Page Two
Sty* Ntttattg €3lB
Member of
Sty? fir tßß Aasuriatfim
of (ftottummniraltlj (Sattqntsro.
Editor-in-chief RAY GEIGER
Managing Editor GARY THORN BLOOM
Sports Editor MIKE McGINLEY
Format Editor PAULTABOLT
Photos JIM ROSE
Advertising SAM BERNIK
Business KATHY JUNECKO
Faculty Advisor DAVID DANIEL
Staff: Carolyn Beck, Doug Brower, Paula
Brunner, Mike Cox, W.T. Eberlin, Cliff
Hahn, Ginny Koontz, Sam Kroungoid, Dick
Lecker, Doug Leichliter, Rick Martino,
Debby McCall, Dave Ruef, Leigh Scam
mell, Barb Slingland, Kathlene Sparks,
Chris Watkins, Patsy Wheatly.
REPRESENTED FOR NATIONAL ADVERTISING BY
National Educational Advertising Services jK
f A DIVISION OF
TT READER'S DIOEST SALES S SERVICES. INC. *4
I I 360 Lexington Av»„ Now York. N. Y. 10017 I I
EDITORIAL
OPINION
Let There Be Peace!
A wave of. numbness filled with shock and disbelief has
blanketed Behrend Campus following the incidents of this
past week. The unexpected and the feared have occur redand
appears to have led to wide-spread confusion and erroneous
opinions.
It is unfortunate that Behrend Campus has been placed in
the public’s eye, not because of the academic achievement
or maturity and responsibility of its student body. Behrend
has come under the close scrutiny of the entire state
because of the irrational behavior and actions of a few
students. It is inevitable that these occurrences of the past
few days will substantially limit the students in their efforts
to gain the confidence of the officials of the University. The
damage done to our previously and firmly asserted
maturity and responsibility seems almost unrepairable.
. .But it was only a few who were involved. The majority of
the students at Behrend appear to feel the same shock and
dismay as the CUB. We hope that this is true.
It is the responsibility of these students to repudiate the
irresponsibility which has led to these actions. We have
spoken, in the past, of a lack of trust and communication on
the part of the administration when dealing with the
students. It is time that we speak of investing our trust in
them as a dividend for previous expressions of concern and
confidence which we have received. At this time, rather
than asking the university to overlook irresponsibility, we
should demand from ourselves and our peers responsible
action and mature concern for each and every individual’s
rights and privileges. We must also recognize the peculiar
responsibilities of our administrative personnel.
But even more, each student must now take time to look
within himself to find the answer for the questions, ‘‘Who
am I?” “What am I?” and “What is my relationship to my
university and my fellow students?” Each individual must
seek to find his own responsible and mature answer. Each
of us must seek to discover what we can do to make this
university an outstanding institution of learning.
We must defend the freedom to learn and inquire, and to
seek the fulfillment of our own potentials. But this can only
be accomplished if we respect and defend the rights of all
other individuals within the university community, be they
student, faculty or administration. We are, whether we
recognize it or not, each intimately involved in the lives of
all other individuals on the campus. Let each of us live in
the spirit of mutual respect and honor. Let us never confuse
disrespect with freedom, selfishness with rights, license
with learning. Only when ALL the members of our
university community are willing to work together for the
welfare of all, will we have achieved that which is our
greatest desire, the illumination of our intellect, the
fulfillment of our freedoms, the preservation of our rights,
and the betterment of our university, and most of all,
PEACE LET THERE BE PEACE!
EDITORIAL POLICY
The editorials appearing in this
newspaper will be opinionated
and therefore subject to
criticism. All letters that are
typewritten 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
by Ray Geiger
CUB Editor
correct or delete portions for the
letters or publication purposes.
All letters must be signed, but
names will be withheld upon
request.
Signed columns represent the
view of the author only and do not
reflect the Editorial policy of the
Nittany CUB.
THE NITTANYCUB
Letters To The
Dear Editor
Three months ago, the resident
students at Behrend Campus
submitted a proposal to Director
Irving Kochel which would allow
students to determine their own
policy of visitation between male
and female students. This was a
carefully thought out proposal
modeled after that which is in
effect at University Park, which
would insure that the privacy of
all resident students be
respected, including those who
were not entertaining guests. All
of this was done in the spirit of
good faith in the democratic
legislative process.
After patiently waiting for
three months for a decision, the
Behrend students were disap
pointed on January 26 by the
ludicrously written statement
given to Student Government
President David Carr. Instead of
getting the right to decide upon
visitation hours within a twenty
four, seven-day-week framework
as originally proposed, the
students were given restricted
weekend visitation hours, namely
visitation privileges between
seven and twelve on Friday and
Saturday evenings and from two
until five on Sunday afternoons.
Obviously the students who were
hoping for a chance to study
together during the week were
disappointed. It is also a fact that
all buildings on Behrend Campus
are closed by midnight on week
days and two a.m. weekends.
Anyone desiring to converse with
a friend of the opposite sex after
these hours must do so outside in
sub-zero weather.
What right has one man to
force his opinion on four hundred
dormitory students? During
these three months, the students
have been in close contact with
many campus administrators
and several members of the
campus advisory board. All of
these people have expressed
opinions, at least to the students,
that indicated that they felt our
proposal was definitely worth
serious consideration. Why then,
has Mr. Kochel sent out letters to
the parents of resident students
to get a consensus of their
opinions concerning visitation,
.six days before he handed down
his statement, before he had,time
to get any sizeable response. In a
similar poll conducted by the
Student Government Association
it has been found that most
parents who have so far
responded, favor a modified
seven-day-a-week policy. Was
Mr. Kochel’s deliberation
hastened by probable lack of
support from parents?
