This passion post is probably the news story that has affected me the most personally, so I’m going to take a different approach on this one and write it more as an editorial.
As many of you know, Greek life is under serious scrutiny lately. There have been a wide variety of serious incidents at fraternities all across the nation, both legal and ethical. Most notable is Oklahoma University SAE’s incident, where a video of several members chanting racial slurs was leaked, leading to the expulsion of several members and that chapter being shut down. I’m going to link a video of the video for those interested, but WARNING: This video has a lot of profanity and I recommend watching it at your own discretion.
This incident sparked a serious investigation into Greek life at Oklahoma. Not long after this, another serious incident occurred at our very own Penn State University. The fraternity Kappa Delta Rho, or KDR, got into serious trouble when a private Facebook group they had was reported to the authorities, which included things such as drug deals and pictures of girls passed out in a variety of situations. The Inter Fraternity Council, or IFC, immediately suspended their actions, and the fraternity has been on suspension since, while an investigation into the incident continues. This article on Onward State shows the extent of the information we know now: http://onwardstate.com/2015/03/20/kappa-delta-rho-what-we-know-now/
Now, this post is not a defense of their actions at all. What both of these fraternities did was wrong, and in no way should their actions be justified. The people involved should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, both from law enforcement and their respective universities. Rather, I wanted to share my personal experience with fraternity life and what it means to me.
When I originally came to Penn State, I had no intentions of joining a fraternity. I knew my classes would be tough since I was a part of the honors college, and I didn’t think I would be able to balance myself socially and academically. If anything, I was going to wait until the spring semester to rush. But my brother was in a fraternity here, and I still knew a few friends from back home who were a part of this fraternity so I stopped by a few times just to hang out. In this few trips, I met a ton of new people, a lot of whom had similar interests to me. I particularly remember spending one night talking with a brother of this fraternity about the musical RENT, and how much we both loved it. Not only did I share the same interests with a lot of the brothers, but they were all as academically oriented as I was. There were about 10 or 11 brothers that were also part of the honors college, and they told me that if I ever needed any help that they were always available and willing to help me. I just felt like I belonged here.
DKE in the Christmas spirit.
So, I decided to rush. They gave me a bid, and I ended up pledging Delta Kappa Epsilon. At the end of last semester, I was initiated as a brother. I was also recently elected as our fraternities’ THON Chair, which is a great honor to me. One thing a lot of people don’t know is that the full name of THON is the Penn State IFC/PanHell Dance Marathon. THON was originally started by Greek life here at Penn State, exemplifying one of the many positive things that Greek life does for our community (If you’re interested about the origins of THON, check out http://thon.org/about/history).
Greek life has a negative stigma against it because of the public perception of fraternity life created by movies such as Animal House, and social media sites like ImShmacked, which promote excessive partying and drinking. But the truth is, fraternities are mainly just a group of guys that really get along well, have similar goals and interests, and are trying to make the most of their four years here at Penn State just like anyone else. So please, don’t let a handful of guys ruin the reputation of everyone in Greek life. The rest of us are working hard to fight against this reputation and show the positive things we do, and on behalf of all of Greek life, I’m asking for your support to help continue to make Penn State the best university on the planet.
Earlier this week, on a quiet Tuesday afternoon in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, shots rang out in an apartment complex near the University of North Carolina. Three victims were identified in this shooting: Deah Barakat, 33, a second-year dental student at the University of North Carolina, his wife, Yusor Mohammad Abu-Salha, 21, who was set to enroll at UNC in the fall, and Yusor’s 19 year old sister, Razan, who was a student at North Carolina State University. The following day, a 46 year old man named Craig Stephen Hicks was apprehended and charged with three counts of murder.
Even though this is a great tragedy within itself, there is an even deeper controversy regarding the cause of this shooting. The entire Muslim community is concerned that these act was a hate crime, and there is an active campaign against Muslims in this country. However, according to the shooter’s wife, this incident stemmed from a long standing dispute over a parking space in the apartment complex that they shared. Chapel Hill police assured the community that they would learn Hicks’ true motive, but their reports say that the parking spot claim seems to be validated.
