The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, October 11, 1961, Image 4

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    PAGE FOUR
Editorial Opinion
The Question of Justice
The present disciplinary structure at Penn State is a
complex mixture composed of many organizations, the
judicial boundaries of which are ill-defined.
This decentralized disciplinary set-up has caused con
siderable confusion because there is no central body to
which all disciplinary agencies are ultimately responsible.
There are seven "dispensing" agencies: the Adminis
trative Committee on Student Affairs, the Senate Com
mittee on Student Affairs, subcommittee on discipline,
the Dean of Men's office, the Dean of Women's office, the
Association of Women Students judicial, the Men's Resi
dence Council judicial and the SGA Supreme Court.
Not all of these agencies, however, are recognized by
the student body as regulatory in nature. The SGA Su
preme Court, for example, has in the past only acted when
the constitutionality of an SGA issue has been contested.
In addition, not all the functions of all these groups
overlap. That men should sit on men's tribunals, and
women on women's cannot be contested.
However, too often the regulations set up by and
interpretations fostered within some of these groups prove
to be contrary to regulations and interpretations on the
same subject in other of the judicial groups,
The most prominent example of this occurred in the
spring of 1960 when AWS permitted women to visit men's
apartments and the Dean of Men's office didn't.
The decision was left to the Senate Committee on
Student Affairs, but AWS withdrew the per Mission be
fore the Senate committee considered it.
Contradiction is not the only problem raised by this
diverse set '"up. Because no one ultimate authority is re
sponsible for rules, the discipline function itself can be
arbitrarily shifted—often surreptitiously and without the
knowledge or consent of the governed.
The SGA Evaluation Workshop at Student Encamp
ment hit upon an exemplory solution to this situation—
although it may not have been recognized as such.
The workshop recommended that SGA seek final
governmental jurisdiction in one area of student affairs
and that this be included in the constitution presented to
the Senate Committee on Student Affairs. ,
SGA President Dennis Foianini recommended to the
Senate committee that this area of student control should
be the judicial.
This would mean that all courts and regulatory
agencies dealing with student affairs and welfare would
be integrated into the SGA court system.
The system would include an appellate structure with
appeals made to the SGA Supreme Court. The final appeal
would be made to the Senate Committee on Student Af
fairs itself, not the small and tightly controlled discipli
nary sub-committee which is currently the highest group
to which students may appeal.
In addition, rules governing student conduct, although
made by AWS and MRC could be appealed to the court
by petition of the students in the area affected.
Students in the past have sometimes found themselves
in the unfortunate position of feeling unfairly chastised
by one or another of the current regulatory bodies.
In the next few weeks the Senate Committee on Stu
dent Affairs will be meeting to consider the SGA revised
Constitution. As they do so, we ask that they give much
serious discussion to this area of judicial regulation which,
in its present form, provides dangerous opportunity for
abuse or maleficence.
We ask that they give a re-vitalized student govern
ment the opportunity to prove itself. We ask, finally, that
they cease to be hampered by the status-quo, which is
imperfect, and that they constructively seek to protect
the rights and dignity of the student body.
A Student-Operated Newspaper
57 Fears of Editorial Freedom
Tollrgiatt
Successor to The Free Lance, est. 1887
Puhlit:hed Tuesday through Saturday morning during the University Year. Tha
Daily Collegian is a student•operated newspaper. Entered as second-class matter
July 5, 1934 at the State College. Pa. Post Office under the art of March 3, 1879.
Mail Subscription Prim $6.00 a Tear
Mailing Address Box 161, State College, Ps,
JOHN BLACK WAYNE HILINSKI
Editor °lieM" Business Manager
City Editors. Lynne Cerefice and Diehard Leighton; Editorial Editors, Meg
Telettholts and Joel Myers; Neirs Editors, Patricia Dyer and Paula Dranov;
Personnel and Training Director. Karen tlyneckera; Assistant Peraonntl and
Training Director, Susan Eberly; Sports Editor. Jamey Karl; Picture Editor,..fohn
DU Yet. •
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, UNIVERSITY PARK. PENNSYLVANIA
Letters
Soph Hits
Myers'
Reasoning
TO THE EDITOR: Concerning
the semi-informed reply to the
reply .by three misinformed
students to the usual unfound
ed statements of the ultimately
misinformed Mr. Myers.
First I must say that I can
not back up my information
by referring the reader to a
book. Most of my information
was obtained from such ob
scure sources as front pages of
newspapers and newscasts.
The comparative numbers of
missiles seem approximately
correct so I will not contest this
fact, nor will I contest the fact
that there are many military
(some with missiles) bases
throughout the world (Italy,
Germany, Cuba, etc.)
Russia's missiles are as was
stated, big though their ac
curacy is only fair, but do you
have any idea of the area of
destruction of a bomb the size
of which can be carried by
these missiles.
A near miss of quite some
distance can cause quite signifi
cant damage to its target. It
can, in fact, be considered a hit.
Everyone seems rather con
fident that we are going to
shoot down all but a few mis
siles, everyone except the mili
tary, that is.
At the present time we would
be hard pressed to intercept
any missiles. Even when opera
tional Niki-Zeus would be do
ing quite well if it got 50 per
cent of the attacking missiles.
It is also quite foolish to be
lieve that the Russians are not
developing a similar missile.
Everyone seems to be dis
regarding the intercontinental
bomber, still our most powerful
weapon of war. During the last
Russian air show a flight of
bombers flew past which, while
in the same class as the B-58,
were faster and had larger pay
loads.
The Russians also have thou
sands of bombers capable of
either making a round trip
bombing mission or a one way
trip (which they will make.)
The Russian power is not
just publicity, it is a threat
which can wipe every living
thing off the face of this planet.
Before our patriotic Mr.
Myers goes shouting from the
rooftops that we are superior
in arms, let him consider that
the absence of war does not
indicate superiority, merely
enough power to make it un
profitable to attack us.
'—Harold Harrington '64
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Letters
A Parody In One Act:
'For the Eternal Glory'
TO THE EDITOR: For the pro
verbial glory of, etc.
(Place: A room in Mold
Brain, the administrative build.
ing of Bland Pate Univ. Two
men, X and Y, are talking.)
X: "Hey, Y baby, how you
like that or four term plan?
It's murder, isn't it, kid?
You see those guys dropping
like flies out there? This is
really great! We can get so
many more kids in here and
make metabolizing socio-eco
nomic statistics out of them this
way."
Y: (Nodding head enthusi
astically, leaping onto chande
lier and swinging back and
forth across room.)
"Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
And the way it altered the
brain structure of the human
organism is fantastic—only last
spring it took two weeks to
prepare for finals, and now
they can do it with no time at
all. What a genetic break
through. What glory for old
BPU! !"
X: Get off the light you fool
—you want to get sent back :
Y: Anyway, it sure was a
stroke of genius you had with
that football game situation•—
making all 18,000 of them come
back a week early so they
wouldn't tie up traffic.
That really put them in their
proper perspective. But now
we're stuck with those extra
days. Maybe if we just keep it
quiet . . .
(Door bursts open and a mes
senger iumbles in. He is
covered with blood and'is pant
ing furiously.)
Mess: They . . .(gasp) . . .
found . . . out . . . They . . .
want . . . two extra . . . days
to .. . study.
X: Nonsense! That's all
Snowed
Program Contrast
The contrast in program interest, explanation of inter
national positions and ideals, and the method of presenta
tion between Radio Moscow and the Voice of America is
striking.
Radio Moscow presents carefully-prepared programs
saturated with Communist
propaganda, which is often hid
den by subtle and clever
means,
News broadcasts are restrict
ed to a few pro-Communist
items, which best serve the ad
vancement of the Communist
thesis for that day. Those
choosen items are repeated in
disguised form - • -,
through infor
mative features
and clearly de
fined through',.
strongly parti-
s a n commen
taries.
