tN — ST ISS December 10, 1999 1 - LION’S EYE - Page 5 MADNESS Reflecting The Past And Claiming The Future By Bob Dugan Lion’s Eye Staff Writer Two thousand years are drawing to a close in less than one month. The mil- lennium is upon us, bringing reflections on the past. The first issue of Penn State Delaware County’s student newspaper began over three decades ago. After students chose The Lion’s Eye over The Campus Informer, the first official Lion’s Eye was published sometime in December of 1967. The newspaper staff kicked off the first issue with a little note for all to read: For the first time in the history of the Delaware County Campus, after the futile attempts of a minority of the " student body, we present you with THE LION’S EYE, an illegal, uncon- stitutional newspaper. Unaccustomed as we are to publishing a newspaper, we tried. We eventually hope to have a more professional copy. We wish to thank all members of the faculty, administrators, student body and especially Mr. Smyser, our advisor, for their help. Here it is, we hope you like it and we leave ourselves open for any responsible comment. Some of the interesting tidbits in the eight page paper include a story on the Student Lounge’s bulletin board. Apparently Vince Simone and Harry Triolo started some controversy when they put up the following poem: “A hippie is a big dirtball he doesn’t take a bath at all... “If you punch a hippie, he will fall ‘cause he has no guts at all “Hit a hippie and make him dippy.” Mr. Michael Tinkler, a math teacher, was asked why he thought the conflict in Vietnam was immoral. He replied with, “Anyone asking that question is a moral pervert.” He went on in the article to strongly support the idea to withdraw U.S. troops. The staff also interviewed faculty member Mr. Gehringer about marijuana. He stated that “even though marijuana is not the answer to escaping reality, [many people use it for that very purpose].” 118 students and 12 teachers were polled with this question: Do you agree that our motivations in Vietnam are proper and moral? 61% of the students and 42% of the staff said “yes”. The Penn State Nittany Lions football team was 6-2 with a fresh, 13-8 win over the previously unbeaten and third ranked in the nation North Carolina State. After the season the Lions would face the Philadelphia Eagles. : These final thoughts from the first issue come from John Paul Gotta’s A Comment. This is the reason we have come here. To succeed. Whether it be in Liberal Arts or Business or Engineering, the goal is still the same; success. Yet in our joining to success we find a unique opportunity. We are the beginning. What happens at this campus can be originated by us. We can set the tradition of this campus today and what follows will be traced back to this windowless, lab-less, little campus under a roller skating rink. But it’s ours! When the future campus is finished it will carry all we have initiated. [In 1967, PSU Delco was located underneath a roller skating rink in Chester]. We have a job of builders as well as learners. Builders of tradition and learners for the betterment of society. And with a look back, the current staff of The Lion’s Eye embraces the future. Here’s to 33 great years of journalism, and many more to come. Wanted: An End To Racism And Intolerance By Regis Fields Lion’s Eye Staff Writer Intolerance exists around us, and recently Penn State saw that explicitly as hate e-mail. As we approach the millennium, most of us are worrying about the quality of life in the next thousand years. This nation, and this world, have come a long way in our levels of thinking and preparedness, but it seems no one told that to those individuals who still see other races as enemies. Intolerance has endured time. Intolerance is right here with us. The mail sender or senders have yet to be identified, but it does not really matter because when there are like minds, intolerance can spread. It is hard to understand why someone can hate you without meeting you. But it happens. This is one of the reasons that Delco hosts diversification programs and has cultural emphasis months. Education is the best weapon we have against a problem that will not go away. In a county where, according to a 1995 census, Anglo-Americans make up roughly 86% of the population, African- Americans about 11%, and 2% as the politically incorrect ‘other’, it is not hard to believe that intolerance might be a problem. That is not to say that racism only works as Anglo versus others, but with that sort of population make up one can see how a problem like this may exist. Delco is hardly the only, or first, to endure a racial problem. Roughly two years ago, Asian students at Temple University saw the uglier side of human nature when hate e-mail threatened their lives. African-American students as well began to experience the same in the following months. Tyrone Thorogood, an African-American Temple business student did first hand. “1 don’t know how they got my profile or anything, but in my e-mail there was a message describing how blacks were a lesser species of man. It bothered me because I did not see how they could have gotten to me and done that,” said Thorogood. “ It was right after I was hearing about it happening to other students of color and it kind of worried me about what kind of school I was Other schools in the area, like Drexel and Penn, have also had this problem, Penn even more so with a recent rise over the past couple of years in anti- Semitic activity according to a campus newsletter published in March. There seem to be no boundaries for hate mail. Ultimately tolerance lies with. the individual, and that is where action must start. “I don’t see it (being a minority) as a problem. There are a lot of different groups of people here at this campus, and I think those different groups help me to understand people altogether,” said Lillien Woo an Asian-American Pre- Med. student at Delco. For Woo, diversity offers an opportunity to learn more about other people, despite the intimidating number of Anglo-American students as compared to the rest. Chrissy Holker an Anglo-American communication major, shared some of her insight on our campus’ diversification. : “ When I came to this campus I didn’t really think about the cultural make-up of it, but I do understand that there are those who might see that as a reason why or why not to come here. I know I don’t treat anyone differently than I would want someone to treat me, so as far as hating another race goes, that does not even remotely apply to me.” Dionne Argyle, an African-American Pre-Med. major shared the view of her colleague. “ I really don’t see it (being a minority) as intimidating at all, when I came to this campus I saw that and took it as itis.” At Delco students may not find too many people who ascribe to racist views; then again maybe some do and don’t realize it. But as the year 2000 approaches, some questions need to be discussed because for some strange reason race issues may lie dormant, but never seem to die. What Will You Be Doing On January 1, 2000? Matthew Jones (Business): “Living it up in a Manhattan hotel room with my friends — hopefully not sober.” Cherjon Bailey (Speech Communica- tions): “If the lights stay out, | begin eating my Y2K stash.” By Cherjon Bailey Renee Blisard (DUS): “I'll wake up and have proven to all my friends that the world didn’t end.” Jamilla Geter (English): “Ill be sitting at my computer talking to my friends — that is if the lights don’t go out!!”
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers