PAGE FOUR
Editorial Opinion
Of, For and
SGA
The much contested SGA Constitution
was withdrawn from the arena of . the
joint Senate committees which were dis
cussing it Monday night.
It , : was withdrawn at the request of
SGA President Dennis Foianinif—who felt
that what was left after the committees
changes was a jumble of illogical pro
cedural rules and emasculated "power."
It is indeed unfortunate that there does
not remain a constituted body to rework
this constitution. But reworked It must be
if it is to be a firm and lasting document.
The constitution which the Senate
Committee on Student Affairs received
earlier this year was not such a document.
It had been written and re-written by var
ious committees all trying to satisfy diverse
pressure groups and interests.
The result, though theoretically good,
Two additional points must be made
concerning the reworking . of this constitu
tion. They are theoretically similar as they
both represent areas of strong student gov
ernment. Specifically they concern the
maintenance of the pirty system in Assem
bly and the assumption by SGA of a dis
ciplinary function.
The major point of contention in the
Senate committee meeting was the party
system. Three students appeared before the
committee and proposed elimination of
the political party from the nominating
and election procedure for Assembly repre
sentatives.
They contended, that nominees for one
residence area should not be nominated by
the entire party. In theory we support this.
But vehemently oppose their view that
the nomination and election precedures
should be carried oru solely by the govern
ments of the residence areas. This would
in effect eliminate the party system from
the SGA Assembly.
Assembly members are not supposed
to be concerned with the piddling problems
encountered by the residence area councils.
Their Job is to legislate on matters of
an All-University nature. The separate
parties often hold divergent views on these
matters and on basic philosophies of goy.
ernment.
The Assemblymen elected under such
a system would not have the strength of
party unity behind their legislation, or the
research facilities of The party athand.
The function of an SGA judicial—with
disciplinary power—cannot be decided un
til there is a meeting ground of the several
bodies now dispensing discipline—the Dean
of Men's office, the Dean of Women's office
and the Senate Sub-committee on discip
line.
The section of the constitution which
would giSe SGA the power to assume this
function was therefore deleted for further
consideration when such a consensus is
reached.
We trust that the administrative per
sonnel presently involved in this function
are acting in good faith. We do not want to
see a permanent "postponement" of this dis-
cussion nor - in evasion of the issue.
That the present judicial structure
varies with the dispenser is not to be denied
Right to Organize
Right to Govern
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. UNIVERSITY PARIC PENNSYLVANIA
By the Students
left loop-holes and inconsistencies. In try- -
ing to anticipate any and all disputes,
power cliques-and procedural stratagems
before they could occur, the document
faltered of its own weight.
The last SGA constitution failed for
similar reasons. And to head , off another
fruitless and frustrating student govern
ment it has been suggested that the' new"
constitution be made shorter and far more
general•in nature but specific in philoso-
OLP
All the extraneous
_details - should be
placed in the by-laws section and in a
handbook of procedural rules.
Such a constitution would be a work=
able document needed in times of change
at the University. And it will, we hope,
represent student opinion voiced through
a powerful student government.
But most important, no stu4nt would
be able to vote for a platform or a principle
—only for a face.
We cannot conceive of a strong govern
ment built on the arbitrary decisions of
four elections committees and uncommitted
candidates not responsible after election to
any philosophy or position on an issue.
This issue has evolved from a basic
misunderstanding of the terminology of the
SGA constitution. For convenience the
term AWS was. used when actually "all
women living in residence halls" was
Likewise, AMC, TIM and IFC do
not refer to those existing governing bodies,
but to the people living in the areas. The
representation was specifically arranged
in this manner so that SGA Assemblymen
could go right back to their living areas
(not residence councils) to find . their con
stituencies.
There is a compromise measure to be
proposed here, which we. favor strongly
over all other suggestions.
Each political party should hold nomi
nations in the four "districts" of represen
tation. Thiswould insure a uniform nom
ination and election procedure for each
district.
Moreover, it would retain the party
system which is the only way the electorate
can hold their representative accountable
for his actions and his vote.
Any committee considering the aboli
tion of this power of the electorate is vio
lating a premise upon which informed
democracy must operate.
and therefore we hope SGA's desire to as
sume the function will spur the much
needed revision in this area.
As expressed at Student Encampment
this is the realm in which SGA would like
to begin to assume real governing power—
rather than remain a gbvernment in name
In conclusion we say_ that- the Senate
Committee on Student Affairs and its sub-
committee on Organization Control have
only one moral obligation before them.
That, plainly, is to act according to
the student body in reference to how they
want to run their government and its po
litical structure, •
Any other course on the part of the
committee could only be construed as
dictatorship.
.Interpreting
For
,liii.ei
For Party : _ Contfol
By WILLIAM L. RYAN
Associated Press News Award
BERLIN (JP The results _of the Soviet Communist
congress which ended' yesterday indicate that. Premier
Khrushchev, having won his battle with dis,sidents,' now
will attempt to tighten his control of the party.
The Presidium; supposed to be the ruling body of the
party, has been pared to 11
members, which makes it re
semble the old Stalinist Polit
buro
But if theta is to he any
Stalinism. The chances are that
it will he administered celiac
tieelY. If Khrnshcheiv gets any
ideas of eicercising anything
approaching h a enormous
power wielded bf the old dic
tator. he probably will face yet
another battle.
Limiting the Presidium to
11 members may have been a
move to safeguard the Krem-
En's - ventral control while Kh
rushchev goes ahead in 'industry
and agriculture with measures
designed to remove bureau
cratic roadblocks. These always
have hampered the Soviet
economy.
The names of those dropped
Indicate compromiie at the top.'
- Ekaterina Furtseva,' Nikolai
IgnatoV and Nuritdin Mukhit
dinov were left off the Presi
dium. All staunchly backed
Khrushchev in his battle
aganist the group headed by V.
M. 'Molotov and Georgi A.
Mal enkov.
The Presidium is supposed
on paper• to be elected by the
party congress. Such matters
actually are decided well in
advance of congresses: the
rank-and-file delegates simply
Letters
An invitation to Give Thanks
TO THE EDITOR: Since it is
a foregone conclusion that the
student body will spend
Thanksgiving Day here at the
University, I should like to ex
tend an invitation to Presi
dent Walker, Dr. Bernreuter,
Mr. Read and the other high
ranking University officials to
come to West Halls for Thanks
giving Dinner.
I'm sure that the knowledge
A Student-Operated Newspaper
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Published Tuniday through Saturday morning during the Ithiseralth fear. rho
Daily Collegian Is a atadtnt•opetated newspaper. Cate red as second-dui isssiet
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I'ODAY History Roan/ Table. 7:30 park. 214..
Mr Pores Mazer. 7 p.m., HUB ballroom 216 HUB .
Alpha Phi Ontesa,"3 a.m., Ist floor NDBA French Institute Wavle, 6 p.m,
HUB 209 Home Et. South
AWS, 6:30 p.m., 217-213 HUB Natant , Grotto Meeting, 7:16 p.m., 121
Block "S" Executive Cemeniftte, 6:30 Mineral Industries.
P.m., 214 HUB PS Bible! Fellewhhip. 12th p.m., la
Chem-Phys Student Copse4l, 6:46 p.m., Hug
-212-213 HUB
Sports Car Club. 8 p.m.. 801; Bourke
Chess glob..
i
p.m.. RUB card room
East Halls Council, $ p.m., 101. East Wumen!o Cheri*, 1:30 p.m., HUB sae
Dialers 141 1 serattly boll
rt7F'l* - C -. '71
WEDNESDAY. NOVEMBER 1. 1961
approve what liar been deckled
for them. . . '
This whatever compiomises
were made came before. Kh=
rushchev mounted the congresg'
rostrum to pour vitriol on the
memory of Stalin and to de
nounce Stalin's lieutenants u
bunglers and murderers.
There had to be a reason for
this, and the reason seems to
be that elements within the
party still oppose Khrushchev
both in his domestic economic
policies and in his foreign pol
icy. There are likely people
still in high placeS whom Kh
rushchev would like to push
out of the way.
The party secretariat now
enlarged. to nine members,
seems to reflect a division be
tween. points of view in a col
lective leadership. It is note
worthy that Mikhail = Suslov,
long known for his Stalinist
outlook, remains both on the
Presidium and• fhe secretarial.
One may speculate that Kh
rushchev so far has missed by
a fairly wide margin getting
all he wants. He made it clear
he wanted all the antiparty
group people expelled from the
Communist party. But there
was no such action in the con
gress, at least publicly.
that these men, too, will be
away from their families for
this meal wilt go far towards
quieting the protests of angry
students,
I'm sure r also, that if Food
Service wills it, we here at West
Halls will be glad to contribute
towards providing guest meal
tickets for this occasion.
—Andrew Hailstone 13
Gazette
011,6REAT NOM
0302 E GSM DR IVE
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