We as students have no feasible
way to appeal this decision. If we
submit another proposal we must
wait another three months with
no guarantee that the outcome
would be any different. If we
should make any move to defy
this decision, we have been ex
plicitly told that any students
involved will face immediate
expulsion from the university.
We have been taught since
childhood that the American
democratic system is truly a
good one, one that is to be
respected. But with campus
administrators like Mr. Kochel,
who continue to make arbitrary
decisions against the wishes of
the majority, is it any wonder
that college students become
restless and try to take matters
into their own hands?
Is it that unreasonable for
mature young men and women
who will be out in the world
beyond the campus in a few short
years to ask for the privilege to
entertain guests of their
choosing? We are living in 1971.
When is Mr. Kochel to realize
this?
Respectfully yours,
Sandra J. Roll
Sandra L. Kasko
Concerned Dormitory
Students
Dear Editor,
AfTer much thinking about the
announcement on visitation by
Mr. Kochel, I have concluded
that the decision was based on a
feeling of mistrust. Does he not
realize that all of our lives and
the rest of our lives will be based
on trust both trusting and
being trusted?
(name withheld upon request.)
Dear Editor,
Wednesday night, when I
walked into the Quiet Lounge to
watch the weekly S.G.A.
meeting, I thought for a second
that I was in the wrong room; the
Quiet Lounge, which is normally
a place where couples can be
alone and individuals can sleep,
exploded when Dean Lane
handed-down Mr. Kochel’s
decision on 24 hr. Visitation. I
regret that I got there a little late
and missed Dean Lane’s reading
of Mr. Kochel’s letter but I did get
there in time for the students
reactions; for Dean Lane’s
“answering” of questions; and
for his very hasty departure. I
have never in my entire life seen
anyone leave a room as fast as he
did; everyone clapped when he
finished but I think that was only
because they were glad to see
him leave. Then things started to
happen.
Right off everyone agreeded
that Mr. Kochel’s “compromise”
was ridiculous and the hat was
_ passed to buy him a dictionary so
he could look up the meaning of
the word. The one who was really
mad was the student who has a
girl (or guy as the case may be)
living in the dorms; they were the
ones who wanted something done
right away. The president of the
S.G.A., Dave Carr, did a pretty
good job of avoiding any rash
actions by the students by
refusing to vote on anything until
anyone who had something to say
got a change to say it.
There were about ten people
who were really in control of the
crowd and everytime they would
talk about a massive violation of
the visitation rule everyone
would start clapping. The best
In an age when such cries
as “What is truth?” and
“Let’s be realistic” are
heard, it is hard to believe
that some people are still
pulling the wool over their
own eyes.
Behrend students are only
fooling themselves if they
think that:
1) there hasn’t been any
tension in the Behrend
Campus air recently
2) college students read
more news than any other
students
3) the Wintergreen Gorge is
only used for hiking
4) big name groups would
come to Behrend without at
least 6 months notice, $15,000,
and a guaranteed audience of
1,5000
5) more than 100 students
ever attend any Behrend
event
6) the winter storms are
almost over
7) Behrend Campus is
considered as part of Penn
State by the Erie residents
8) the “Old Fashioned
Oatmeal” . cookies in the
cafeteria are anything other
than dry, compressed dog
Editor
point that was brought in favor of
visitation'was - that, the govern
ment says that students are
mature enough to pick a man to
be president but the ad
ministration doesn’t think
students are mature enough to
take a member of the opposite
sex into their dorm rooms. After
that everyone was voicing his
agreement and demanding ac
tion. I felt like I was in the locker
room of a football team that was
loosing the game 42-0 at half-time
and still thought they could'win
the game.
Not long after that another
student came up with the
proposal to follow the ad
ministration’s visitation ruling
which would show how mature
the students are while fighting for
24 hour visitation through the
proper channels. He had a good
proposal, but rotten timing; for
oy now everyone wanted action,
lot more talk. Then the S.G.A.
president suggested that, instead
of just rushing into the dorms and
violating the visitation rule, the
dorm residents go back to their
own floors and take a vote on
whether to violate the visitation
rule of Mr. Kochel’s or not; if
seventy-five percent of the floor
was not in favor of mass violation
of visitation they were to follow
Mr. Kochel’s decision. This could
be considered a compromise and
maybe someone should tell Mr.
Kochel about it so he will know
what one is. Everyone agreed
with Mr. Carr’s suggestion so he
quickly adjourned the meeting
and told all the students to go
back to their dorms. I’m not a
dorm resident so I left, but the
next day I heard what happened;
the administration threatened to
suspend any student who violated
the -visitation regulation. Well,
the students didn’t think
visitation was worth getting
suspended over so the ad
ministration won the second
round too, but they still haven’t
won the war. Visitation is a big
issue to a lot of students and as
long as they don’t loose their
heads and do something foolish
they will have a good chance of
getting what they want .-Dick
Leoker -
What Is
Truth?
9) anything of usefulness
can be found in the library
10) cities other Erie, Pitt
sburgh, and Philly have large
representation here
11) someone exists who has
made it from the RUB to the
Nick during Winter Term
without falling
12) it is possible to find a
parking space on campus
without driving around for
one-half hour or getting fined
for parking in the wrong
space
13) a big night in Erie
consists of a ride around the
dock and a stop at Dunkin’
Donuts
14) pre-registration gives
secure feelings
15) Erie Hall doesn’t have
the pungent smell of Right
Guard and NBA sneakers
16) freshmen orientation will
never be the same
17) anyone from Behrend
has ever received a PSU
scholarship
18) it is possible to avoid
seventh periods and Saturday
classes
19) Penn State has less rules
than the State Pen.
February 4,1971