.t • v•• •
Russia's su - •
perb use of the ° • „
broad casting
media was ex- ' 4 lk
pected by me
before I heard
their broadcasts UYERS
recently, but what surprised
me was the amateur-like pro
ductions turned out by the
Voice of America.
Not only is their program
ming sloppy and loosely pre
sented, but their news broad
casts seem to be a greater asset
to Soviet policy than our own.
Much of the time between
these newscasts is used for un
interesting and sometimes bor
ing features.
As an example of wasted pro
gram time was a "humorous"
show that was presented re
cently. It featured cards and
letters sent home by young
sters attending camp for the
summer.
It is possible that some of the
gruesome details of overbear-
TODAY
American Institute of Industrial En-
gineers, 7 p.m.. 215 Hammond
Collegian Photo Staff, 7 p.m., Collo-
gian office
East Halls Council, 6:80 p.m., East
dining hall
Folklore Society, Executive Board, 8
p.m., 216 HUB
International Relations Club, Dr. Brew.
WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 11. 1961
changed now. This isn't the
semester system any more.
Don't they understand that?
This is the term plan. They
won't study now like they
used to—they're biologically
different; they'll just goof off
for the whole time.
Let's be practical about the
whole thing. One day is better
to study for finals than three.
Any moron can see that. You
give them three days off and
they won't be able to finish
the term.
Y: The sentimental fools. Tell
them a three day vacation
would be • . . oh, what's an
impressive phrase? . . . would
be a great mistake. That's it—
tell them it would be a great
mistake.
X: Well put, Y, well put.
They'll probably be in a stir
for a few days but they'll set
tle back into their apathy and
accept this like they take
everything else we dish out.
Some of them just don't seem
to catch on that they have no
say, that they're puppets on
our strings. They'll never learn.
(Messenger leaves with the
decision.)
Y: Hey X, I just got the
greatest idea. How's this sound?
Ten four-week terms with a
maximum of five credits each
term and the finals are given
the first class period?
X: That's fantastic! Let's get
to work on it right now. How
do you do it, Y, how do you
do it?
Y: (Blushing becomingly)
Aw, I don't know. I guess
it's just a natural talent . . .
(X claps Y heartily on the
back and they exit cackling
hysterically.)
Curtain Falls -
-Neal Steinman '63
by joel myers
ing camp counselors, inade
quate housing facilities and
torturous games might have
brought smiles to the faces of
some Americans, but it's incon
ceivable how they could have
served any useful propaganda
purpose when intended for peo
ple not entirely familiar with
our way of life.
The Voice of America's news
broadcasts are very similar to
network newscasts which can
be heard on the regular AM
sand.
When most Americans hear
news about unemployment, ra
cial riots, crime waves and ag
gressive or feeler statements
by Congressmen they have the
background to interpret the
real meaning . of such events or
statements.
But, to the peoples of other
continents who are unaccus
tomed to our economic, social
and cultural • structure these
newscasts serve to confirm the
Communist propaganda which
is presented to them much more
effectively.
Adalt Stevenson, influential
congressmen ,and administra
tors of the U.S. Information
Agency have recently urged
that the United States increase
th e number of broadcasts
beamed at the uncommitted
nations.
Before the VOA increases the
amount of broadcasts in order
to try and match Russia hour
for hour, it might be wise for
the U.S.I.A. to take steps to
make those broadcasts more
effective.
Gazette
ster speaker, "The lireak-up of
French Power In Algeria," 7 p.m.,
Slovic House
Pi Lambda Theta (women's Education
Honorary), Dr. Snyder speaker, "The
SENSE, 7 p.m., 217 HUB •
Spanish Club, 7:30 p.m., Sigma Nu
Fraternity
Theta Sigma Phi, 8 p.m., 124 Sackett
11.C.A., Freshman. 6:80 p.m.. Chapel