COMBAT
ZONE
(from page 2)
(I could have made a pretty
good estimation of Ms. Brown's
exact salary, or at least the range
within which it would fall.
Anyone could do so for almost
any job on campus. It's all there,
in black and white, in our own
library. All one really needs to
know, for office personnel, is
how long a person's been in a
certain position. I got this time
figure from Ms. Brown, herself,
last term during casual
conversation. I never thought
that I would "need" it).
The rhetoric problem
(concerning libel) is something
else, but only when publishing
information wich may or may
not hold up in a court of law. (is
not verified by documentation)
Here's how I cover myself in
that area. (Yes, cover. If a
"Combat Zone" were to lead to
a libel suit, I'd be the one being
sued. It's my neck and I intend to
protect it).
First of all, I use words like
"perhaps, undoubtedly, may,
could, believe," etc. when a
human source is involved and no
documents are available. Such
words do not imply (nor are
they meant to imply) the state
of "absolute truth," whatever
that is. All of them leave room
for doubt, missing information
to the contrary, and, or course,
error. Hint: If you look back
over all of my "Combat Zone"
columns, you will find these
words, or others like them. What
this means is that the
information given at these points
is from human sources (and
undocumented, to my
knowledge, at that time) and,
therefore, subject to each
source's interpretation, complete
with whatever psychological
hangups he (or she) may have at
the time. Yes, I do double, even
triple check information of this
sort. When I run into too many
discrepancies, I do not print
whatever it is that is
questionable. (By-the-by, I am
not the only writer to protect
himself, or herself, in this
manner).
As for the psychological
problems surrounding my
writing last week's "Combat
Zone," they are very difficult to
explain. I asked myself a lot of
pretty "gut" questions, tried to
put myself in Ms. Brown's place,
(obviously, this was futile...a
white, anglo-saxon, protestant
named Boswell, of all things, just
cannot think or feel black, no
matter what), and called a few
friends to try to get more
realistic reactions. This didn't
help much (no offense, people)
because their answers were the
same as the ones I got when
asking myself. (Maybe this is
really a good sign? Like, maybe
the "worlds" are no longer those
of extremely polarized black and
white? And maybe we are
getting closer, into a sort of grey
area where meaningful exchange
can take place)?
I continue to ask myself a lot
of questions. Some are idealistic
as hell, others are tormenting
me. There is one thing of which
I am sure. When people come up
to me (some have) and say,
"Hey, Boz, I liked your article,"
"That was a good "Combat
Zone," or "That was a good
piece of work," sure, I
appreciate the
"reinforcement"....BUT I can't
help wishing that I could hear
someone say, ANYONE say,
"Articles like last week's
Combat Zone should not be
necessary." Or, better yet,
"Articles like last week's
Combat Zone ARE NO
LONGER NECESSARY."
SPPC Defeated
by R. W. Bonaker
The Faculty defeated the
Special Program Planning
Committee proposal in balloting
last week. The vote was 38-33,
which totaled just over half of
the faculty members eligible to
vote.
The SPPC was formulated by
the Faculty Council at the
request of Provost Robert E.
McDermott and the Committee
on Academic Affairs. Members
were to include three faculty
from each Division and one
student.
Specified duties would have
been considerations of
significant changes in human and
physical resources incompassing
academic programs and courses
and building specifications. In
effect, it was to have been the
"super committee" of the
Faculty Council.
The proposal met stiff
competition from the Division
heads who were obviously
supported by the majority of
those voting.
McDermott and the Faculty
Council were generally miffed
by the outcome of the vote. At
last Thursday's meeting, the
Council decided to have its
Academic Affairs Committee
assume some of the more basic
duties of the defeated SPPC, and
commissioned the committee to
consider a different proposal.
Justice Denied
Sticker' Case
by Robert Bonaker
In an article that appeared in
the February Bth issue, I
presented a report of a "floating
sticker" case as decided by the
Student Court. Since that time,
some interesting facts have been
uncovered.
Michael Bowman received a
citation from Security Chief
James Paul in the first week of
February for failure to possess
the required parking sticker for
his van and properly display it.
As was reported at that time,
Bowman did have a "floating
sticker", but had forgotten to
place it on his vehicle. The
floating stickers are issued to
students utilizing more than one
motor vehicle at different times
while attending classes. The fine
was set at one dollar and the
original charge was failure to
HAVE a sticker on the car.
Bowman appealed his case to
Dr. John Grimm, Dean of
Student Affairs, maintaining he
should not be penalized for
failure to POSSESS any type of
sticker when indeed he did
POSSESS a sticker; he merely
forgot to put it on his van,
which is a distinctly colored old
Servomation vehicle. Grimm
upheld the charge but suspended
the one dollar fine; which meant
that if it occurred again, the fine
would be three dollars.
Bowman was not satisfied
with Grimm's decision, so the
Dean referred the case to the
Student Court, an operation he
has initiated to, in his words,
"better serve the students."
Acting on information supplied
to me by Grimm, I reported that
the charge had been changed
from failure to POSSESS a
sticker to failure to DISPLAY a
by Faculty Vote
The ballots were tabulated by
Dr. Thomas Knight, Chairman of
the Faculty Council and Dr.
