PAGE FOUR
ditorial O. info
Have Chances Changed?
It's official now
The voluminous report by the governor's special
education committee advocating a wholesale overhaul
that should shake the very foundations of the education
system in this state has been presented to the governor
and-the legislature.
The obvious questions of everyone at University Park
now are just what will this mean for Penn State in the
long run? How much will it increase the chances of Penn
State getting its full appropriation request this year?
ft is a little easier to decipher answers to the first
question than the last.
The committee's recommendation concerning the role
of Penn State was a virtual endorsement of the long-range
plans the University drew up as long ago as 1957. This is
certainly a vote of confidence for the University and its
attempts to handle its share of the higher education load
in this state.
No other• university in the state can match the ad
vance of Penn State in educating the youth of ,Pennsyl-
vania
In addition to accepting and endorsing Penn State's
long-range plan to enroll 25,000 students on main campus
and 10,000 on commonwealth campuses and centers by
1970, the governor's committee published reams of evi
dence supporting the need for Penn State to expand.
Expansion of Penn State's facilities was listed as the
first of three definite requirements for meeting the
minimal higher education requirements of the next
decade.
Second was the expansion and transformation of the
present system of state colleges (formerly state teachers
colleges) into liberal arts schools,
Third was the establishment of a system of commun
ity colleges or junior colleges concentrating on the first
two years of collegiate level study.
Penn State has already started working on its ex
pansion, but to do so it needs $6 million more from the
state than it got last year.
Now, by elementary logic, it would seem incompre
hensible that the state would in one breath expect Penn
State to fulfill the expanded demand and in the next
refuse it the money needed for the job.
But the governor and the legislature have not yet
acknowledged this need for Penn State in the higher
education system of the state. Only the committee's report
has pointed it out.
The governor and legislature have only heard this
report but not yet acted upon it.
There wire reports that action may be delayed by
sending thevport to a joint committee for further study.
However, this idea has been nixed by officials.
Senator Jo Hays, a member of the governor's com
mittee. said last night that he definitely expects some
action arising from the report to be initiated during this
session of the Assembly in Harrisburg.
Hays said the report was received by legislators with
cautious enthusiasm because of the price tag (increased
taxation.)
But the support of the administration is also needed
for bills on education to get through this session. Gover
nor Lawrence's feelings may be revealed 'when he ad
dresses a joint session of the house and senate Monday.
If the governor and legislature accept the education
committee's report, they have no alternative but to grant
Penn State's full budget request as the first step in
carrying out the committee's recommendations.
A Student -Operated Newspaper
alt 4 Daily (11111 Irvin
Successor to The Free Lance, est 188?
Published Thesday through Saturday morning during the University yent tip
Daily Collegian Is a student.operated newspaper. Entered as ■econd•elaas matter
July 6. 1931 at the State College Pa. Poet Office under the art of March S. 11379.
Mail Fitibirriptinn Pricer MOO pet semester 15.00 per year.
Moiling Address Bog 261. State College,
JOHN BLACK
Editor
HEY, MANAGER „WERE AFRAID -
TO PUT OUR HANDS IN OUR
GLOVES BECAUSE THERE MI6HT BE
A SPIDER CR A Due IN THERE!
INMENIIO I4 _ , _ _
AA UGH
o fi
Ak.l;
Pi
CHESTER LUCIDO
Business Manager
OH, GOOD GRIEF: MO DO THESE
THINGS EVER GET STARTED?I
HERE...LET ME PUT MY HAND IN
FIR6T JUST TO 5HOtO StO THAT,.
A THANK QOO,
BU6! MANA6GR:
SPc(a
•
P;;;
F:41%,7 0 1,
. _ C.
‘l% "77
..570"0r
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA
Letters
Soph Objects
To System
Of Grading
TO THE EDITOR: Your final
average' for X-ology 200 was
69.4. You receive your tran
script with a 1 beside the
course. You came within 6/10
of a point from getting a 2 from
the course. Naturally, you com
plain. Do you have reason to?
You certainly do.
Presently we are on a 4 point
grading system. This means
whether your average for a
particular course is- a 60 or a
69, you receive a 1; 70 or 79 a 2;
and so on. This means student
X may earn a 69.4 and student
Y may earn a 60 and both will
receive the arbitrary 1 on their
transcript.
This system in no way can
benefit the student but can
only serve as a detriment to
show an accurate description of
his academic knowledge. It is
argued that this system evens
itself out. This is true in some
cases, but certainly not in all.
Many schools base their grad
ing on a 5 point system. That
is to say if you have a 79, you
receive a 2.9; a 75 a 2.5; a 70 a
2.0, It is certainly evident this
system shows a more accurate
description of knowledge.
In this wonderful age of IBM
cards and matriculation num.
bers and four term plans, I
doubt if there would be too
much difficulty in changing the
present obsolete and absurd
system the University is now
using.
Gazette
"Africa," 7:39 p.m., 124 Sparks
Chemistry Program, 7:50 p.m., HUB
assembly room
Chemisirg Program, 9 p.m., 218 HUB
Information Table, 7 p.m., HUB let
floor
Interbendia, 7:30 p.m., HUB ballroom
IVCF. 12 :45 p.m., 213 HUB
Lacrosse Team, 5 :15 p.m., HUB ball.
room
M.l. Colloquium, :12 p.m., 211 'Mineral
Science
Placement, 84 p.m., 202, 212 111JB
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A Contemporary Masterpiece
By STEPHEN B. BLUM
Contributing Writer
The college campus is a
place where cynicism fer
ments and often nihilism is
brewed. Contorted values
are spawned out of a maze
of relationships which reach
heights of superficiality and
depths of decadence.
The intellectual is cynical to
the point of being overbearing
on any subject that is even
partially social—from the cur
rent political scene to the val
ues, or lack thereof, of the fra
ternity system. The student
who is not "classed" as an in
tellectual is usually referred to
(by the intellectuals) as a
"bore" who is going to lead
this country to ruin.
For many students the uni
versity environment, far from
being a decent collection of
books, is an island of books.
Never have so many people
read scantily so much in so
little time as they do for
courses in literature, humani
ties, and others which require
10 or so works to be read in a
16 week period. Quantity rather
than thoroughness is often the
goal that the student sees. This
is so because even the most
slow-witted of students has
found out there are many sub
stitutes for qualify in order to
accomplish The Goal: "getting
through" the course.
Because of illose existing ten-
—Richard Leadea '63
Inter
Problem Behind
Budget Crisis
By MAX 'HARRELSON
Chief AP United Nations Correspondent
Stripped of diplomatic trappings, the current UN
financial crisis boils down to a single basic problem:
Some member nations won't pay their assessments on
costly undertakings such as those in the Middle East
and the Congo.
So far the General Assembly has concentrated on
stopgap measures to meet day
to-day bills. It has not come to
grips with the broad question
of how to collect from reluc
tant members. As a result, the
organization continues year
after year to spend more
money than it collects. It has
been getting along by some
fancy juggling the judicious
transfer of money from one
fund to another or by use of
reserve funds
Since 1956 the United Na
tions has been running a defi
cit of $4 million to $5 million a
year on . the UN Emergency
Force in the Middle East. This
is caused by the refusal of the
Soviet bloc, the Arab countries
and some others to pay assess
ments.
On this operation alone, the
deficit has mounted to more
than $2l million not counting
this year's expected arrears.
A major crisis came with the
UN entry into the Congo last
July. To date, the United Na
tions has collected less than
half the $4B million which
members were assessed for
1960. Of the 99 countries only
six have paid anything at all.
The Congo costs are contin
uing at about $lO million a
month. The assembly likely
will approve a pending pro
posal for assessments to raise
the 1961 budget of $l2O mil
lion. but the prospects for col
lecting all that money is dim.