The incident has sparked some serious racial tensions, with the hashtag #MuslimLivesMatter popping up frequently throughout social media.
Many people have been voicing their opinions on the matter on social media.
The Barakat family claims that there had been many prior interactions between the two parties, including many comments that Hicks made about how their appearance made him uncomfortable. In an interview with Suzanna Barakat, Deah’s sister, she says that she had heard second hand about these comments through some of Deah’s friends, with whom he had shared his frustration. You can watch that full interview here:
In this interview, she makes it very clear that she wants the media to focus on the good that her family, and the Muslim community as a whole, has done to make the world a better place. Deah was set to embark on a trip to Turkey over the summer with ten other dentists to provide dental care to Syrian refugees, and he posted a YouTube clip asking for donations to help these refugees.
Since this tragedy, the donations have been pouring in for his cause. The goal for the project was $20,000. As of Thursday morning, the project had raised over $200,000. Along with the donations come many words of kindness.
“While the families are overwhelmed with grief, let us all overwhelm them with love from across the world by donating to Syrian Dental Relief,” said Jane Chesterman Jewell.
North Carolina State University also released an article In Memoriam of the victims of this tragedy, where Deah was an alumnus and Razan was a current student (https://news.ncsu.edu/2015/02/gone-too-soon/). There have been multiple candlelight vigils in their honor at the NC State campus, and many students have spoken out about how Deah and his wife Yunus have impacted their life.
My thoughts are prayers go out to the families of these three beautiful young individuals, who were taken from us too soon.
Yup, that’s right! It’s another football scandal everyone. It’s amazing how much controversy surrounds the sport, in literally every aspect. On the field, off the field, player, coach, official, it doesn’t matter what your role in the sport is, odds are you’re probably causing a scandal in the sport of football somewhere.
Today’s scandal is brought to you by the New England Patriots.
Just last Sunday, the New England Patriots played the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship game. The Patriots ended up routing the Colts 45-7, but final score wasn’t the focus of the game. This was.
As it turns out, eleven of the twelve balls the Patriots provided to officials were underinflated. This may not sound like such a big deal, just reflate them or don’t use them right? The referees did not end up noticing this until after the game, so they missed the ball (pun?) on that one. This game was being played in cold weather, and in cold weather the ball becomes rigid and more difficult to grip. By deflating the balls, it creates creases in the ball that allow both the quarterback and his receivers to grip and catch the ball better. Each team also provides game balls only when their team is on offense, so it would have provided an exclusive advantage to the Patriots.
There is a lot of controversial debate about the issue. Most people agree that the outcome of the game was not affected by the underinflated balls, judging by the scoreboard. Dwayne Allen, a cornerback for the Colts, was quoted as saying “They could have played with soap for balls and beat us.” The Patriots were simply the better team and there was no denying that. Many people continue to be outraged about the code of ethics used in New England. This is just a brief outline of New England’s numerous scandals over the years. Some highlights include filming a defensive coordinator’s signals illegally and a shady substitution just in last week’s game that worked out in their favor.
There’s no doubt that a lot of people have issues with the New England Patriots. They’re the team that everybody loves to hate. They have won three Super Bowls just in this millennium and have no problems crushing everyone beneath them on their way to another, no matter the cost. Bill Belichick is arguably the greatest head coach of all time, and the same goes for Tom Brady at the quarterback position. There’s no denying that they are good at what they do, but when you use questionable methods to get there, it always leave a sort of mental asterisk next to their names in every record book. It makes you wonder, “Did they really win all the games on their own? What kind of stuff was going on that we just don’t know about? There must have been some sort of other way they cheated.” Even though the NFL isn’t taking any serious against the New England Patriots for their actions, that mental doubt is worse than any sanction they can bring down on them.
In honor of my final blog post, I felt like it was only fitting that it be about the future and where it is taking us.
Just this past week, a small probe sent into space by the European Space Agency landed on a comet known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, over three hundred million miles away from Earth. This is a completely unprecedented moment, a probe has never before landed on a comet (unless we’re talking about Armageddon with Bruce Willis). This landing was a trip that took over twenty years to complete, with the probe travelling four billion miles to reach its goal. For such a massive event, I feel like this story has completely been swept under the rug. It was all over the news the day of the event, and from that day on I haven’t heard one update on the event whatsoever. This event is more than just one single incident, it is the start of a vast movement into space exploration, this landing shows that our capabilities for space travel are increasing rapidly. I don’t have much of an understanding of it, but probes like this are what the Lunar Lion project are involved with actually, just directed towards the moon. Maybe after they accomplish their goal of reaching the moon, they can rebrand themselves and become the Comet Lion.
One update I did see regarding the comet, however, was that the probe has been collecting samples of the comet, a few of which contain organic compounds. Any material containing carbon is considered an organic compound, as carbon is the building block of all life. Comets contain matter dated to about 4.5 billion years ago, which is awfully close to the beginning of our planet. This supports a theory that comets were responsible for bringing some more complex compounds such as amino acids to Earth, dawning all of the life that we know now. Amino acids are the building blocks for proteins, and proteins are the building blocks of, well, us.
Unfortunatately, the probe ran out of battery last Friday, but scientists were able to adjust one of its solar panels towards more sunlight before it became inoperable. They hope that within the next couple months or by summer at the latest, that the probe will recharge enough to become operable and they can continue to conduct more research and gather more data on the comet. Regardless, it is a monumental event for both engineers and scientists across all fields. This landing reaffirms our capabilities as a race, and reminds us that we can accomplish anything with our work.
and just like that, we’ve reached the end of my final blog post. I sincerely hope that reading my blog has kept you more up-to-date with events going on outside more than just the Penn State community. It can be so easy to get caught up in this amazing town that we forget that there are actually other things going on in the world. But within the community, I also hope that everyone had an amazing first semester here in State College! Here’s to seven more wonderful semesters in the Happiest Valley of all. Thank you for reading.
It has been reported that the Islamic State leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi has been critically wounded, following a US airstrike on a military convoy in Iraq that was allegedly carrying a group of senior ISIS members. The airstrikes took place near the small Iraqi town of Mosul, near the Syrian border. The airstrikes destroyed a conboy of 10 trucks, one of which was believed to have been holding Al-Baghdadi.
This attack has been on of many, in a recent US campaign over the past couple weeks to launch a series of missile strikes on Islamic State group militants and facilities in an attempt to give the Iraqi forces more room for offensives of their own, to fight ISIS.
ISIS, or Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, has risen to power extremely quickly in the region, claiming vast ares of land. They have claimed area from Aleppo in Syria all the way to Baghdad in Iraq. For a general idea of how much area they actually control, this map provides a clear example.
With these areas under control, ISIS has declared their own Islamic state, with no affiliation to either nation. In fact, ISIS has been invading cities in both nations and taking control of them. ISIS soldiers recently captured the city of Mosul, and even though the militants were vastly outnumbered by Iraqi forces, they still took the city as many soldiers fled their posts out of fear. What they lack in numbers, ISIS makes up for in its intensity. They have developed a reputation of being ruthless in their tactics, commonly known for recording journalists being beheaded and displaying these videos for the public.
One of the biggest confusions about the whole topic is the difference between ISIS and ISIL. ISIS stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, where ISIL stands for the Islamic State of Iraq and The Levant. The Levant is a region of the eastern Mediterranean, which includes Syria. Higher ranking US officals tend to use ISIL, as it is the more politically correct way of saying it. It also helps avoid that dreadful word: Syria. After our recent conflict in Syria, any US official will do their best to avoid the topic if they can. Obama has also received a lot of bad press regarding his use of the acronym ISIS.
You also might be wondering how the United States became involved with this, and why they are ordering air strikes on ISIS leaders. I was originally a little confused with it myself. The United States technically has no official claim in the matter, but upon hearing reports of human rights being violated and mass murders occurring the area, starting in August 2014 the United States began sending non-combat troops in to Iraq and Syria to attempt to maintain peace. When this failed, the United States began issuing their hotly debated airstrikes on suspected ISIS facilities, in order to protect US lives. By using airstrikes, we have no need to invade the country and keep soldiers’ lives safe. The conflict has really been growing in recent years, but if the follow up reports prove to be true, and we have killed their leader Al-Baghdadi, then that would be a massive blow to ISIS (ISIL?).
My blog is typically used to address topics outside the community, to keep us informed on topics in the global community. However, recently one issue has arisen in our community that has plenty of people talking. The NCAA has released a series of emails regarding the sanctions imposed on Penn State, in which they question their own jurisdiction in the matter. Although that is just the basic story, hearing people talk about the case around campus allowed me to realize just how completely uninformed our general population is about the situation. People are misinformed, tell their friends this information, who then tell other people what they heard and it continues the cycle. Even though this story is exclusively within the Penn State community, I feel like it is still important to address and shed some light on what exactly has been going on, and what will be happening with the incident in the near future.
Recently, Senator Jake Corman sued NCAA in regards to keeping the 60 million dollar fine within the state of Pennsylvania. As part of this lawsuit, the NCAA was required to release around 400 internal emails in order to complete a thorough investigation. It was in these internal emails that lawyers discovered the doubts that officials had regarding their jurisdiction. One common misconception is that the emails were released in a lawsuit fighting the sanctions. It was actually a discovery period in one lawsuit that led to the information regarding the sanctions.
With this information, as optmimistic as we would like to be, we can’t say what this means for Penn State or the case at all. Despite public outrage over the matter, the NCAA released a statement on Wednesday defending their decision: “Debate and thorough consideration is central in any organization, and that clearly is reflected in the selectively released emails. The national office staff routinely provides information and counsel to the membership on tough issues. The NCAA carefully examined its authority and responsibility to act in response to the athletics department’s role detailed in the Freeh report. Ultimately, advised by all information gathered the Executive Committee determined to act and move forward with the Consent Decree.” In other words, they are telling us that they’re only words, and don’t have any effect on the decision they made.
After that statement by the NCAA, President Barron had a response of his own. He announced that he was “deeply disturbing that NCAA officials in leadership positions would consider bluffing one of their member institutions, Penn State, to accept sanctions outside of their normal investigative and enforcement process. We are considering our options. It is important to understand, however, that Penn State is in the midst of a number of legal and civil cases associated with these matters. We therefore have no additional comment.” Basically, both parties are playing their cards close to their chests now, and both parties feel like they have a good chance of winning this case. It should be interesting to see how it plays out, as more information continues to roll in. Although I might be biased in how I view this case, I think it’s important that if the NCAA really did abuse their power, that they face justice and right the wrongs that they did to our university.
Just a few shorts hours ago, reports broke that Eric Frein has been captured by PA state police. Considering the proximity of this story to where we live, odds are this isn’t really news to you. This story has been the talk of campus for a while now, but just in case you’ve been living under a rock the past month and a half, allow me to explain.
On September 12th of this year, Eric Frein concealed himself in the woods across the road from a police barracks in Blooming Grove, PA, armed only with himself and a sniper rifle. During the evening shift change, he opened fire on the officers leaving the building, killing Corporal Bryan K. Dickson, and wounding another, Alex T. Douglass. After firing off four rounds, he fled into the woods and was missing ever since. Police were able to identify him by documents left in his Jeep Cherokee Sport, found abandoned in a pond about two miles from the barracks. In the car were both his drivers license and social security card, as well as rounds that matched the ones fired at the barracks, camo face paint, and information on foreign embassies, perhaps indicating an alternative ambush location. Several days later authorities also found the rifle used to kill Cpl. Dickson abandoned in the woods.
After identifying who Eric Frein was, the manhunt for him began. The Pennsylvania State Police implemented almost all of their resources to track him down, using over 200 officers, dogs, thermal imaging, helicopters, and even a hot air balloon to scan the surrounding woods to track down where he might be. The search proved difficult, however, as police suspected he had some sort of military and survivalist training, and therefore was able to live in the forest for an extended period of time. Searching through the forest was extremely challenging due to the rough terrain, and the thick canopy made any aerial support nearly useless. Fortunately, Frein was spotted walking across an abandoned runway near Tannersville, PA, prompting police to perform a search in that area and leading to his capture.
Frein’s capture allows everyone in our area to breathe a sigh of relief now. Knowing that who was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list was loose in our area and our communities was a scary thought, and had a lot of people worried. I also know many state officers personally who were deeply hurt by this attack. They might not have known Cpl. Dickson personally, but he was still a brother to them, and if it happened to him, it could happen to any one of them. Towns in the area even cancelled trick or treating because they didn’t want to have that many children out on the streets at night while the killer was still on the loose. But now, all of that can finally end.
Frein was brought before a judge at the Pike County Courthouse, where crowds of people waited to watch this man receive justice. He faces charges of first degree murder and attempted murder, with no bail set. His preliminary hearing is set for November 12th.
kJust last Wednesday, Canada’s capital city was devastated by the attacks of one lone gunman. A man by the name of Michael Hall, from Quebec, shot a guard standing outside the National War Memorial and made an attempt to break into Parliament before he was gunned down. Downtown Ottawa was placed on lockdown for a good part of the day, and after that it generally calmed down. Despite this event happening exclusively in Canada, the United States is coming under attack from the global community. Great, what did we do this time?
Usually we are under attack for being too involved in our own country’s business and disregarding the global news stories. But this time, ironically, we are being attacked for covering this story too much. US news stations have been covering this attack and blowing it way out of proportion, with some stations even comparing it to the 9/11 attacks. Although this event is truly tragic, it is not even remotely accurate to compare what happened to that day. Thousands of people lost their lives and our entire country was devastated. It was a coordinated attack by an entire group of Islamic extremists, not just the act of one twisted individual. The comparisons of these two events stemmed from the religious beliefs of the man. Shortly before the attacks, Michael Joseph Hall converted to Islam himself and changed his name to Michael Abdul Zehaf-Bibeau. Since he converted to Islam, reporters have made attempts to make the connection between himself and Al-Qaeda. These attempts have the global community angered as it seems that we are trying to make every story relate back to us, and it comes off as slightly selfish.
Recently at Penn State, we were all exposed to a (near) shooting ourselves. On the popular social media app Yik Yak, an anonymous poster threatened that they had “5 beta mags of ar 15” and that they were going to “shoot everyone in the hub at 12:00”. Even just the anonymous threat of one had the entire campus om high alert. Every student was talking about it and there was a lot of genuine fear. Luckily, the local authorities and campus police did an excellent job of taking care of the situation. With help from Yik Yak representatives and the local FBI office, they were able to track the IP address of the device used to make the threat and track down the student responsible for the threat. He has long since been arrested, and although he claims it was a “prank”, nobody treats a threat like that as such. Authorities searched his apartment and couldn’t find any weapons of any kind, even the ones he explicitly mentioned. Based on that, he most likely wasn’t seriously going to follow through with his threat, but even one small post like that can change your life, and I think he knows that by now. We only experienced a small threat, but turning on the news and seeing this tragedy makes us realize that things like this really do happen in the world, and we should always be thankful to live in such a safe and responsible town like State College where threats like this are properly handled.
Just this past week, a small high school in Savreville, NJ has been rocked by a scandal involving students involved with the football program. These students, all seniors, would run into the locker room and turn the lights off, while multiple students held their victims down while others performed inappropriate acts, at the very least touching their butts. Some of the instances were worse than this. These events took place over a period of time spanning from September 19th to September 29th, and three of the players are facing serious charges. After receiving multiple reports of incidents, the superintendent of the school district decided to cancel their entire football season.
The town of Sayreville, however, strongly disagrees with this decision. They believe that it was a complete overreaction to a minor incident and should be treated as such. In a small town where high school football is such a large part of the culture, people won’t let this die easily. Dozens of parents and players attended the last school board meeting to protest their decision to end their season early. They claim that the reports that are being told to the public, that players were having their butts touched, do not fit the punishment being given. One parent at the meeting was quoted as saying, “They were talking about a butt being grabbed, that’s about it. No one was hurt. No one died.”
This scandal has brought up serious debates over the issue of hazing versus abuse. Some critics say that certain types of hazing are acceptable such as extra work because they are a method of initiation and build camaraderie amongst peers. However, they say that the idea of hazing provides a convenient excuse for things like this to go on. Gary Phillips, a writer for a local newspaper, said “”By calling sexual abuse hazing, society grants those perpetrators a free pass and downplays the brutality of their actions,” he writes. “What is actually a very serious crime is passed off as a ‘rite of passage’ ritual that went too far.”
Naturally, when you have a sexual abuse case in a sporting venue, you can’t debate it for too long without the Sandusky scandal being brought up. In several articles I read there were references and comparisons to the incident and how it is being similarly to the way Penn State handled their problem. It also brings up a common argument, that athletes receive favorable treatment and aren’t punished for their actions the way they should be. Athletes such as Jameis Winston can allegedly rape a girl and still be viewed in a positive light in the media because of his heroics on the football field. So although this is just a small incident at one small high school in New Jersey, the implications are much larger. Why can athletes receive preferential treatment and not have to face the consequences of their actions? It is a serious issue that will definitely be a hot topic in light of all the recent scandals involving athletes, both professional and amateur.
When you hear someone say, “I’m going to get that from Amazon.”, you expect them to mean they’re going to whip out their laptop, go on Amazon’s website, and order what they need. Now, that may not always have to be the case. According to the Wall Street Journal, Amazon recently announced that it will be opening its first brick and mortar store. The store will open on West 34th street in Manhattan, right across from the Empire State Building. As of now, this store is just an experimental project, but if the store is successful then they plan to open more.
The store won’t be your typical retail store, though. Amazon’s inventory is way too massive to stock in one store, the overhead alone would most likely bankrupt them. The store serves more like a warehouse, allowing people to return anything they purchased through the website or picking up anything they ordered.
If you ask me, I don’t know how successful the project will be. Now don’t get me wrong, I love innovation. I love Amazon. I love Amazon’s business strategy and respect that they are trying to push the envelope, but this is not a place where the envelope should be pushed. Amazon’s entire approach to the market is their ease and accessibility. Their competitive edge is that they can provide the service and selection of a department store with the convenience of online shopping. You could browse and explore their inventory just as much as if you went to Best Buy or Macy’s or Wegman’s (Yes, you can order food off Amazon. Why? Who does that? The world may never know.). Amazon provides an enormous selection all in one place, and you can get everything you need without having to get up. Now, if I want everything I ordered, I have to drive down to Manhattan if I live near this store, which if anyone is familiar with Manhattan good luck with that. This creates unnecessary inconvenience and I feel that many people will not take advantage of the store. Amazon already has a very similar service called Amazon Locker Delivery, where if you choose they can ship your product to a locker owned by them for pickup. Have you heard of this before? Because today was the first time I ever even knew this service existed. It is a very underutilized service, and I feel like the brick and mortar store will end up the same.
Regardless, that is just how I feel and I can’t speak for the entire population. Maybe the store will be a huge success and everyone will love it. If that is the case, then Amazon is going to have to start looking for cities to branch out into, and perhaps State College would be a good option for them. With many isolated students and lack of accessibility to stores they need, online shopping is a huge market for students here at Penn State. It would be a great area for them and they would fit into their niche here nicely. The Amazon store could even possibly replace the mail services and commons desks that the dorms use now. So keep an eye out for Amazon, it will be very interesting to see how this entire situation plays out.
