HIGHACRES COLLEGIAN, JUNE 13, 1972 -- PAGE TWO
editorial comment
R.O.T.C. R.O.T.S.
Several weeks ago we received a letter from a representative
of the U.S. Army requesting Collegian ad rates. It seems that the
Army, in a feeble attempt to modernize and update its programs,
has resorted to artificial Madison Avenue techniques of
advertising to make the Army more appealing to the "hip" young
men of today.
In recent issues of college newspapers throughout the
country, large ads extolling R.O.T.C. and the Army have been
appearing.
The board of directors of the High acres Collegian agreed that
we would refuse the ad and have nothing whatsoever to do with
U.S. Army blood money. Upon notifying them of our decision,
they zipped off letters to Hazleton Campus Director Frank
Kostos and Dean of Student Affairs Joseph McCallus.
After much reconsideration to avoid unnecessary hassles, we
decided to run the R.O.T.C. ad (which appears on page six of
this issue), but to donate the profits realized to the Needy
Children's Christmas Fund of the Hazleton Campus. In this way,
although we are running the ad, we are still not profiting from
something which we deem wrong.
(At first we wanted to send the money to the Harrisburg
Defense Committee to aid the Harrisburg Seven, but were told
that the money had to remain within the University.)
As a newspaper believing in the right of the citizen to hear
both sides of any issue, we feel that the R.0.T.C., representing
the University's ties to the military - industrial complex, should
present both sides of the coin when recruiting on college
campuses.
Listen kids, there's a lot more to R.O.T.C. or the Army or
the Air Force than cute little booklets with color photographs of
some clean-cut, Amerikan-looking shithead in an officer's
uniform. They don't tell you about the bombings and the killings
of innocent people - people like us right here at Highacres.
It's frightening to know that our country is being run in such
an under handed, dishonest manner. Next time some recruiter is
on campus, ask him for the whole story. Ask him about bombs
and napalm. Chances are he can only tell you about the green
leather chairs and the wall-to-wall carpeting in his cozy recruiting
office. Would you really trust this man for anything?
(Below is a letter frpm the Press Association supporting our
decision concerning the ad on page six)
Dear John
I would like to commend you and The Collegian on a fair
and constructive approach to advertising concerning a subject in
which you as a newspaper do not agree.
Further, I applaud your recognition that the public (your
student population) has an inherited right to receive "a favorable
balance of ideas and opinions," as your letter to Colonel' Collins
said.
At a time when it journalistically seems more popular to
follow a set, rigid editorial policy, as many newspapers in the
country are letting its policy spill over into its news and
advertising, I find it encouraging that you, feeling as strongly
about the subject as you do, have decided to run the ad. I support
your use of the revenue as a plausible alternative.
I sincerely hope that Colonel Collins will understand your
stand and accept it as fair. He should remember that he has the
same right to respond to your editorial as you are responding to
his policy of advertising. In any event, I would appreciate
receiving a copy of that issue to make our files on the subject
up-to-date.
Sincerely,
/s/ Gary K. Fisher
Vice President for Newspapers
cc: Col. Collins
Tollrgian
The Collegian office is located in the Memorial Building
Office hours are Monday thru Friday, 1-4 p.m.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Roslevich, Jr
Lorraine Drake -••
T. W. Heppe
Richard Campbell
NEWS: Amine Cumsky, Cindy Lonoconus,
Anne McKinstry, John Mertz.
ENTERTAINMENT: Jean Yeselski, Leroy of
Warrington, Kathy Laughlin.
SPORTS: Craig Knouse, Bill Schaller.
EDITORIAL WRITERS: Mel Mundie, Richard
Rockman.
ADVERTISING: Bob Allison, Gloria
Maksimak
PHOTOGRAPHY: Charlie Fox, Paul
Pianovich, Gary Welsh.
TYPISTS: Lorraine Drake, Francine Miller,
Cathy Motyl, Marion Stashko, Anita Thomas.
COMPOSITION: JoAnn Depretis, Lorraine
Drake, Thomas Heppe.
Letter Policy
Opini , )ns expressed in The HIGHACRES COLLEGIAN are
those of Individual contributors and do not necessarily reflect the
official views of The COLLEGIAN.
Unsigned editorials represent the official opinions of The
IOLLEGI AN.
Responsible comment to material published In mite
COLLEGIAN Is Invited. All letters must be type-written and signed.
Faculty Members are students are invited to submit articles to
be published In a special section of Thb COLLEGIAN entitled
'lmpact.' Articles and other material (poems Included) should be no
longer than 400 words and must be typed.
.....Business Manager
Production Manager
Fcultv Advisor
STAFF
April 15, 1972
1) If you don't do it, who will? When you look on rosters for
clubs and organizations, it's always the same names you see.
Those people cannot do all the work there is to do in all the clubs
that they hold membership in. If you don't do it, no one will!
2) Who are the elected representatives representing when you
don't vote? One fourth of the people on this campus were
concerned enough to vote in the SGA elections. One person was
concerned enough to run for president - one candidate for the
office of President of SGA!
I wonder how many will read this editorial? Probably it will
be read by those who don't need it. Bespeaks a certain apathy,
yes?
Nevertheless, it's those students who don't get involved that
will kill this campus. This may be the last issue of the Highacres
Collegian ever seen on this. campus. Who's in charge of the
yearbook for next year? No one.
Here's No One sitting around the SUB wondering why there
is no newspaper for him to read, nothing for him to do on this
campus. I think it's about time that No One realized that the only
person who can make this campus worthwhile for him is himself.
At present there are about 400 No Ones on this campus. The
only solution is to get involved. It's not only important to
Highacres, hut to your own college - life.
Editor-in-chief
Character assasination in the classroom went out with high
school hickory sticks! And yet it thrives on here at Highacres.
Who would want to drag someone down, and how do they go
about it? In the first place, it isn't always the intention of the
prof to attack the person. He could honestly believe that he
should present a "bad" example to illustrate a point. (And yet he
finds no need to point out a "good" example.) Even if it is
brought forward for the purpose of "educational enlightenment,"
is it right? Is it fair and ethical? Is it the professor's right under
the guise of helpful experience to attack a student? Is there no
protection for us against this? Have we no rights?
Perhaps it is a sincere attempt to show the problems of the
profession, or a "harmless"need for approval of a decision, but'
the knives are as sharp and the wounds as deep. But let us be fair.
Very often the professor just introduces the idea while it is the
students themselves who carry out the execution.
If the Emperor brings forth the Christian to the Colosseum,
makes known his crime, and one of his peers casts the first stone,
who then should be blamed? Perhaps it was not the Emperor's
intention that he be stoned, but the madness of the crowd took
over, and he is just as dead. Then is not he who led him there just
as guilty as they who threw the stones? It is a passive guilt, true,
but that is as sinful as any active guilt. That is why we have laws
governing accessories to crimes. If there were no "emperors" to
throw the "criminal" to the mob, there would be considerably
less "death" in the classroom.
You are going back..
"What are you thinking about, my son?"
"I'm thinking about time, Father."
"Ah. Time. It is a strange and wonderful concept, this thing
called time. Man-made, you know. That is, as far as anything is
man-made. Some have called it a river, others a whirlpool...still
others a tidal wave."
"Why do you smile when you look into my eyes, Father?"
"I'm smiling, my son, for I see the future in your eyes. And I
wonder...will your future be my past?"
"I'm not sure I understand, Father."
"No. No, you would not. But there will be a time. It has
always been so."
"What do you remember, my Father?"
"What do I remember. What do I remember..."
"Father! You sat staring as though you were watching that
which is not there. You have not spoken for long moments."
"Forgive me, my son. Those who talk of 'time: the
whirlpool' may not be far from truth, for I was caught up in its
swirling currents."
"And what were YOU thinking about, Father?"
"You asked me what I remember. I shall scoop up a cup of
this liquid called time and pour it gently over your brow, my son.
"Once, when I was a few years older than you, I went to
school. I have never told you of my school days before, eh? No.
Well, I went to college. Penn State, it was called. Penn State!
HIGHICRES! Ha! Ha! How long it has beensince that name has
crossed my mind! Highacres! Such a soft sounding word, yet
shattering the cobwebs in my mind.
