PAGE FOUR Editorial Opinion Facing the Problem The multiplicity of factions and situations which precipitated the present crisis in the Congo can be analyzed and discussed ad nauseam. However, this analysis and shifting of blame will do little to help the current situa tion: Belgium's suppression of or at least lack of educational aid to her underdeveloped possessions might be part of the cause of the present crisis. Similarly the United Nations might he blamed for not taking a stronger stand and help ing this immature country to develop; but we cannot erase the past and must face the future. The Congo crisis may serve the Soviet Union in two ways neither of which is exactly going to further the interest of the United States. By denouncing UN Secretary-General Dag Hammar skjold, the Soviets hope either to replace the definitely pro-West Hammarskjold or establish a three-man secretar iat in which East, West and neutralist blocks would be represented. But the Soviet Union's proposal to fire Hammarskjold probably will not succeed and he will complete the re maining two years of his five-year term, though probably stripped of his effectiveness. The second way in which the crisis may serve the Soviets is to enable them to establish a puppet commu nistic regime in the Congo . . Working through pro-Com munist Antoine Gizenga, the Soviet Union may get -con trol of the. Congo and thus pass over the Mid-East barriers to establish Moscow-directed communism in a major sec tion of Africa. This would give Russia a kind of jumping off place from which to spread its communism throughout Africa. The Soviet Union announced its support of the Gizenga regime in the Oriental Province of the Congo calling it the official government. Then, a determined President Ken nedy literally chose sides in a blunt statement backing the Kasavubu regime. The battle line has been drawn and another Korean style "police action" may be necessary. We certainly hope that if challenged, President Kennedy will not back down. We are not sure the United States can afford the price it may have to pay for going "soft." Unfortunately, there is no guaranteed support from the United Nations because its composition has changed drastically from the early fifties. The more recently ad mitted Afro-Asian nations will not look favorably upon interference in what is technically civil strife because they wish to preserve the right of self-determination. Hence the preservation of the United Nations as a force in world affairs is also at stake. If the United Nations cannot solve the Congo problem. itself, it will probably be powerless In future situations. The United States must consider not only its own interest -in preventing the spread of Moscow-directed communism but also the preservation of the right of self determination for newly independent countries. A Student-Operated Newspaper 0117 Elaitg Trillrgiatt Successor to The Free Lance, est. 1887 Published Tuesday through Saturday morning during the University year. The Daily Collegian is a student-operated newspaper. Entered as second-class matter July 1. 1934 at the State College, Pa, Post Offka under the act of March 8, 1859. Mall Subscription Price; 93.09 per semester $5.00 per year. • Melling. Address Boa 261, State College, Pa. JOHN BLACK Editor 446EP'' ` 4 1, / vEgfit 4 4El kopirldi CHESTER LUCIDO Business Manage: GOOD GRIEF! THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA Letters Coeds Give Their Views On Housing TO THE EDITOR: Each sor ority on this campus has a suite for which they pay around $l2OO a year. In addi tion to this the Department of Housing has kindly consented to allow the girls a set of rooms on one floor for which they pay room and board charges (every girl on the cam pus can submit a room pref erence and Housing tries to fulfill the requests). But problems have arisen when sorority girls return from student teaching and cannot live with a chosen roommate. In several of the sorority groups,, the girls have rearranged themselves in the most convenient manner while retaining full responsibility for the room to which they were assigned, retaining the same mailing address and sign ing out in the proper place. Now one group has been threatened with being dis persed all over campus and several other groups have been given approximately one week to rearrange themselves again. The Department of Housing choose's to ignore the fact that girls have different study 'and sleeping habits which govern the choice of roommate and has imposed hardships on a number of girls by ignoring their requests. The reasons given by the Department of Housing for in sisting upon its own arrange ment are the amount of paper work involved and the fact that advisors and deans must often contact a student and should have the correct ad dress. We have not asked the Housing Department to do any paper work and are will ing to maintain full responsi bility for the room to which we were assigned. We also wonder how much paper work i 3 going to he involved in dis persing a group of 50 girls all over the campus. In the light of this threat, the argument about paper work seems and is quite silly . In so far as the argument on the need to be contacted is concerned, every girl has re tained the same mailing ad. dress (the method by which most departments contact their students is mail) and can be contacted at the same phone number (in most cases they have moved only a few doors down the hall). We are not imposing on the Department of Housing by asking for any privileges or new arrangements but we are asking them to please let us alone. —Sue Guiney '62, Mary Ann Weaver '62, Carolyn Die trich '6l, Helen Oakes '62, Meyer '6l, Jan Abele '62 (Editor's Note: See story on page one.) Interpreting Congo. Stand Draws Battle Line President Kennedy's en dorsement of Congo President Joseph Kasavubu's forces has drawn the battle line in the Congo. It offers a direct test of So viet Premier Khurshchev's Jan. 6 commitment to support Com munist civil war in emerging countries. The Soviet Union has de scribed the pro-Communist An toine Gizenga group, the po litical heirs of slain ex-Pre mier Patrice Lumumba, as the only le gitimate gov ernment in the Congo, which the Reds have a "sacred duty" to aid. The President was calm, but his words were direct and ser- 4 .5 - 4-ereez. a -II Johanna Zalar '6l, Marie By S. M. ROBERTS ROBERTti Snowed Elements of Forecasting Being a weather forecaster, while probably the most unre warding occupation in the world, is certainly one of the most fascinating. The uncertainty and variations associated with the weather are unparalleled. However, there are many aspects of the science of weath er forecasting that are un known and perhaps un appreciated by the lay man Contrary to popular opinion, th e weather fore cast is the product of the scientific MYERS method in its purest form. Each prediction involves the appli cation of many complicated laws of physics and chemistry and relies on many thousands of ever-changing factors. The inaccuracies of some forecasts, which are actually much less frequent and pro nounced than the public be lieves, are due to the scale in which forecasters deal. The atmosphere is a highly complex mixture of gases that has a lateral extent of several thousands of miles and a height of many hundreds of miles. Yet the public demands detailed forecast in terms of a few miles. Many persons believe that the movements of air currents and the various weather sys tems are difficult to diagnose and forecast with great ac- Letters Housing Policies Queried TO THE EDITOR: I am a little confused concerning the role of the Department of Housing in the life of the Penn State coed. We are not to maintain friendly relationships with the cleaning women and" house men in our dormitories. Why not? When we are in constant contact with these people, I cannot and refuse to under stand why we should limit our relationship with them to a passing "Hello." Some of the finest people I have had the opportunity of meeting have been employed by the Department of Hous ing. Until last week there was a ratio of approximately one hundred girls per iron in our dormitory. Since then, one iron has had to serve the needs of the entire dorm. Gazette TODAY Angel Flight, 6:25 p.m., Ewing Lounge Interrarsity Christian Fellowship, 7:30 111 lloueke Wesley Foundation Sweetheart Dante, 9:00 tom - 12:30 a.m. ious as he warned the Soviet Union, without naming her, against unilateral action. The United States would react against that, he said, as a Unit ed Nations member. Kennedy was not trying to bring the issue to a head. He was trying to keep the Soviets from bringing it to a head. He was about as blunt as diplo matic language will permit. He was no less blunt in re minding the smaller nations where their true interests lie —in the United Nations. But the effect was an attempt to line up the United Nations on the side of Kasavubu, which borders closely on interven tion and may not be well ac cepted either in the United Na tions or in the Congo. It smacks of choosing up sides, as the Soviet Union al ready had done, in a situation where one of the paramount issues, among the African and Asian countries, is self-deter- FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 17. 1961 by Joel myers curacy. This is not the case. These air streams and weath er systems can be predicted with great accuracy. The dif ficulty lies in translating the broad picture into a detailed local one. The changeability of the weather, the complex nature of the atmosphere and the topography, which plays a cru cial role in all weather condi tions, makes perfect weather forecasts for your backyard an impossibility. However, the 90 per cent accuracy that fore casters claim is practical enough for most purposes. Remember, the general pub lic is not the only user of fore casts. They are, as a matter of fact, one of the smaller con sumers. Airplane pilots, construction companies, fruit growers and other out-of-door activities as well as chain firms, such as bakeries, require detailed weather forecasts, and experi ence has shown that tremen dous amounts of money can be saved by following the advice of these forecasts. Those persons who are skep tical of the weatherman's ac curacy might compare the ac curacy of scientists in other fields, Medicine, for example, can claim a much lower per centage of accurate diagnosis. I object to having my room examined for electrical appli ances while I am away on va cation. Our rooms are not do nated to us. When I lock my door and leave the dormitory, I would. like to feel that my possessions are undisturbed until my re turn. The Department of Hous ing, I feel, has ample oppor tunity to check my room in my presence. I realize the difficulties the department faces. We have certain obligations to them and the majority of us do our best to meet these obligations. I only wish that the officials of this department would re alize that we are not uncivi lized barbarians. We are in college for an education; not a course in housekeeping. —Barbara Frengel, 13 HOSPITAL dingo Andrade, Robert Bisch, Mark DuMars, Frank Fee, Andrew Hailstone, Carolyn Houston, Alfred Kettenring, Robert KM, George Koeck, Stephen Kotch, Linda Levy, Fred Marcus. Nancy Noigot, Howard Penkower. John Reber, Kenneth Reynolds, Ronald Simmons, Frederic Tieti, Margaret Tighe, Dela Troutman. urination. This can be self defeating. The point May have been reached where it is now neces sary in order to block the Com munist drive in Africa. But it injects an issue which has al ways proved troublesome to the United States, as witness Latin America. For one, the United States and the 'Soviet Union both are now working from the premise that one or _another political group can eventually establish a central government in the Congo. Expert observers have re peatedly expressed doubt that this will be possible in the fore seeable future. An uneasy truce between the factions, and the tribes into which the factions are divided, constantly enforced by the United Nations during a long period of political tute lage, is about the best that can be hoped for.
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