Cuban
By GUY COATES
Associated Press Writer
OAKDALE, La. Cuban inmates yester
day threw down their weapons and released
the 26 hostages they had held for eight days at
a burned-out federal prison after a Cuban
born bishop urged them to accept a govern
ment agreement.
The agreement offered a promise of no
reprisals for the damage to the prison and
review of prisoners’ cases.
At the riot-torn Atlanta federal penitentia
ry, Cuban inmates released four of their
hostages early yesterday, leaving 90 people
still captive.
The former hostages, some of them
grinning broadly, walked from the Federal
Detention Center near Oakdale at 2:25 p.m.
Cheering and weeping relatives ran along
side the bus that carried the men to Humana
High riser
A man working in a tree outside Deike Building on an autumn afternoon is seen through the frame of his truck.
Rare Books
Room offers
resources
By JACKIE TRIEBL
Collegian Staff Writer
Library patrons can leaf through
history in Pattee’s Rare Books Room,
which contains some books that were
written more than 100 years ago.
Located on third floor West Pattee,
the room contains a vast array of
resources including books, manu
scripts, maps, letters and diaries.
Charles Mann, head librarian of the
Rare Books Room, said the room was
established in 1957 and was originally
used to gather valuable research
material for faculty. It is now open to
the entire University community.
The entire collection presently con
tains 70,000 items, Mann said. A book
is considered rare when less than 300
copies exist.
Steve Eichner, a library employee,
said the room benefits people looking
for original source material that is
not generally available in Pattee’s
stacks.
Ruth Krystopolski (senior-health
planning administration) said the
room has provided her with impor
tant research material.
“The Rare Books Room had the
only journal that dealt with my topic
and it formulated the basis of my
research project,” she said.
Exhibits highlighting parts of the
collection are shown about every six
weeks in the room. Mann said most
exhibits are built in conjunction with
lectures, conferences, and seminars.
An exhibit titled “William
Wordsworth and the Age of the Ro
mantics,” presently displays Roman
tic first editions, manuscripts and
memorabilia. Permanent exhibits of
Chinese furniture and author John
O’Hara’s fully re-created study are
also on display in the room.
Martha Evans, a local free-lance
writer, said, “It’s a delight to see and
handle exotic materials (in the Rare
Books Room) that you couldn’t find in
regular libraries.”
But not all items in the Rare Books
Room are either old or rare, Mann
the
daily
prisoners release hostages
Hospital in Oakdale for checkups. All of the
hostages appeared to be in good health, said
Louis Deumite, the hospital’s executive di
rector.
“They’re dirty. They’re in good spirits.
They're hungry. They all appear to be
stressed somewhat,” said Dr. Roy Harding
of Humana Hospital. “All have been checked
and appear to be doing very well.”
Harding said one guard among the hos
tages had a sprained knee or ankle, but was
not seriously hurt.
“They got tired of weiners, but they were
treated well,” said Harding. “They ate the
same thing as the inmates. They drank a
little swamp water because the water ran
out. The people I saw show no signs of
physical abuse. Mostly, they have a lack of
water and soap.”
After releasing the hostages, some of the
950 Cuban inmates threw their homemade
Charles Mann, professor of comparative literature and chief of rare books and
special collections in Pattee, unravels an ancient scroll from the Middle East.
said. Resources are often accepted individuals must register before us
that enhance present collections, ing them. Items are retrieved by the
even though the resources may not be staff and must be used in view of the
ra £, e staff. Materials cannot leave the
Eichner said some works are kept Rare Books Room. If an item needs to
in the Rare Books Room to keep a be photocopied, only a staff member
collection whole. Popular items that may do so.
have been abused or stolen in the past Mann said the main emphasis in
have also been placed in the Rare the development of the collections
Books Room to protect them. has been on writers and subjects
Use of the materials is strictly related to Pennsylvania, but the col
supervised. Other than reference lections are not strictly limited to
materials, stacks containing the rare state affairs,
items are not open to the public, and Please see BOOKS, Page 5.
Collegian
knives, clubs, hammers and boards studded
with nails into a pile in the yard of the
detention center. One Cuban waved an Amer
ican flag.
Cubans seized control of the facility Nov. 21
and the federal penitentiary in Atlanta two
days later in riots sparked by a government
announcement that many inmates would be
returned to Cuba.
The inmates demanded that they be allow
ed to remain in the United States. Federal
officials have said they would delay any
deportations until the Cubans’ cases could be
reviewed individually.
The rioting left one person dead, 53 people
injured and the prisons badly damaged by
fires and looting.
About a half-hour after the hostages were
released, four representatives of the inmates
signed the agreement with the government.
The signing was witnessed, at the inmates'
Violence in
Haiti halts
free election
By PIERRE-YVES GLASS
Associated Press Writer
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - The
military-dominated junta dissolved
the Independent Electoral Council
after the council canceled yester
day’s elections because of violence
that left more than two dozen people
dead.
At least 15 voters were shot and
hacked to death at one polling station
in the capital. Twelve other deaths
were reported in scattered locations.
Junta chief Lt. Gen. Henri Nam
phy, in a television announcement at
6:30 p.m., condemned the violence,
said elections can still be held and he
plans to step down as promised on
Feb. 7,1988, to make way for a freely
elected president.
As Namphy spoke, sporadic gunfire
could be heard in the streets in re
newed violence that started shortly
after sunset.
In a decree read over television at
3:30 p.m., Namphy’s three-member
National Governing Council accused
the electoral council of taking an
action that “endangers the unity of
the nation and invites the interven
tion of foreign powers in the country’s
internal affairs.”
Foreign countries, including the
United States, Canada, had provided
millions of dollars in assistance for
the balloting and sent observation
teams. The United States provided
$7.9 million for the election.
Voters would have elected a presi
dent and National Assembly to re
place the governing junta that took
over 22 months ago when President
for-Life Jean-Claude Duvalier ended
a 29-year family dictatorship by flee
ing to France.
There were 22 candidates for the
presidency and 328 candidates for 104
seats in the bicameral National As
sembly.
French Ambassador Michel de La-
Foumiere protested the junta's mea
sure in this former French colony.
Please see HAITI, Page 5.
insistence, by Auxiliary Bishop Agustin Ro
man of Miami’s Roman Catholic archdio
cese.
J.D. Williams, a regional director of the
Federal Bureau of Prisons who was the
government’s chief negotiator, refused to
immediately reveal details of the agreement,
saying it might jeopardize negotiations with
Cubans in Atlanta. But the agreement was
displayed to news cameras by an aide to
Roman, and an attorney for the bishop later
discussed details at a news converence.
“We did not give away the store,” Williams
said. “I think it’s a good agreement. It’s an
agreement we all can live with. We got an
amenable agreement.”
The agreement, as displayed to reporters,
said that ‘“No Cuban detainees will be held
liable for any damage, to this date, sustained
by the institution during the hostage situation
at this facility."
University declines
union formation
on
by
By MEENEKSHI BOSE
Collegian Staff Writer
Taxation, stipends, health insur
ance and other issues have driven
some graduate assistants across the
country to unionize, but Penn State
officials and students said unioniza
tion will happen only as a last resort.
Unionization of graduate assistants
at the University would allow them to
be recognized as employees and give
them the right to collective bargain
ing over their contracts with the
University.
Ken Martin, secretary for the
Graduate Student Association, said
formation of a graduate assistants’
union at Penn State is unlikely.
“Formation of a union would prob
ably be a last resort,” he said. “It is
more likely that something would be
done through GSA.”
Graduate students at other univer
sities, however, are trying to form
unions. At the State University of
New York at Stony Brook, for exam
ple, graduate assistants have been
trying to unionize for more than two
years.
Sandra Hinson, a member of the
Graduate Student Employees Union
at Stony Brook, said the group is not
official, but is trying to get approved.
“We’re not legally recognized, but
we’re trying to fight to be employ
ees,” Hinson said.
A state court ruled in September
against the formation of a union at
Stony Brook. Hinson said the student
group is appealing the decision.
Richard McCarl, associate dean for
fellowships and awards at Penn
State, said, “Formation of a union
would mean we had exhausted all
lines of communication and all op
tions of dealing with anything contro
versial.”
“I would hope that there would be
Possibility of graduate
student strike unknown
By MEENEKSHI BOSE
Collegian Staff Writer
Graduate assistants at Syracuse
University and the State University
of New York at Stony Brook went on
strike last spring in response to unad
dressed graduate concerns, but grad
uate students at Penn State said they
did not know if something similar
could happen here.
“I don't know I guess it depends
on how upset people would get,” said
Alison Jones, president of the Grad
uate Student Association. “If it got to
the point where there was no consid
eration or no movement in an area
directly related to student finances,
maybe (assistants would) consider a
strike.”
Ken Martin, secretary of GSA,
said, “I don’t think many teaching
assistants here would be willing to go
on strike. I haven’t even heard any
inside
• Lady cagers advance to tournament finals Page 13.
weather
Today through tomorrow, variable cloudiness with a chance of a shower
today and snow flurries late tonight and tomorrow, high 46. low 31.
Monday, Nov. 30,1987
Vol. 88, No. 97 24 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
©1987 Collegian Inc.
It also promises an "expeditious review" of
the cases of inmates not already approved for
parole and no "arbitrary change" in the
status of inmates with sponsors or families
who have already been approved for parole.
The agreement followed a videotaped ap
peal by Roman, who urged the Cubans to
release their hostages and sign the pact with
federal authorities.
Attorney General Edwin Meese 111, in a
statement released by the Justice Depart
ment in Washington, said, "While this is
understandably a time of rejoicing and
thanksgiving, the Department of Justice will
not rest until the situation in Atlanta is also
peacefully concluded and all the hostages
there are released."
About 200 Cubans, classified as minimum
security prisoners, will be sent from Oakdale
Please see CUBANS, Page 5.
grad students
no need for unionization. I would hope
that students with problems would
bring them forth for discussion,”
McCarl said.
Before receiving assistantships,
graduate assistants at the University
sign a basic “Terms of Offer”
agreement, which lists, among other
things, work hours, McCarl said. In
dividual departments determine sti
pends for their graduate assistants,
he said.
Alison Jones, GSA president, said
one of the issues GSA will discuss
after Christmas break is the money
graduate assistants will lose because
of new 1986 tax laws.
“I don't know whether we’ll be
organizing formally.” Jones said.
“Increased stipends and health insur
ance are issues we’ve discussed with
a lot of people on an informal level.”
McCarl said the University has
three time levels for assistantships.
Most graduate assistantships at the
University are on half-time
assistantships, which involve about
20 hours of work per week, he said.
For the 1986-87 academic year, the
minimum stipend level for half-time
assistantships was about $5,480. Mini
mum stipend levels for quarter-time
and three-qu a r t e r -1 im e
assistantships last year were about
$2,740 and $8,220 respectively.
Graduate assistants at the Univer
sity of Florida have been unionized
since 1982, said John Capece, vice
president of the university’s Grad
uate Assistants United.
“A state court ruled that we were
employees, and therefore we had the
right to bargain,” said Capece, a
research assistant.
Capece said only 350 of the 2.200
graduate assistants employed at the
University of Florida are union mem
bers.
Please see GRADS, Page 5.
one suggest anything like that here."
Almost 700 out of about 1,200 grad
uate assistants at Stony Brook went
on an indefinite strike last May, said
Sandra Hinson, who was vice presi
dent of Stony Brook’s Graduate Stu
dent Organization at the time. Almost
all were teaching assistants, she said.
Hinson said graduate assistants
had four grievances, including the
university's failure to increase sti
pends, high day-care costs, lack of
student input on funding matters and
lack of health insurance.
“We were fighting the paternalistic
attitude of the administration,” Hin
son said. "Up until last year, grad
uate assistants 'at Stony Brook) had
no meaningful input into decision-
making."
In April, the school's Graduate
Student Organization organized a
two-day work stoppage, but Hinson
Please see STRIKE, Page 5.