The ringing in of a new year also brings about the start of another semester at Penn State. Students are returning from their hometowns, their batteries recharged and their minds ready to return to the rigors of college.

It's a fresh start for those who have attended the university for a number of years. It's a beginning for others who have transferred in or are just starting their college career. The slate, so to speak, has been wiped clean.

However, not everything at Penn State can be solved with just a "fresh start."

Last month, a tumultuous semester came to a close at the university. The reporting of on- and off-campus sexual assaults rose dramatically and seemingly became a weekly occurrence in the pages of this newspaper. The female student body, as well as a number of administration officials and student groups, expressed fear, outrage and an urgent need to solve the growing problem.

A student, Salvador Peter Serrano, lost his life in a scuffle outside the All American Rathskellar, 108 S. Pugh St., in late October. His death, mourned by the entire Penn State community, raised questions of police presence in downtown State College and the methods bouncers use in such physical altercations.

Then, last month, photographs of various members of the Penn State College Republicans dressed in blackface and a Ku Klux Klan outfit, were posted on the personal Web site of the group's chair, Brian Battaglia. Student groups and administration, such as Black Caucus and Penn State President Graham Spanier, blasted the photographs as "patently offensive." The incident once again brought into question the racial climate at Penn State.

All of these incidents happened before winter break. Students went home to their families and friends, and some of them may have placed these incidents in the back of their minds.

Yet, just because these episodes are in the past, it doesn't simply mean they have passed. In the coming semester, all of these issues will be addressed, whether it's through the court system or the court of public opinion.

Simply put, students cannot forget that these incidents happened; they carry incredibly heavy ramifications for all of us.

The question is, what can students take away from the events of Fall Semester? This question can only be answered by caring, by listening, by not forgetting. Winter break does us all well by providing rest. But problems are never solved by an extended absence from them. Penn State is still a fine institution, but things aren't perfect and rarely are. This semester, let us all work toward making it a less tumultuous one.

Many women at Penn State are now scared for their lives when they walk the streets of State College, the "safe" feeling of this town eroded by the increase of reported sexual assaults and replaced with fear.

The wounds of The Village sit-in at the HUB-Robeson Center in April 2001 have been reopened by the discovery of the insensitive photographs posted on Battaglia's Web site. It was thought by many that Penn State had taken positive steps toward becoming a tighter community in terms of race relations.

Now, the photographs have taken that notion and knocked it off course for the time being.