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