Page Two commentary Violence at Behrend By Jim Martin Executive Editor "Modern man is territorial and aggressive, hostile to and in tolerant of strangers. and lives within an authoritarian social structure in which self assertiveness and competition for dominance characterizes the successful male"—Vernon Reynolds I have wondered at times why people commit seemingly un necessary acts. Those times have either been when I was the one victimized or the one handing it out. Violence occurs most often when a person wrecks something he wants and is unable to con tinually communicate suc cessfully to himself, to others, in an effort to gain his wants in a conventional manner. It is the physical force of aggressiveness. Aggressiveness then, is an unprovoked drive to dominate within all human beings. Nobody strives to be the dregs or less of society. By Robert P. Radziszewski Collegian Staff Writer How does one go about com municating a feeling to another? If it's love, I guess one can simply say. "I love you." What if it's repulsion, though? Repulsion not felt toward another person, but to a thing? And, what if you want to make someone else feel the same repulsion to the same thing? I am repulsed by the ROTC. I could give statistics on govern ' ment spending to support an argument that the military is out of control, and by throwing out the ROTC we would be com mitting a symbolic act. I could say that they're going to wreck the gorge, or complain that there never was a poll taken to see if the students desired ROTC on campus. I'm going to be honest, however, and simply state that I am against having the ROTC here because of its con nection with the American Death Machine. We've all heard about Viet nam : about burn wards for Pi threnb thillegian a i l t Fress Assotigtion of slonutuntniralth Campuses Bob Wetmore Gay Catania Jim Martin Managing Editor Entertainment Editor Executive Editor Mary Carmalt Mike Kaveney News Editor Business Manager Executive Secretary: Carol Ma ntsch Ad Manager: Ron Strike Layout Editors: Bill Appel! Copy - Editors: Amy Snyder, Katy Ferer, Jenny Suchin, Bill Appel!, Business Staff: Judy Reed Writers: Ron Wayne, Jay Schonthaler, Janet Mazur, Pamela Gilmore, Dan McKay, Deborah Bunting, Mary Schoen, Mary Jo Santilli, K evin Conway, Robin Buccilli, Robert P. Radziszewski Photographers: Lynn Boone, Jeff Urraro, Dan Haley, James Hagmann Typists: Michele Crotty, Kathy Weiser Mailing Address• Behrend College, Station Road, Erie, Pa. 16510 Office- Student Offices, Reed Union Building Office Hours: 9:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday Phone: 899-3101 Ext. 238 Opinions expressed by the eiitors and staff of the Behrend Collegian are not necessarily those of the University Administration, faculty, or the student body. Published every Thursday throughodt the Fall, Winter, and Spring Terms, with exclusions for holidays and term breaks. The editorials appearing in this newspaper will be opinionated and . therefore subject to criticism. All letters that are typewritten of 200 words or less, and submitted to the newspaper staff will be printed with the exception of those that are repetitions or in poor taste. The staff reserves the right to correct The Collegian With that drive and our modern advanced society, competition between people and their properties just soars, and violence also occurs because it is fun to do. It can be fun because it is a stimulation which opposes boredom. The physical scars subjected to the Behrend College campus : the defacing to the dorm walls; the ruin of numerous windows; the ripping-out of stairway railing, and so forth, is a total injury to all Behrend constituents. Undoubt edly, the hardest hit is not the dorm walls but the students that allow such butchery to continue. The reasoning is twofold: on one side of the crease, the physical objects ruined must be replaced at a double-dollar cost. That is, the first cost being the worth of what was destroyed; replacing it, second, foregoing a probably improvement. (On the other side) Students at a higher educational institution that is conducive for attainingin tellectual achievement are Science of Death napalm victims and irremovable steel pins that imbedded them selves into skin and bone courtesy of American B-525. We've all seen the terrible results of an insane president's compulsion to bomb, and massacres at My Lai and God only knows where else per petrated by disciples of those who preach destruction. No - N, one of those disciples is among us. With pretty words like "military science," he attempts to conceal the object of his mission. He will say that he is here merely to teach the proud and bloody history of the world's most successful military, and not to recruit new murder machines for his homicidal superiors. The blood of millions is on the hands of those who would have anything at all to do with these madmen. It will not be on my hands, but it will be on my conscience if I do not do something to try and remove them from this campus. I guess that I am supposed to Member of Paul Corbran Editor-in-Chief Editorial Policy or delete portions of all letters for publication purposes. All letters must be signed, but names will be withheld upon request. Term standing, major, and hometown must be included. Signed columns represent the view of the author only and do not necessarily reflect the Editorial policy of the Bebrend Collegian. Mark Reese Sports Editor Behrend Collegian believed to be "mature." So it would seem that you students are indeed not mature because for the "one per cent" that causes most of the damage, the other "99 per cent" are not acting to stop it. The remaining students must be responsible enough to report these violent campus (scarring) actions. The student must be sure the college follows-up and reprimands the students causing damage, accordingly. It is my conviction that the few "juveniles" guilty should be expelled from the PSU system, and subjected to civil court ac tion. My tolerance is no more; patience has been proved inef fective. Swift, stern ad ministration and student action is needed to retard this increasing needless violence. Some of the paranoia minority causing this damage must be neurotic to inflict such unwanted destruction and foul defacing, otherwise there is no reason for this madness. accept them here, and say there's nothing I can do. I could play liberal and con vince myself of their necessity or I could close my eyes and pretend they're not here. Closing my eyes would not be enough, however, for the smell of death hangs heavily in the air. It is now up to not only me, but to all of those who share the repulsion I am currently ex periencing, to exercise their right of open expression (as provided in the policies and rules of PSU ) and cleanse the air of this bloody smell. Free films at Niagara Free movies!! That's what is next on the calender of activities which the Joint Residence Council has planned. "African Queen," with Humphrey Bogart: "Purple Death from Outer Space," starring Flash Gordon: and a favorite "Buggs Bunny" cartoon will be shown in the Niagara Rec Room on Friday October 24. The ' flicks are scheduled to begin at midnight and will last approximately three hours. Again this year, JRC will sponsor a bus to University Park for All-U-Day. It will leave Behrend on Friday, November 7 and return to the campus Sunday evening, November 9. More information concerning this trip may be obtained in the JRC office. As of October 19, JRC will be selling snacks at the Sunday evening movies in the RUB. JRC meets every Tuesday at 6:30 in the Lawrence Hall Con ference Room. Anyone is welcome to attend. Also, if you have any suggestions or com plaints concerning the residence halls, please stop in at he JRC office, located in the Reed Union Building. Tournament Play began last Monday for the ping-pong and pool tournament, sponsored by the Recreation Committee of the Student Union Board. Although registration ended last Friday, the tour nament will continue to be played throughout the entire term. Winners will receive trophies and become eligible to compete regionally at the ACU—I spon sored tournament at West Virginia University on January 29, 30, and 31, 1976. Winners at this level win trophies and may compete in international tour naments. As the tournament begins, there are nineteen vying for. the ping-pong singles title, six for the ping-pong doubles title, and twelve entrants competing for the pool title. • From the desk iikit of the Editor By Paul Corbran Editor-in-Chief Who loses?. . .You! In an article last year, I reviewed how the amount of funding for activities, received from UP, has shockingly decreased in the past years (on a per capita basis). I am sure that the budget for all facets of the Behrend College is not any more promising. Behrend has a beautiful campus. There are a lot of im provements that could be made but, in general, it has that quiet, peaceful country setting. I wonder how long we will be able to keep it? You may cause this to come to an end. Why?.... Because you are letting a few, and I stress few, people around here ruin it for everybody. If you haven't figured out what I've been talking about by now, it is the vandalism problem that has been growing on our campus. Last week some people (?) deliberately smashed the windows in the faculty office building. It was said that cost for repair might run as high as from $3OO to $5OO, although official estimates have not been made yet. Money that could be used for improvement