social culture may not just create a lack of attendance on Friday and Saturday nights, but it could also convince students to attempt to work out when intoxicated, something unsafe for them and a disruption for others in the gym. While it’s not acceptable for anyone to behave in this fashion, it’s an issue that is definitely a possible problem.

Overall, the decision to listen to a student’s pleas and meet the athletic demand on campus is encouraging and gives students more opportunities to fit living a healthy lifestyle into their schedules.  This initial change also paves the way for more adjustments and larger changes later on.

When the MSNBC video came out in early September showing University students to be apathetic and ignorant regarding the newly passed voter ID laws in the state of Pennsylvania, no one was more disappointed in our student body than The Bucknellian staff.

After printing multiple articles related to the voter ID expiration date issue, we were dismayed to find out that students didn’t seem to care about this piece of news that could directly affect them and require them to take action. Our faith in the campus’ political involvement was diminished.

As this week’s election continued to approach though, we were excited to see student interest and involvement in the election skyrocket, something the video had caused us to doubt. Bucknell Student Government (BSG) ran a campaign imploring students to register to vote, providing them with the opportunity to register in the LC mall at their convenience. With this initiative, we believe many students registered to vote and followed through on election day who may not have done so without BSG’s encouragement and efforts.

Beyond simply giving students a convenient registration and voting location, the campus came together to provide resources for students to learn more about the parties, their candidates and their stances on different issues.

The Conservatives Club and College Democrats wrote opinions pieces to be printed in The Bucknellian in the weeks leading up to the election. President Bravman moderated a presidential debate on the evening of Nov. 5 and had students present their political views. Viewings were held around campus to watch the debates, as well as Election Day coverage on Nov. 6.

Election Day on campus proved even further that our students aren’t as apathetic and uneducated on politics as the MSNBC video originally showed. All over campus, students, faculty and staff could be seen proudly displaying their “I voted” stickers. Discussion of the election was inevitable in every class and group meeting. WVBU hosted a live broadcast in the Bison with video interviews. Groups were eagerly awaiting results throughout the evening in dormitories, apartments and fraternities. Our participation and strong attitudes toward this year’s election across the campus couldn’t be ignored.

Regardless of the Democratic Party’s victory with President Barack Obama winning a second term and the upset of the Republican Party over Mitt Romney’s defeat, the campus came together to have their voices heard in the United States and in the state of Pennsylvania. While our staff can’t even come to a finite decision on which candidate was the best option for the next four years, we did come to a decision quite easily over our impression of this campus’ political interests. We were pleased to see such an active community, especially following such a disappointing and embarrassing video displaying our apathy on the same exact subject.

Looking back on the events of this week’s hurricane, we agree with the University’s decision to cancel classes and shut down many of the facilities. Students, faculty and staff needed this time not only to be in survival mode in their homes, but also to stay in contact with their families, many of whom were more affected by the storm than those of us on campus.

With high winds and heavy rains occurring on campus, students were no doubt in physical danger. The decision to close the Grove due to falling limbs was made with our safety at its root. Tromping through puddles against the wind with the possibility of projectiles just wasn’t safe and the University was able to recognize that and act on it. Additionally, the projection of squalls throughout the afternoon was a major concern to us and we are grateful the University chose our safety as a top priority.

Beyond having the physical burden of being in classes during the storm removed was having emotional stability provided. Luckily, the physical campus was not impacted too greatly by the storm, but with a student body–and our own staff–made up of students mainly from New Jersey, New York and other parts of Pennsylvania, our families were feeling the physical effects more. With classes and other activities being canceled, we were given the opportunity to keep in contact with our relatives facing the storm. We were able to keep ourselves updated on whether our homes were damaged and whether our families were injured. We believe the decision to close the University benefited us not only by keeping us physically safe, but also by providing us emotional stability and the opportunity to focus on aspects of our lives being affected away from campus. In particular, we appreciated the email from President Bravman sent Wednesday night reaching out to us  and other members in our University’s community. The notice of the emotional toll and the sympathy he provided us with was heartwarming.

While we agree with the decision, we feel that both we as students and some of our professors were still left in a state of distress earlier on Oct. 29. Because the local schools were closed and the University made a decision about our closing so late, some professors were forced to bring their children to campus and leave them in offices or with other professors while they taught. While it’s inevitable that the University will remain open on days when local primary and secondary schools will be closed, the issue with this particular day was the lack of notice. Other universities in the area announced their closings earlier, so that their faculty and staff could concentrate on their families’ needs during this weather event. For students, we even found difficulty in trekking around campus for our 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. classes. Perhaps the University should have closed its doors earlier, or at least made and announced a decision earlier so plans could have been made.

Over the last week, we’ve experienced many inconveniences and disappointments related to this year’s Homecoming events. Typically, Homecoming Weekend is just difficult for students due to lack of parking. However, this year’s number and grandeur of events is more the issue, affecting us before the weekend even begins.

Being forced to walk around the perimeter of the quad due to the large tent construction to make our way to places on campus is becoming a huge inconvenience in our study schedules. Because professors often finish class a few minutes after the official end, we’re late making our way to our next classes, sometimes only going from Coleman Hall to Vaughn Literature Building. While this type of inconvenience is acceptable for a day or two, we struggle with the expectation to be on time while also following rules that can make it impossible to do so.

Other concerns we’ve had are the noise pollution and access to the library during the events. During this construction process, we’ve had difficulty focusing in classes in Coleman Hall and Vaughn Literature Building due to the volume of the tent construction. The main floor of the Bertrand Library is also in direct line of the noise, making it difficult for us to work on papers and projects on the main floor computers and diminishing our productivity. We’re very concerned that over the weekend, we’ll have a hard time accessing the library. With only one main entrance that is located next to the tent on the quad, we’re worried that the guests and security for the events will provide difficulty not only with the noise control, but also with navigating through the crowds. As students, our main focus should be on education, and shouldn’t be compromised by Homecoming Weekend events. Less seriously, many students take advantage of fair-weather fall days by playing Frisbee or football on the engineering or main academic quads, something that won’t be possible this weekend, one of our last few with nice weather.

We don’t think that students would be as upset about the aforementioned inconveniences if they were actually allowed to take part in more of the Homecoming festivities. As for the exclusivity of the events, we are both grateful and disappointed by their inclusion and exclusion of students. We appreciate that a lottery system for tickets was provided for the Norah Jones concert; it’s important to us that all students are given an opportunity to attend. However, the other exclusive events did not provide students with the same opportunities. Tonight’s reception and dinner held in the Fieldhouse did not give any opportunity for students to attend, learn about alumni and their experiences and network. These events are important in helping our current students to cultivate relationships with our alumni and a lottery system for this event in addition to the one for the Norah Jones concert would have been appreciated. An application might have even been another option; students could be selected to attend based on their responses to a questionnaire, for example, in which they could express their motives for wanting to go.

Not being allowed near the tent or to attend some of the events this weekend is disappointing and is doing a disservice to the students by excluding them from an important event in the University’s history. With the largest campaign ever at this school, students should feel the excitement and enthusiasm needed to accomplish something so large.

President John Bravman stated in his email sent to all students on Oct. 17, the “WE DO” theme of the campaign is meant to “[reflect] the spirit of action and achievement that so defines the students, alumni and community of Bucknell.” Shouldn’t students be able to share in the celebration of their actions and achievements alongside alumni and the rest of our community without compromising their schoolwork and classtime?

Initial reactions to the promotion of 14 new full professors included surprise amongst students. Taking the University’s small size into account, with approximately 350 full-time faculty members, the appointment of 14 new full professors seemed to be quite high.  However, 62 percent of faculty are tenured (“About Bucknell: Fast Facts,” Bucknell.edu), something that many students don’t realize.

An article from May of last year in The Chronicle of Higher Education stated, “Less than a quarter of college leaders … said they would prefer full-time, tenured professors to make up most of the faculty at their institutions. Instead, 69 percent said they would prefer that a majority of faculty work under long-term or annual contracts” (“Most Presidents Prefer No Tenure for Majority of Faculty,” May 15, 2011).

With tenured positions costing universities so much money over time, it seems unlikely that any school would want to offer any professors tenure, yet universities continue the tenure track in order to keep great professors and researchers on their campuses.

Here at the University, this is apparent in the quality of professors who are granted tenure. Rarely are students able to tell the difference between tenured and non-tenured professors based on engagement with students and work ethic. Real efforts are made in promoting faculty members to tenure status that have truly made an impact on the students.

Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Mike Toole ’83 not only advises the civil & environmental engineering class of 2013 and teaches courses each semester, but he also organizes the ILTM program each year, an interdisciplinary engineering and management summer program for rising juniors. Professor of English Shara McCallum recently organized a multi-lingual poetry reading held in Bucknell Hall in addition to her standard teaching course load. Both of these professors received approval for full-professor status in April, and neither has decreased their efforts to engage students inside and outside of the classroom.

It is the passion for teaching and learning that provides the University and its students with the education for which it is nationally recognized and applauded. By locking passionate, engaged professors in for long-term teaching commitments, the University is putting student interests first.

Inspiring and engaging faculty members provide the enthusiasm students need to succeed in class; they advise the extracurriculars that build our resumes as well as provide us with stimulating activities. The fact that a growing apathy doesn’t exist among our tenured professors actively proves the commitment they have to us as students.

With this week’s Stop the Hate Unity Rally and the upcoming Coming Out Day photo and list, the issue of tolerance on our campus is coming to the forefront. With so many students and faculty members signing the Coming Out Day support list in honor of the national day, it seems that our campus is as liberal as Oberlin. But in reality, there’s still a lot of acceptance lacking.

Based on sexual orientation, or even perceived sexual orientation, students are often cast aside or not included in group projects or campus organizations and activities. This exclusion isn’t necessarily an open and obvious thing, but rather a lack of inclusion. Students don’t go out of their way to keep from interacting with LGBT students, but they also don’t go out of their way to ensure those students attend an organization’s social event.

This problem also arises from the LGBT group itself. The group often seems so close-knit that it’s impossible for an outsider or a heterosexual to finagle his way in. The common room at Fran’s House is as exclusive as any fraternity house or sorority suite on campus. With this attitude coming toward straight students, it’s hard for the majority of campus to find a way to fit in with this smaller group, making them hesitant to improve relationships.

Even within the LGBT community, the problem of acceptance still exists. Not all LGBT students feel comfortable within the organization and often don’t participate in the group’s activities or interact with its members. This feeling of exclusion within a group that people feel they should be close with is just unacceptable on a campus that’s moving toward the acceptance of diversity.

Regardless of the issues, the University, its groups and its students are continuing attempts to raise awareness, include more students and interact with the full campus body. It’s commendable that one professor came out to his students during class on National Coming Out Day last year. The English department’s use of the pronoun “zie” is a much more all-inclusive reference term starting to be recognized nationally. The addition of gender neutral housing to this year’s selections gave many students the chance to live with whomever they choose, regardless of biological sex. Even the inclusion of the issue of sex vs. gender is becoming more widespread in courses around campus; psychology, anthropology and sociology classes are all taking the plunge and providing students with a forum to discuss and gain a better understanding of sex and gender issues. With these types of changes happening across campus, there’s a good chance that in a short time, acceptance and typical interactions between the straight and the LGBT communities will become the norm.

Two years ago, when the University decided to strengthen its alcohol and drug violation policy, it helped to mitigate the illegal activities on campus. Students started taking state laws more seriously and finding themselves facing real consequences for their illegal actions. However, the onset of the University’s new policy on hookah is not accomplishing the same goal.

While hookah is still legal in the state of Pennsylvania, the University now includes hookah in its list of prohibited items and behavior. Other items on the list include drugs illegal in Pennsylvania as well as associated paraphernalia. The decision to begin including hookah as a prohibited substance has sparked controversy on campus, as many students partake in the activity and feel their rights are being violated.

The New York Times published an article on May 30 of last year entitled “Putting a Crimp in the Hookah.” The article discussed the move toward deeming the substance illegal, as well as hookah bars in certain states and bans put on them by colleges across the country.  One reason cited is the health concern from smoking. Many believe that the water filtering process in hookah smoking eliminates all of the harmful chemicals, but that is false. The activity is still a health risk, leading to the bans from states and universities.

If the University is jumping on board with the health hazards of the substance, then why is it not banning other substances at least as harmful? With cigarette smoking still allowed on campus, students are jeopardizing their health in the same way, while often afflicting other students as well. Secondhand smoke is considered an annoyance by any student who chooses not to smoke, and many are often caught downstream, unable to separate themselves from an activity in which they choose not to participate. The health concerns associated with cigarettes should justify their placement on the banned substances list if that argument is being made for hookah.

As a health concern, there’s nothing preventing students from choosing to smoke hookah off campus. The Grasshopper, on Market Street, offers the activity at a hookah bar, creating a social setting. There’s no reason that students can’t choose to continue affecting their health by smoking.

Additionally, some students on campus smoke hookah as a cultural practice. With the University’s effort to improve and increase diversity on campus by hiring an associate provost for diversity and an associate dean of students for diversity, it seems contradictory that the new policy is so blatantly disregarding a multicultural activity. While candles are prohibited on campus, menorahs are allowed with permission during Hanukkah. If we will acknowledge and accommodate certain practices but not others, students are led to distrust the administration and its policies.

With the University’s involvement in the development of a new app for Geisinger Health System, it seems that students and the school should be more in tune to our nutritional needs. We’re so excited about the healthier options available nearby, with a Subway on Market St. and Wendy’s and McDonald’s offering lower calories choices. We aren’t so thrilled about the dining on campus.

Over the last couple of years, Dining Services has done a fantastic job of improving the campus food experience by posting nutritional information, but we find it’s still lacking. While specialty items from The Daily Dish and other stations have the caloric count and other facts posted, the standard items’ information isn’t as readily available.

At the Mexican station and the Bison Grill, any of the standard menu items do not have the information posted in an easily accessible location. Even made-to-go items don’t always provide good nutritional information. On a recent inspection of a Dirt Pudding cup, we saw the following: Calories – 937, Fat – 53g, Sugars g. The actual number of grams of sugar was non-existent on the label. Even when the information is provided, it’s somehow still incomplete.

As for the wrap and sandwich stations, it would appear that the caloric count for your meal would be easy to calculate, but it’s not. The postings give a breakdown of information for different a la carte options based on the weight of the item on your sandwich. However, the staff rarely uses a scale to measure out turkey or other items, meaning your calorie estimation could be way off base. Even when they do weigh items, students aren’t made aware of the totals.

We, as students, need to be responsible for ourselves and the decisions we make about the food we eat. Dining Services and the University need to be responsible for providing us with the options and information to make good, informed decisions.

Last week, we printed an article about the “freshman 15” and finding a way to balance a healthy lifestyle. The University offers group fitness classes at no extra cost to students, but for some reason, the ice cream freezer in the Terrace Room is more popular than any of the classes. We need to not only be monitoring how much and what we eat, but also what physical activity we’re participating in. Between the options at the KLARC and the many different club and intramural sports teams, there’s no reason we can’t find that balance.

Let this be a wake up call to all of campus: we are responsible for the decisions we make regarding our health. We have to take action and be conscious of what we’re putting in our bodies and how we’re taking care of ourselves.

With all of the Facebook status updates and tweets on Twitter, we couldn’t help but notice the lack of campus-wide events in memory of 9/11 this year.  Last year’s event, held on a Sunday, was well attended and allowed students a place to gather as a group in memory of those lost in 2001.

While the eleventh anniversary may not seem like as much of a landmark occasion as the tenth anniversary celebrated last year, many students are hesitant to let go of a memorial that greatly affected them.  The campus’s lack of acknowledgement of the day was disappointing for students whose family members and loved ones were impacted by or perished in the attacks over a decade ago.

The generation of students currently on campus can still vividly remember where they were when they learned about the attacks and that memory will stay with them forever.  In ten years, this may not be the case.  Students a decade from now will not remember what happened, where they learned of the event or even how it affected them.

As always, a display of American flags was organized on the uphill side of the Langone Center, but those students who don’t visit the LC on a regular basis didn’t know they were there.  For fraternity men and students who live in the Gateways or downtown Lewisburg, trips to the LC are few and far between, leaving them unaware of the flag decorations.

Because a large number of students at the University are from the east coast, particularly the state of New York, it is disappointing to see that we could so easily forget the effects from that fateful day 11 years ago. In addition to geographic proximity to the event, we have cultural proximity on this campus as well.  There is a thriving ROTC program and many students who come from military backgrounds.

Beyond the lack of recognition here on campus, the United States nationwide has dropped the ball.  The New York Times has come under fire for choosing not to print any 9/11 related content of their front page.  However, other news organizations chose to print articles pointing out the loss of reverence associated with events around the country.  More of the events are centered around the upcoming election season and those who speak loudly, rather than on the sacrifices the military makes on the country’s behalf.

Perhaps the Times has it right.  Maybe it is time for the country to move past an event over a decade old and look to the future.  After all, if we were still commemorating every tragic event in history, we’d still be having days of silence for the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the assassination of JFK.