THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF MERCYHURST COLLEGE SINCE 1929

MERCIAD
The

Vol. 78 No. 4 Mercyhurst College 501 E. 38th St. Erie, Pa. 16546 October 13, 2004

Trustees support Garvey

The Merciad is also available
at merciad.mercyhurst.edu

NEWS:
Student, faculty respond to published accusations
Mail room refuses
By Kelly Rose Duttine
military mail Editor-in-chief
PAGE 4 Recent accusations in the Erie
Times-News about past conduct
dating back 40 years by President Dr.
William P. Garvey shocked the Mer-
cyhurst community this week.
The accusations involving young
FEATURES: players on a basketball team that
Garvey coached in 1963-64 appeared
Take a chance in the Sunday, Oct. 10, edition of the
with the Poker Erie Times-News. Garvey adamantly
Club
denies the accusations. ees said in a statement, “In light of (Please see page 3 for the full state-
In a statement issued on Monday, Dr. Garvey’s decades of service to ments by Garvey and Mosco.)
Oct. 11 he Mercyhurst and the Erie community, On campus, students were shocked
said that he and the absence of any claim of as the news about the allegations
was “sad- wrongdoing against him as a repre- spread. “If this is something he
dened and sentative of the college, the trustees [Garvey] didn’t do, then it is really a
shocked by express their support for Dr. Garvey shame,” said senior Joe Roperti. “It
the accusa- as he continues the role as the presi- could ruin his career, even if it isn’t
tions,” and dent of the college.” true.” Roperti said that the reputation
that “they According to Mosco, the board of the college depends on how the
are not File photo “began the process of engaging situation is handled. “If they don’t
true.” President Garvey professionals to conduct a thorough deal with it properly, it could ruin the
Marlene and impartial review of the matters Mercyhurst name,” said Roperti.
Mosco, Chair of the Board of Trust- reported in the Erie Times-News.” Please see Response Page 3.

PAGE 5 What’s the problem, officer?

Police respond to neighbors’ complaints about off-campus students
OPINION:
For more on
The left and right neighborhood
face off over Iraq
problems, please
see:
PAGE 8
Now will you be my
neighbor?
Page 2.
ARTS &
Residence life
ENTERTAINMENT: responsible for all
students
Sneak preview to Page 2.
“Saw”
was a college house.
PAGE 9 “Well, we’re college students, and
we live here,” Newell said, and the
officer laughed.
He told her not to have any big
bashes in the future because the po-
SPORTS: lice were sick of going there and the
neighbors were sick of calling.
Lakers football Newell stood there confused; she
score major upset and her roommates have never had
a party.
“I felt like I was getting a lecture,”
Newell said. “It was very upsetting.”
PAGE 12 Katie McAdams/Photo editor Rachel Staley, a Mercyhurst junior
Pin Oak Drive along with other nearby neighborhood streets house student’s living off-campus living with Newell, worries about their
reputation with neighbors. “They
window. Newell tensed. Could some- on Saturday, Oct. 2. Police came to have this preconceived notion that
By Amy Landphair thing be wrong? Was there a problem notify students that there have been we’re disruptive,” Staley said. “They
Upcoming Campus Events Contributing writer in the neighborhood? numerous complaints of noise and in- already hate us.”
It turned out the problem was appropriate behavior from neighbors Police visited the neighbors kiddy-
Thursday, Oct. 14 Melissa Newell was putting away her. in the Briggs Avenue/Pin Oak Drive corner to Newell’s residence at 611
her groceries in her Kermit the Frog Newell, a Mercyhurst senior, lives area outside of Mercyhurst College. Pin Oak Drive prior to talking with
slippers on a Saturday afternoon when at one of three houses that were vis- When Newell opened the door, the her.
Global Issues forum: Miquel Diaz, a police officer walked by her kitchen ited around 3 p.m. by Erie city police police officer asked if the residence Please see Students on Page 2.
8 p.m., Taylor Little Theater.

Tuesday, Oct. 19 Series kick-off Oktoberfest fun

Dance: Pilobolus Dance Theatre,
7:30 p.m., PAC.
Wednesday, Oct. 20
Film: Before Sunset, 2 p.m. and 8
p.m., PAC.
Thursday, Oct. 21
Dramatic Comedy: Can’t take it with
you, 8 p.m., PAC.
Index
News..................................................1
News..................................................2
News..................................................3
News.................................................4
Features............................................5
Features............................................6
Opinion.............................................7
Opinion.............................................8
A & E.................................................9
A & E................................................10
Sports...............................................11
Sports..............................................12
William Kristol speaks at ’Hurst
By Holly Burns
Contributing writer
Named the “hottest pundit in
town” by Washington Magazine, politi-
cal analyst William Kristol spoke to a
packed PAC at
Mercyhurst,on
Monday night
as part of the
2004-2005
McHale Dis-
tinguished
Speaker Series.
His speech , Katie McAdams/Photo editor
“Toward Elec- William Kristol
tion 2004,” fo-
cused on his analysis of the upcoming
election and how history could dictate
its results.
Kristol says that the most im-
portant thing about the election is
that it is the first election since Sept.
11,2001.
Just as politics changed after the
Cold War, politics have changed since
the terrorist attacks.
According to Kristol, “what works
in one era doesn’t work for another.”
He says, “right now changes are hap-
pening that are hard to predict and
the people living it underestimate the
scale of change.”
According to Kristol, there is a
“foreign policy dynamic” to this
election.
He says that in past years we would
have never thought that Americans
would be fighting a ground war in
Iraq and that foreign policy would be
such an issue.
However, it has become much the
opposite.
Kristol says that the presidential
debates held on foreign policy made
Kerry look tough and confident.
However, the opposite was true
for Bush. Kristol believes that Bush
probably lost a good number of
votes because of his performance in
the debates.
The third debate that will take place
and the last few weeks before the
election will be crucial, according to
Kristol.
A lot hinges on what happens in
that time period.
Since it has been such a close race
thus far, the consensus is that it will
be a close race on Election Day.
However, Kristol believes that it will
swing one way or the other because
Bethany Canfield/Contributing photographer
elections with incumbent candidates
The annual Fall Fest takes over Garvey park for a day of fun.
usually do.
Please see Kristol on Page 4. Please see story on Page 3.
PAGE 2 THE MERCIAD October 13, 2004

NEWS To contact: newsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

Now will you be my neighbor?

By Jason Endress
Contributing writer
Just eight days shy of the Erie
zoning board’s decision, Mercy-
hurst College pulled back its vari-
ance request, citing public outcry
and a profusion of rumor.
Acknowledging the campus’
impact on the surrounding area,
for better or worse, President
Garvey said, “We are trying to
be good neighbors.”
Instead of the planned 60-
space parking lot to compliment
the re-vamped Parade Street
entrance and newly-constructed
arch, Mercyhurst has switched
gears and plans to build a public
park on the vacant lot.
The intended parking lot was
to have functioned as a sort of
release valve for the crowded
parking on campus, but the
college will now have to look
elsewhere to solve the seemingly
insatiable parking issue.
The site of the future park
will most likely blend student
interests with neighborhood
interests. The park will provide
both a destination for afternoon
strolls and a more remote locale
for outdoor studying.
Additionally, there is the po-
tential that there will be basket-
ball hoops at the park, which
would supplement the single
outdoor hoop on campus by
the pavilion between Briggs and
Lewis Avenues.
Volleyball courts are also among
the facilities being considered.
As printed in the Erie Times-
News, Garvey noted, “There was
so much misinformation, some
of it utterly outrageous, circulat-
ing among our neighbors that we
decided to modify our plans.”
The neighborhood reaction
to the college’s efforts towards
building the parking lot mobilized
Erie residents on Parade Street
and beyond, who organized and
sought legal counsel in an effort
to challenge the college’s plans to
construct the lot.
“I don’t want to be by a park-
ing lot,” stated Parade St. resident
Dona Anderson, adding “It’ll be
more noise.”
Anderson, though sympathetic
towards the typical student’s
unorthodox nocturnal habits,
believed adding a parking lot on
top of the normal traffic flow
of the Parade gate would create
too much noise in the neighbor-
hood.
Many residents believe that
they are entitled to give their
input on the college’s actions,
particularly when it directly
influences the immediate neigh-
borhood.
Prior to the college’s decision,
fellow resident Rick Adams not-
ed that something more benign,
such as an academic building or
park would be more acceptable
to the neighborhood.
Adams was among those who
contested Mercyhurst’s variance
request.
The would-be parking lot isn’t
part of the recent beautification
efforts across campus, and won’t Katie McAdams/Photo editor
be seeing any grass until after The empty lot will soon be a park instead of a parking lot.
winter.
The space will be flattened, but forts can take place unabated. College’s decision, they can at come spring, as many on Parade
left undeveloped until spring, For the Mercyhurst students least look forward to additional street are likely doing.
when sustained landscaping ef- disappointed by the result of the trees and green space on campus

Residence life responsible for all students

By Jonelle Davis
News editor
Whether students know it or
not, Mercyhurst has the right to
punish unacceptable behavior by
any student, on or off campus,
and the college has undertaken a
“proactive” stance in addressing
that behavior.
Mercyhurst students carry the
name of the college and because
of this, Mercyhurst works to be
aware of all students’ behaviors,
all the time.
According to Laura Zirkle,
Director of Residence Life and
Student Conduct, the student
code of conduct applies to all
Mercyhurst students.
“Mercyhurst comes with a set
of standards. If you’re doing
something bad in the community,
Mercyhurst has a right to address
what you’re doing. The student
conduct code applies to all stu-
dents, whether they live on or off
campus,” said Zirkle.
“Mercyhurst has been work-
ing to find the best approach to
handle out-of-control students
who are living off-campus,” she
said.
“Mercyhurst worked with
(Erie) city officials to come up
with a proactive approach to deal
with the small percentage of stu-
dents that causes the problems
that are reflected on all students,”
said Zirkle. “There is going to be
a shift in policy by giving more
of a proactive education to help
students living off campus.”
Also, Residence Life will be
working with the IT department
and Police and Safety Depart-
ment to establish a database that
will include the addresses and
phone number of every off-cam-
pus student so that the college
has an accurate handle on their
where-abouts, Zirkle said.
“The rules of students living
off-campus are similar for the
students living on-campus and
the college will not hesitate to
address proven problems,” she
said.
“Off-campus housing is very
similar to housing with Residence
Life on campus. The students
have to follow the same conduct
code; if you’re under 21 and
caught drinking off-campus it
will be addressed through the
conduct code and the police as
well,” said Zirkle.
She also added that the college
only addresses factual problems.
“We watch what problems we
address. We don’t just address
someone because we hear a
rumor. We address students
anytime we get a written report
of a problem on or off campus
that has actual facts. We always
apply the student code of con-
duct,” said Zirkle. “When there
is a problem off-campus, when
we get a specific report from
students, police, neighbors, that
is not just a rumor, we’ll address
it.”
In addition, Assistant Director
of Residence Life and Student
Conduct Joe Howard said that
the student code of conduct is
not a new policy. Many students
are simply unaware that it exists.
“This policy isn’t new. It’s a
rumor that all of a sudden there
is this iron fist cracking down
on off-campus housing, but we
have always made sure students
are reflecting Mercyhurst well,”
Howard said.
Zirkle went on to comment on
the student population currently
living off-campus.
“We know most students liv-
ing off campus are reflecting
Mercyhurst well, but there is a
small number of students who
don’t adjust and are not sensi-
tive to the neighborhood,” said
Zirkle. “Sometimes students
forget that when they move off-
campus, they’re moving into an
actual community.”
Howard also commented on
the students. “It’s small groups
of students off and on campus
who are causing problems with
bottles in the lawns, urination
and out of control parties that is
creating this cloud for all Mercy-
hurst students. So we’re seeing
people who really are trying to
be good neighbors get this bad
reputation put on them and we’re
very sympathetic about that,”
said Howard.
Both Zirkle and Howard
stressed the importance that
students living off-campus know
and understand the conduct
code.
Some important highlights of
the conduct code:
 Conduct or activity by mem-
ber of the student body living
off-campus or hosting functions
at off-campus locations that
has the effect of unreasonably
interfering with the rights of
neighbors is prohibited.
 It is also the responsibility
of Mercyhurst College students
living off-campus to control the
nature and size of activities car-
ried out in or on their premises,
consistent with standards of the
college.
 Generally, an individual’s
actions off-campus are subject
to the actions of civil authorities.
However, the college reserves
the right to take action for off-
campus behavior independent of
civil authority when the interests
of the college are involved.
For the complete Student code
of conduct, please see page 79,
codes 15 and 16, in the Student
Conduct Code book.

Students living off campus battle neighbors for respect

Contrinued from Page 1. said unhappily. She means to dents lived there,” Biagini said. street, and the cops never even without even talking to us that their neighbors,” Bowers re-
quell college parties in the area. Biagini, Newell, Staley, Hopta came to our door. How can night?” said Hopta marked.
Maura Rossi and husband John “The neighbors here are going and Piquette all wonder about the police press charges on us “We want people to respect

Laker Fall Term I n n

have lived in their house for 11
years. Rossi said the disruptions
in the neighborhood began
about three years ago. She said
Newell’s house has not caused
any problems that she is aware
of. However, she did have a
few warning words for another
house of Mercyhurst students
and students from another col-
lege across the street.
“If you’re making noise at
midnight, I’m going to call the
cops on you,” Rossi said with a
laugh. “It’s not responsible to
wake up everyone in the neigh-
borhood because you want to
party.”
Rossi said she and the neigh-
bor across the street did not fall
asleep until after 2 a.m. because
of the noise on Friday, Oct. 1.
Red plastic cups strewn about
the lawns, people urinating on
their yard and loud music dis-
turb the Rossi family on the
weekends.
Rossi worries about her two
middle school aged girls being
exposed to inappropriate be-
havior, like the man sleeping in
the yard next door at 5 a.m. one
weekend.
She feels the integrity of the
neighborhood is going down-
hill.
However, according to Bi-
agini, most of the accusations
that Rossi cited were events that
happened previous years. “We’re
sick of being blamed for things
that happened last year. We
weren’t able to move in with a
clean slate. They judged us be-
fore they even gave us a chance,”
Biagini said.
“I don’t like the way the trend
of the neighborhood is,” Rossi
to make sure that it’s not real easy
just to come and live here and do
whatever you want,” Rossi said.
“You have to follow the rules
like we do.”
However, the five Mercyhurst
juniors that live next door to
Rossi feel otherwise.
One of the students, Biagini,
who spoke with the police officer
on Oct. 2, said about her neigh-
bors, “We tried to be respectful,
but they were out to get us before
we ever moved in.”
She and two of her room-
mates, Amy Hopta and Kristen
Piquette, said they feel their resi-
dence is being unfairly targeted.
The police came to their house
once before to ask the students
to send their visitors home
because a neighbor called in a
complaint.
When asked if she would
consider talking to the students
about disrupting the neighbor-
hood, Rossi replied firmly that
she was not interested.
Biagini said Rossi does not
make an attempt to be a civil
neighbor.
“She won’t even let her kids
look at us,” Piquette said.
Piquette and her roommates
said they are being stereotyped
as uncaring, disrespectful college
drunkards.
Their house was a sore spot
for some neighbors before they
moved in this year. Different
Mercyhurst students lived there
last school year and caused much
of the disturbance.
The police officer told Biagini
the station had received 16 calls
through the start of last year
about their house. “The officer
did not care that different stu-
one question: What did these
people expect living next to a
college campus?
Pastor Bernhard Bischoff, who
lives next to Newell’s house and
kiddy/corner to the Mercyhurst
women’s house, chuckled and Galley Grill OLD FAVORITES:
shook his head when asked for Chicken Fingers
his feelings on neighborhood dis- NEW ITEMS: Sizzling Salad
turbances. Bischoff has lived in
the neighborhood for eight years Tropical Island Oasis Ruby’s Famous Pizza
and has no complaints about the Fruit Smoothies Grilled Chicken Sandwich
Mercyhurst students.
“They’re wonderful people,” Strawberry Hours of Operation:
he said. “Nobody throws beer Banana Monday-Friday 8:00am-1:00am
bottles on the lawn. They never Pina Colada
pick my flowers. They don’t even
Saturday 1:00pm-1:00am
steal my fruit.” Potato Skins Sunday 5:00pm-1:00am
Bishoff lived just outside French Toast
of another college campus be-
fore moving to Briggs Avenue.
Students there disturbed his Laker Express OLD FAVORITES:
property. However, the students Grilled Chicken Salad
around him now “cause no NEW ITEMS:
Turkey Bagels
trouble,” he said. Meals in a Minute
“I can’t hear any of their Macaroni and Cheese Crispy Chicken Salad
parties,” Bischoff said and Ham and Turkey Subs
Stuffed Shells
called Newell and roommates
Chicken Parm Chocolate Chip Cookies
“a dream.”
Nonetheless, Erie City Police Penne Pasta w/ Alfredo Sauce Hours of Operation:
Chief Charles Bowers said the
Pin Oak Drive/Briggs Avenue Board Equivalency Available: Monday-Thursday 11:30-8:00pm
area is now under special atten- 11:30-8:00pm Friday 11:30-3:30pm
tion. He said police charged nine Saturday & Sunday Closed
people, five from Mercyhurst and
four from Behrend, with having a
disorderly house on Oct. 1.
“If students create distur-
Subconnection FEATURES:
bances,” he said, “police will Meatball Sub
notify the respective college, and SATURDAY SPECIAL: Baja Chicken
it will be up to the school to take
disciplinary action.” Any foot long Sub just $3.25 Buffalo Chicken
When asked about the police cash and campus card only!!!! Hours of Operation:
charges, the girls were shocked
add $1.00 for a combo!!!! Monday-Friday 11:30-9:00pm
because the police never ap-
proached them. “We didn’t Saturday 1:00pm-9:00pm
even have people over on Oct. Sunday 5:00pm-9:00pm
1. There was a party across the
October 13, 2004 THE MERCIAD PAGE 3

To contact: newsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu News

Oktoberfest fun, ’Hurst style
By Jaime Myers
Contributing writer
Music, Jell-O and pigs filled the
Oktoberfest weekend activities
for the annual Fall Fest hosted
by the Student Activities Com-
mittee.
This is what many Mercyhurst
students requested at the end of
last year.
Your voices have been heard
and the events lasted all day.
The weather was perfect for
the activities held on Saturday
that lasted from 9 a.m. until the
last band was done playing and
the food was all gone.
About 600 students showed
up throughout the day to hang
out and listen to the bands, eat or
compete in some of the fun.
Besides the Laker football
team’s exciting victory against
Saginaw Valley and the Spirit
Club giving away Mercyhurst
gear, students enjoyed them-
selves with a long day of food
and fun.
Hundreds of boxes of jello were prepared and dished into the ring for the Jell-O wrestling contest.
Four bands rocked the campus
in Garvey Park, two of which
included students from Mercy-
hurst.
The Eckersonics, a band from
Cleveland, played at noon for
about an hour.
The band’s drummer Joe Betz,
is a Mercyhurst senior social work
and religious studies major.
Streamline, from Rochester,
also played on Saturday. Sopho-
more Mike Hogan is one of the
members of the band.
The other bands that played
were Mercury, from Pittsburgh,
and One Sweet World, also from
Rochester. One Sweet World is a
Bethany Canfield/Contributing photographer
Dave Matthews cover band.
Inflatable Fun returned for
Fall Fest this year. Students com-
peted in an inflated jousting ring
and a large obstacle course.
There was also a gyroscope
where students were spun around
sideways and upside down.
A caricaturist was available
to draw funny pictures for any
students.
And to top it all off, there was
Jell-O wrestling for some good
old college fun.
Hundreds of boxes of Jell-O
were prepared early Saturday
morning to be ready for the
competition.
What kind of Oktoberfest
would be complete without
food and drinks? Old-fashioned
root beer and Coke bottles were
served to wash down the food.
A pig roast was ready to serve by
halftime of the football game.
For breakfast or dessert:
Dippin Dots, famous in many
amusement parks, were avail-
able for students to snack on all
throughout the day’s events.
The Mercyhurst Student Gov-
ernment and Student Activities
Committee members were hard
at work hosting the day’s events.
They served the food and set up
the bands.

Campus reactions
Continued from Page 1.
Senior Joe DiGello attended St.
John’s school, graduating from
eighth grade in 1997. DiGello
said that it is upsetting to him
as a member of the St. John’s
community because “Garvey is
viewed as a god there.” DiGello’s
own basketball coach while in
elementary school was coached
by Garvey.
“I’m saddened by the fact that
no matter what comes of this,
his [Garvey’s] reputation will be
scarred,” said DiGello. “It is
really a no-win situation for the
college and the community.”
DiGello feels that the students
math
should not jump to conclusions.
“It is best for all of us to be open
minded right now,” he said.
“The school will survive no
matter what happens,” said DiG-
ello. “It is selfish to think that the
school might be tainted by it.”
Freshman Brittany McCracken
thinks Mercyhurst students will
be affected by the allegations. “I
think the allegations will affect
other students on campus. Some
parents might make them leave
Mercyhurst because of this,”
she said.
Mercyhurst Student Govern-
ment President Mike Mancinelli
said Tuesday, “Like other stu-
dents on campus, MSG is trying
to understand the allegations
that were made public in the
Student Travel
Services
Erie Times-News. The idea of
Statement
By Dr. William P. Garvey
President, Mercyhurst College
Issued: Monday, Oct. 11, 2004
an open forum for students is
I am profoundly saddened and shocked by the accusations made about me by Chuck Rosenthal,
being considered, however no
who was a member of the St. John’s basketball squad that I coached during the 1963-64 season.
concrete plans have been set due
They are not true. Nor are the other allegations contained in the
to the changing nature of the
Erie Times-News story.
situation. Until there is a sense
I have known the Rosenthal family for 42 years and have always had high regard for them, espe-
of resolve from the institution,
cially, Chuck, Peter and Jimmy who played for my
no plans have been formalized.
St. John’s teams. They were part of more than 250 players who I had the privilege of coaching at
We do not want our actions to
St. John’s over a 17-year period.
be premature while Mercyhurst
I have always taken great pride in my St. John’s teams and in my players and nothing in life has
examines the situation.”
meant more to me than seeing the St. John’s boys –- now the St John’s men –- take what they
Dr. Richard Welch had con-
learned on the court — the discipline, persistence, determination, poise, confidence, competitive
cerns with communication to
spirit and teamwork –-- and carry those leadership qualities and friendships into their adult lives.
students and the possibility it
I taught the St. John athletes to be disciplined, which was a major ingredient in their success
could “feed the rumor mill.”
both on the basketball court and in life. I am very, very proud of my former athletes. That includes
Dr. Dave Livingston, president
Chuck Rosenthal who was a very bright and intense young man with enormous potential.
of the Faculty Senate gave a dif-
Regardless of whatever else I may have accomplished throughout the years, it has been working
ferent perspective on the events.
with young people that has given purpose to my life and heart to my existence. These ideals means
“We all need to remember to
far, far too much to me to have ever done anything to jeopardize them, especially in the manner
treat one another with respect
described by Chuck Rosenthal.
and dignity. These are the values
I can only hope and trust that my 52-year record of working with youth without any similar al-
of this institution,” he said. “I
legations and the positive testimony from players I have coached and the more than 2000 students
think it is profoundly sad that
I have taught will be instructive in resolving this distressing situation.
we have to deal with this situ-
ation.”
Board of Trustees Statement 2
Livingston thinks that the al-
Mercyhurst College

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Issued: Monday, Oct. 10
students. “I think it will be hard
By Marlene D. Mosco, Chair of the Board
on the new freshmen,” he said.
“We want students to feel like we
Dr. William P. Garvey has been associated with Mercyhurst College for approximately 42 years
will answer their questions and
and has served with distinction as its president for the past 24 years.
concerns.”
Prior to the claims made against Dr. Garvey by Charles Rosenthal as reported in the Oct. 10,
Livingston said that Garvey
2004, edition of the Erie Times-News , no person had ever raised or intimated to the college any
has been part of the Mercyhurst
community for more than 40
claim or complaint against Dr. Garvey in the nature of the claim asserted by Mr. Rosenthal.
In light of Dr. Garvey’s decades of service to Mercyhurst and the
years and has had a profound
effect on the growth and height-
Erie community, and the absence of any claim of wrongdoing against him as a representative of
ened reputation of the school.
the college, the trustees express their support for Dr. Garvey as he continues the role as the presi-
dent of the college.
Livingston cited the next step
Recognizing the gravity of the claims asserted in the Oct. 10, 2004, article, however, the board
for the college will be to hire an
of trustees today began the process of engaging professionals to conduct a thorough and impar-
outside firm to do an indepen-
tial review of the matters reported in the Erie Times-News .
dent investigation of the charges
To protect the integrity of this review, the college will have no further comment concerning this
and then to report to the board
matter until the review is complete.
of trustees.

SUNDAYS
THROUGH
THURSDAYS

call
EXT: 2078
FOR EXACT
HOURS

TUTORIAL
HELP FOR
ALL YOUR
MATH
NEEDS!
PAGE 4 THE MERCIAD October 13, 2004

NEWS To contact: newsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

Get campus dirt

Student’s rate on campusdirt.com
By Jenny Allen
Contributing writer
You learned everything you
needed to know about Mercy-
hurst when you visited the col-
lege, right? Probably not, but
that is what the Website Campus-
dirt.com is hoping to change.
The new Website, campusdirt.
com, was started five months ago
in order to help prospective stu-
dents and parents learn what they
really need to know about the
colleges they are applying to.
So, what is on this Website?
You can find dirt about profes-
sors, curriculum, student life, ath-
letics, social life, food and more
on nearly 800 colleges across
the country. There are top 10
continue to tell us about their
college. campusdirt.com has the
most up-to-date and accurate
information about college life
available online or offline, and I
hope you enjoy it.”
So, how accurate is the in-
formation and what does the
website say about Mercyhurst
College?
According to campusdirt.com,
Mercyhurst is ranked as 665 out
of 800 for its overall grade. This
may not be surprising, but some
other statistics may be.
Students and recent graduates
have reported that 73 percent of
students drink only 0 to 2 nights
per week, 60 percent of students
witness drug use a couple of
times a week and 64 percent of
students are “pretty” sexually
say.
Junior Greg Tellex said, “I
think they are fairly accurate,
but a lot of these numbers are
probably incorrect.” He added,
“I think it really depends on who
you ask.”
His roommate Dave Catel-
lier agreed. “Some things seem
like they could be accurate, but
I wouldn’t depend on this for
information about my college.”
To make the Website better,
Catellier said, “They need to
make the questions better defined
and more clear.” This would help
to get better statistics.
Kelly Sharick felt that the in-
formation was partially accurate
as well, but said of things such
as parties and social life, “I think
that a lot of people would like Katie Mcadams/Photo editor

lists, rankings and basic college active. to know this kind of informa- The mailroom does not have the capabilities to send military mail to loved ones.
statistics as well. On a positive note, 73 percent tion.”

Military mail refused

“This site is intended to be
used by high school students,
their parents and guidance coun-
selors to help them make the
decision of which school is right
for them. It’s often hard to get
a real good look at a school, so
we have provided an inside look
from the students themselves,”
said Casey Gustus, project man-
ager of campusdirt.com.
The website also claims that
“we’ve surveyed over 70,000 col-
lege students and recent gradu-
ates regarding their college expe-
rience in order to help you get a
look at life on campus.”
Mike O’Brien, also of cam-
pusdirt.com, writes to members,
“Thanks to the tens of thou-
sands of students that have, and
of the students also said that
the campus was pretty and all
students surveyed always feel at
least pretty safe.
The problem is that when
you consider that about 70,000
students have been surveyed and
there about 800 schools listed,
there are not nearly enough stu-
dents to put together accurate
data. In Mercyhurst’s case, there
are only about 15 students on the
website who identify themselves
as being surveyed out of the
over 3,000 students who attend
Mercyhurst.
Many students around Mercy-
hurst had not even heard of the
website and those interviewed
to did not necessarily agree with
what Campusdirt.com had to
Along with this she also said,
“I don’t think that you should
turn down a college because of
this. You will find parties every-
where and prospective students
should know that.” Mail room unable to send military mail
see why we have a mail room Nurlen, took a similar spin on
For students who are curious
about the college they are looking By Josh Wilwohl and can’t send out military the event. “I am upset because
at, campusdirt.com offers a wide Layout Assistant mail. I don’t think it is fair what if I had a family member
range of statistics and informa- that other students can send over there and I needed to get
Many students pass in and packages to their family and in contact with them? It also
tion that may be important to
out of the Preston mail room friends, and I can’t send it to bothers me that they assume
know. It is up to you to decide
daily with the joy of sending or my boyfriend who is serving we can just walk to the post
how accurate the information
receiving a package; however, this country.” office, especially come the
really is, however.
it is a select few that don’t have Coffey, disagreeing with winters,” said MucNurlen.
To rate Mercyhurst and hear
this feeling. McNurlen said, “Students McNurlen added, “I don’t
what fellow students and alumni
Instead, it is those feelings just don’t understand. We understand the mail room’s
had to say you can visit www.
of frustration and annoyance are not a post office. We are concept. Their duties include
Campusdirt.com and help the
that spur throughout their not federally employed. This sending and receiving mail.
Website gain accuracy on the
bodies. No, it is not because is a mail room, employed by That is what a mail room
statistics offered on Mercyhurst
they did not receive those fa- Mercyhurst College. We do does.”
College.
vorite cookies from grandma, not have the capabilities of Coffey said, “It’s not my

Starbucks price increase

By Ashley Breen
Contributing writer
The sudden hike in Starbucks’
prices won’t be felt on Mercy-
hurst College campus.
While most caffeine driven
students would gladly shell out an
extra 11 cents for their morning
pick-me-up Kathleen Crane, cof-
fee bar lead, says the coffee bar
won’t be raising their prices.
With a record breaking number
of freshmen at Mercyhurst Col-
but because they cannot send weighing and inspecting pack- problem. I can’t tie my peo-
certain packages, packages ages through customs before ple’s time up in lines at the
postmarked U.S. Military. they are shipped out.” post office for a package they
lege this year, the coffee bar’s “I don’t understand this, I Despite Coffey’s comments, are not responsible for. These
enough to cover expenses,” she
sales have increased keeping just want to contact my boy- McNurlen and other students students need to realize they
said. The coffee bar offers stu-
prices down. Crane said, “There friend,” said Jess McNurlen, still do not understand the mail are responsible for their own
dents Starbucks drinks at a lower
are a lot more customers here one of several freshmen stu- room’s reasoning. packages. If they want them
price than most places that carry
that use coffee to help them dents who cannot forward Jamie Salvatore, whose cous- sent, they need to go to the
Starbucks coffee.
get through their long hours of military mail and not under- in is stationed in Iraq, believes post office on their own time
Katie Walker, senior com-
studing.” stand why. that the mailroom should com- and by their own means of
munication student, said, “I am
Since the coffee bar opened McNurlen, whose boyfriend promise with students. transportation.”
at the coffee bar a lot, especially
last November, espresso drinks is a lance corporal within the “I don’t think they should “People need to comprehend
during exam weeks. It gives me
have gone up by 25 cents. Marine Corps, wishes to send assume that freshmen can just that we don’t know what is in
my caffeine boost and it is a nice
Crane said, “When we first numerous packages to him so go to the post office to send those packages they are send-
place to study that isn’t the library
opened we were selling the they can keep in contact while international, military mail. ing and we do not want the
or my apartment.”
espresso for less then what we in school. We should be able to do ev- responsibility of them,” said
The coffee bar does most of its
were paying for it. We can’t run But, according to Jean Cof- erything on campus, especially Coffey. “I also do not wish to
business during exam weeks.
a business if we aren’t making fey – also known as “the mail since we are not allowed to waste my people’s time at the
lady” – it won’t be happening have cars. If we can’t send mail post office for something that
anytime soon. from here, then the mail room could be rejected.”

Panel to discuss terrorism “We just don’t have the ca-

pabilities of sending military
mail,” Coffey said. “They
should offer us transportation
to a site where we can,” said
Salvatore.
However, despite the many
conflicts in sending such over-
seas mail, every once in a while
should be responsible for their Agreeing with Salvatore, the mail room does give in
He said the same is true of
own mail.” student Colleen Murray, who according to Coffey. “But,
the situation in Chechnya; much
Rebutting Coffey’s com- does not have a family member they need to be persistent,”
of the events revolve around
ment, McNurlen said, “I don’t overseas, but supports Mc- she said.
allegations of terrorism. “It’s re-
ally relevant to our whole world
view.”

Registration breaks record

Father Simon will speak during panel discussion.
By Libbie Johnson
Contributing writer
On Sept. 1 of this year, terror-
ists took more than 1,200 school
children and adults hostage in
the town of Beslan, Republic of
North Ossetia in Russia.
There were more than 330
killed, most of them children.
In response to this crisis, the
Peace & Justice Club and the
Mercyhurst International Stu-
dent Organization are hosting a
Panel Discussion on the Terrorist
Attack in Beslan, Russia.
Father Steven Simon, instruc-
tor of Russian studies, plans
to give a historical background
on Russia and the position of
Katie McAdams/Photo editor
Chechnya and the Russian Fed-
eration of the present time.
“I think it’s really important
that Mercyhurst students under-
stand what’s happening in the
world, not only in America.... I
think there’s a growing aware-
ness...that international events
impact not only older adults, but
impact college students as well,”
Simon said.
Simon thinks that college
students seem more concerned
about voting this year.
“It’s really critical that we un-
derstand what’s going on in the
entire world, part of our whole
question right now in America is
whether we should have gone to
war in Iraq because of the threat
of terrorism,” Simon said.
Senior Kasia Tarczynski, a
political science major, helped
organize the panel, which also
includes Dr. Randal Clemons,
Tim Krysiek, Billy Van Cise and
Timur Tsabiev.
According to Tarczynski,
students should know about
problems around the world.
“We think that students at Mer-
cyhurst should know about the
events in Beslan...It is a tragedy
for the world when innocent
children are being killed just
because they were a particular
nationality,” said Tarczynski.
Tarczynski also hopes that
people will become more aware
of the situation in Chechnya and
Russia.
“Everyone knows about Sept.
11...I believe everyone should
know about the Russian Sept.
11th in Beslan. We all need to
be aware about what is going on
in different parts of the world,”
Tarczynski said.
The panel is being held Oct.
19, at 8 p.m. in the Student Gov-
ernment Chamber.
Those interested in human
rights, the current situation in
Russia, the war in Chechnya and
its effects and the Beslan School
Hostage Crisis are invited to
attend.
Erie County election offices
have been swamped with regis-
tering voters who are trying to
make the deadline for Novem-
ber’s election.
People formed lines out the
door and kept the phones ring-
ing all day.
As of this weekend, there were
175,918 residents registered to
vote.
Erie County’s Election Super-
visor, Sharon Drayer said that
that number has already beaten
the city’s record from the 2001
Kristol speaks to ’Hurst students
Contrinued from Page 1.
He said that if Bush can hold
onto Ohio and Florida, he will
most likely win the election.
Those are the key states.
If Bush does win the election,
in Kristol’s opinion, it will be
because of his foreign policy.
However, if he cannot man-
age to win, Kerry will be named
the new president, which Kristol
thinks will cause a “messy fight
within Republicans.”
municipal election.
The record breaking numbers
do not include the more then
600 people who filled out forms
Monday and those collected
from registration drives.
Students at Mercyhurst College
were encouraged to register from
on campus organizations over
the past few weeks.
Freshman Merissa Frank, said,
“Although I am already registered
to vote, I like the fact that Mer-
cyhurst is encouraging students
to be heard.”
He says that it is hard to know
what Kerry will do. It is likely
that he would win because of his
domestic policy.
However, on picking a winner,
Kristol says, “I honestly don’t
know.” In looking toward the
election of 2008, Kristol made
predictions about the candidates.
He believes that Jeb Bush is a log-
ical candidate. He also said that
Rudy Guliani is a likely candidate
because his performance post-
Sept. 11 was so impressive.
“More young people need
to know that their vote does
count.”
Not including the applications
that are still to be counted, 9,549
people in Erie County have
registered to vote since the April
27 primary.
Drayer said, “I’m sure wewill
hit well over 10,000, maybe over
11,000.”
The last day to register to vote
was Oct. 4. Watch for more
news on the upcoming election
in future issues.
Also, he says that Arnold
Schwarzenegger has a successful
government so he would “not be
surprised” if Arnold was also a
candidate in the next election.
Kristol is a regular commenta-
tor on Fox News and editor of
the Washington-based political
magazine, The Weekly Standard,
as well as co-author of the New
York Times best-seller War Over
Iraq: “Saddam’s Tyranny and
America’s Mission. “
October 13, 2004
Branch out with this season’s fall fads
By Joshua Wilwohl
Layout assistant
It’s that time of year again.
The leaves are changing, the
brisk air maneuvers its way over
campus and the layers of clothes
are piling on.
It’s finally fall.
Toss away those skimpy sum-
mer clothes and embrace your-
self with this year’s new fabulous
fall fads.
The sophisticated looks on
people are out.
No more boring ties and sports
jackets for the men, and no more
short skirts and baggy tops for
the women.
It’s becoming a more relaxed
fall in the fashion industry this
time of year, and the nontradi-
tional look is in.
“We are seeing a great change
in fashion this fall,” said fashion
director Marilyn Smith.
“There are fewer fauxpas than
normal because we are following
a new trend: not matching.”
For women: Longer skirts, such
as pencil skirts, are becoming
more popular this fall as com-
pared to the normal short skirts
most wear.
Not only are skirts a hot item,
but so are straight-legged pants;
flair is out.
As for tops, most are button-
down or turtle-neck, autumn
colored and accompanied by a
car or tweed coat.
However, not only are autumn
colors making the traditional leap
Play your cards right,
try the poker club
By Meghan Smith
Contributing writer
Every Wednesday night around
7:30 p.m. the Student Union gets
transformed.
Tables are brought in, chairs
are arranged and the lighting is
altered to provide the perfect
setting.
No, this isn’t the site of a poetry
reading, unplugged song session
or even a student debate.
What happens every Wednes-
day night is much more serious.
It is the gathering of the Mercy-
hurst Poker Club.
The idea for the poker club was
first discussed last year during
spring term when there was a
series of poker tournaments held
on campus in the union.
Juniors Dave Wozny and Joe
Piszczor first collaborated during
those original tournaments.
It was Wozny who approached
Piszczor with the idea to make
the tournaments a permanent
staple on campus.
Piszczor then went
to MSG
and con-
Contrary to some beliefs, Erie and Ireland are not worlds apart
By Kate Putney
Contributing writer
I first arrived on campus in
August 2001, and very quickly
noticed plenty of differences
between Erie, Pa. and my home-
town of Shankill in Dublin,
Ireland.
I live about 30 minutes from
the city of Dublin, the capital
of Ireland, to the north, and
20 minutes from Wicklow, the
county known as The Garden of
Ireland, to the south.
I loved living between a rural
countryside and a buzzing me-
tropolis.
Erie is a large city, but the best
way I could describe the differ-
ence is that it is a city which is
more business than people-ori-
entated.
Cities like Dublin or New York,
into fall, but leopard-skin and
python prints are returning to
the fashion scene.
Also making comebacks are
broaches and large “bling.”
According to Smith, “Anything
that is large and of jewelry is in:
rings, diamonds, gold and even
watches.”
However, even though jewelry
may be big, anything else large
is out.
No more big and baggy pants or
shirts, the new look is “tight.”
“Everything is tight,” Smith
said, “Even for the men.”
As for shoes, the new look is
round-toed; though there may
be a few pointed shoes still out
there, they are slowly declining
this fall.
Colors for women’s clothes this
autumn are lighter than ever, ac-
cording to Smith.
“Orange is the color,” she
said.
“More and more people are
finding more patterns and de-
signs to incorporate different col-
ors into, such as that of striped
or blocked.”
As the fashion industry chang-
es rapidly for women, men are
left with the same responsibility
of changing their style with the
season.
For men: Yes, admit it, as much
as we may loathe it, there is still
some sense about changing our
wardrobes to welcome the fall
fashions that men love.
Throw away those old looking
t-shirts and stereotypical baggy
vinced the members why the club
would be an excellent addition to
the school.
Piszczor and Wozny used their
knowledge of the game to gain
approval from both the school
and the state.
Pennsylvania law does not per-
mit gambling. For that reason the
two juniors decided that a point
system would better suit the club
on Mercyhurst’s campus.
That decision was the one that
secured the permission they
needed to start the club.
The Mercyhurst Poker Club is
unique in the fact that anybody
can win prizes without ever
handing over a dime.
Freshman Tom Servais said,
“You have to love the fact that
you get points just for showing
up, and those points can win you
prizes at the end of the term.”
Another good reason for utiliz-
ing a point system has to do with
the athletes on campus.
“NCAA does not allow student
athletes to be a part of gambling
in any way. Because we are play-
ing for points and not money, it is
perfectly legal for any
student athlete on
campus to get
i nvo l ve d ,”
Wozny ex-
plained.
Ever y-
one is en-
couraged to
come out and
however, are more people than
business-orientated.
Sept. 11, 2001, happened two
weeks after I arrived in the
United States and was a difficult
time for all of the freshmen that
year, but, in particular, I think it
was harder for the international
students.
I remember the first weekend
after the attacks most of the
dorms were empty because all
the American students had gone
home.
It was also a difficult time to be
“foreign” in the United States.
I use that term loosely since
many people may assume I am a
“foreigner,” but I am, in fact, an
American citizen.
Many American students were
helpful and supportive, but a
select few in their passing com-
ments and responses in class dis-
pants – no one wishes to see your
boxers anymore.
The style is not classic either,
so no more suit-coats or pleated
pants.
Instead, stock the wardrobe
with new and interesting colors
that branch out from the tradi-
tional look to welcome autumn.
Jeans are a highlight this sea-
son, but keeping with the tight
theme. Some men are buying
women’s jeans, which according
to Smith, are keeping the girls
amused.
In addition to jeans, pants for
men this fall are varying from the
classic khakis and branching out
to a new mix-matched, blotch
look that is giving men more of
a sense of style.
As for shirts, more varying
fashions, once again, are overtak-
ing the classic look. Men are now
seen wearing more stripes and
blocked button-down tops that
are of proper arm length.
No more rolling up the sleeves
to cover-up improper length of
too short or too long.
For men, Oxfords are a good
pair of shoes to hang onto that
goes with just about anything:
your jeans (tight or not), khakis
(if you wish to continue wearing
them), blotched pants and just
about any shirt.
Orange is becoming the most
fashionable color this fall for
men, too. The traditional autumn
colors are also in the mix of
men’s fashion. As for jewelry,
men seem not to vary that much
Juniors Joe Piszczor (left) and Dave Wozny welcome all to
the Wednesday evening meetings of the poker club.
get involved.
Piszczor explained, “Right
now we’ve got an equal amount
of men and women showing
up. There are a lot of freshmen
because we are so close to the
dorms. It would be great to have
more upperclassmen.”
Every level of play is welcome.
There is no tryout to be in this
club, and no pre-requisite.
There is a clinic every week for
beginners where Joe walks new
players through the rules and
gives them helpful tips in playing
the game.
Because the poker club focuses
on more than just the popular
Texas hold ‘em, Joe goes through
cussions made it clear to me and
other international students that
all foreign people represented a
threat and should be dealt with
as such.
As you can imagine, this was
upsetting and a disappointment
to the majority of international
students who had come here for
college.
Some of the stereotypes about
our home countries were also
extremely irritating.
The best one greeted me on
my return from Christmas break
about two years ago.
A cabdriver asked me, “Are
the Protestants and Catholics still
killing each other over there?”
The majority of people are
obviously not like this, of course,
but the occasional few shock
some memories into you.
The positive qualities associ-
THE MERCIAD
To contact: featuremerciad@mercyhurst.edu
Students Mackenzie Kaczmarek, Chris Spinelli and Laura Marnik model some of this
season’s fall fashions.
from women.
“It is the ‘big bling’ look; es-
pecially watches for men,” said
Smith.
“This season, men are now
learning how to dress,” she said
enthusiastically.
“A gray pant with an interest-
ing color, a tie with more style,
a color-blocked shirt and a shoe
that fits (an oxford) is now the
new fall look.”
Now, as you reorganize your
wardrobe for this fall and try to
Katie McAdams/Photo editor
the differences in the games and
how knowledge of one game
can cross over into a version of
another.
As of right now, Mercyhurst
is the only campus in the area
with a legitimate poker club on
campus.
As popularity spreads, it is the
hope of the club leaders to have
interaction between schools in
the form of a tournament.
Piszczor has a positive outlook
for the future of the club.
“If you’ve ever had any inter-
est in cards, whether you’re a
beginner or consider yourself an
expert, come play and see what
we’re all about.”
ated with moving to Erie are
quite numerous.
The weather in Dublin can be
quite dark and wet for most of
“One of the biggest lessons I learned in Erie
was that learning to cope alone doesn’t mean
that you have to cope alone all the time.
the winter.
Over here, even when it snows
it’s often a bright day, which I
like.
The campus is really beautiful
here, but I was lucky because my
secondary school at home was
also stunningly beautiful.
I attended Loreto Abbey in
Dalkey, which was right on the
east coast of Dublin.
FEATURES
keep up with the new looks, don’t
think you must jet to J.CREW,
GAP or even Abercrombie to
be the ultimate autumn fashion
model.
Instead, grab a shopping bag
from Kohls, Express, Urban
Outfitters or Target.
“We are seeing younger kids
spending much less on clothes
this fall,” said Smith.
“Unlike the times when we
would shun such clothing wear
from places like Target or even
October: Breast Cancer
awareness month
By Katie Walker
Contributing writer
T hough fall colors are
around, pink is a very impor-
tant one for the month of
October.
October is National Breast
Cancer Awareness month, and
the color pink is what those
that wish to support the cause
wear.
Breast cancer is a disease
that affects women of any age
or race.
It is a form of cancer that,
if caught early, can be treated.
Many women are able to go
on with normal lives, though
there are some others that can’t
beat the disease.
More than 216,000 women
will be affected by breast can-
cer in 2004, and out of those
nearly one third will not beat
the disease. The rest, however,
will survive to be able to help
other women gain awareness
to the disease.
This awareness is something
that is promoted to the young
women on the Mercyhurst
campus.
At Mercyhurst, many or-
ganizations have promoted
awareness of Breast Cancer
by selling pink ribbons, t-shirts
and other items to support the
cause.
We used to sit beside the sea
for lunch in the spring.
I think making such a huge
move away from home and the
”
-Kate Putney
life you lived before greatly helps
to speed up the process of gain-
ing independence and learning
how to cope on your own.
One of the biggest lessons I
learned in Erie was that learn-
ing to cope alone doesn’t mean
that you have to cope alone all
the time.
Doing so many things for the
first time can be quite daunting:
PAGE 5
Joshua Wilwohl/Layout assistant
Wal-Mart, it is now something
the savvy shopper is to be proud
of.”
As quickly as the leaves fall
from the trees, fashion branches
into new fads that change from
season to season, and we know
how rapidly winter comes to
Erie.
So be fast and adapt to this
autumn’s new looks before they
vanish – like your summer ward-
robe – to welcome the next
season.
“The Health
Center really
helps us by giv-
ing out materials
that inform us on
things to look for
when it comes to
our bodies.”
- Colleen Reiner
The Cohen Student Health
Center also helps promote
proper breast care.
They pass out brochures and
other materials that help young
women know what to look for
when completing self breast
exams.
Those materials are helping
the young women on campus
feel that they know more about
proper breast care.
Colleen Reiner, a 21-year-
old senior, said, “The Health
Center really helps us by giving
out materials that inform us
on things to look for when it
comes to our bodies.”
For more information, there
are many available web pages
and articles available.
Try visiting www.komen.
org, your doctor, or the Cohen
Student Health Center for ad-
ditional information.
Living with roommates and
coping with bills, bank accounts,
work, school and making friends
away from home.
It is important to allow your-
self to rely on others for help.
Particularly on this campus, I
have found that help is usually at
hand, you just have to be confi-
dent enough to ask for it.
Some of the most amazing
people I’ve ever met attend, live
or teach at Mercyhurst. I have
learned much from them.
They emphasize how loving
and supportive a lot of people
who are at this college are.
So, while I am certain I would
have had a wonderful time at-
tending the Dublin Institute of
Technology (my first choice for
college in Ireland), I think my ex-
periences here have been unique
and very special.
October 13, 2004 THE MERCIAD PAGE 6