on our campus has to be used for repair of this unnecessary damage. Last year there was an estimated property loss of $1,187.55 from reported cases of vandalism. (note that these are just from reported cases and there are many that go unreported.) And at the rate we're going, we'll probably top that this year. This money is coming out of our pockets! (or, for some of you, your parents') If you read Mike Woods' letter last week, he pointed out that the library lost over $7,500 worth of books and journals. Things that can't be replaced. Why?? Is it "fun" to destroy and steal? I guess I missed something...l think it's ignorant! The people responsible for these acts should be behind bars, not on a college campus. A responsible citizen tries to "weed out" the scum from his community. This is why we have laws. What about our community here at Behrend? Where are our responsible citizens? I guess you don't want to "get involved." Well its too late, you already are in volved:.. you're paying for it! Thank you birectOr Kochel, Dean. Bainum, and Chief Johnson for your help and information. letters varying .viewpoints To the editor : Since Robert P. Radziszewski has indicated that he objects, "without going into political ideology," to the presence of ROTC at Behrend College, he should indicate the grounds upon which he does object. He only gives one hint: ". . . the establish ment of a branch of the ROTC here is an insult to any socially conscious person." A socially conscious person, however, would favor the ROTC program because it provides an all-volunteer army with leaders educated in institutions less elitist and caste-oriented than West Point. The ROTC program thus insured that the Army will have officers from a variety of backgrounds, preventing the existence of a military class uncontaminated by non-military values. Perhaps the "insult" lies in an implied comparison of ROTC with other academic progranis. Military science, however, is a discipline as valid as engineering, pre-med, or others which prepare students for specific professions. ROTC instructors must meet the same academic requirements as professors in other fields and, therefore, hold advanced degrees. If the "insult" is inherent in the subject matter of ROTC courses, I wonder why Radziszewski is not also insulted' by chemistry and biology for their possible ap-. plications to napalm and germ warfare; sociology and psychology for their potential uses in brainwashing and con ditioning; or English composition for its utility to future propagandists. The insult must be revealed by the word "here," raising questions about Radziszewski's social consciousness, if not his social conscience. Does he feel that he, or anyone else, has the right to deny an area of study to others enrolled in a university, solely because he feels insulted? Is he only concerned with ROTC's proximity to himself, indifferent to ROTC performing its function elsewhere? The attitude ex pressed in his letter seems to be October 23, 1975 the result of the- "false con sciousness" he ostensibly criticized in his "Consciousness 111 verses (sic) Consciousness IV." Fred D. Crawford Assistant Professor - Department of English To The Student Body: It has recently come to the attention of the Behrend College Student Government Association that there have been several incidences of serious vandalism on campus within the past several weeks_ In addition to the yearly desecration of the dormitory complexes (which serves only to hurt all of us), students have now resorted to banging up the Security Offices and breaking many large plate glass windows in the Faculty Office Building. These are malicious acts committed by only a few, but the ensuing results effect all of us. Funds that would have otherwise been channeled into Student Activities will now be directed to pay for broken windows, so the alternate losers are the Student Body (that's you) as a result of the ignorance of a few. The Student Government Finds these acts deplorable and urges the student body to exert a bit of social pressure on the responsible individuals in order to cease these vicious activities. With utmost sincerity, The Behrend College Student Government Association Dear Editor: Any socially conscious person who opposes ROTC on Behrend College Campus should either take a hike to Cuba or find out what ROTC is all about. I am proud of my country and this year is the Armed Forces' Bicen tennial: I don't think that we'd - be . waving the American Flag today if we didn't support our Armed Forces. I sincerely would like my grandchildren to see the tricentennial celebration, that is why I am an ROTC cadet. Respectfully yours, Mr. Jeffrey Foster 4th term SC. 119 Perry
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