Page 4 — LION'S EYE — : April, 1991 op nd REVIEW Editorial: Is Everyone’s Opinion Worth Listening To? “Why did the Lion's Eye print that ridiculous letter?” someone asked me shortly after the last issue came out. “The staff should be more selective about what they print.” For a few moments I found myself agreeing with the criticism. Maybe the Lion’s Eye should establish specific standards of content and style, not only for its articles, but also for the Letters to the Editor. After all, the Opinion Pages shouldn’t become open territory for bickering, negative criticism, and on-going arguments. None of that is very entertaining or uplifting to the newspaper’s readers. And, taken together, it certainly doesn’t project a very positive image of our campus. But then I stopped myself, startled to hear what I was actually saying: the Lion’s Eye should select what letters, or what parts of letters, are printed? Wait a minute. Then you, the reader, would only hear what the staff thought was worth hearing. You'd be getting our view of the campus, or what we thought the campus should be. Wouldn't that be unfair to you, as well as completely contrary to what a college community is supposed to be all about: the free exchange of ideas? Should the purpose of the campus paper be to entertain and uplift its readers, or should its purpose be to provide a forum for all the voices on the campus — even if some of those voices aren’t very entertaining or uplifting? Actually, some of those voices are angry, hurt, or frustrated. Some are rude, insulting, or accusatory. Some are misinformed or ignorant. Some make us uncomfortable. Some annoy us. Some anger us. But those are the very voices which we need most to hear. Going to college is not about staying in your own cozy little world. It’s about opening up and listening to the voices of other people with other experiences and other viewpoints. You don’t have to agree with those voices or even like what they say. And you can answer back with your own voice. But you have to be willing to listen. Once we stop listening to all the voices, once we select which voices are the most worthy or the most articulate or the most representative, we pass a death sentence on the free exchange of ideas and, even worse, we doom ourselves to never really knowing who we are as a campus community. Without a campus commitment to listening to all the voices here, no matter how polished or how foolish, there’s no need for a campus newspaper. B.E.D THE LION’S EYE Vol. XXII, No. 8 The Pennsylvania State University Delaware County Campus April, 1, 1991 EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Jennifer Darr NEWS EDITOR Angela Deal OPINION/REVIEW EDITOR Vi Ong PRODUCTION EDITOR David Rhoades STAFF REPORTERS Pat McAdams David Clements, Jr. Frances Callahan Kevin Rockwell Robert Cunningham Chuck Spector Genice S. Cook Jill Rhodes PHOTOGRAPHERS Diana Miceri Patrick Kim David Rhoades ART WORK Robert Cunningham Angela Deal Vi Ong ADVISORS Barbara Daniel John Terrell The LION’S EYE is published Monthly during the academic year by the students of the Delaware County Campus. : Submissions are welcome from all students, faculty and staff. Material must be typed, double spaced, and submitted in the LION'S EYE ] ; mailbox located in room 115 main building. Letters, articles and cartoons represent only the views of their authors. ' Advertisements do not necessarily reflect editorial opinion. THE LION’S EYE regrets it cannot guarantee the return of any material submitted. All submissions are subject to editing. Hr ed mm od a Don’t bik, Dat} Listen, Don’? oe eo ® 0 p Dont Learn! THE FRONT DESK by Ed Tomezsko Campus Executive Officer Pron— Only a few weeks left and another school year passes into history. At the beginning of the year, I noted that you would be surprised at how fast the year would go by. In some cases, it slipped by; in other cases, the year flew by. Here are some odds and ends seen while riding my bike to nowhere. It is an amazing year by any standard of measure. I put the sentence in the present tense - IS - because this year will live for a long time. The war started and ended. Penn Staters served well and more Penn Staters cared even better. For our campus, it has been a super good year. We have had one of the largest dean’s lists ever. I know that the faculty haven't become easier graders this year. The faculty are routinely good teachers. So, to have a larger dean’s list must be the result of you students being better at your job of learning. Congratulations! The funding base for higher education in the Commonwealth has gotten smaller again. Tuition will probably increase for Penn State again in the coming year; more than twenty years in a row is a lot of years to raise tuition. It is not too early to think about this. Let your Senators and Representatives know what YOU think should be the State’s funding priority. There are a lot of groups arguing their case before the legislators. Argue your case. They will listen if YOU will talk. A friend of ours had their lucky hair pulled out a few days ago. Is it the same as appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated - goodbye career???? Let me tell you something about the private financial support for this campus. Think about your social lives. Alot depends on what you think when you first meet the person - what does he/she look like, what does he/ she sound like, what does he/she behave like? There is a nice sequence involved in getting to know someone. The same things happen for this campus. How the campus presents itself is the best first impression we can make. Future contributors and current contributors like to visit this campus because of you the students and because of you the faculty. These people make the decision to give money to support us based first, on what they see here, second, what they hear, third, how we behave. They are impressed with what you do and how you do it. Professor Priscilla Clement received the Lindback Teaching Award - this is a University honor for a great teacher! It’s hard to be humble. About 150 students are eligible for campus scholarships. We have about 20 scholarship awards to give out. Not a particularly good ratio for the supply and demand. However, given that we had one scholarship eight years ago, this campus has drawn significant support from alumni and friends. We are grateful. When you see someone on campus, thank them because they are probably supporting us. One out of eight college graduates in Pennsylvania is a Penn State graduate. Spring week will be here soon. It will be a good chance to have some fun. I understand that I have volunteered to sit on the “dunking seat.” Trust me, when you find me sitting there, I will not move when you throw the ball to dunk me. Be prepared to spend money to get me wet. The best way to gain support is to give support. The year is already winding down for some of us. It has been a good year for the campus in every way. We will be having several celebrations on and off campus to enjoy the accomplishments of our faculty, staff, and students. We'll see you there. For the glory of old State . . .
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers