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Ed itoria I
Mer
THE FLAG CONTROVERSY ger Addresses
Campus Group
by R. W. Bonaker
In this, the final issue of THE
CAPITOLIST for the year, I
fully expected to write an
editorial which would
congratulate our seniors upon
graduation. I also wanted to take
time to acknowledge the efforts
of our senior staff members
Lee Nell and Tom Hagan,
co-editors, and contributers
Gregg Crescenzo, Samantha
Bower, Don Lewis, Steve
Wesley, Steve Rosenzweig, Tom
Black and Cheryl Boyes. But, a
situation has developed in
thepast few weeks which merits
greater attention.
On May 21, the students of
Capitol Campus staged a highly
successful Rock Festival. Over
25,000 people jammed the front
lawn of the main building. The
next day, Gov. Milton Shapp
received a letter of protest about
an alleged incident which took
place before the concert. The
author of the letter is Franklin
D. Linn, Sr., a former Lower
Smtara Township policeman
who is now a republican aid in
the Pennsylvania Legislature.
With the letter, which he also
delivered to commanders of the
state chapter American Legion
and Veterans of Foreign Wars,
Linn enclosed two photographs.
One was supposedly taken on
Saturday, May 20, the day
before the Rock Festival and the
other taken the day of the
concert. In the May 20 picture,
the American Flag was flying on
the pole in front of the building
and in the May 21 photo Old
Glory was missing. Linn charged
in the letter that a "Tiny band(s)
of arrogant citizens" stormed
the administration offices the
day before the Festival,
demanding that the flag not be
flown the next day "to prevent
trouble at the rock festival." Mr.
Linn continued with his
allegations: "Because some of
those participating (in the
festival) are antagonistic to
having our Flag fly over their
heads, they wanted it down. So,
to preserve public order and to
appease the short-sighted
malcontents, our Flag came
down."
The May 24 edition of the
Middletown PRESS AND
JOURNAL carried a front page
story on the matter, complete
with photographs In the May 30
edition of the Harrisburg
EVENING NEWS, a letter of
protest, similar .to the one Linn
wrote, appeared. I say similar to
Linn's because the exact same
passage of Linn's letter
"short-sighted malcontents" was
included.
Of course students and
administrators here were
outraged at such charges. For
one thing, there is absolutely no
truth to the allegation that a
small band of people forced
administrators to not fly the
Flag during the concert. So that
point falls on its face. The
reason the Flag did not fly
during the concert is that it has
become campus policy not to fly
the Flag on weekends.
Consequently, the Flag has not
been flown on a weekend,
except on a legal holiday, in the
past three years. Which brings up
the next point If it was not
possible that the Flag was flying
on Saturday, May 20, then a
photo of the Flag could not have
been taken. Through the efforts
of former student government
president Terry Wimmer, the
photographer, Robert C.
Forsyth o f the PRESS AND
JOURNAL, who was
freelancing at the time, signed a
"confession" which stated that
the first picture was taken on
Friday, May 19, and not
Saturday, May 20. I believe you
can see the "picture" now.
Yet, more damage was to
come. The name of Capitol
Campus was further tarnished
when state Rep. Rudolph
Dininni, a republican from
Middletown, went on local
television further implicating the
University, while at the same
time introducing a legislative bill
requiring all state-related
institutions of higher education
to display the Flag on every day
of the week. I have no objection
to the bill, in fact I favor such
action. But I highly condemn
the pretenses under which it was
introduced.
In another front-page article
in the PRESS AND JOURNAL,
Rep. Dininni *aid that "rock
festival participants voiced
strong protests in having the
National Flag fly over their
heads . . . what kind of country
are we going to produce if the
so-called leaders and officials of
our society are so weak and
directionless that they will, in
the name of order, tolerate
disorder." As it turns out,
Dininni was acting on the same
"mis-information" under which
Mr. Linn acted. The article of
the PRESS—JOURNAL
displayed a photo with Linn and
Dininni looking at a copy of the
bill which the legislator
introduced. Dininni's phrase "in
the name of order, tolerate
disorder," is the exact same
sentence which appeared in
Linn's original letter.
THE CAPITOLIST
At this point, the situation
had reached extremely serious
proportions When a public
official uses such false
information and makes serious
charges, none of which have any
validity, I call it irresponsible.
On Friday, June 9, Terry
Wimmer and Mike Bauer,
Capitol student representatives,
met with Rep. Dininni and Mr.
Linn in Dininni's legislative
office to try to rectify the
situation. Wimmer asked the two
gentlemen to make a public
retraction, as they were
completely wrong in their
chatges. They refused. In fact,
Linn sent Wimmer a statement
which reaffirmed his previous
opinion.
Provost Robert E. McDermott
sent the PRESS—JOURNAL a
letter asking the paper to clarify
its stance in the situation.
McDermott charged that the
issue of June 7, a front-page
article with pictures, gave a
misleading impression. The
PRESS—JOURNAL replied with
a front-page editorial on Flag
day, June 14. The Middletown
paper countered that the Flag
has been flown at weekend
graduation ceremonies which is
not a legal holiday. But the
PRESS—JOURNAL is missing
the point. The PRESS—
JOURNAL'S role in the affair by
presenting a one-sided view of
the facts, must also be
condemned
Wimmer then decided to start
legal action against Mr. Linn for
his false and malicious actions
Wimmer received the unanimous
support of the Student
Government Association if he
decided to press charges against
Mr. Linn. When Linn heard of
the SGA's vote, he was
"shocked" and responded with
the following remarks "Surely
the Student Government
Association must understand my
right to dissent . . . I only hope
that they are not trying to tell
me, and everyone else, that only
students can dissent."
When Linn made the last
remarks, he was running scared.
He talked about a right to
dissent. Yes, he has a right to
dissent, but he has no right to
make false accusations, to
distort the facts, in a situation
which he apparently caused.
Thank You
The staff of THE
CAPITOLIST wishes to thank
the advertisers who patronized
us during the year.
Without the support of our
advertisers, our weekly tabloid
would not have been so good as
it was this year. The income
made from advertising was of
tremendous value in the
publication of the paper.
We take this opportunity to
formally acknowledge the
backing which we received from
our advertisers. We hope to see
them again next year:
McDonald's Hamburgers
Naple's Pizza
Norge Village Cleaners
Rea and Derick Drugstore
Rough Wear Clothing Co.
Royal Jewel Box
Star Art Theater
Trissler Beer Dist.
Kresge's
The Loft Boutique
Music Scene
Olmsted Plaza Merchants Assoc.
Guy Page Union Fidelity Ins.
Thrifty Beverage
Yankee's Service Station
Cameron Auto Inc.
De Vono's
Immuno Blood Services
Kauffman's Cycle Shop
Lenker Cycle Sales
by R. W. Bonaker
"Capitol Campus is a college
with great potential because of
its proximity to the
capital—Harrisburg," said
Pennsylvania Secretary of
Education John C. Pittenger
during a visit to campus last
week.
Pittenger attended a luncheon
in the Student Center last
Friday. The audience was
comprised of over 30 faculty,
students and administrators.
The Secretary explained that
his appointment to his post was
not well received by some
college newspapers. One called
him a "political hack" at yet
another job. One state college
tabloid made preparations for
what it called the "rape of the
state colleges" under Pittenger's
adminiAtration. He was burned
in effigy for his alleged
"non-participation in the Keddie
Case at University Park, a
situation which, based on
academic procedures in the
dismissal of a faculty member,
did not involve me," he asserted.
"But I wouldn't have taken
the job if I didn't like it, ' ' he
added jokingly. Pittenger
succeeded Dr. David Kurtzman
earlier this year. He formerly
served in the Pennsylvania
Legislature, representing
Lancaster County. He was
defeated in his bid for reelection
and took a job as a top
administrative assistant for Gov.
Milton Shapp, before being
appointed to his present post.
"This is not my first visit
here," he explained. "It is at
least my third trip to the
campus." He reiterated that it is
unfortunate that a metropolitan
area the size of Harrisburg had
no facilities for higher education
until the advent of Harrisburg
Area Community College and
the University Center at
Harrisburg in the mid-1960'5. As
a junior college, HACC still is
"lacking" in ratio of students to
surrounding population.
"Capitol can help fall that void,"
he said.
The Secretary made some
interesting observations on
student requirements at other
colleges in the Commonwealth.
He called the mandatory fee for
a cap and gown of $9.50 at one
school regardless of the
student's intent to wear one a
"bit Mickey Mouse." He said
that Penn State was fortunate to
have a man like President John
Oswald at the helm. "He is able
to talk to the students and to
people at other institutions,
while his predecessor was not,"
he mentioned.
Pittenger emphasized that
Harrisburg is a fast growing area,
fairly sound economically, good
transportation modes, with over
a million people. "What is not
here," he said, "is a good
academic program to serve that
industry" in the area.
Senate Bill 30, a new program
for state aid to fund institutions
of higher learning, was explained
by the Secretary. "Earlier, some
colleges receiving funding in
outrageous ways, for example,
Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania. A
tough problem concerns the 60
to 70 private colleges in the
state. They don't have enough
money. I wouldn't be surprised
if a few of them had to close
their doors in the next ten years.
Senate Bill 30 will try to solve
that problem."
The state, through the
Pennsylvania Higher Education
Assistance Agency, provides
scholarships to students of
between "20 and 55 million
Saturday, June 24, 1972
dollars. But I doubt if that is
enough . . . we must do more,"
stresses Pittenger. When
questioned about student input
into the collegiate decision
making process, he pointed to a
recent move which placed
students on the board of trustees
at the 14 state colleges and the
state related institutions of Pitt,
Penn State and Temple. "The
Senate has yet to confirm the
appointments where one student
will serve on each board," he
said.
He termed the informal
objectives for his Dept. of
Education as stressing "more
flexibility." He would also like
to see more field work playing a
part of a student's academic
training. "Many times, the
classroom is a waste of time," he
observed. "Where else could you
learn about `maceing'—the art of
padding the party coffers
through legislative allocations.
You don't learn that in P.0.D.,"
he mused.
When questioned about a
teacher surplus in Pennsylvania,
he responded, "There are
regional differences, it is a mixed
picture. We have a surplus of
applicants in small towns and
suburban areas but there is no
surplus for center city and urban
teaching positions."
He observed that the state
colleges are moving away from
the normal school concept and
are establishing alternative career
programs. Pittenger looked at
current methods of higher
education and viewed them as
inadequate in "Fitting the
students for a seat on the job
market." In the same light,
"You don't get expertise by
majoring in this or that. You get
it from practice in a tough,
exacting academic program
not a general major," he
continued.
The Secretary elaborated on
an apparent 'freeze' he placed on
building construction on state
colleges. He said that the dictum
did not include Capitol's
proposed multi-purpose physical
athletic plant. "Proposals for
that building are now pending in
the Education department. I am
casually optimistic about that
Penn State project," he stated
frankly.
Health Center
Robert Bailey, project
director for uptown Harrisburg's
Hamilton Health Center, has
accepted chairmanship of the
special population group
Division.
Developing special health
programs in cancer education for
communities across the state,
Bailey will lead the
sub-committee part of the
Pennsylvania Division, ACS,
public education committee.
Math-Science Exams
Capitol Campus has been
designated a testing center for
the society of Actuaries.
The most recent exams took
place last month when, for the
firsth time, candidates for the
initial preliminary examinations
gathered from both the
University and surrounding
colleges. The next exams will be
given in November.
The Math-Science Program
offers courses in actuarial
science to help candidate spass
these exams.
offers courses in actuarial
science to he,
offers courses in, actuarial
science to help candidates pass
these exams.