"I had good times on top of this little hill called Highacres.
GOOD times! I didn't know how good at the time. But...that is
how it has always been...that is how it must always be.
"I had friends. GOOD friends. My friends...my friends..."
"Why do you cry, my Father? Please do not cry, for it
Unaccustomed as I
am to writing
editorials....
"Apathy!" "An extreme case of apathy." Unfortunately,
these quotes could have been made about a number of activities
on the Highacres Campus: the initial Comeriety meeting, the
Highacres Collegian, the New Horizons Literary Magazine (on sale
now in the library), or the Senate elections. In fact, they were
made by members of the committee for the SGA election, Steve
Wilson, Gary Labanoski and Bill Gentilesco (see story). Dave
Gazda, Anne McKinstry and Ron Steber could have said the same
thing of the Senate election (see story). In both elections, less
than 25% of the student body voted.
At the risk of sounding like a "How To Get Involved On
Your Campus" handbook, I would suggest that those students
who aren't active in at least one activity consider the following:
Alas, poor Blue,
I knew him well
continued on page four, column three
by Anne McKinstry
.back...back into time
by Richard Rockman
saddens me. Why do you shed tears?"
"...friends...my friends..."
"Where are your friends now, my Father?"
"They are...everywhere. But, where is anything now that
was? Does anything stand still?"
"It was long ago, Father?"
"It seems...it seems...so long. The grass was green then. And
there were buildings...BßlCK buildings! Do you know, I never
even felt the brick? Oh, how I wish I could just press my hands
against the red brick of the classroom buildings...but, the
buildings are no longer brick...
"Every day I used to walk into the 5.U.8...."
"The sub, Father? There was a submarine?"
"No, son. The Student Union Building it was called, although
to this day I can't say I ever chanced upon the students' union.
"I used to walk into the S.U.B. and gaze at the bulletin
boards, sometimes in earnest, sometimes like a zombie...the
jukebox would be blaring...and then...then I would turn around
and see my friends...the boys and girls I went to college with.
Sometimes there were none to be found. Other times I spied one,
or maybe more, sitting at a table
talking...laughing...worrying...sometimes even studying. And to
think! to think there were times I did not SMILE at the sight of a
friend's face! Oh, how I would smile the broadest grin and cry
tears of joy if I could but be there now...again...with my young
friends.
"I wish I could listen to my change dropping in one of the
vending machines again...even if the machine didn't work! Even if
the little red light that read "Use Correct Change" was lit and I
didn't have a nickel!
"It's funny, son...funny and sad, that I can remember so
many of the LITTLE things I thought nothing of then. Waving to
my friends as I walked across the school grounds to and from my
classes...the benches...the kids from the dorm...the
As a special news service, Zodiac has provided us with
the complete text (verbatim) of a communique allegedly sent out
by the Weather Underground -- - the group which claims to be
responsible for the recent bombing of the Pentagon. The message
below was received in the mail by station KSAN FM in San
Francisco, a station which has received communiques after many
dramatic political bombings. We decided that this message was
worth passing on to you after learning that the other news media
receiving it failed to report most of it.
Weather Underground
May 19, 1972
The 82nd Anniversary of the Birth of Ho Chi Minh
"Nothing is more precious than independence and freedom, and
we would rather sacrifice all than lose our country and
live as slaves."
After years and years of fighting foreign invaders Japan,
France, and the United States the Viefihamese are now moving
toward the total liberation of their country. It is a crucial period
in the long history of Vietnamese resistance. For the past seven
weeks the massive offensive organized by the Vietnamese people
has shattered the Nixon strategy of "Vietnamization" and freed
thousands of people from the South Vietnamese detention
centers, disrupting what the arrogant whites call the Rural
Pacification Program. Large sections of the countryside have
again been liberated by the National Liberation Front. It has
become clear to everyone that the Thieu regime and the Army of
the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) would collapse within a matter
of days without U.S. air and naval power. The risk taken by the
Vietnamese at this time is to face that U.S. military might in a
fight to regain their homeland.
