PAGE FOUR Editorial Opinion Political Party Pact: Its Unstated Words . , • .- I The three political party heads on campus—Michael The Senate Post ,Office and Civil Service CoriunitUm has Dzvonik, chairman, of University Party; Allison Woodall, passed ',a postal rate bill . which acting chairman of "Campus Party; and Anne Morris, chair- provides not only for' an Increase man of Liberal Party—assumed. dictatorial control of Con- in postal rates effective Jan. 7, gressional elections Wednesday night when they made but for a pay increase for 1,600,000 public their pact declaring - that political parties wOuld not government workers. bill The nominate candidates for this fall's election. bill •as . approved =by the c has. many commend- This pact leaves us with only one thought for politi- able points. However, it - hat one highly disturbing aspect' An cal paities—that they must either participate in all student amendment to the bill would di government elections or participate in none. They must rect the Post Office to detain any "Communist political Tlrew... organize l a strong year-round party system or fold. elontainiFd in Politics even on a student level cannot be yonc.e a from abroad. the year thing. It is impossible to have one half of the student nti bil. eTrue , mpts entirely . policy-making team—the president, vice president and mail addressed secretary—elected in a political campaign, and the other gies ert ar e ar n ie: r half—the Congress--elected in a non-political election. stitutions of hit education and We believe that the real situation posed in between dividuals conni the brief lines of this pact is that the parties could not egetherteewri ial w th, organize and field a slate of candidates in all of the Con- th e n presurn, gressional election districts this fall. If this inference is be useds for seo education etas O . RTON correct, it is unfair, for parties to participate in the "easy," and information. more spectacular spring elections and disregard the - Also exempted 'would be mail , = delivered under a reciprocal in "tough" but equally important one in the fall. ternational agreement by which Furthermore, we believe 'that Congressmen should the United Stat e s govitrnment mails an equal amount of material be elected only after students are given a chance to con- to Communist countries. sider the stands they will take on the relevant issues. It is However; as the New York completely unfair both to the student bod and to r ! i't r ess stated tffsstilmeansthattherearetwo future of student government at this University to have kinds of Americans: those who trusted to J o e ce m m i kindv u e l ln t y wdeti the majority of candidates judged on appearance of the can of mail from the number of activities in which they have participated. and those who cannot distinction is an insult to The party heads supported their nefarious:- pact by the American people. sayilm that they felt a non-partisan Congress would be a Moreover, this is contradictory more . responsible legislative body. We disagree with this statement on two piiints. First, we believe a non-partisan Congress would be an-unorgan ized Congress and as such= would be led around by the executive, which would be elected on party slates. Secondly, we do trot believe a Congress , elected with out parties could remain non-partisan. As an example, we point to last year's CongreSs which, by Unitersity Senate decree, was elected without party participation. Within six weeks of that Congress' election, political parties had gained enough support in the Congress to hold caucuses befgre the weekly USG meeting. Thus, it appears that an 'lssue-centered" campaign, which we feel is extremely vital to the succeiti of USG elections. is being sacrifiqed for convenience and for an attempt to insure a non-partisan Congress—an attempt which has failed in the past Year under similar circum stances. We have also found that the chairmen's pact is full of loopholes, the most notable of these being that parties may back candidates. In effect,• parties are permitted to maintain an organization within the Congress while shirk . - ing the work necessary in the campaign to capture a Con gressional seat. If the party heads sincerely want to eliminate "bossism" in the Congress as they vowed to the USG Con gre,ss Wednesday night, they should get down to work and organize a good, clean political campaign for this fall's oi:ingressions' elections. The time has come when all three parties must take a good look at their ideals and aims for bettering this University. Each was organized by a group of students who felt that they had'an ideal good enough and strong enough to benefit student government. . If parties have lost sight of this ideal axiikif they do not feel it important enough to renew', then they are. existing without purpose and their presence issuperfluous to student government. However; we of The Daily Collegian feel that *ties are a vital necessity to the strength of student government. If they weaken, so weakens student gOvernment. We urge the party chairmen. the party members. the USG Congress. the Elections Commission and the student body . to consider these views. We are certain that if parties have the initiative and the will to become an asset to student government, the elections date could be moved back to give them time to organize both themselves and their : slates. Despite the inconvenience we siggeit, we feel that adherence to - our proposal is a sound way" to insure -the continuation of student government atthis University. THE ,DAILY COLLEGIAN, UNIVERSITY.. PARK. PENNSYLVAN IA to the principles of a free society Letters TOGS II Advocate Asks 'Who Are All Those Others?' WHO ARE ALL THOSE OTHERS? Following hit speech in State College on Sept: 13,the Republican candidate for gover nor, Rep. Scranton, was asked whether he thought meetings of Penn State's Board of 'Trustees should be-open to the public. The Centre Daily Times of Sept, 14 quoted candidate Scranton as re plying "that they _should not be open as general Policy , but he felt townspeople,_ students or others should have the opportunity to meet with the board; on oc casion." _ I am • reminded- of William Steles cartoon in "The , . Lonely Ones," entitled "Who are.all those others?" A fifno-honitrod' defixdOon of a university is that ft is a commu nity of scholars and students, con cerned with laresorudion. trans mittal and advancement ad knowl- edge. Did Rep. Scranton assume that scholars already have .access to the trustees? , Please, someone, show him copies of those di rectives! Or does he classify scholars under just Others? Or did he recognize the political ex pediency, as a guest of the Penn State administration, of ignoring the existence of scholars ct9rnplete ly? Did he know why the question Letters to the editafr must carry the full name of the author and identification of the author will be verirted be fore arty letter is published. In most; cases, letters ofrer 400 words will not be published. The Daily Collegian re serves the right to edit any laths if it is deemed necessary. The- decision-to publish or re ject a letter lies solely with the editor: 'letters containing obvious ~ ..iteely.ments -or lack ing in taste or fisir play will be ;cted. quisait? Postal Rate B LETTER POUCY , Why should the Secretary of the Treasury be permitted to judge (what is "Communist political propaganda" and what is not, as the bill provides? What are, his special , qualifications for judging what is . safe and good for the American -public to read? This censorship, -hositver token, does violence to - the principles ex pounded by the founders of this country. The bill does provide that the persons to whom the material is addressed, if they are not among those presumably trustworthy and intelligent enough to read the ma terial without defeating to Com munism, can receive' -their ma terial. They can, that is, after con siderable delay and after subject- tag themselves to the embarass ment of requesting it. It's hard Ito judge how many Americans 'rill be adversely af fected by exposure to Communist propaganda; However, in a free society, a person has the right to be exposed to' almost anything, if he so chooses. It is in no way consistent with democratic ideals to set up an authority to judge what tile people should see and what they should not see. This smells, strongly of totalitarianism. Unfortunately, this 'is not the first peacetime postal censorship in the United States. Last year, Presi dent Kennedy halted.an executive program begun in 1950 by which all books, magazines and other non-first class mail from behind the Iron CUrtain were detained by the Post Office. N- j .When he discontinued the pro 'gram, .Kennedy .said .the .State, -.Treasury, Justice and Post Office Departments had found it to be without "useful intelligence func• was asked; in the first place! Perhaps' he has heard of raffaire Sauer? (If so, whose version?) COntinued demands for open meetings of the Penn i Stale trus tees might suggest that not every one believes the board is properly informed as - to University prob lems. Dr. John D. Millett, Presi dent of Miami University of Ohio and a distinguished political sci entist, in his volume "The Aca demic Community: An Essay on Organisation" (McGraw-Hill, 1962) has some interesting recommends- . Lions for the university adminis tration involved in arguments over wider contacts with trustees (pp. 241-2). • Of course President Millett is biased; he also rejects the concept of hierarchic organization in a uni versity, proposing in its place the concept of conuiunity, Operating through consensus. Since Penn State Es the antithesis of what President Millett 'advocates, is he wrong? , It is all very confusing, this, and merits much thought.' Let's think. How about a new TOCS: Thought ful Others of the Contemporary Same (buttons stilL five cents)? —Ray Pepinilry, A Student-Opensted Newspaper S; Years of Editorial I Freedom ~l~r ~~ily AiII. . i ' Stseeeisor to The Five Ltritee. est. int - ~ Poillabitill , ?sudsy .ORT•eCti aseeillirs grenades during tha Vaiveiaity rear:- Teet . Rage Cale/hue le a etteleat-eperated seaseaver. ItetaTed ea aecesi-eisie ashes Self I. lin at the State Caw. Pa. Peat 011 k. Rader the ad at Karel &qr . % I Mail ikisseriptiss. pries: . 116.111 a year , , ... IEOII4 Address ' Sac 161, State Caere. Pa. ' Member of The ',Associated Press ANN: PALMER - Edit ' City Eaters., /Sae Aida* earl David' • - Wires sat ** r id Afisies Key Wan Eateriet Eater. Carel E man; 8. Eater. Sam Mennt; Aaristaat Sputa Xis Goldner,. 'Tem Burris mad Des Cella sad; Parseammid Director. liaselee Oster. • - - teal As. to r. Sues Reid: Aaststisd Lissa] Ed liter.. Jena •anersteter Idadeord As. Mgr.. Derisze Brews; Credit Lis?..lEsden , hied:ant Am4slant. Cesar Mery Harry Essen; -Promotion ltdr. Etral !Orin; ,Classified Ad Mr.. Claledne artatalles Gees!: timed *sal Dane *1111417. FRIDy..SETPAEIE:R.-41, 1962.. by saralee 'peon !Ion." Earlier the National Securi ty Council had unithicumuly sec= aunnendad tornabuttkul of the nail ikdermP t Um , 1 If this was true then, what has changed the_nature of•CoMm r unist i Propaganda and thk, American r ieople so much: in a year's time that a similar program is neces sary? e When the postal bill.passed the ];louse a year ago, it contained the Cunningham Amendment which provided that =anything determined by the Attorney Gen- , eral to be Communist political dropagarea would not be allowed elivery in the United States. 1 The Senate committee softer* the tone of . the Curniru3slnwi , Amendment inits version of The . bill. They would have done well to eliminate it entirely. The. Sen ile will do 'well to strike off this Provision before passing-the Sen ate postal rate bill • • Carl Sandburg had something to say on propaganda in a poem titled "The People, Yes." ,The last lines run something like thir... The storm of _propaganda blows • always. In every air_of todag the germs float and hover. The shock and contact of ideas goes on. . The people have the say-so Let the argument go on, Let the people listen. Tomorrow the people say- Yes or No by one question:, - "What else can be,done?" In the drive of faiths on the wind today the people know— "We have come far and we are • going farther yet .. .-." - Carl Sandburg has a lot 'more faith in the American people that does the United States. Congress, : Plea Made For Coeds TO THE EDITOR S = Two girls I know came back to school this past week with plans , for - beauti fying their room in Atherton • Hall. They went to - considerable expense to buy ,smallitems that would make their room more at tractive and. livable. They had a large white bedspread to cover their beds, pictures to hang on the wall, and a variety 'of other things to add a little -charm to their room. Today, when they returned to their room, there was a • note instead- . of '''.a bedspread saying that the spread would be returned when they were ready to take s it home. The note was the decree' of the Department of Housing. It's truly a shame that these two. 'girls and many other dorm residents are being discouraged from taking pride in 'their rooms. Women students cannot hay e an 'apartment or room of 'their-own to decorate as they desire, so w can housing -be so inconsid te. of their wishes to do a little w de? with what they have. I realize that - the regulation was made with good. in mind, - but when nothing is obviously, wrong, 'can't an exception be made? These two girls are petitioning now to get their bedspread back.' I ask you for your signature. - : ' —Ralph Guokas. 14 Toligniatt 410. HERBERT WITMER B ,: : •-• Manages
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