PAGE FOUR ditorial 0 Platforms Analyzed Co '.gran is examining and commenting on the major planks of Campus party, of University party and of Duane . Alexander, independent candidate for student govern ment president •We, the candidates of Campus Party believe that the students of this University should have a stronger voice in determining what policies are right or wrong for this University. We base this belief upon the fact that since this University is state-supported, we as citizens are entitled to express our views and if not given proper consider ation by the administration, then we have the duty to appeal to a higher authority. We believe that the student government is not a concession granted to the students, but a right of any group with common interests to band together to carry out our views. The idea of strengthening student government is a good one. However, the methods of achieving this goal are nebulous, and we aren't sure just what is meant by an appeal to a "higher authority." The assertion that student government is an -inherent right of the students is more or less true because of the moral attitude of our society toward the democratic process. • However, the power of such a student government organization depends upon the support of the student body as a whole as well as upon the student officers. •Campus Pariy candidates, if elected, pledge the following: 1. A referendum will be held during the winter term in which you will be given the opportunity to express your feelings on the performances of the officers of stud dent government and student government itself. 2. If in your opinion either the officers of student government, or the student government itself is unsatis factory, we pledge to resign. This plank reminds us of a come-on sale, whereby buyers are offered something for nothing in order to attract them into the store. Under the non-parliamentary form of democracy, such as prevails in this country, a candidate is expected to run for an office that has a specified term, We can not understand why any political party would propose a referendum of this sort, since political enemies would probably be able to combine forces to defeat the incumbent administration in a referendum, even though any given faction might be unable to win the election that followed this referendum. However, the presence of such a plank might indicate a certain amount of sincerity even if impractical. •To satisfy the needs of the students for big name entertainment, we pledge student government to sponsor and underwrite popular entertainment attractions. The proceeds of such shows, dances and concerts will be used to establish a scholarship fund. This plank is a commendable one and we are glad to see political parties backing the dual needs of popular entertainment and scholarship funds. •We believe the four per cent sales fax on textbooks is an unfair burden on students and their families. We pledge to join with universities to fight for the repeal vi this tax. We strongly favor this fight to eliminate the tax on textbooks. An SGA committee to organize this fight on this campus and coordinate it with other campuses should be formed as soon as possible. oWe pledge ourselves to reorganize student govern ment so that it will (I) become a true governing body and not just an advisory group, (2) have represettatives directly responsible to a defined constituency (3) act to promote your interests. To insure that representatives will be responsible they will have a defined constituency from their living area. You will also be represented by a class president who will sit on the asembly and each class will be guaranteed at least two other seats on the assembly. We agree with this basic system of representation, but we fail to see the need for direct class representation. In order to maintain a student government that best rep resents the student view, it is necessary that each repre sentative be responsible to a definite constituency. Under the semester system the class has been a loose ly organized group, and we feel that under the term sys term this gap between representative and constituent will become even wider. •In regard to the voluntary scholarship ROTC pro gram proposed to Congress and the Defense Department by the Air Force, which would make ROTC completely voluntary by September 1963 I propose that: 1. SGA should organize a massive letter campaign to Congress in support of the bill. 2. SGA should attempt to unify all colleges which have this problem and enlist their support for this bill. 3. If elected, I will go to Washington as your repre- CAMPUS PARTY DUANE ALEXANDER THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA sentative to speak to our Congressmen and secure their support for the bill. We agree with the basic idea of eliminating com pulsory ROTC; however, we question the effectiveness of the proposed letter campaign. The "back the budget" letter campaign did not gener ate a great deal of enthusiasm and that was a pocket book issue-. Therefore, we find it hard to believe that this method of attacking the ROTC problem would prove successful. A method of getting support from other colleges in this matter is worthy of further consideration. elf elected, I will take SGA's parking proposals di rectly to President Walker for action, and attempt to once again allow student use of our HUB lot. Student parking in a student lot is something we have fought for along with SGA since September. We hope Alexander is not using Walker's name as a promised panacea. aTo help realize the great potential of Stone Valley, SGA should ask that the $27,100 in old Class Gift money that cannot be used be redesignated to build a 600-foot beach at Stone Valley, and conduct the campaign to do so. Such a redistribution of potential funds for the bene fit of the University and the county would certainly be both sensible and worthwhile. We wonder, however, if it is feasible, • SGA should continue its support of the Peace Corps as one of the best means to bring lasting peace to the world. We see a healthy sign of extending the realm of stu dent government's comment and actions in this plank. eSGA should attempt to provide more student-fac ulty contact. We feel that student-faculty contacts should be stimulated, but we question how such contacts could be arranged in a