Roger Saylor who drew up the
SPPC proposal. Also counting
the votes was Prof. Mark
Dorfman. The result was
announced on February 13.
At its meeting on February
12, the Student Government
Association had decided to
cooperate with the Council if
the proposal was approved by
recommending a student
representative. The motion was
passed by 20-0.
Trip to Marietta
The Social Science and
Regional Planning programs will
sponsor a field trip to Marietta,
Pa. on the morning of Saturday,
March 3.
Marietta is a charming little
town some 15 miles south of
MiddletoWn. The guide for the
for the trip will be Dr. Irwin
Richman, Head of the Social
Science program, and Prof,
Ambrose Klain Will organize the
excursion.
Everyone is invited, and there
is no charge for the trip.
More details will be presented
next week.
parking sticker. Accordingly, the
Student Court upheld Grimm's
decision by 3-2.
When Bowman heard of the
decision, he contacted me,
contending that Grimm never
told him of the alleged change of
the charge from failure to
POSSESS to failure to
DISPLAY. I then contacted
Chief Justice Harry Franzreb
and another justice Sam
Randazzo. They also told me
that Grimm had not changed the
charge, as far as they knew.
Bowman said that if the charge
had indeed been changed, he
would not have appealed the
case.
In that instance, Bowman did
not receive the justice he rightly
deserves. I honestly believe Dean
Grimm did change the charge,
but he failed to properly notify
the Court and Mr. Bowman
about it. I also believe the three
justices who voted to uphold
Grimm's decision on the failure
to POSSESS charge, Randall
Blimline, Ken Sand and Rick
Jordon, failed to recognize the
true nature of the case. If they
had, they would have voted
against Grimm's decision.
The entire case involves a
matter of principle. Granted,
Bowman did not have to pay a
fine, but he was found guilty on
an inappropriate charge. There
was a breakdown in
communication, resulting in
embarassment for Bowman,
Dean Grimm and the Court.
Accordingly, I call for the
case to be reopened and the
proper charge be specified. In
my opinion, Bowman is not
guilty of failure to POSSESS the
proper sticker; he is merely
guilty of forgetfullness.
** * *
** * *
CAPITOLITES
HYPNOTIZED
BY
RECORDER
MUSIC
by Bob Bonaker
Last Thursday a program not
a part of Nostalgia Week was
presented by the Cultural
Programs Committee. .
The Recorder Consort of
Michael Stober, Robert W.
Nelson, Jean Romberger, David
Bailey and Mary Jane Nelson
attracted a comfortably
moderate audience to the
Gallery Lounge.
Recorders are the precursors
of the modern flute. As was
apparent during the
performance, they are held
vertically rather than
horizontally as is the flute.
Sometimes they are referred to
as "fipple flutes" or "block
flutes" and are generally
constructed of hard woods.
Extremely popular from the
16th to the 18th century, there
are five types of recorders:
discant, soprano, alto, tenor and
bass. A group of at least four is
called a consort.
Harpsicords were also an
integral part of the program. The
instruments were built last year
in Boston and are the prototypes
of historic instruments
constructed by the Ruckers
family of Amsterdam in the
17th century.
Phase one of the Capitol
concert was conducted by the
Recorders. The works of such
artists as William Byrd, George
Fredric Handel, Johann
Sebastian Bach, Claude Gervaise
and Paul Peurel were played.
Topping off Part I was the
Traditional English
"G re ensleeves." Mary Jane
Nelson, Bailey, Romberger and
Gwen Jones comprised the
consort.
Mr. Nelson and his beautiful
harpsicords dominated the rest
of the concert, accompanied by
the Recorders. Ms. Romberger
also played a harpsicord. Again,
selections by Bach, Handel and
Marcello and Scarlatti were
presented. The flowing sounds
of the harpsicord enlightened
the listeners in a truly cultural
program. The sounds were not
exciting, nor were they thrilling.
But they were curiously
refreshing.
* * *
Poetry Contest
Anyone on campus who
wishes to submit a poem in the
Cultural Programs Committee
Poetry Contest may do so at the
Student Activities Office,
W-105.
The poems will be judged the
first week in March. The
deadline for all poems is the last
week of February.
First prize is 25 dollars, the
second $l5, and the third is $lO.
Now's the time to show your
stuff!
Chemical Treatment
of Waste Waters
Discussed Tonight
James J. Westrick, sanitary
engineer with the United States
Environmental Protection
Agency, will be featured speaker
at a seminar on "Physical
Chemical Treatment of
Municipal Wastewaters"
scheduled for Thursday,
February 22, at Capitol Campus.
The session will be held in Room
E-310.
Westrick is associated with
the Physical and Chemical
Treatment Research Program of
the Advanced Waste Treatment
Research Laboratory of the
National Environmental
Research Center in Cincinnati,
Ohio.
A graduate of the University
of Cincinnati, he has been
associated with the
Environmental Protection
Agency and its predecessor
organizations for six years
during which time he has been
engaged in research in
physical-chemical treatment of
wastewaters.
Westrick is affiliated with the
American Society of Civil
Engineers and the Water
Pollution Control Federation.
He is a registered professional
engineer in Ohio.
The seminar is one of a
continuing series of programs on
water resources and pollution
held each Thursday at 7:00 p.m.
on the campus. It is open to all
interested individuals and free.
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\V" June 16,73