Today we attacked the Pentagon, the center of the American
military command. We are acting at a time when growing U.S. air
and naval shellings are being carried out against the Vietnamese;
while U.S. mines and war ships are used to blockade the harbors
of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam; while plans for even
more escalations are being made in Washington.
"The clouds embrace the peaks, the peaks embrace the clouds.
The river below shines like a mirror, spotless and clean. On the
crest of the Western Mountain, my heart stirs as I wander,
looking towards the Southern sky and dreaming of old friends."
Vietnam is one country and one people. As people, they
trace the roots of their resistance back to the first independence
struggle led by the Trung sisters. As one people, they defeated the
Japanese occupying force and their Vichy French allies in 1945.
As one people they defeated the French occupation troops in
1954 at Dien Bien Phu. And as one people, they have stood up to
the attempts of the United States to subjugate them.
Vietnam, after the defeat of the French, was seperated into
two zones at the Geneva Conference of 1954. The imperialist
powers participating at Geneva, led by the U.S., maneuvered to
set up a zone that would be agreeable to their penetration, with
the full intention of using it as a base to launch attacks and
subversion against other S.E. Asian countries. The Geneva
Accorda clearly state that "the Military demarcation line
(between North and South) is provisional and should not be
interpreted as constituting a political or territorial boundry." The
Accords called for internationally supervised elections throughout
Vietnam within two years in order that the Vietnamese could
determine their own future. The elections never happened,
thwarted by the American-backed dictator Ngo Dinh Diem, and
his corrupt government. President Eisenhower said "...had
elections been held, possibly 80% of the population would have
voted for the communist Ho Chi Minh." The era of direct U.S.
intervention had begun. The Pentagon Papers pointed out later
that "South Vietnam was essentially the creation of the United
States." And yet the lie of "aggression from the North" has been
the justification for continual escalation.
"Neither bombs nor shells can cow our people and no honeyed
words can deceive them. We, Vietnamese, are resolved to fight
till not a single U. S. aggressor remains on our beloved land."
A people united with a vision of independence and liberty
are a powerful human force. They can be bombed and killed, and
their progress can be slowed, but they can never be fully enslaved.
This is why in Vietnam, the people are, still able to resist with
such strength, even after a series of aggressive military strategies
special war, limited war, large-scale air attacks have been
unleashed against them. The vision of a free Vietnam is more
compelling than the fear of more U.S. reprisals.
The people of Vietnam are conscious of the risks and the
stakes of their struggle. They persevere. They resist bit by bit;
they rebuild piece by piece.
-- Ho Chi Minh
Ho Chi Minh
•- Ho Chi Minh
..A Highacres Reverie
chimes!...Trying to evade the raindrops that plunged down from
above the' library doorway when it poured...trying not to get
muddy when walking through the rivulets of water between the
Main Building and the Classroom Building on that awful
road... How I MISS that awful road!...
"My teachers! I remember my teachers! Some I couldn't
stand. Some I loved. Where are they now? Where are they
now... The administration...! even miss arguing with them, would
you believe it? I can see myself struggling up that long, long path
from the lower parking lot in the winter when I was a freshman. I
wish I c0u1d...1...we11, on secong thought, maybe , I don't miss that
QUITE as much as the rest...but miss it I do! I remember my
dreams...oh, my dreams...my dreams...
"There was...a mansion. But, that was of the past even as I
was of the present...the trees and flowers in the spring...the red
leaves in the adjacent woods in the fall...the meetings...the
activities...things were so ALIVE then! What a great time it was
to be alive! What a fool I was for not realizing it at the time!
"And, where am I now? Do their spirits still
linger...somewhere? And do THEY wonder, where I am now?"
"Do you have photographs, Father?"
"Some...Some...But, there were those who didn't feel the
need for them...those who thought there were more important
things to do than take pictures...or more important pictures to
take than of people...and, so, I'm left with my memories. Preserve
your memories, son. They're all that's left you."
"You miss seeing your friends most of all, don't you,
Father?"
"Yes, my 50n...ye5...ye5..."
"DO you think you would like to return, Father? Do you
think you would like to go back in time to those days?"
"Yes and no, my son. Yes and no. Partially
no...and...partially...YES!"
From a bomb shelter in Hanoi a few days ago, a Vietnamese
told an American reporter, "Nixon cannot understand us... We
have anticipated the worst and have all the means to face'it. Ho
Chi Minh said that Hanoi, Haiphong and other cities would be
destroyed but that we could not be defeated he predicted it."
What further price will the Vietnamese have to pay to win
their freedom? Already 3,000,000 Vietnamese have died in the
fighting. The Indochinese people have had to withstand 26
million tons of explosives used against them by U.S. forces from
1965 - 1971. They have been subjected to sustained U.S. air-raids
directed against agricultural cooperatives, communes, hospitals,
schools, dikes and workshops throughout the country.
And now the United States government, instead of leaving
Vietnam, has responded to the deepening political crisis at home
and the defeat of American ground troops, with a policy of
"Vietnamization."
"Vietnamization" is the Nixon Doctrine applied to Vietnam.
It calls for the withdrawal of U.S. combat.troops in an attempt to
cool the political crisis within the United States. Aid to the
ARVN is increased to try to build up the pro-US forces. At the
same time, "Vietnamization" is a strategy based on an increasing
U.S. presence in terms of air, naval, and technological power. So
the U.S. troop levels recede while destruction and death increase.
Once again the white man calculates that it is worth the cost
because the bodies aren't white. And Asian is turned against
Asian by the manipulation of a foreign power.
"Eyes must look far ahead, and thoughts be deeply pondered"
Be bold and unremitting in attack! Give the wrong command,
and two chariots are rendered useless" Come the right moment,
a pawn can bring you victory."
The Provisional Revolutionary Government, through its
representative in Paris, Madame Binh, has proposed a program for
peace in Vietnam. The American people should read this
proposal. It calls on the United States government to set a date
for total withdrawal from Vietnam, so that the Vietnamese can
solve their own problems. It further demands that the U.S. stop
interfering in the internal affairs of South Vietnam and stop
backing the corrupt Thieu regime. If the U.S. government
would agree to these points, the fighting could stop, U.S. airmen
shot down over North Vietnam could be released, the last pilot
returning home as the last American soldier leaves Indochina, and
most importantly, the Vietnamese people could conyinue the job
of building up their nation, working out internal problems like
the question of reunification among themselves.
The Nixon government should accept these proposals.
Instead Nixon's every move shows him to be a greater
war-monger than any of his predecessors. It is Nixon who
directed the invasions of Cambodia and Laos, thus creating an
all-Indochina war. It is Nixon who ordered the mining of the
harbors and waterwayss of the DRV. And it is Nixon who has
contingency plans for the use of nuclear weapons in Vietnam. He
is the major perpetrator of violence in the world today; he is the
war criminal.
"My ultimate wish is that our whole Party and people, closely
united in the struggle, build a peaceful, unified, independent,
democratic, and prosperous Vietnam, and make a worthy
•
contribution to the world revolution."
The world has been changed forever by the struggle in
Vietnam. Despite all the U.S. bombs, all the vicious escalation, all
the criminal acts of this government, the people of Vietnam
continue to fight, continue to build their society.
These are the people we are taught to hate. Look into their
eyes, see how they raise their children, how they greet one
another. Read their songs and poetry. Reflect on how they face
this terrible war machine, how they transform bomb craters into
fish hatcheries, how youth brigades mobilize to rebuild bridges
and roads as quickly as they are bombed. Try to understand how
they persevere.
There is a difference between Richard Nixon and Ho Chi
Minh, William Porter and Madame Binh, Henry Kissinger and Le
Duc Tho. Nixon may be murdering for his pride and his power
but the Vietnamese are fighting to be free and to live as human
beings in a different kind of world. And because of this, the eyes
of people from every land are focused on Vietnam:
"Neither high nor very far,
Neither emporer, nor king,
You are only a little milestone,
Which stands at the edge of the highway,
To people passing by
You point the right direction,
And stop them from getting lost.
You tel them of the distance
For which they still must journey.
Your service is not a small one
And people will always remember you."
-- Ho Chi Minh
--Ho Chi Minh
-- Ho Chi Minh