EDITORIAL
Away With SCA
Joe Mahar, the new student government
President, spent a lot of his time Tuesday walking
around the halls of this school handing out
dollar bill-size fliers.
On this campaign strategem Joe asked you to vote
for him. From what has been seen, by this observer,
in most cases Joe did not ask you via the oral
tradition, but by written word did he request your
vote. This fact may be no big deal, but only served to
make a person wonder why he couldn't say, "Hey, I'm
running for SGA President, vote for me," or some
derivation thereof, rather than using the written word.
Joe ran unopposed. Joe knew he was running
unopposed. And Joe won unopposed except for the
small number of write-ins that always show up in
these elections. Sorry, but Mickey Mouse would not
have been available for the position anyway.
Lets do away with -the Student Government
Association as it functions at the Capitol Campus. All
of a sudden these newly elected officials, elected by
no sizeable representation at all, are going to be in
charge. They now will have psuedo-power.
Psuedo-power? Psuedo-power means they can do
things as long as they don't upset the administrators.
When that happens their operations stop.
Students don't care about what SGA does.
Students don't know what the SGA does. This is true
because SGA doesn't do anything. They allocate
funds for clubs and organizations of the school,
period. If the student government did such things as:
Work to get the parking fee reduced; work out real
evaluation questionaires that ask questions about a
profs ability to teach and somehow get these results
in the hands of the students who'll take the courses;
figure out how clubs and organizations should spend
money, so not to cause confusion and ill-feelings
among fellow students; in short, to do something,
students would still not care about students
government at this school. This is not a four year
instituition. It's in and out and good-bye, here.
Instead, those interested students should work on
some sort of faculty, administrator, student, staff
organization and see what comes up that students
need be concerned about, just in case there is such a
thing.
So, Joe Mahar, as your first executive decree, you
should abolish the student government and go to
work on the newspaper since the written word seems
to be your form of communication. There must be
something for you to do here.
Editors note: Mr. Mahar, you are welcome to reply
to this statement.
Notable &des
There is a well worn adage that those who set out on a great
enterprise would do well to count the cost. That is not always
true. Some of the greatest enterprises in history have been
carried out successfully simply because the people involved did
not count the costs; therefore, the most instructive consideration
is the cost of doing nothing.
Capitol Campus Reader
of the Pennsylvania State University
The Capitol Campus
RTE. 230, Middletown, Pa., 17057
Office W-129-131
Phone (717) 944-4970
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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.
Grace M. Cole, Doug George, Greg Hall, Young
Inyang, Ray Martin, Brian McDonough.
Sir Thomas Haxley
William M. Kane
Tim Adams
Ed Perrone
.Robert L. Fisher Jr
.Wayne Stottmelster
Carol Andress
John Kollar, Ed McKeown
Janine M. Rannels
Beth Kopas
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A person upset about the April Fool's issue and why
April 5, 1977
After reading this week's
issue of the C.C. Reader, I felt
compelled to register a
complaint with someone or as
many people as possible.
Realizing that this was their
April Fools' issue did not
justify, in my mind, the sick
perverted, and offensive "hu
mor".
As a student at Capitol
Campus since January 1975, I
have been subject to the
increased cost of education.
Believing that the costs were
valid did not make it easier to
pay but at least made it
reasonable. After seeing this
week how some of that money
is being spent enraged my
sense. of fairness.
I have no idea how much the
weekly publication cost for the
C.C. Reader is, but whatever it
is was money wasted this week.
Aside from the monetary
considerations, there is the
unethical, unhumanitarian, and
highly offensive subject ma
terial to be considered. I am not
speaking as a moralist or
puritan when I condemn the
irresponsible actions of all
those who contributed to that
issue. On the contrary, I am
speaking as a human being who
believes that humor can be
found in real life situations
other than the tragedy of the
747 crash in the Canary
Islands, the amputation of Totie
Fields' leg or the unconscious
state of Karen Quinlan. These
are but a few of the sick
examples that are delt with in
the April Fools' issue.
The language throughout
the paper is also offensive and
filled with sexist remarks. The
paragraphs are replete with
such words as "fuck," "balls,"
"ass," "assholes," "dildoes," etc.
As a student who has
studied constitutional law, I am
Another
Gentlemen
The April 1, 1977, edition
was saddening enough with its
revolting and macabre sense of
evil humor. Yet you chose to
come back in the next edition
with a defensive editorial. My
sadness about your lack of good
sense turned into anger.
The only way that the C.C.
Reader can regain stature as a
bona fide expression of press
freedom is for you, Mr. Kane, to
resign and apologize in writing
to the readers of this paper on
the front page of your last
edition.
By way of a parallel, but less
strongly worded version, I am
letting the provost of this
University know my feelings.
Sincerely,
Mark Lavin
Graduate Student
Public Administration
a firm believer of the Ist
Amendment right of freedom of
the press. But the situation that
a school newspaper operates
under is an entirely different
matter. First of all there is only
one paper so therefore there is
no freedom of choice as to
reading that paper or another.
Also, the paper is subsidized by
the tuition of all the students
and should therefore reflect the
aggregate interest of the
student body. In my opinion
that issue reflected a very
small minority of sick indi
viduals with no ethics or sense
of responsible journalism.
Recently, I have had the
opportunity as a student intern
in the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives to sit in on the
Appropriation Hearings and
In Re* To The Above
An open letter to
Ms. Christina Cox (and others)
in reply, and to BM Kane,
editor, C.C. Reader.
You write to Dr. McDermott
with copies to Mr. Kane, Ms.
McLeod, Dr. South and me in
anger over the April 1 issue of
the Reader. You write that the
material was unethical, unhu
manitarian, and highly offen
sive. You write that the
"language throughout the pa
per is also offensive and filled
with sexist remarks." I concur,
at least in part. Offensive and
sexist, yes. Unethical, not
really.
You also write that as a
student of constitutional law,
you are a firm believer "of the
Ist Amendment right of
freedom of the press." I again
concur. Then you add the
dreaded "but." You follow that
"but" with a string of
arguments.
Constitutional guarantees
are not needed to protect
writers of mothers' day
homilies. They are needed to
protect writers of material that
someone in authority might
consider offensive or trashy. I
might add that while I too,
along with most of this
community, consider the issue
offensive, other activities trou
ble me more. I am, in fact, more
troubled that a few individuals
took upon themselves the task
of destroying copies of the
paper. And in all honesty, Ms.
Cox, while I respect some of the
arguments in your letter, I
resent the fact that it was
addressed to Dr. McDermott
rather than to Mr. Kane, and
that copies were sent to the
other faculty and administra
tors indicated. That, combined
with your "but," is an all too
transparent request for prior
censorship. Your references to
the state legislature and the
subsidy for the Reader repre
sent a suggestion of intimida
tion that even many of our
have heard Penn State Uni
versity plead their case for
their appropriation. I am not
too sure that the legislators
sitting on those Appropriation
Committees would look very
favorably on such waste of
money for such an offensive
purpose. Penn State needs to
take this into consideration
when allowing individuals
such as those responsible for
the April Fools' issue to do
what they've done.
In conclusion, I am asking
that as people in an educational
system, we try to achieve high
ideals and not lower ourselves
and the University to a.Jch
baseness.
Sincerely,
Christina M. Cox
Graduate Student
legislators would find repug
nant.
Be all that as it may, Ms.
Cox's initial complaint is not
without merit. A society which
opposes external censorship
expects its press to function
within professional limits. And
while the press is free of prior
censorship, the community is
free to respond as it sees fit. As
we have already discussed
privately, the April 1 issue was
not as funny when it appeared
as it had seemed when you
wrote and assembled it. For
most of your audience, it was
simply not amusing, informa
tive, interesting, or entertain
ing. It was simply gross. In
short, as I suspect you now
understand, it was just plain
bad journalism.
Many on your staff,
including you, know better.
Your editorial of April 7 states
that "not one" multi-media
journalism student is on the
Reader staff. That kind of
statement, dear sir, is why I
cautioned you (as a student in
M-M 350), against any use of
superlatives. Your staff listing
below that editorial gives the
names of two multi-media
students, and of two other:
including you, who have taken
several M-M classes. That is not
to say that the Reader reflects
the M-M program's concept of
good journalism. It is also not to
say that many of us, for several
reasons, would not prefer to see
more M-M students involved. It
is to say that since you chose to
attend our classes, why don't
you choose to pay a little more
attention to what they teach?
My reply to you continues in
the same vein. The constitution
is a fragile document. It is all
too susceptible of being
"but"-ed to death. Read that
venerable document. "Congress
shall make no law... abridging
the freedom... of the press." No
exclusions. Learn from it.
The first amendment by
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