FEATURES To contact: featuremerciad@mercyhurst.edu

Art therapy? What’s that? Democrat or Republican:

By Jen Helbig
Where Mercyhurst students stand
Features editor get students to vote. students their age that have the
By Meghan Smith
Contributing writer “Right now our age group is same views.
Since 1975, Mercyhurst’s art underrepresented and politi- By having the two groups on
therapy program has been es- cians don’t address issues that campus, it raises awareness about
In the past few months there
tablished as one of the best in affect us. If students would voting and provides an outlet to
has been non-stop talk regarding
the nation, but students breeze vote, despite the affiliation, it voice personal opinions.
the upcoming election.
through Mercyhurst without would show politicians that our Because this is an election
Whether there’s a debate on
ever realizing it is here. opinions can not be ignored like year, the purpose of the club is
the nightly news, a rally down-
“Art therapy is a way of using they have been in the past.” obvious.
town or a protest in the papers,
creativity as a healing tool in the

“
it is impossible to escape. However, many do not realize
medical world,” Cathlyn Hahn, Artwork courtesy of Cathlyn Hahn
how much the clubs are involved
On any given night there are
Director of the art therapy pro- Art therapy allows feelings to emerge as visuals. in the community even in the
dozens of stations reiterating
gram at Mercyhurst said. “It’s a
how important the election on
When “off season.”
way for artists to become pro- said, “in a school setting, clinics, fication.”
fessional in another field other hospitals or even prisons.” “This career is rewarding,
Nov. 2 is going to be. deciding who “We really don’t have an off
season,” Veverka said. “There
Young adults are actually get-
than sales and education.” “I want to work with kids,” becuase you get to deal with ting excited about voicing their to vote for you is always a local election going
Mercyhurst offers a major and Lersch added. “My mom had a people in special populations.” on, or a fundraiser to organize.
a minor in art therapy. daycare when I was growing up. Hahn emphasized the mean-
opinion on the multitude of shouldn’t pick Mike Foglio, co-president of
issues that focus around the
“It is a combination of art, The major just fits.”
psychology and art therapy
ing of art therapy, which is presidential election. based on what the Young Democrats, and I are
Lersch can find the best of visual learning. This type of This excitement is evident on always arranging ideas with other
classes,” Hahn said. “It is also two worlds in the major. learning is adaptable to various campus.
your parents, members of the club on how to
an accelerated program, which “I knew I always wanted to do populations.
starts during the winter term of something with art.” “Talk therapy is OK, but kids
Two groups, the Young Re- actors, or prepare for upcoming events.”
The Young Republicans are
publicans and the Young Demo-
freshman year.” Mercyhurst has been proven want to see and do and draw crats, are dedicated to making newscasters say. also active in local elections.
Art therapy involves much as a good choice by the Ameri- with computers and visual When there is down time the
more than crafts. There are can Art Therapy association.. reality games. We are a visual
a difference in the polls this Instead, look at members get together and dis-
November.
many other creative options “It is in the top one percent society,” Hahn said.
that are outlets of expression in the nation,” Lersch and Hahn
Although their points of view the issues and cuss plans for following years.
“Art is healing, and it is a

”
differ greatly, their goals are the In order to gain awareness on
according to Hahn. both commented. creative process. Everyone is same.
vote for what campus there is a debate being
“We use dance, music, drama
and creative writing.”
With these statistics, Hahn creative. This is an unbelievable
said that Mercyhurst can pre- way to see problems that people
Each organization wants to you agree with. held by Phi Sigma Alpha on Oct.
27 in the Taylor Little Theater
convince students of the impor-
Sophomore Christin Lersch pare a student for various levels have,” Hahn said. between the Young Democrats
tance of voting.
entered the program last year. in the career. If you are a student who is and the Young Republicans.
It is also important to both the
She knew that art therapy was “You can work right out of a interested in the art therapy Young Republicans and Young - Albert Veverka The debate is at 8:30 p.m. and
the major for her. bachelor’s degree,” Hahn com- program, see Cathlyn Hahn in everyone with an opinion is en-
Democrats that everyone does
“You can work at a lot of mented, “or you can continue 121A, Zurn. couraged to attend.
research before choosing which
places with the degree,” Lersch for a master’s and board certi- Being a member of either one Both groups agreed that if
party to affiliate with.
Albert Veverka is a senior and of the groups has a number of students don’t get out and voice
the co-president of the Young benefits. their opinions by voting then
Democrats on campus. Recently, members of the there is no room to complain

McAdams interns in New York City He feels that looking at both

By Andreea Neagu
Contributing writer
“It was an experience of the
lifetime, not one always at your
fingertips.”
This is how senior Erin Mc-
Adams described her internship
with the Broadway Dance Center
in New York City.
“I’ve danced since I was little,
close to 3 years old,” McAdams
said. “My mom was a dancer, so
she put me and my sister in dance Senior Erin McAdams (center) poses in New York City with
classes.”
Her early introduction to danc-
sides of the issue is the best way
to select who to vote for.
“It is important that we don’t
let the media make decisions for
us. When deciding who to vote
for, you shouldn’t pick based
on what your parents, actors or
newscasters say. Instead, look at
the issues and vote for what you
agree with.”
J.J. Mikulec, the senior presi-
dent of the Young Republicans,
also feels that it is important to
Photo courtesy of Erin McAdams
two other Broadway Dance Center interns.
Young Democrats had the op-
portunity to work directly with
the Kerry/Edwards campaign
downtown.
They were recognized by the
Kerry/Edwards campaign as the
most organized group in the area
and were invited to attend meet
and greets and work as staff
during the rally.
There are benefits on campus,
as well.
By joining one of the affili-
ates, students get to meet other
when issues are not dealt with
in our society.
If any student is interested
in becoming a member of the
Young Republicans you can
contact club president, J.J. Miku-
lec, at Mercyhurstcrs@hotmail.
com.
If any student is interested in
becoming a member of the Young
Democrats you can contact club
co president, Albert Veverka, at
avever72@mercyhurst.edu.

INTERESTED
ing turned into a passion, and internship was finding a house She mentioned that an im-
she is now a dance major with a and preparing myself to live on portant part of the experience
minor in arts administration. my own,” McAdams said. was “working with professional

IN
“Dancing is something I’ve She described living in New teachers, and forming connec-
always wanted to do,” McAdams York as “scary, especially on your tions with them, especially since
said. “Actually, my sister and I own, but also fun since you get to in the dance world connections

STUDYING ABROAD?
hope to open a dance studio to meet so many interesting people, become important.”
teach dance.” She wants to teach and expensive.” Returning to Mercyhurst after
and also choreograph. According to McAdams, the two and a half months in New
McAdam’s internship started most exciting part of her intern- York was another adjustment
in early June and was a learning ship was working at the studio. “Days go by and I wish I was
experience. “In my internship I was ex- in New York, but other days
“It always has been a goal of pected to work within the studio, I’m glad I am home. It is much Please join us for Study Abroad Night
mine to dance at a studio in New focusing on its administration,” quieter and not so fast paced,”
York,” McAdams said. McAdams said. McAdams said.
Tuesday, November 2, 2004
McAdams decided to do her “I spent a week working with She also said she brings back
internship during the summer, Human Resources, some time from the internship new aspects
8:00 pm in Zurn 214
and she had it approved by with the owner and in other she learned about herself, new
Career Services and the dance various departments. I was also teaching techniques and good
department. expected to take 10-12 classes a memories with the friends she
“The hardest thing about the week at the studio.” made while in New York.
The following Representatives from
Mercyhurst College’s Affiliate Study
Mercyhurst welcomes Lebec as a new professor
nalism, video production and Lebec agrees that coupling real Abroad Programs will be in attendance to
By Courtney Nicholas
Contributing writer
television reporting, along with
many others.
world experience with teaching
will help the students more. answer any of your questions:
While teaching at Marshall “I think I bring in a good deal
Members of the freshman class University, Lebec developed a of experience from the real world
can identify with the feelings of class in the Honors Department and that it will prove beneficial to
stress, excitement and apprehen- which focused on popular music the students.”
sion of starting a new year at of the 1960’s. “My two previous teaching jobs American Institute for Foreign Study
Mercyhurst College, but how do He has also been a part-time, allow me to bring different ideas
the new faculty members feel? as well as a full-time, professor to the Mercyhurst program.”
It could be safe to say they
AustraLearn
at Kent State University and Lebec would like the Mercy-
feel a little overwhelmed if they a lecturer at the University of hurst students to become more
are unfamiliar with the trimester Arkon. aware of the opportunities they
system, and they may feel anx- “I found the job opening on have available to them in the
ious about getting to know the the AEJMC website in February department. Cultural Experiences Abroad
other faculty members and their and thought its description fit “I am in the process of starting
students. well with my background,” said a campus chapter of the National
Dennis Lebec, the new pro- Lebec. Broadcasting Society, the largest
fessor in the Communication In addition to lecturing, Lebec student organization nationwide Semester at Sea
Department, may be feeling has worked for WAKR/WAKC- for those interested in the Radio-
some of those aforementioned TV television studio as produc- Television field,” said Lebec.
feelings, along with a collection
of others.
tion assistant, director and opera-
tions manager.
Lebec is getting accustomed
to the trimester system and his
Syracuse University
Lebec is a native of Pittsburgh Lebec has also been a reporter colleagues in the Communica-
and has previous teaching experi- for a local newspaper in Penn- tion department are a big help
ence at Marietta College in Ohio sylvania. to him,
and Marshall University in West He worked for the McKees “Both Dr. Gibson-Hancox and
Virginia. Rocks Gazette following school Dr. Welch have been so gracious
While at these institutions he board meetings, city council from the first time I set foot on
taught classes centered around meetings and also wrote a youth campus. It is a good working
mass media, broadcast jour- column. environment.”
PAGE 7 THE MERCIAD October 13, 2004

OPINION To contact: opinionmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy blamed

for adding to U.S. military shortages
By Dan Thies
Knight Ridder Newspapers
As we all know, the winner of this presidential election faces some
serious foreign-policy challenges. While juggling the occupations of
Iraq and Afghanistan with the prospect of possible future threats,
the next commander in chief will also be forced to address the tre-
mendous strain currently on U.S. military forces.
Widespread rumors of an imminent return of the draft have be-
come the subject of intense speculation and debate. This week, the
House of Representatives, seeking to quell these rumors, soundly
defeated a bill calling for its reinstatement.
But whether such rumors were truly plausible, or simply false, one
important point seems to have been lost in the discussion: Rein-
statement of the draft can never be justified without first repealing
the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy of barring openly gay people from
military service.
While both President George Bush and Sen. John Kerry have re-
peatedly assured voters they would maintain an all-volunteer military,
the next president will have to address the issue of lagging numbers
in military personnel.
The next administration, in considering every alternative to a draft,
must work with Congress to repeal the costly and discriminatory
“don’t ask” policy.
In the five years between 1998 and 2003, 6,273 military personnel
were expelled for their sexual orientation, according to an analysis by
the Center for the Study of Sexual Minorities in the Military.
And from the 1993 enactment of “don’t ask” to 2003, the U.S.
military spent an estimated $218 million recruiting and training
replacements for discharged gay personnel, according to a Human
Rights Watch report.
With the U.S. shouldering most of the financial and military burden
in Iraq, Bush’s go-it-alone approach to the war has alienated many
traditional allies, and raised legitimate questions over how to maintain
sufficient troop levels.
Earlier this year, the Bush administration enacted a controversial
call-up of 5,600 members of the Individual Ready Reserve (IRR), an
action referred to by critics as a “back door” draft. Many observers are
convinced that this president is running out of pre-draft options.
Yet, many able service members, some with sorely needed skills,
continue to be discharged from the military for their homosexual-
ity.
Most of the 5,600 recalled members of the IRR were needed to fill
gaps in highly specialized areas of military service, including Arabic-
speaking linguists, combat engineers, medics, paralegals, truck drivers,
mechanics and food-service workers, according to a July 7 United
Press International report.
The same report notes that over the past five years, roughly 1,000
service members possessing these very skills have been expelled from
the military under “don’t ask.”
President Bush’s justification for supporting “don’t ask,” which
parallels the Pentagon’s position, is that homosexuality is “incompat-
ible” with military service, and is a threat to morale and cohesion in
the military ranks.
However, the Human Rights Watch report goes on to say that a
number of our NATO allies, including the U.K., Canada, Germany
and Israel, began integrating openly gay service members years ago,
with no measurable impact on military effectiveness.
It also noted that the smoothest integration took place when
military leaders at the highest level supported and strictly enforced
nondiscrimination policies.
In reality, the “don’t ask” policy is more about fear and prejudice
toward gays than anything else. The idea that the powers that be
would consider involuntarily compelling certain people into military
service, while turning away willing, able and otherwise qualified
individuals just because of their sexual orientation, is unreasonable
and absurd.
It should go without saying that gay men and women are perfectly
capable of taking orders, marching in line, sailing ships, flying jets,
pulling triggers, dropping bombs, serving with courage and valor, and
anything else the armed services may demand of them.
And anybody who has served honorably in the armed forces
deserves the dignity of which so many have been robbed by “don’t
ask.”
Of course, if elected in November, Kerry may render both the issue
of “don’t ask” and any possibility of a return to the draft moot. His
preferred multilateral approach to future foreign-policy endeavors
would, I hope, ease the increased demand on U.S. military forces,
and as a longtime critic of “don’t ask,” he would support the policy’s
immediate repeal.
While the official position of the current administration remains
“no draft,” and various experts and skeptical media outlets continue
to debunk draft rumors, speculation persists, and we have yet to see
what policy-changing events or crises may lie ahead.
Though it’s currently unclear whether overturning “don’t ask” will
noticeably augment our military ranks, it would, at the very least,
guarantee an end to the costly losses the military faces by purging
its gay personnel.
And before the point is ever again reached where young Ameri-
cans must be called upon to serve involuntarily, we should demand
that our policymakers first consider every other option available to
them. This must include a policy of nondiscrimination toward gays
in the military.
It’s time for a change, America. Time to realize that our govern-
ment’s attitude toward gays in the military is irrational and counter-
productive. And we must encourage those who will resist to face their
fears, accept this change, and if nothing else, get used to it.