University of this size. •Compensations for SGA officers are too high and should be reduced so that the salary does not become a reason for seeking office. We do not agree that SGA officers are getting too much money for the amount of time they-devote to their jobs If persons were concerned about making money, we doubt if they would run for SGA: *The Leadership Training course should be expanded and publicized to provide training for prospective as semblymen. We heartily endorse this proposal. All students who seek office should be encouraged to take this course. SGA has been constantly hampered in the past by assemblymen who weren't familiar with parliamentary procedure. •Cabinet meetings should be held regularly on a for mal scale. We endorse this proposal, because we feel that cabi net has been far too informal in the past. • The University Party feels that SGA should be geared to the opinions and the wishes of the students. While we fully realize the necessity for legislating in the area of government structure, we also believe that most of SGA's time and effort should be spent on legislation designed to serve the student body directly—this service should be the primary function of the SGA. We feel that the primary function of student govern merit is to organize and lead the student body as well as reflect their desires. If this is what is meant by this state ment, we agree with it. e The SGA should sponsor popular entertainment for the students . . . 1. Since the Penn State student body is such a large audience for popular entertainers, Penn State should have several outstanding programs throughout _the year. 2. The proceeds from these SGA-sponsored events should provide a revolving student loan fund. 3. Through the use of this loan fund, the financial burden on many students would be relieved. The plank is essentially the same one proposed by Campus party and we favor it. •A bureau of Student Opinion should be set up as an advisory body to the SGA. The purpose of this bureau would be to determine student opinion on various issues before the SGA and to bring the ideas of the student body before its legislative group. With the services of this advisory body the members of the SGA would be able to devote more time to actual legislation. We are strongly opposed to this proposal since it would add complexity to SGA's structure without accom plishing anything constructive. We don't believe that student opinion is so complex that a special bureau need be established to evaluate it. Furthermore, we believe that the basic duty of elected representatives is to determine the opinions of their con stituents, •In order to give Student Government a solid foun dation for dynamic action we propose to: 1. Reorganize and consolidate the committee system. 2. Expand the scope of the Leadership Training Course. We favor both of these proposals as necessary in gredients for a strong SGA. A committee system is the nucleus of any legislative body and a tightly-knit system here would serve as a firm foundation for a strong SGA. UNIVERSITY PARTY FRIDAY. APRIL 28. 1961 Letters Group Will Protest CD. Practice TO THE EDITOIti On Friday, April 28, from 4 to 4:10 p.m., there will be a nationwide civil defense drill. Pedestrians and people in motor vehicles will be ordered to clear the streets of State College and take cover. This alert is supposed to pre pare the civilian population for survival in the case of a nu clear attack. In the words of Governor Meyner of New Jer sey, this is "a cruel deception on the American people." A nuclear attack would reap destruction everywhere, if not by explosion, intense heat and fire, then by nuclear fallout, which would contaminate the atmosphere for years. Oxygen in a bomb shelter full of people cannot last too long (in case the shelter isn't blown to bits), so the under ground inhabitants would have to come up for contaminated air. The effects of fallout on life are horrible to contem plate. The case against C.D. also includes its hysterical emotion al impact. It teaches people to expect war and to fear it in stead of encouraging them to work for peace. A group of students plan to protest against the C.D. drill this Friday, by refusing to take cover when the sirens blast. We will station ourselves at the intersection of College Ave. and S. Alien St. on the South east corner. We are asking any and all to join us in protest-- to show that our only defense is peace! '--Arlene Shupak, '62 —Sam Rotenberg, '64 WDFM Talks Discussed TO THE EDITOR: Monday evening I had the provocative experience of hearing Dennis Foianini, Duane Alexander and Robert Harrison debate over WDFM. Mr. Harrison should have stayed at home rather than dis cuss his and his fraternity brothers' control of the BX. Mr. Foianini of Campus par ty was the only one who dem onstrated that he had a grasp of student thought and prob lems. Mr. Alexander's attempts to justify his secret reorganiza tion committee meetings by saying the U.S. Constitution was written in secret over looked the tact that the present SGA constitution states that ALL MEETINGS OF SGA WILL BE OPEN. Mr. Alexander, as a constitu tionalist, has violated the very constitution by which he was given the authority to chair a committee. How are we to trust him if he is elected? If he cannot fol low constitutional procedure as a committee chairman, will he follow the constitution as an SGA president? His actions do not indicate that he is capable of doing so. I, therefore, urge his defeat in the election. —Audrey Fendrich, '64 Gazette TODAY Civil Defense, 8 a.m. to 12 midnight. HUB card room In te rlandia. 7 :30 p.m., HUB ballroom Intel-varsity Christian Fellowahlp, 7 :30 p.m., 111 lloucke 1.V.C.F., 12 :45 p.m., 218 BUB Mineral Induntries Colloquium, 4 :15 p.m., M.i. auditorium New Cwens, 6 :30 p.m., 212123 RUB Orientation. 11 a.m., 210 HUB Reading Festiva!, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., As- Hembly hall "The Three Slaters," 9 p.m., Center Stage WDFM Schedule FRIDAY 3 :25 Financial Tidbits 3:30 Stock Market Reporta 4:00 Critic's Choice 5:00 Music at Five 6 :00 Studio X 6:66 Weatherscope 7:00 Marquee Memories 8:00 Starlight Review 9:00 Light Classical Jukebox 9:46 News, Weather. Sports 10:00 Ballet Theatre 12:00 Midnight Mood 1 :00 Sign Ott
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