EDITORIAL
Plaee Your Bets
In the business of education the student is the
consumer. We have not yet seen Nader’s Raider’s
investigate possible hazards in the system. Even Herb
Denenburg, the crusading consumer advocate, hasn’t
yet delved into possible inequaties. Until the “Unsafe
at any Speed” of higher education is published, let
these reflections suffice.
At a two-year University such as this, it is
impossible to flunk. If everyone flunked then no one
would graduate. If no one graduate... Who would
come to a school where no one graduated?
Higher education is a business. And like all
business, one of the objectives is the fast turnover.
When the commodities sit too long, business
stagnates.
Of course it’s inevitable, there are those blatant
cases where no remote semblance of “D” or better can
be spotted atop the mast of academic standards.
But, these unfortunates pose a different problem,
and are therefore carefully kept in check. The repeat
student has already heard the joke. He’ll give away the
punch line to all the class. He’ll expose method. He
has seen the Econ 802 act before, but this time is
ready for it. And will, to the best of his ability, find
just reward, in his expose, of the Econ 802 prof.
But what about the prof? The very name,
professor, what does it mean? One who is employed
in the act of publicly professing. Professing to know,
and be able to teach you, about his or her particular
field.
How do you know if he knows. He may know, but
is unable to relate information, so as to be
understandable. Or, but no, one mustn’t think this.
Could it all be bullshit? Is the loquacious and
sentensious verbosity just a nefarious cover designed
to mystify the plebiscite? Oh what abject
perfidiousness, it couldn’t be true.
Maybe not, but, how do you know? There is no
consumer’s guide to rate the Econ 802 prof. At least
not one the consumer can get hold of.
Yes, there are evaluations, but consumers never
see them. It’s like asking corrupt city officials to
insure against a dishonest police force. Or it’s like
asking God to argue against religion.
If on evaluation day one were write in answer to,
“What did you like best about the course?” the
excellent view my seat afforded concerning the pretty
girls in the class, that person would indubitably be
dismissed as a madman, and the evaluation be
invalidated. So even if you do get your shot in at the
prof., most assuredly you’d be considered a caviling
malcontent.
Alternatives? Go talk to your Econ 802 prof, before
Econ 802 gets underway. Get your impression as to
his effectiveness as a teacher. It’s not a foolproof
method. You make a considerable gamble, 20
fninutes to judge a ten-week course. Odds are
considerably decreased, though, when you place your
bet, before even knowing the terms.
Capitol Campus Reader
of the Pennsylvania State University
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The Capitol Campus Reader is the school newspaper of
Penn State’s Capitol Campus. It is published by the
students who attend this school. We of the Reader Staff try
to accurately represent the voice of the students, and keep
them informed as to current events and relevant issues. We
are published on a weekly basis.
The reinstatement of the
death penalty is a good example
of the conservative shift in the
mood of the American people.
The Gary Gilmore may well be
the precedent for a return to
the barbarism we tried to
abandon a decade ago.
However, while Gilmore
may be the object of this
exercise, he is not the catalyst
that led to the return of the
death penalty.
I saw the handwriting on
the wall over a year ago when
the liberal Justice Douglas
retired from the Supreme
Court and Ford nominated the
more conservative John Paul
Stevens to replace him.
Douglas held the key vote
when the court split 5 - 4 in the
Furman vs Georgia (1972)
decision. The decision did not
forbid capital punishment! It
banned the death penalty as it
was being practiced holding
that it was so arbitrary and
capricious in practice that it
violated the Bth amendment
ban on cruel and unusual
punishment.
With Stevens on the bench,
it was only a matter of time
before the conservative major
ity would uphold some form of
capital punishment That time
came last July with the Gregg
vs Georgia (1976) decision
which held that the death
penalty “is not a form of
punishment that may never be
imposed.”
However, the court made it
clear that its approval applied
to murder cases only.
As soon as the decision was
handed down, several states
Hey, what are you doing
next May? You don’t know?
Well neither do we. And we
have to try to help you decide.
We are the S.G.A., and we fund
and help organize one of the
more interesting traditions of
this campus, the spring rock
concert.
.William M. Kane
Tim Adams
.Robert L. Fisher Jr.
.Wayne Stottmelster
Carol Andress
.Jenlne M. Rannels
Beth Kopas
The question which we
would like you to help answer is
this: Has the tradition outlived
its usefulness?
The project costs a great
deal of money that might be
cfives Page
ARBITRARY AND CAPRICIOUS
By Mike Burke
Tish and Tush on the prowl for a Big Mac at the Spring Concert.
SGA SEEKS FEEDBACK ON CONCERT
began dusting off their electric
chairs and preparing their gas
chambers for executions with a
perverse sense of urgency.
But I must ask what
purpose will these executions
serve. Those who support
capital punishment claim it is
the only fitting punishment for
the taking of a human life and
that it serves as a deterent to
others. I say no, on both counts.
To take the life of someone
as a form of punishment is in
effect saying that under certain
circumstances, murder is justi
fied, provided it is done by the
state.
As far as its deterring
value, Gary M. Gilmore’s “Le
Danse Macabre” with the Utah
Criminal Justice System ren
ders absurd the notion that
capital punishment is a
deterrent to murder. That
argument is based on faulty
logic. It assumes that all men
are rational actors, that crime
can be discouraged by the
likelihood of punishment, and
the greater the punishment,
the greater the deterrent to
crime.
If the greatest punishment
to man is the forfeiture of his
life, then capital punishment is
the strongest deterrent to the
worst crime.
The error in the faulty logic
lies in the basic premise that all
men are rational actors who
weigh the possible gain of a
criminal act against the
likelihood and severity of the
punishment that may result
from such action.
That may work fine in the
area of white collar crime such
as embezzlement, which is
better spent elsewhere. More
importantly the project eats up
a hell of a lot of human effort.
Now, we S.G.A. types are a lot
like other Capitol students.
We’d much more prefer to sit at
home and contemplate our beer
cans, than beat our heads
against a wall, but if you want a
concert this year and are
willing to work with us for it,
starting now, it will happen in
May.
You can start helping by
letting your S.G.A. representa-
usually the result of rational
decision based on a cost-benefit
ratio.
Murder, on the other hand,
is for the most part a crime of
passion that is commited on
impulse. It is not usually the
result of a rational thought
process.
' Therefore, there can not be
any deterrent to such illogical
action. Gary Mark Gilmore is an
excellent example of such
illogical action. Gilmore has
spent 18 of his 35 years behind
bars. He now prefers death to
life imprisonment. Yet at the
time of his homicidal joy ride,
he must have known that the
most likely outcome would be
life imprisonment, something
he fears more than death.
That should have deterred
him. Yet he commited two
brutal murders in a 48-hour
period. So much for the
deterrence theory.
However, some action must
be taken to restrain future
Gary Gilmores. I believe the
way to do this is through
limiting the opportunities peo
ple like him have to commit
violent, impulsive crimes, ra
ther than through state
inflicted murder.
This can be done by: first,
the revolving doors in our
prisons by tightening up on
plea bargaining and qualifica
tions for parole (Gilmore was
out on parole). Second and most
important, enact some effective
gun control (Gilmore used a
stolen hand gun).
Measures like these will
save more innocent lives than a
thousand executions.
tive know your answer to these
questions:
1. Do you want a concert
this year?
2. If so, do you want it to be
a one-day public event, as it has
been to date, or as a series
events, for the campis com
munity alone, spread over
several days?
3. Are you going to help it
happen?
It’s your move.
Ray Martin