The Soviet bloc and France
already have ruled out any
Lefters
Serenade Protest
TO THE EDITOR: Since when
do coeds need protection
against a beautiful serenade?
Sunday night a serenade for a
girl in Atherton Hall was inter
rupted by two campus patrol
men efficiently doing their
dencies it is therefore not at
all surprising that most stu
dents do not get a chance—
that is make the time—to do
any "outside" reading that is
not required. This sort of per
son is missing something.
It seems the "best-seller"
lists in the New York Times
and elsewhere usually exem
plify the sad fact that Ameri
cans don't like to think when
they read. They like to be put
into a little bubble and then
entertained, carried far away
from the daily worries .the
world of political and economic
contingencies urges upon us.
Ordinarily, I think the best
seller list is merely a good
example of the best junk in
America.
But there are several books
on the current lists that do not
show' the trend toward illusion
seeking.
Andre Schwartz-Bert's novel,
"The Last of the Just," is now
at the top of the list, and I
think that it belongs there.
This story is what Leon Uris's
"Exodus" could have been had
the latter been well written,
rather than just a compassion
ate documentary.
"The Last of the Just" deals
with much of the same ma
terial as did "Exodus"—it
traces a fictional family in Eu
rope and discusses this Jewish
family in the light of thg con
tinual political, religious, and
economic sanctions that have
been placed upon it, especially
dealing with the Nazis "final
FRIDAY, APRIL 7. 1961
payments whatsoever. Other
countries are expected to fol.
low their lead.
UN officials hope that a sub
stantial part of the deficit will
be liquidated by voluntary
contributions, but member
countries have shown no great
enthusiasm for such contribu
tions.
The United States is the only
country which volunteered a
cash contribution i 1960 Con
go costs, although some others,
including the Soviet Union,
wrote off the cost of services
such as the airlifting of troops.
Up to now, the United States
is the only one which has of
fered a voluntary contribution
toward 1961 costs.
Now and then a delegate
raises the possibility of invok
ing penalties against•
d.lin
quent members. But there is
virtually no chance of action
at this time.
The only penalty provided in
the UN Charter is the denial
of voting privileges under cer
tain circumstances. IMportant
'coal issues are :_.•.olved in
special assessments like these.
Apart from this, many coun
tries would have serious res
ervations about taking harsh
action • against any of the big
powers.
The United Nations seems
able to avert bankruptcy for a
while but eventually it will
have to find a way to bail it
self out.
duty by keeping gentlemen out
of the Atherton courtyard,
Everything was in order both
in the dorm and in the fra
ternity group, so I ask: Where
do they want serenaders to
stand . . . on the HUB lawn?
—Kay Mills, '63
solution," genocide.
This novel, winner of France's
highest literary award in 1960,
is written with a magnificent
flowing prose, a prose that has
the character perception that
we find in Dostoyevsky and the
irony that is present in Camas
works.
The tracing of the Levy fam
ily from 1185 AD
. to the Nazi
extermination camps over 750
years later is interwoven with
the Talmudic legend of the 36
Just Men who are born into
the world to bear all of the
suffering of the masses. This
book is one of the most beau
tifully horrid tales that I have
seen to come out of the cur
rent literary pre-occupation
with the Jewish character of
the 1930'5.
This is a book that will not
chase away nihilisms. It is not
a book, like "Exodus,' that
might be called Zionist propa
ganda by some: "The Last of
the Just" transcends any liter
ary name-calling. It is a con
temporary masterpiece, plain
and simple, powerful and beau
tiful, ironic and poetic.
If the intellectuals would
dain to read a best-seller and
the "ordinary people" would
make the time to read a book
that is not required for any
course, a great many people
could find a literary work of art
and widen our horridly col
legiate perspective. "The Last
of the Just" is to be felt and
experienced for what it is:. a
fine contemporary novel.