the October 22, 2009 • Volume 106, No. 5
Etownian elizabethtown college
On the Web: www.etownian.com
One Alpha Drive • Elizabethtown, PA 17022-2298
on campus
Proposed diversity plan explored, met with wide debate Allison M. O’Boyle Assistant News Editor
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n 2007, President Long charged the Diversity Task Force with linking diversity and educational excellence, a theory that many Elizabethtown College faculty and students agree is a step in the right direction for the future of the College. “Embracing Inclusive Excellence: A Five-Year Plan for Strengthening Campus Diversity,” the task force’s plan for enhancing Etown’s diverse atmosphere, states, “We strive to ensure that the members of the community — students, faculty, staff and administrators — are diverse in race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, ability, gender, gender identity and expression, age and national origin.” However, Student Senate and the faculty disagree as to how to implement such diversity with the promise of a definite outcome. With Senate’s rejection and the faculty’s acceptance of the plan, many members of the campus community are on the edges of their seats awaiting the Board of Trustees’ final decision of whether or not to approve the plan. Dr. Tara Smith, Associate Professor of psychology and Diversity Task Force member, said, “I think all students benefit from having a vibrant, diverse campus that embraces the learning opportunities and understanding that comes with living, working and socializing with people from a variety of backgrounds. I also honestly think that for Elizabethtown
College to remain a healthy educational institution over the next few decades, we must ensure that our school is a place where it is possible for all students to flourish.”
It is a document with no teeth, and that does not help diversity. Kevin Busher Senior Senate Representative Dr. Smith believes that diversity-related issues are not easy to deal with, and, due tothe community’s discomfort with some of these topics, classes cannot always engage in “honest, difficult, thought-provoking conversations that are opportunities for all of us to grow.” All too often, she and her colleagues notice students unknowingly making problematic comments. She recalled that, “76 percent of students of color who took last year’s online survey indicated that they had experienced discrimination or harassment on campus due to their race or ethnicity … This certainly doesn’t mean that the majority of
white students on campus are engaging in harassing or discriminatory behavior, but I do think it means that these are not isolated incidents and that they won’t stop happening until we start openly addressing issues related to diversity.” According to Dr. Smith, the diversity plan strives “to affirm a commitment to diversity and allocate resources to implement the diversity plan, to create a safe and welcoming campus climate, to develop intentional opportunities for interaction around diversity-related issues, to build a more diverse and welcoming campus and to establish a more diverse learning environment. There are over 50 specific action steps described in the plan that will contribute to our attainment of these goals.” With these goals, Dr. Smith feels that topics of discomfort regarding diversity will be more readily addressed, creating a more compassionate community. Dr. Vivian Bergel, Associate Professor of Social Work and Diversity Task Force member, went further to say that “just below the surface of the publicly friendly face of the campus, there is much stereotyping, inaccurate presumptions or lack of information about any student who is ‘different’ from the majority culture on campus. This lack of understanding leads to misconception and misunderstanding, which creates tensions and alienation.” See DIVERSITY, page 3
in the community
Cedar Street residents frustrated with weekend antics Ross M. Benincasa Assistant Campus Life Editor Peter S. Northrop Features Editor
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t’s certainly no secret that some Elizabethtown College students have drinking problems. Every Friday the bass starts pumping in innumerable locked dorm rooms and some of our peers make a mass exodus down Cedar Street and Mount Joy Ave. to cramped off-campus parties. We usually hear stories about dorms being busted and the wild antics that happen at off campus houses, but what happens between them? Until now, we’ve really heard nothing about how the residents of the Elizabethtown Borough react to the weekend fun of our peers. Recently, several letters to the editor published in the Lancaster New Era were
the Etownian
putting out the news ... for over 100 years
The Etownian is a weekly n ews p a p e r p u b l i s h e d Th u r s d ays d u ri n g t h e academic year.
submitted by Elizabethtown residents who are seriously concerned about the “Saturday night College student party gauntlet.” People living in the houses surrounding the College have grown tired of having their Friday and Saturday nights ruined by rowdy college students. “We’re taking our street back,” Mike Escobar, a resident of Cedar Street said. Escobar has lived in the town for 15 years. He and a group of people living on Cedar Street have pledged to patrol their street every Friday and Saturday night from 9 p.m. to midnight in a bid to — at the very least — make students aware of the neighborhood through which they are walking. “They don’t think that when they’re going between the parties and dorms that there are people living in these houses. Or they don’t care,” Escobar said. This group, called the Cedar Street Block
Alumnus in Germany Alumnus Jeremy Ebersole visits Germany and takes “Educate for Service” abroad.
Features, page 4
Watch was founded after several years of unruly student behavior. “It’s been happening every fall and spring ever since we moved in,” Escobar said. However, he noted that,“it’s worse this year.” Escobar and others gave a long list of infractions attributed to drunken students walking to and from the various houses in the community. According to Escobar, students have urinated and defecated on people’s yards and garage doors, shouted at all hours of the night and torn flowers from yards and flung them into the streets. Students have also done rather odd things to residents. “We found candy wrappers stuffed in the bushes next to our door,” Escobar said. He also recounted a night when he came home to find several severely intoxicated students sitting on his porch. The Property damage is only a minor
Homecoming Recap! Find out what’s the behind the scenes of Homecoming.
Campus Life, page 6
aspect. There is also taken an emotional toll on the residents. Escobar told the Etownian that families have to deal with their small children being woken up every weekend night at 2 a.m. by Etown students walking back to campus. Worst of all the fight between two college students in an elderly woman’s backyard a few weeks ago. “She cried about it — that really hurt me,” Escobar said. Etown’s neighbors have been trying to resolve this problem for some time now. Bill Yonavitch, a resident of College Avenue said, “I’ve been complaining about this for 25 years.” Complaints from the townspeople are generally aimed at the borough administration, the borough police and Etown campus security. These complaints are usually brushed off. “The police say they can’t do
Breast Cancer Awareness Breast cancer awareness month strives to raise awareness and protect women.
Centerfold, pages 8 & 9
See CEDAR, page 10
Senate’s Reach A shift in Senate’s focus? See page 13 for investigation.
Opinion, page 13