Is government Divided we fall: Partisan feelings

blurring the line create a negative atmosphere and strong emotions
between church By Corrie Thearle
Contributing writer
show gone bad.
Maybe the television networks will think
When it comes down to which candidate
people are going to vote for on Nov. 2, their
of something next, such as placing Bush and vote is going to be based upon their own
and state for votes? Surprise, annoyance, irritation, anger,
Kerry in a house together in a type of “Odd
Couple” setting for viewers to salivate over.
views: ideological, religious or social.
People have different opinions and beliefs
frustration and disgust. This is the range of Not only has this type of destructive politi- and no amount of negative persuasion or
having only non-partisan voter emotions I experienced the other night as I cal atmosphere shrouded the campaign trail, campaigning is going to magically change
By Amanda Harnocz
registration and picking a party was watching primetime television. it has spread to the people as well. someone’s mind overnight. You can’t ver-
Contributing writer
to affiliate with while still having As you might suspect, these feelings were The idea of common ground and reason- bally beat someone into submission.
a voice for Catholic supporters not the result of seeing commercials for the able debate has completely disappeared. It’s What is vital to this election is making
In the election this year there latest reality television show such as Swan all or nothing. Kerry or Bush. Liberal or people feel empowered, engaged and wanting
heard.
has been a lot of conflict be- (although that too made me want to throw conservative. Republican or Democrat. Flip to exercise their rights at the polls. American
Catholic followers may not ever
tween the separation of moral up), but were caused by the multitude of flopper or liar. Four more years or a new democracy is a government of the people, by
endorse or oppose a candidate
values between the Church’s presidential election campaign commercials change. It seems to be that people cannot the people and for the people. People need
for political office. They may
views and political views. Since that were broadcast right after another. properly deliberate or discuss the issues sur- to understand that when they don’t vote they
not provide financial support
this is a Catholic school, I will I’m not surprised at the number of com- rounding this election without trying to bite give up the power and freedom that ensures
to any candidate, and a church
focus on their values the most mercials; this is, after all, the home stretch for the other person’s head off or belittling them the continued success of democracy.
may not provide volunteers for
versus other religions. one of the most highly publicized elections for their views. What we as citizens should be doing this
a campaign.
As a Catholic myself, I am hav- in recent years. What bothers me, and many What happens in this type of situation is election is informing, educating and en-
While looking over the rules,
ing trouble basing my values on other Americans as well, are the highly nega- that people become defensive and ultimately couraging people to realize the amount of
Catholics might feel that they
religion or on a political views. tive campaigning methods each candidate is stop listening to the other person, therefore power and involvement they can have in
aren’t fully representing their
I truly believe in everything that undertaking. This election is an all-out bash furthering the futility in seeing both sides government simply by casting their ballot
religion or that they aren’t fully
America stands for. The separa- fest between both John Kerry and George of the issue. This has been evident not this election.
accepting a candidate’s values.
tion between church and state Bush. only in the election debates, but on political Negative campaigning and persuasion only
Bishop Pilla also notices the
dates back to when the United Commercial after commercial is aimed news programs, in radio shows and between creates the atmosphere of “you’re either with
conflict between church and
States was founded. at destroying the other candidate’s political people in everyday life, whether it’s during a us or against us,” and if you don’t agree then
state. As a religious leader he
The Catholic religion feels that record, not to mention making somewhat lunch break at work or at a party. This is the we don’t need you. Instead, we should pro-
understands the implications
politics can’t be based solely on personal attacks on their personalities and point where people feel disillusioned, angry mote people to be with us as fellow citizens
and responsibilities of being a
ideological conflict, the search characters. Although this type of negative and cynical and eventually turned off from exercising our political power and freedom
leader. Bishop Pilla feels that the
for partisan advantage or politi- campaigning is not something new in the politics, thus contributing to the extremely at the polls.
Church’s role in politics is often
cal contributions. Politics should political arena, this election has appeared to large and disturbing amount of citizens that
misunderstood. The Church
be based on fundamental moral take on the characteristics of a reality TV don’t vote in the country.
recognizes the legitimate author-
choices. But, how do Catholics
ity of the government and the
choose a president when neither
right of all, including the Church,

Madam Malarky:
candidate shares the ideas of the
to be heard in the formulation of
Catholic Church entirely? This is
public policy.
why it is not hard to understand
Another point made by the
why John F. Kennedy was the

Get his attention and win his heart

Catholic Church is that our
only Roman Catholic president
country is faced with many moral
ever elected.
situations and consequences.
Catholics should be asking
Abortion, euthanasia, capital
questions like: How do we fairly Dear Madam Malarky, the conclusion that this great man’s mind is to compare yourself to the other competitors
punishment, war, poverty, health
share the blessings and burdens I’m attracted to this guy on campus. Nor- on the other side of the tracks. For this is a of this man. Do they have a greater definition
care and racism are all a part of
of the challenges we face? What mally this wouldn’t be a problem except other girls cruel world that we live in. in parts that you lack or have an abundance
election strategies for this year
kind of nation do we want this also have their eyes on him. Is there any way to draw Now to dive deeper into this particular of ? Are their legs taller, shorter, thinner, fat-
and years to come. The Church
to be? How do we protect hu- some of his attention to me? man’s mind, particularly his viewpoint on ter than yours? Finally, are their derrières, the
recognizes these problems, but
man life and dignity? The central From, women and their bodies. Assuming his mind part that most women ask each other about
offers different solutions than
question of this election, for Attention Deprived is focused on one track, this shall be quite in fitting rooms, perfect? Well, how do you
what the candidates might sug-
Catholics, should not be: Are Dear Attention Deprived, simple to answer. A man judges by outer rank yourself ? What is the competition that
gest.
we better off than we were four Well, isn’t this a pesky little situation. To looks. His intellectual mind is not able to you face? Perhaps an expensive trip to the
While I am not a strict Catholic,
years ago? begin with, you must ask yourself these three comprehend the meaning of the inner self. mall is in your future or not at all. But most
I still waver between the issues.
While still looking at these questions. 1) “Why am I attracted to him?,” Whether it be a woman’s legs, derrière or importantly, do not forget to judge. After you
Am I going against my religion
questions, it is hard to decide 2) “Is he a normal male whose observations her chest, his focal point will not stray to have acquired that spanking-new outfit that
and all that the Church means
which candidate fits the cre- are based on the T&A of a female?” and 3) other more essential parts. However, there is paid compassionately by Daddy’s credit
for taking a stance and being
dentials. “Am I a truly exquisite organism that is far are always exceptions if, indeed, this one card, you appear to him when he’s alone (or
pro-choice? Even though the
The election this year is merely superior than these other vermin?” I shall male is focused on a woman’s brain. I would nearly alone) to flaunt your now enhanced
Church and state both recognize
picking the lesser of the two evils proceed to go into greater detail of these immediately suggest you latch on to him and assets. The other women will surely be envi-
the discrepancies it puts voters
for Catholics. While Bush is pro- three vitally important questions. never let him go. Even when the inevitable ous as you walk away with your new man for
in, they don’t do anything to
life and gets votes from many For what ridiculous reason are you drawn break-up occurs, stalk him to the day he or the time being.
make it any easier.
Catholics on that one issue, it is to this male? Chances are that he is a typical yourself dies. Follow my advice and he shall be yours for
Voters should understand that
not politically responsible to be gentleman who doesn’t comb his hair in the Ah, the time has come to analyze the third, the rest of the term. Happy spying and don’t
their individual morals should
a one issue voter. Kerry may be morning and throws on a pair of dirty shorts most significant question. Women judging forget to e-mail madam_malarky@hotmail.
be represented and heard, but
losing Catholic votes because of before heading to class. Otherwise he is an other women. Don’t deny it ladies, we have com or AIM mmalarky04 . If mmalarky04
during election time, the values
his pro-choice attitude. abnormal guy who takes great pride in his all done it. Whether it be consciously or sub- is not on AIM, please email me instead. It’s
of the Church need to be pushed
The Catholic Church has set up outer looks. You know, the type that spends consciously, it happens. You glance at other completely confidential and I will not seek
aside for just a moment. While
guidelines to follow during elec- three hours in front of a mirror carefully women as you pass by. When you come right out the person on campus.
looking at the candidates, I would
tion time. These include rules shaving any hairs that may have grown over- down to it, you often wish you were exactly
advise people to take a look at
about applying church values night, whose closet is full of ironed pants and like her, except for one or two things of Madam Malarky
the issues and choose the lesser
to legislation and public issues, shirts. In any case, I would painfully come to course. Without hesitation, the time has come
of the two evils.
PAGE 8
OPINION
The left and right face off:
On the left: We need a change in leadership
By Allison Moore
Opinion editor
This election year, the war in
Iraq is a major issue. Whether
or not one agrees if we should
be there or not is irrelevant.
The fact is we’re there, and it’s
now time for us to choose who
we want to take control of this
increasingly deteriorating situ-
ation.
President Bush sees foreign
policy as a black and white is-
sue. It’s us vs. them or good
vs. evil. You can’t classify the
world in these categories, and
you certainly can’t attack other
countries just because they fit
in the “evil” category. If that
were the case, we should invade
about 35 countries. However, for
reasons still unclear (weapons of
mass destruction, to liberate the
Iraqi people, or to fight terror-
ism. . .talk about flip-flopping) we
chose to invade Iraq over other
more dangerous countries such
“
as Iran and North Korea.
President
Bush sees
foreign policy
as a black and
”
white issue.
The major point that Sen.
Kerry centers his argument on is
the fact that the president did not
have a plan to win and protect
the peace. The president’s own
father wrote about this difficult
task in his book. The reason he
did not enter Baghdad during
the Gulf War was because he
did not have a plan to achieve
and protect the peace. So instead
he used good judgement and
liberated Kuwait without taking
over Iraq.
Now, I admit that the actual
occupation of Iraq was accom-
plished very well. I didn’t expect
anything less out of our military.
But the United States was naive.
The president prematurely an-
nounced, during a tacky public
relations stunt, that the mission
was accomplished. Now it’s
hard for any American, liberal
or conservative, to look back on
that moment and keep a straight
face. It is now abundantly clear
that the mission is far from being
accomplished.
Perhaps the president thought
the people of Iraq would react
similarly to the people of France
when we liberated them from
To contact: opinionmerciad@mercyhurst.edu
This Week: The war in Iraq
Germany. Maybe he had visions
of rose petals and confetti being
thrown while words of praise
were filling the air. Instead, our
military is facing gunfire and
grenades rather than rose petals
and confetti and words of hate
instead of praise.
The Iraqi people are unwilling
to fully trust us. And why should
they? When we took down Sad-
dam, widespread looting broke
out. Guess what the only build-
ing the Americans guarded was?
The oil headquarters. Homes
and businesses were destroyed,
not to mention priceless artifacts
from a museum were stolen. I
don’t know about you, but if was
an Iraqi citizen, I’d be angry. I
would see our protection of the
oil headquarters as a gesture of
self interest. I wouldn’t think
the Americans were here to help
us when they let the city be pil-
laged while they protected their
precious oil.
Last week, Paul Bremer stated
that he believed the number of
troops in Iraq were insufficient
to keep the peace. He charged
that the allowing of wide spread
looting and disorder resulted in
a loss of control for American
forces. A loss we are still feel-
ing today.
Not only were the numbers of
American troops insufficient,
but their conditions were as
well. Many troops did not have
the proper equipment to pro-
tect them in battle. Parents of
some soldiers had to order very
expensive body armor off the
internet and ship it to their son
or daughter.
Some of you may be wonder-
ing why Sen. Kerry voted against
the $87 billion bill that would
give our troops the support they
needed. Here’s the answer. As
Sen. Edwards mentioned during
his debate, Sen. Kerry was pro-
testing the fact that these troops
were sent into war without the
proper equipment in the first
place.
Also, Sen. Kerry did not agree
with the section of the bill that
allotted $7 billion dollars to
Haliburton, Vice President Dick
Cheney’s former company that
has received very nice benefits
thanks to the war.
The Bush administration has
refused to accept reality when
it comes to Iraq. Despite the
violence we see on our TV’s
every night, they have nothing
but words of optimism to feed
the public.
More than 1,000 Americans
have been killed in Iraq and
the number continues to grow
each day. Contrary to what the
president wants you to believe,
THE MERCIAD
levels of violence have increased.
More soldiers were killed in July
than June, more in August than
July and more in September than
August. That is not progress.
John Kerry has a plan to turn
this war around. According to
www.johnkerry.com, one step
will be to increase international
involvement. George Bush has
repeatedly offended many of our
allies over the past four years, and
John Kerry intends on mending
these strained relationships.
Another step is to rapidly and
effectively train Iraqi forces.
Peace in Iraq is not possible as
long as America is seen as the
commanding force.
Last year, Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld claimed that
210,000 Iraqis were in uniform.
He later “revised” this estimate
and stated that only 95,000 were
actually in uniform. This is still
an over-estimate. It has been
shown that only 5,000 Iraqis have
been completely and successfully
trained. There are 32,000 Iraqi
police officers are in uniform, but
not one of them have completed
the entire training program.
This is completely unaccept-
able. How are we supposed to
reduce our role in Iraq when their
own people aren’t being trained
efficiently and properly?
There is no quick fix for the war
in Iraq. It is going to take years
to get everything under some sort
of control.
Support for the war is dying.
According to CNN, only 44
percent now think that war was
the right decision. As support
dwindles and our involvement
continues without a near end in
sight, we are faced with a situa-
tion that parallels Vietnam.
Judging by the poor statistics
and the levels of violence, the
Bush administration has proven
to be ineffective in Iraq. It is time
for a new leader with new ideas
to fix this problem.
KRT editorial cartoon
On the right: We need to ‘stay the course’
By James Mikulec
Contributing writer
In March 2003, President
George W. Bush made the deci-
sion to go to war in Iraq based on
the best intelligence that Ameri-
can and foreign intelligence
agencies could offer. The Presi-
dent made this decision because
he perceived an imminent threat
from Saddam Hussein and his
almost universally acknowledged
weapons of mass destruction
program.
The president made a good
faith effort to gain approval
from the United Nations Security
Council, but when it became
clear that that body was unwilling
to enforce all of the resolutions
that it had previously drafted
promising strict enforcement
of anti-proliferation efforts
in Iraq, the United States and
those countries willing to assist,
more than 30 besides the United
States and the United Kingdom,
decided that the time for action
had arrived.
I would contend that the war
cannot be entirely condemned or
praised with the luxury of 20-20
hindsight now at our disposal.
Barring some unforeseen find
in the future, it is now clear that
Saddam Hussein did not have
weapons of mass destruction in
the quantities originally thought
(I hesitate to say that Saddam
had no weapons, because small
amounts of sarin and mustard
gas have been used against our
troops as improvised explosive
devices since the beginning of
the conflict).
Placing ourselves in the mind-
set of March 2003, however, one
has an entirely different view-
point. First, the president had
the U.S. intelligence community
telling him that Saddam had a
significant weapons of mass
destruction program (I would
recommend that anyone who
has not done so read the most
recent pre-war National Intel-
The
Kelly Rose Duttine
MERCIAD
Jonelle Davis
Jen Helbig
Allison Moore
Ryan Palm
Meghan Sullivan
Katie McAdams
Melissa Jack
Kristen Piquette
Sarah Dowden
The Merciad is the student-produced newspaper of Mercyhurst College. It is
published throughout the school year, with the exception of midterms week
and finals week. Our office is in the Hirt Center, room L114. Our telephone
number is 824-2376.
The Merciad welcomes letters to the editor. All letters must be signed and
names will be included with the letters. Although we will not edit the letters
for content, we reserve the right to trim letters to fit. Letters are due the
Thursday before publication and may not be longer than 300 words. Submit
letters to box PH 485.
ligence Estimate concerning Iraq
prepared by the CIA). Likewise,
the president also had the intel-
ligence services of both Great
Britain and Russia, probably
the largest and most respected
outside of the U.S., telling him
the same thing: that Saddam did
indeed possess weapons of mass
destruction and could give them
to terrorists if he so chose. The
President chose to act on this
credible information.
This has caused Sens. Kerry
and Edwards and other liber-
als to accuse President Bush of
lying to the American people
about Iraq.
What such critics fail to real-
ize about the president’s actions
in Iraq is the fundamental dif-
ference between consciously
attempting to deceive America
and acting on poor information.
It was Sen. Kerry, after all, who
said after his vote authorizing
the war, “If you don’t believe
that Saddam Hussein is a threat
with nuclear weapons, then you
shouldn’t vote for me.”
Sen. Kerry, as a member of the
Senate Intelligence Committee,
saw the same evidence as Presi-
dent Bush and came to the same
conclusion: Saddam was a threat
to the U.S. This is why Senator
Kerry voted for the resolution
authorizing the President to go
to war in Iraq.
When the Democratic pri-
maries rolled around and being
pro-war became unpopular,
Sen. Kerry then voted against
funding our troops justifying
this in classic fashion by saying
that he “actually did vote for the
$87 billion, before [he] voted
against it.”
On Aug. 9, 2004, Kerry then
said that even knowing that
there were no weapons of mass
destruction in Iraq, he still would
have voted to go to war there.
On Sept. 15, Kerry then altered
his stance, again saying that he
would not have favored going
to war knowing that there is no
weapons of mass destruction in
Iraq. This is only a sampling of
Sen. Kerry’s many positions on
Iraq, but I’m sure that everyone
gets the idea: the only thing con-
sistent about Sen. Kerry’s posi-
tion on the war in Iraq is that it
is inconsistent, as President Bush
pointed out in the first debate.
One thing that Kerry does
seem consistent on is that he
does not believe that the U.S. had
international support for the war.
Sen. Kerry has repeatedly called
the more than 30 nations in Iraq
the “Coalition of the Coerced
and the Bribed.” What kind of
message does that send to our al-
lies in Iraq such as Great Britain,
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October 13, 2004
Poland and Italy?
Furthermore, Sen. Kerry went
out of his way to criticize Iraqi
Prime Minister Ayad Allawi for
placing an artificially positive
spin on the current situation in
Iraq only minutes after Allawi
spoke before the U.S. Congress
to thank them for America’s
sacrifice. Sen. Kerry has said
throughout the campaign that
if elected, he will build a true
“
coalition in Iraq.
Sen. Kerry
saw the same
intelligence
as President
”
Bush.
My question to the Senator
is what nation is going to send
troops to Iraq that does not
already have them there now if
Kerry is elected? The French
and the Germans have both said
that they will not send troops, no
matter who wins the election.
This is especially troubling be-
cause as recent revelations have
shown, one of the major reasons
that nations like France and Rus-
sia, as well as the UN itself, did
not favor war in Iraq was because
it appears that they were receiv-
ing bribes from Saddam’s regime
through the UN Oil-For-Food
Program.
The choice between president
Bush and Senator Kerry is clear
on the issue of Iraq. President
Bush perceived a threat to the
United States and he attacked
that problem head-on to prevent
attacks by terrorists potentially
armed with Iraqi weapons of
mass destruction.
Sen. Kerry, on the other hand,
has held no firm position on the
issue and has favored or opposed
the war on numerous occasions
throughout the campaign de-
pending on which position was
more politically advantageous at
the time.
Some consider the war in Iraq
to be a mistake. I would contend
a war that has brought a brutal
dictator who killed hundreds of
thousands of his own people to
justice, given millions of people
a chance at freedom, ensured
that Saddam Hussein could
never revitalize his weapons of
mass destruction program again
and created an experiment in de-
mocracy in the Middle East is far
from a mistaken endeavor.
PAGE 9
ARTS &
ENTERTAINMENT
tHe Sneak preview of horror movie ‘Saw’ at the PAC
BuZz
OCT. 15. Barry Manilow.
Gund Arena, Cleveland.
OCT. 15. Ministry, Life the
Thrill Kill Kult, Hansel und
Gretyl. Mr. Small’s, Pitts-
burgh.
OCT. 16. LL Cool J. Agora
Theatre, Cleveland.
OCT. 17. Third Day, Toby
Mac. A.J. Palumbo Center,
Pittsburgh.
OCT. 17. Tragically Hip,
Sam Roberts. Rock Club,
Pittsburgh.
OCT. 19. Dolly Parton. Gund
Arena, Cleveland.
OCT. 19. Toby Lightman, Ben
Arthur. Odeon, Cleveland.
OCT. 21. Musical. “The Full
Monty.” Warner Theatre,
Erie. $49.50, $39.50, $29.50.
On sale now at Tullio Arena
box office, Ticketmaster out-
lets, by phone at 452-4857 or
456-7070.
OCT. 22. Carrot Top. Warner
Theatre, Erie. $28.50, $23.50.
On sale at Tullio Arena box
office, Ticketmaster outlets,
by phone at 452-4857 or
456-7070, online at www.
ticketmaster.com.
OCT. 23. Nintendo Fusion
Tour with Story of the Year,
Lost Prophets, My Chemi-
cal Romance. Ice Garden,
Pittsburgh.
OCT. 24. Australian Pink
Floyd Show. Canton Memo-
rial Civic Center, Canton,
Ohio.
OCT. 25. Vanessa Carlton.
Odeon, Cleveland.
OCT. 27. R.E.M. E.J. Thomas
Hall, Akron.
OCT. 27. Switchfoot, Format,
Honorary Title. Agora The-
ater, Cleveland.
OCT. 28. KMFDM. Mr.
Small’s Theatre, Millvale.
OCT. 29. Godsmack (acous-
tic). Akron Civic Theater,
Akron, Ohio.
OCT. 30. Sarah Brightman.
Mellon Arena, Pittsburgh.
NOV. 3, 4. “Stomp.” Warner
Theatre, Erie. On sale at Tul-
lio Arena box office, Ticket-
master outlets.
NOV. 6. KMFDM. Odeon,
Cleveland.
NOV. 7. Jethro Tull. Warner
Theatre, Erie. $43.50, $37.50.
On sale now at Ticketmas-
ter.
NOV. 11. Jimmy Eat World,
Razorlight. Rock Club, Pitts-
burgh.
NOV. 11-28. “Radio City
Music Hall Christmas Special
with the Rockettes.” Shea’s
Theater, Buffalo.
NOV. 14. Something Cor-
porate. Steele Hall, Fredonia
State University, Fredonia,
N.Y.
NOV. 16. Papa Roach. Ode-
on, Cleveland.
. treated in recent days for a
NOV. 17. Newsboys. Warner
Theatre, Erie. $29.50. On
sale now at Tullio Arena box
office.
NOV. 20. Comedy. Ron
White. War ner Theatre,
Cleveland. $33.75. On sale
at Tullio Arena box office,
Ticketmaster outlets.
How far would you go to save
your own life?
Prepare yourself for a gut-
wrenching trip into the heart
of terror with “SAW.” Lions
Gate Films’ gripping horror
film starring Cary Elwes, Danny
Glover, Monica Potter and Leigh
Whannell.
Obsessed with teaching his vic-
tims the value of life, a deranged,
sadistic serial killer is abducting
morally wayward people and
forcing them to play macabre
games for their own survival.
Faced with impossible choices,
each victim must struggle to
win back his/her life, or else die
trying…
A young man named Adam
(Leigh Whannell) wakes to find
himself chained to a rusty pipe
inside a decrepit subterranean
chamber.
Chained to the opposite side of
the room is another bewildered
captive, Dr. Lawrence Gordon
(Cary Elwes).
Between them is a dead man
lying in a pool of blood, holding
a .38 in his hand.
Neither man knows why he has
been abducted, but instructions
left on a microcassette order Dr.
Gordon to kill Adam within eight
Original ‘Star Wars’ saga released on DVD
Set includes most comprehensive ‘Star Wars’ documentary, ‘Empire of Dreams’
By Meghan Sullivan
Arts & Entertainment editor
Even 30 years after it came
out, “Star Wars” is still thrilling
its loyal fans.
The trilogy, keeping up with
the times, just came out on DVD.
Included with the set is a fourth
disc that contains trailers, TV
spots and the “Star Wars” docu-
mentary “Empire of Dreams.”
The documentary contains a
play-by-play of the creation of
the arguably most popular tril-
ogy of all time told from George
Lucas’ point of view.
Lucas discusses his film begin-
nings with “American Graffiti”
and his struggles to stay afloat.
He fought to stay independent
from the high powered movie
studios and in the process he
accidentally built the Lucas Em-
pire.
“Empire of Dreams” brings
viewers through the tedious featured in “American Graffiti.” to give her a slimmer appear-
casting process that Lucas went
through.
It reveals intriguing facts, such played Princess Leia, was sent through the creative process with
as why Lucas was set against to a “fat camp” as she called it Lucas and those who worked
using Harrison Ford for Han before filming began. Even after with him in “Star Wars’” cre-
Solo. He originally wanted an the process began Fisher was ation.
unknown and Harrison had been taped down inside her costume
Christopher Reeve dead at age 52
By Bill Hutchinson
Knight Ridder Newspapers
“Superman” actor Christopher
Reeve, who became a forceful
advocate for spinal-cord research
after being paralyzed in a 1995
equestrian accident, died sud-
denly Sunday, a family spokes-
man said.
The 52-year-old Reeve, who
had vowed to one day walk again,
was rushed to a Westchester,
N.Y., hospital Saturday after go-
ing into cardiac arrest at his home
in Bedford.
Reeve fell into a coma and
never recovered, said Wesley
Combs, his publicist.
Combs said Reeve had been
pressure wound that became
“severely infected.”
“On behalf of my entire fam-
ily, I want to thank Northern
Westchester Hospital for the ex-
cellent care they provided to my
husband,” Reeve’s wife, Dana,
said in a statement early Monday
morning.
“I also want to thank his per-
sonal staff of nurses and aides,
as well as the millions of fans
THE MERCIAD
To contact: entertainmentmerciad@mercyhurst.edu
Photo from soon to be released horror film “SAW”.
hours. If he fails to do so, then
both men will die; Dr. Gordon’s
wife, Alison (Monica Potter), and
Conceptual sketch of Darth Vader.
Also, in the documentary you ance.
learn how Carrie Fisher, who “Empire of Dreams” goes
The film shows alternative con-
from around the world who have
supported and loved my husband
over the years.”
Despite the near-fatal accident,
Reeve never gave up hope that he
would walk again.
“I still think I will,” Reeve told
Barbara Walters last year in a
interview on ABC’s “20/20.”
“I’m not sure when it’s going to
happen.”
Reeve, who spent about
$400,000 a year on health care,
stunned the nation in 2002 when
he announced he could move the
fingers on his left hand and the
toes on his feet.
He said he had been able to
restart his motor skills with a
form of therapy that used a
combination of electrical muscle
stimulation and repetitive motion
exercises.
Despite Reeve’s amazing prog-
ress, he still had to cope with
life-threatening bouts with in-
fections.
Last month, Reeve revealed in
a Reader’s Digest interview that
he fought off three dangerous
infections this year.
“The most recent was a blood
infection caused by an abrasion
on my left hip that I probably
picked up one day when I was on
his daughter will also be killed.
Recalling a recent murder in-
vestigation by a police detective
the exercise bike,” Reeve said in
the interview. “It seemed benign
but developed into strep. Then a
lot of major organs shut down.
We’re trying to figure out what’s
going on.”
With a square jaw and hand-
some looks, Reeve got his first
show business break in 1976
when he played opposite Katha-
rine Hepburn on Broadway in “A
Matter of Gravity.”
He became a big-screen star in
1978 when he was casts as the
Man of Steel in “Superman.”
But on May 28, 1995, Reeve
was competing in a horse jump-
ing competition in Culpepper,
Va., when he was thrown from
his steed.
The top two vertebrae of his
neck were broken.
In his 1998 memoir “Still Me,”
Reeve recounted how his own
mother, Barbara, gave up hope.
Reeve is survived by his wife,
Dana, and their son, Will, 12. He
also is survived by his parents,
Franklin Reeve and Barbara
Johnson, and by two children
from a previous relationship,
Matthew, 25, and Alexandra,
21.
Photo courtesy of Great Lakes Film Festival
named Tapp (Danny Glover),
Dr. Gordon realizes he and
Adam are the next victims of a
Photo courtesy of LucasFilms.
ceptual sketches of well-known
characters made before it was
filmed.
You even get to hear Darth
Vader being played by David
Prowse with his Scottish accent
before his voice was dubbed over
by James Earl Jones.
October 13, 2004
psychopathic genius known only
as “Jigsaw.”
With only a few hours left to
spare, they must unravel the
elaborate puzzle of their fate in
the midst of mounting terror.
The killer has provided them
with only a few clues and two
handsaws - too weak to break
their steel shackles, but strong
enough to cut through flesh and
bone…
Director James Wan creates a
chilling landscape of dread where
nothing is quite as it seems.
An edge-of-your-seat ride bris-
tling with emotional intensity,
“SAW” will keep you guessing
until the very end.
The Great Lakes Film Asso-
ciation in conjunction with the
Eerie Horror Festival is proud
to announce the exclusive North
East United States Premiere of
the Lion’s Gate film “SAW.”
This terrifying new horror film
will be premiering Saturday, Oct
16 at 9 p.m. in the PAC two weeks
before its national release on Oct
29. Tickets are $5.00 available at
the door.
Information provided by the Great
Lakes Film Festival
The documentary discusses
how Lucas Films Inc. had to
basically reinvent the way they
would film these films to fit Lu-
cas’ vision.
The only way the film could
portray the battling Tie-fighters,
futuristic vessels and dueling light
sabers was to revolutionize the
way they created special effects.
When the first film in the series,
“A New Hope,” was released on
May 20, 1977, it was only shown
in 37 theaters.
Most theaters refused to carry
it because of the foreseen failure.
The smashing success of Lucas’
vision proved Universal Studios
and all doubters wrong as we are
still marveling at it today.
This is the most comprehen-
sive feature-length documentary
on “Star Wars” made yet.
The cultural phenomenon
of “Star Wars” still reaches
people today with its space bat-
tling adventures, its mystifying
encounters with the Jedi force
and its heartfelt good versus evil
plot story lead by our hero Luke
Skywalker.
The “Star Wars” saga on DVD
is presented in Dolby Digital
5.1 Surround EX and is on sale
now!
October 13, 2004 THE MERCIAD PAGE 10

ARTS &
ENTERTAINMENT To contact: entertainmentmerciad@mercyhurst.edu

Tenor Paul Groves brought students to their feet

By Jennifer Camodeca
Contributing writer
Many would be intimidated
looking into an audience of
225 people and singing for two
hours.
Fortunately for the Erie com-
munity and Mercyhurst students,
Paul Groves is clearly not one of
these people.
On Sunday, Groves performed
a recital for a nearly full house
in the Walker Recital Hall at
2:30 p.m.
Paul Groves is a well-known
tenor throughout Europe and
North America. In 1995, Groves
received the Richard Tucker
Foundation award, which has
enabled him to pursue an inter-
nationally acclaimed career.
A graduate of the Metropolitan
Opera’s Young Artists Develop-
ment program, Groves came to
national attention as a winner of
the Met’s National Council Audi-
tions in 1991.
He made his Metropolitan
Opera debut in 1992 as the
Steuermann in “Der fliegande
Holländer”.
He debuted at La Scala in 1996
as Tamino in the opening night
performance of “Die Zauber-
flöte”. He has returned in several
other leading roles.
Groves has also performed at
Cleveland’s Severance Hall, New
York’s Carnegie Hall, Teatro alla
Scala and Amsterdam’s Concert-
gebouw and other prestigious
theatres.
Groves begins the season with
a debut at the Los Angeles Op-
era. He then travels throughout
Germany, performs with the
London Philharmonic Orches-
tra, performs the title role in
“Candide” and, lastly, a recital
at the Théatre de la Monnaie in
Brussels.
Every vocalist needs a great ac-
companist, one who can follow
their lead and make the perfect
synchronization of the two ap-
pear effortless. Pedja Muzijevic
Tenor Paul Groves performed at Mercyhurst on Oct 9
is such a pianist for Groves.
The Bosnian-born artist has
toured extensively throughout
eastern and western Europe,
Great Britain, Canada, the United
States, South America and Asia.
Muzijevic made his New York
debut in Lincoln Center’s Alice
Tully Hall after receiving the Wil-
Photo courtesy of Performing Arts Center
liam Petschek award, a coveted
award given by Julliard.
He has received many honors
including top prize in the Busoni
International Piano Competi-
tion and a finalist diploma in the
Naumburg International Piano
Competition.
Another great accomplishment
is touring worldwide for the
White Oak Dance Project with
Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Although the Walker Recital
Hall may be smaller than what
Groves and Muzijevic are ac-
customed to, the recital was very
intimate and the mood was light-
hearted. Groves was even crack-
ing jokes at himself, his newly
dyed hair (for an operatic role)
and even a typo in the program.
He was personable, which made
the audience enjoy the perfor-
mance that much more.
The hall was simple, yet el-
egant, with a baby grand piano,
some greenery and the two men
in their classic attire tuxedos.
The songs ranged from very
emotional, heartfelt and sad to
happy and silly so that made the
audience laughed aloud, some-
thing one would not expect to
be doing in a voice recital.
One of the more well-received
selections and a favorite of
Groves was “Die Lorelei” by
Franz Liszt. This is “one of the
best songs… like little scenes
of themselves, almost like a
five minute opera…without the
clothes and makeup and hair,”
said Groves.
Other songs sang by Groves
were those by Sergei Rach-
maninov, Benjamin Britten and
Gabriel Fauré.
The concert concluded with a
standing ovation and an encore-
performance by the musicians.
After Sunday’s performance
Groves stayed to give a master
class to the Mercyhurst voice
department.
The class included student per-
formances followed by critiques
and helpful professional advice
from the Metropolitan tenor.
Groves’ performances have
been recorded on DVD by
Naxos Records, SONY Classics
and EMI Classics. Muzijevic’s
recording of works is available
on the Helicon label, Kleos Clas-
sics and Cala Records.

Movie Plot ‘Forgotten’ doesn’t leave you wanting Moore

New Julianne Moore film ‘The Forgotten’ leaves something to be desired
By Matt Rendulic
Contributing writer
Remember the B-rated horror
movies of the 70’s and 80’s? I
loved these movies because the
plots were always a little campy,
the acting was either overly done
or just plain atrocious and the
special effects were only as good
as something that my friends and
I could replicate at home.
I loved B-rated horror flicks
because they were in a genre of
This week in reality:
dramatic developments
their own, made to entertain,
slightly spook and to tell us that
maybe vampires are our next
door neighbors. Or that perhaps
aliens are watching us and inter-
acting with us by selling us hot
dogs made from human flesh.
How I love those days.
I fear, my friends, that there
days have passed us. Now writ-
ers and directors that would feel
comfortable in the B-rated genre
have somehow propelled them-
selves to the Hollywood scene
and are trying to fit it. Recently I
saw the movie “Forgotten” and I
reassured of my aforementioned
fear.
The plot starts out with a
mourning mother who has obvi-
ously just lost her child. We are
later informed that her child was
one of many who passed away
from a plane accident on his way
to summer camp.
Because of her mourning the
mother then goes to therapy
where Gary Sinise is the cun-
ning psychotherapist and also
probably the best paid actor in
the crowd. However, if he got
more than I get for playing or-
gan at weddings then Sony got
screwed.
Eventually, the plot twists and
turns to try and convince the
audience that Telly, the mother
explained, which taking longer
than the Israelites were in the
desert, she runs away from her
husband into the arms of a studly
but drunken ex-hockey player
named Ash Correll played by
Dominic West.
After staying in Ash’s house
for the night she tears apart his
house and convinces him that
he has a daughter because co-
incidently underneath all of his
wallpaper is artwork obviously
done by a child.
By this time in the movie my
eyes were tired from rolling that
I contemplated plucking them
out.
The rest of the movie went
on to explain that aliens were
responsible for this whole weird
circumstance of these children’s
procreate with them and make
nephelim (if you don’t get this
read Genesis 6:1-4) and per-
haps cause another worldwide
deluge?
Nope, these aliens were here to
simply test the bond of maternal
love. What kind of crackpot
aliens care about the bond of
maternal love? What else do
these aliens do all day? Watch
the Hallmark channel and read
“Fried-Green Tomatoes?” Per-
haps bake Mars Muffins?
These aliens should spend
more time watching real B-rated
horror movies and realize that
their task in the universe is to
take over earth and eat humans!
Why can’t they understand this
function of aliens now in Tinsel
Town? Ray Bradbury set it up
was abducted it reminded me of
the scene in “Twister” where the
cow was floating in the center of
the tornado.
But, perhaps these really well
done computer effects took away
from the dumb plot.
I think I would have much
rather seen a pre-”Lord of the
Rings” Peter Jackson direct these
and perhaps just a vacuum hose
sucking up and obviously plastic
figurine.
If you think that I have ruined
this movie for you before you
had a chance to see it, go ahead
and see it. Let this movie ruin
itself for you.
I suggest staying home and
reading a book or playing guitar
too loud and getting written up
by your RA.

on ‘Real World’ played by Julianne Moore, suffers

from a form of post dramatic
stress disorder that has con-
By Amy Ruminski vinced her she had a son when in
Contributing writer reality her child was stillborn.
After her mental illness is
kidnappings and, oh yeah, the
government helped. I knew
there was reason behind the Pa-
triot Act other than 9/11!
Why would aliens kidnap earth-
ling children? To eat them? To
over 40 years ago!
The only positive comment
I have to say about this movie
is the special effects were awe-
some.
When one of the policemen
I give this movie two ampu-
tated thumbs rolling across my
table and five punches in the gut
by producer Joe Rother so then
he will give me my eight bucks
back.

Welcome back TV junkies for an update on all of your favorite

reality television shows. Things, like always, are heating up and, ‘You Can’t Take It With You!’ premieres in Taylor Oct 21
in some cases, cooling down.
On “The Real World” Karamo is obviously still having prob- production would take six weeks Over 50 talented people au- they perform “Steel Magnolias.”
lems with the fact that MJ didn’t have Karamo’s back when the By Meghan Sullivan
to come together.” This pro- ditioned for “You Can’t Take They will have open auditions for
cops came and searched him. But Landon and MJ are receiv- Arts and Entertainment Editor
ducation is being put together It With You!” at the cattle call this that will be announced at a
ing similar treatment like the kind Karamo got that night at the in an astonishing four by this auditions early this year. later time.
club. Random civilians of Philadelphia yell to MJ and Landon Oct 21 will hopefully be the lively cast. In result of that, Weiss was “You Can’t Take It With You!”
cruel things, like “you suck!”, as well as throw chairs and CDs beginning of a dramatic tradition The cast is very excited for the faced with many difficult choices will run from Oct 21 through
at them. at Mercyhurst. show to open but isn’t rushing as far as casting. Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 24 at 2
The group gets their job assignment, which is working for The Pulizter prize winning anything. They are having a great Weiss is hoping to work with p.m. in Taylor Little Theater.
the Philadelphia Soul Arena Football team, as well as working drama “You can’t take it with time in the process! the spring drama production as
within the community and with kids. Their second trip to the you!” is directed by Michael “Backstage is a blast! He [Weiss]
arena is when they meet Bon Jovi, who informs them they will Weiss, owner of the Directors doesn’t even know half of the
help build a play ground in the city. The gang is notably excited Circle Theater. fun we have!” say Everts as he
about meeting the famous rock star. In this story all the trouble laughs with his fellow co-stars
Later on, after a couple of drinks and a night out, Karamo begins when Alice Sycamore Vindivich and freshman Abbey
and MJ patch things up and opt to let the future see how they (played by freshman Natalie Rowe who plays Penny.
are. Watch MTV on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. to find out what new Vindivich) falls in love with Tony The Mercyhurst student ac-
dramas develop. Kirby (played by sophmore Eric tors are “very lively” says Pruyn.
Things just keep getting more shocking and intense on “The Everts). “Their young minds astonish me!
Bachelor.” All the girls, as well as Byron, are surprised when Conflict arises when Tony They capture things so much
two former contestants from previous seasons are now added brings his rich, stuffy family faster.”
to the mix. over for dinner at Alice’s on the When asked about any rocky
Heather and Mary accompany Byron on his mystery date, wrong night. Appalled by the points along the way during this
which all the women in the house obviously are not thrilled cheap food they are served the production shouts from the cast
about. Heather and Mary feel very out of place, and they don’t Kirby’s make it clear to Alice that answered “Act II!.”
hide it when they stick to themselves all of the time. she won’t be marrying Tony any Everyone is now off book and
When the Rose Ceremony comes, Byron is able to give out eight time soon. they are carefully working out all
roses. He makes it clear to the ladies before he hands out the The entertaining antics of the kinks to have a great open-
roses to only accept the rose if the recipient feels she is looking Alices zany family will keep you ing night.
for the same thing as Byron. laughing.
He chooses Andrea, Jayne, Elizabeth, Cheresse, Tanya, Mary, These would include Grandpa
Cyndi and Krysta. Fortunately, all of the chosen ladies graciously (played by Dan Druyn) and his
accept the roses, and the show will continue to unfold who interview with an I.R.S. tax col- House for Rent
Byron’s lucky lady will be narrowed down to next Wednesday lector when he explains that he
at 9 p.m. on ABC. doesn’t believe in the income tax
On “Survivor: Vanuatu” (CBS, Thursdays @ 9:00 p.m.), a
4209 Briggs Ave.
and will never pay it.
different approach is being taken in the Lopevi tribe. A strong “You can’t take it with you!” 3 Bedroom
alliance is formed with the older members, and every week they has been playing somewhere 2 Bath
continue to vote off younger members. continuously since it opened in Unfurnished
Last episode’s victim was Brady Finta, who failed in attempt- 1936. 1 Car Garage
ing to put a dent in the five-man alliance that was formed at the This classic play’s cast includes
very beginning.
Deck
14 Mercyhurst students out of a
Over in the Yasur tribe, trust was broken when Lisa Keiffer cast of 18. Central Air
broke her alliance by voting out Mia Galeotalanza. After getting The show isn’t limited to just
assaulted from the alliance of young women, she tries to defend college students as Erie residents Call Trevor
herself by placing the blame on someone else and pointing out Shirleen Moffett who plays Reba Thompson at
the dishonesty of another. and Scott Frisina who plays the
On reality television, drastic times call for drastic and immature
456-6502 to inquire
Russian ballet teacher are also
measures so keep watching! included in the cast. about the price.
Weiss said that “at best this
October 13, 2004 THE MERCIAD Page 11

Women’s hockey splits first series
By Eric Meacham
Contributing writer
The high expectations for the
Lady Lakers didn’t start off the
way that they were expected to.
Mercyhurst came into the
opening weekend ranked eighth
in Division I and looking unstop-
pable against the visiting Bemidji
State Beavers.
But Beavers goaltender Jill Lu-
ebke had her own ideas: shutting
down the Lakers.
That she did, beating Mer-
cyhurst for the first time ever,
snapping the Beavers five game
losing streak.
On Saturday, Bemidji State
jumped on the Lakers in the first
period when former Mercyhurst
player Aimee Collins lit the lamp
on the power play, on a rebound
chance given up by Lakers goal-
tender Desi Clark.
The second period saw chances
for both teams, but no goals were
put on the board.
The Beavers added the eventual
game-winner halfway through
the third period, when sopho-
more Kelly Hart beat Clark from
just above the right face-off
circle.
The Lakers tried to start the
comeback by adding a goal in the
last minute on the power play.
Sophomore defender Michelle
Bonello scored on the pass from
Teresa Marchese to cut the lead
in half.
But the comeback would come
up short, leaving the Lakers on
the losing end.
The team lost despite out
shooting Bemidji State 47-14.
“I think that we just were play-
ing like it was our first game,
which it was,” said senior Dani-
elle Lansing. “But the last five
minutes when we started to
comeback and showed what we
are able to do.”
On Sunday the Lakers were
out looking to even their record
and the score with the visiting
Beavers.
Bemidji put up another chal-
lenge, scoring the lone first pe-
The women’s hockey team began play this past weeked when they hosted Bemidji State.
riod goal late in the first period
by Hart.
The Lakers tied it up early in
the second period on a power
play goal by sophomore Julia
To contact: sportsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu
Katie McAdams/Photo editor
Colizza with assists given to we got the win in the second
sophomores Ashley Pendleton game and hopefully we can carry
and Jackie Jarrell. this into games to come.”
“It was our first game and came Jarrell put the Lakers ahead on
out a little flat,” Jarrell said. “But an unassisted goal six minutes
LAKER
SPORTS
later with her first goal of the
season.
But just 35 seconds later, the
Beavers answered back with the
equalizer by Kate Robinson.
Marchese scored the eventual
game-winner just over halfway
through the third period short-
handed, with assists to Bonello
and freshman Kristen Erickson.
“This weekend was a learning
experience,” said Bonello. “We
picked it up late in the first game
and into the second game and
got the win.”
Senior Sarah McDonald closed
out the scoring with an empty net
goal with 13 seconds left.
She was slashed from behind
by a defender, but the goal was
awarded by the judges since Mc-
Donald was in the open.
Clark, who stopped 28 shots,
got her first win of the season
and the 48th of her career.
The Mercyhurst Lakers will
host College Hockey America
(CHA) rival Quinnipiac next
Saturday and Sunday at the Mer-
cyhurst Ice Center.

Women’s rowing honored as they begin season

By Paul Coffey
Contributing writer
The Mercyhurst rowing team
opened the fall season this week-
end at the Capital Invitational
Regatta in Rochester, N.Y.
The event consisted of a 3.1-
mile time trial in the morning,
followed by a 1500-meter sprint
in the afternoon.
The time from the afternoon
race is multiplied by three and
added to the morning time to
calculate the final result.
In the men’s varsity eight, the
Lakers finished eleventh overall
after the morning session and
advanced up to tenth with a
strong showing in the afternoon
sprint.
Mercyhurst finished 10th out
of 24 teams with a total time of
31:08.08.
The 2004 National Champion
Harvard University won the race
with a time of 29:32.51.
In the women’s division, the
Lakers finished the morning time
trial in tenth position, but slipped
a place in the afternoon, finishing
eleventh out of 24 teams with a
time of 35:55.58.
The overall champion was
NCAA 2003 National Champion
Harvard with 33:25.95.
Last season the men’s light-
weight eight was ranked for the
first time ever in Division I.
They were ranked 14th while be-
ing accompanied in the rankings
by such prestigious programs as
Harvard, Cornell, Yale, Princeton
and Boston College.
Last year the men also turned
in their best season-long perfor-
mance they have had in nearly
20 years.
In the ECAC National Invita-
tional Rowing Championships,
the men gave two outstanding
performances, winning silver in
the lightweight eight and four.
Not since Al Belovarac coached
Ian Hessel and Chris Spencer to
the Gold medal in the men’s pair
at Dad Vails in 1986 has the men’s
program had such success.
This past year the women
rowers had quite a storybook
season.
The ladies won the woman’s
rowing Division II National
Championships on Sunday May
30, in sunny Sacramento, Calif.
The Lakers, who were consid-
ered heavy underdogs, finished
the three day event with 18
points, one more than Humboldt
State University (CA).
The team has received a couple
honors of late, beginning with
being honored at halftime of
the homecoming football game
on Sept. 25, where they recieved
a standing ovation.
In addition, this past week the
college held a dinner to honor
the women, where they were
presented with plaques and polo
shirts, as well as recognition from
Dr. Garvey and several other
members of the administration.
Toward the end of the program
head coach Adrian Spracklen
presented the team with a high-
light video which recapped their
season and their run to Sacra-
mento.
The tribute gave the women
a good reminder of what they
accomplished, and it concluded
with the words, “We’re not done
yet.”

Women’s soccer blanks Saginaw 5-0

Brickman feel that if the team
By Justine Adams stays focused and confident,
Contributing writer they can go all the way.
“The four losses we had were
very close games,” said Case-
conference rival Saginaw Valley FREE SHOE RENTAL
State for a match on Sunday,
Oct. 10.
Casement scored early on for at
the Lakers, but that would be all

“Success is not a destination.
It’s a journey.”
The Mercyhurst women’s
soccer team believes in that
quote, and it helps give them
ment.
Each loss was only by one
goal, and the last game against
Ashland went into overtime.
“Not to mention, three of
EASTWAY
they would get in the first half.
They took a 1-0 lead into the
locker room, knowing that Sagi-
naw, who was 3-0 in conference
play at the time, would be look-

the motivation and encourage-
ment they need to finish strong
this season.
With a record of 7-4-1, the
team is doing well, but in order
to make it to playoffs, they need
to remain focused and step it up
against their competitors.
The last time the women went
to the playoffs was in 2001.
They have been ready and
waiting for this opportunity and
are confident that they can make
it happen in 2004.
Out of 21 girls, the team has
nine seniors.
Nearly half of the team will
be missing next year, so they all
agree that if it’s going to happen,
it’s going to happen now.
Next year could be difficult
because they will have to rebuild
the team with many new faces
and people in key positions.
Sophomore forward Lisa Case-
ment and senior defender Julie
Water polo falls to Salem and Fordham
By Paul Coffey
Contributing writer
those teams were nationally
ranked,” added Brickman.
Also, the team was dealing
with some injuries at the begin-
ning of the season, contributing
to their losses.
Now that the team is healthy,
they are looking forward to a
successful remaining season.
The girls support and believe
in one another, and that’s what
keeps them going.
They have a close bond, and
work well together on the field.
“I think we play so well together
because we’re all friends,” said
Casement.
Inspiration and dedication are
two outstanding qualities of this
year’s women’s soccer team.
If they can keep up the posi-
tive attitudes and support sys-
tem, they should have no prob-
lems going to the playoffs.
The team was in action this
past weekend, as they hosted
one, McIlwaine with one, and
Ward with one.
Mercyhurst did well Sunday,
LANES
ing to even it up.
The Lakers came out with a
vengeance, scoring four first
half goals to take the contest
5-0. 4110 Buffalo Road 899-9855
Freshman Kelly Olbach
notched her third goal of the
season early in the half and was
soon followed by Casement’s
second score of the day. Show your current local student I.D. and
Senior forward Chelsea Fern-
ley would add another tally receive free shoe rental during our open
before senior Katie Dobson
finished off the scoring with her
bowling sessions.
first goal of the season.
Open Bowling Nightly
Sophomore Karen Eade con-
tinued her great play of late,
notching her sixth shutout of
the season.
The next home game is Sat-
urday, Oct. 16 at 1 p.m., against Open late Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday
Grand Valley State.
There are seven games left on untill 2 pm
the schedule for the year, and
eyes are still set towards the
postseason. Student Organizations
Reserve your lanes today for your event.
the Tigers from Salem Inter-
Qualified organizations may receive a discount.
national and the match was de-
cided by forfeit in favor of the

The Mercyhurst men’s water

polo team has been strong in the
water as of late.
On Saturday, Oct. 2, the Lakers
improved to 2-3 with a 20-5 win
over visiting Grove City.
During the game, Brad Arm-
strong carried the team with five
goals, while Trevor McIlwaine
tallied four, Kyle Bogucki scored
three, Kevin Riordan notched
three, Kyle Wilson scored three,
Pat Staab scored one and Chad
Ward added one.
These goals were assisted by
Nicholas Arvanitis with five,
Wilson with two, Riordan with
Oct. 3, by defeating Washington
and Jefferson, 9-7.
The victory was Mercyhurst’s
first ever over the Presidents in a
dozen tries and brought the Lak-
ers to the .500 level for the first
time in program history.
The win was also the third of
the season for the team, the most
wins ever in the three-plus sea-
sons of the men’s program and
gave the Lakers their first-ever
two-game winning streak.
On Friday, Oct. 8, the Lakers
traveled to Queens, N.Y. for the
Division II Eastern Champion-
ships.
The Lakers matched up against
Lakers.
The Tigers came back to beat Bring this ad in and bowl 3
games for the price of 2
the Lakers the next day, by a final
of 22-15.
Two days later, the Lakers fell
to Fordham in double overtime,
16-15.
Fordham scored 1:18 into the
second overtime to break a 15-15
tie and lead them to a tight win
over Mercyhurst.
With the loss, the team now
stands at 5-5, with the second
half of their season ahead of
them. The team plays a pair of
road games this weekend, as they
travel to Grove City and Penn St.
Behernd on Oct. 16-17.
 PAGE 12
LAKER
SPORTS
Football upsets No. 13 Saginaw
By Eric Meacham
Contributing writer
The Lakers decided to save
their best all around game for
their strongest opponent all
year.
And it took their best game
to pull off the biggest upset in
school history, beating Saginaw
Valley 22-15.
“We tried to keep Saginaw off
balance as much as possible,” said
coach Marty Schaetzle. “We ex-
ecuted the game plan pretty well,
but there are still some things
that we need to work on.”
The Laker defense again lit the
spark with an interception on
the Saginaw’s first possession of
the game.
Junior Ben Bluemle picked off
the pass, which was then turned
into seven points on a 95-yard
drive, capped off by a three-yard
touchdown pass from sopho-
more Jeff Nowling to senior
tight-end Jeff Thiel.
The catch extended Thiel’s
consecutive game streak with a
catch to 37.
The point after failed because
of a bad snap, leaving the Lakers
up 6-0.
The score stayed that way until
early in the second quarter when
Mercyhurst sophomore kicker
Phil Scanlon added three points
on a 23-yard field goal.
Both teams traded possessions
back and forth, with Mercyhurst
almost punching another one in
the end zone.
Nowling led the Lakers to deep
in Cardinal territory, before get-
Men’s and women’s golf conclude fall seasons
By Amy Ruminski
Contributing writer
The men’s golf team spent a
good deal of time preparing for
a great challenge that they faced
this past weekend.
The Great Lakes Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference Champion-
ships, which took place Oct.
9-10, was a tournament that the
team had been looking forward
to all season.
The team had not really
changed anything in the way
they went about preparing for
the tournament.
They practiced as much as they
could and worked on the minor
things that needed attention.
Football program finally Women’s tennis looking
getting respect that is due ahead to GLIAC tournament
By Ryan Palm
Sports editor
Three years ago when football
head coach Marty Schaetlze took
over the team, there was not a
whole lot of good coming out
of the program in general. In
his first year at the helm, they did
not do much better, slumping to
a 2-9 record.
Although the record thus far
this season may not seem to be
of great improvement, there is
much more to it than there ap-
pears.
The team now stands at 3-4 and
is on pace to at least match if not
better last season’s record.
More impressive than the re-
cord is how close the Lakers
have been in almost every game.
They opened the season with an
overtime loss to Gannon, a game
which many will admit should
have went the other way.
It would have been really easy
to let up following the Gannon
game, to lose the intensity, to
consider the season to be heading
downhill already.
For a team to bounce back with
such a win speaks volumes.
To contact: sportsmerciad@mercyhurst.edu
ting picked off on a deflected
pass close to the end zone.
The score at the half was 9-0
in favor of the Lakers.
Saginaw opened up the second
half the way they started the
game with another turnover.
This time sophomore Neil
Harris picked up a fumble near
midfield, giving the Laker’s of-
fense good field position.
But the Lakers could not capi-
talize.
Midway through the third quar-
ter, senior tailback Justin Adams
capped off a 10-play drive with
a nine-yard touchdown.
Saginaw threatened to break
the shutout on the next posses-
sion, but Cardinals quarterback
Mark Radlinski was intercepted
by Bluemle in the end zone.
The Cardinals finally got on
the board with their first chance
in the fourth quarter with a 22-
yard touchdown run by Saginaw’s
Logan Barnhart.
The two-point conversion at-
tempt was successful, cutting the
Lakers lead in half.
But the Lakers defense not let
this game slip away, coming up
with yet another big interception
by Harris.
The offense backed up this
turnover with a 36-yard touch-
down pass from Nowling to
junior wide reciever John Egbert.
The point after was blocked.
The Cardinals would hold
Mercyhurst the rest of the game
while they tried to make their
comeback.
Saginaw answered right back
with another touchdown by
Barnhart, cutting the Lakers lead
Senior Sal Vella said prior to
the tournament, “We’re as ready
as we can be. We’ve just been
playing as much as we can.”
He also seemed realistically
optimistic about the weekend
by stating, “If everyone has a
good day, we’ll do well and have
a chance at winning but if two
of our five guys are off, it’ll be
hard to win.”
Although the men haven’t won
a tournament yet this season,
they have still taken several top
fives, which are out of about 20
teams.
They are always right up there
with the best teams.
After Saturday’s opening round
of play in Coldwater, Mich., Mer-
cyhurst was tied for fourth with
COMMENTARY
Following that week, the Lakers
experienced a rough stretch, fac-
ing two very good teams in Mich-
igan Tech and Northwood, both
of whom are currently ranked in
the top-15 in the country.
Following those losses the
Lakers were one drive away from
making a loss to Ferris State a
win, before falling by the final
of 31-28.
Once again, how easy it would
be to put your head between
your legs and just finish the ride
hoping to not get hurt. Losing
four of your first five games, why
even try?
Those guys didn’t quit. No one
hung their heads. They came out
the next week and played hard,
did their jobs and left Ohio with
a victory over Ashland.
All week long you heard people
giving them no hope, not giving
Mercyhurst a chance to beat the
all-mighty Saginaw Valley State.
Tally up another one is the loss
column people were saying.
But those guys who play on
Saturdays didn’t listen.
THE MERCIAD
Senior Ben Bluemle’s two interceptions on Saturday gave the Laker offense the second chance they needed.
to just a touchdown.
But that would be the closest
they would get as the Lakers
defense stepped up as senior
William Shealey knocked down
the Cardinals, last attempt with
just under a minute to play.
This marked the first time that
the Lakers have beaten the Car-
dinals in seven meetings.
Nowling finished this game
with one of the best games of
his career. throwing for 323
Gannon, 13 shots behind first
place Ferris State University.
The team struggled on the final
day of play, as they posted a team
score of 328, which was consid-
erably higher than their first two
scores of 312 and 317.
Overall, the Lakers stood ninth
out of 13 teams, with a final
score of 957, which was 93-
over par.
Ferris State would hold on
to finish as the winner of the
Championship with a total of
917, which was 53-over par.
The top individual player for
Mercyhurst was Craig Bishop
with a score of 73-78-80-231,
tying him for ninth.
The Lakers then had a group
that finished in the middle of
They took it to the Cardinals,
beating them in every facet of
the game.
The Laker defense came to play
yet again and held the high scor-
ing offense to only 15 points, a
testament to the work players and
coaches put in during prepara-
tions this past week.
Guys stepped up to make
plays, from guys on defense get-
ting stops, to the guy making a
catch.
When you look at the record
of 3-4, don’t look at it as they’ve
lost more than they’ve won, real-
ize that this program is steadily
improving, working harder each
and every day to get to the point
where they want to be, at the
top.
This program has been frowned
upon for the past few years, and
it’s about time they get the re-
spect it is due.
Schaetzle and his staff have got
the pieces, and it’s magical watch-
ing them come together.
With three conference games
remaining, there is no reason
why this team can’t finish above
.500, a mark which is amazing
considering the record of 2-9 just
a few seasons back.
yards, while notching two touch-
downs.
“This is the biggest win in my
short history with the program.
We felt like we could have played
better the last few weeks,” Nowl-
ing said.
Mercyhurst will now head down
to Division 1-AA Southeastern
Louisiana State Saturday for a
non-conference game, before
heading back home for their last
home game of the season against
the pack, with Adam Layden
finishing 32nd, Brendan Flood
33rd, Steven Barr 34th and Kyle
Waddell 39th.
Freshman Kyle Waddell is said
to be the most consistent, always
shooting low numbers as well as
placing high in tournaments.
Flood, a sophomore, is right
up there as well, nipping at Kyle’s
heels for the number one spot on
the team.
The team is now finished with
conference play and will travel to
Ohio to take on Lakeland Com-
munity College on Oct. 15.
The women’s golf team had
been busy as well, all the way
up to the conclusion of their
season.
At the Gannon Invitational on
By Matt Jackson
Contributing writer
After wrapping up their GLI-
AC competition with a 7-3
record, the Mercyhurst women’s
tennis team is set for the GLIAC
Championship tournament in
Midland, Mich.
The Lakers, who are coming
off a 5-4 victory over Wayne
State, will enter the tournament
as the fifth seed.
Northwood (10-0), ranked
twenty-third in the nation and
regular season champs, will be
the top seed with Ferris State
right behind as the second seed
with their 9-1 GLIAC record.
Although these two teams
are the apparent favorites, no
team can be counted out in the
tournament.
Last season Mercyhurst fin-
ishd third in the tournament, its
highest finish ever, and has the
potential to match that finish
this season.
Mercyhurst has shown many
signs of excellence in their fall
season this year and hope to
carry their momentum from
three straight GLIAC victories
GLIAC foe Indianapolis.
The game against SLSU pres-
ents a rare opportunity for the
team to get out of the region, es-
caping the chilly weather of Erie
and Michigan, where they usually
travel, for the nice weather of
New Orleans.
The players are excited not
only to make the trip, but to size
up against a a highly ranked op-
ponent.
The Lions were nationally
Thursday, Sept. 23, Mercyhurst
and Ashland tied for first place
with scores of 347, but Mer-
cyhurst won in the tie breaker,
claiming the Invitational title.
At the Mercyhurst Invitational,
the Lakers finished in sixth place
with scores of 352-353 for a
total of 705.
Hilary McCall tied for third
individually with scores of 79-83
for 162.
At the Midland Invitational,
Mercyhurst finished fifth of the
five teams, finishing with scores
of 378-368 for a two-day total
of 746.
At the final tournament of the
year for the Lady Lakers, they
finished ninth at the Findlay
Invitational.
into the postseason.
Charity Siegmund, a freshman
from Aiken, S.C., will help lead
the Mercyhurst team to hopeful
success in the tournament.
Siegmund made her presence
felt early in the season by defeat-
ing the fifteenth ranked player
in the nation in the Northwood
match.
Siegmund will be in the num-
ber one spot for the Lakers and
will also team up with Jamie
Sutyak in second doubles.
Natalie Paparella, second team
all GLIAC last season, has
played in the second spot for the
Lakers all season and has also
performed at a high level.
Paparella went 7-3 in GLIAC
play and finished six of her last
seven contests on the plus side.
Paparella has also played in
#1 doubles, joining with team
captain Joanna Olmstead to go
8-2 in GLIAC play.
Christine Mersch and Jenni-
fer Daly round out the Lakers
starting six and also team up in
doubles competition.
Coach Ray Yost took over
the women’s tennis program in
1994 and has improved the team
drastically since then.
October 13, 2004
Katie McAdams/ Photo editor
ranked earlier in the season be-
fore a couple of losses, but still
will pose a challenge to Lakers.
It also presents a chance to
play in a large-sized stadium in
front of about 10,000 screaming
fans, another unique experience
the team does not receive very
often.
Regardless of the outcome,
it will be a well-appreciated ex-
perience for both coaches and
players.
Although they stood in eighth
place after the first round of play,
a player was forced to withdraw.
This left the Lakers one score
short of being official.
Hilary McCall placed well in
all of the tournaments for the
Lakers.
She scored the lowest on the
team individually, and carried the
Lakers to place over other teams
several times.
With both teams’ seasons at an
end, they were proud of them-
selves with the accomplishments
they made, and they have another
chance to work out the glitches
in the spring season.
The season begins in mid-
March with the NCAA Regionals
in Kentucky.
File Photo
Junior Natalie Paparella
After finishing his first five
of seven seasons with a losing
record, Yost has led the Lakers
to a winning record for the past
three seasons.
The Lakers 8-3 overall record
this year implies that a fourth
straight could be on the way.
The Lakers will have two
more non-conference matches
to warm up for the postseason
tournament, both against Divi-
sion I opponents.
On Friday, Oct. 16, Mercyhurst
will travel to play Duquesne Uni-
versity and will return home the
next day for a match against St.
Bonaventure.