Can - PST) . Fulfill?
Much is heard about gaps these
days. There is the infamous credibility
gap which supposedly emanates from
Washington. There is the. ever-widen=
ing generation gap which is the modern
way of separating the men from the
boys.
And yesterday at the University. a
new gap appeared—this one of the com
munications variety. It separated the
whites from the blacks.
Approximately 100 black students,
led by Douglas Association President
Wilbert Manley, confronted Charles L.
Lewis in the Dean of Men's Office. For
three hours Lewis talked with the stu
dents, who apparently were upset over
a remark attributed to Lewis in The
Sunday Bulletin, of Philadelphia.
In an 'article discuising student
unrest at Penn State, the Bulletin re
ported, "He (Lewis) didn't believe the
situation at Penn State was as-`danger
ous as at Columbia' because Penn State ,
`is not in an urban area and not con
taminated by Harlem'."
Understandably, the black students
were offended by the use of the word
"contaminated." Who wouldn't be of- -
fended to be told that one's race "makes
impure, unclean or corrupt by contact,"
as the dictionary defines contaminate.
Lewis' choice of words was indeed
unfortunate. That it was merely a slip
of the tongue is not easily believed by
a people who are burning with the
smoldering remnants of centuries of
abuse and shame.
Even a retraction in today's Bul
letin will make little.difference to the
people who have been called inferior
for 300 years. The blacks have heard
before that they contaminate. That is
nothing new. What is new is their spirit
to confront the white man.
The blacks who surrounded a per
spiring and nervous Charles Lewis yes
terday showed that the black is no
longer willing to take the abuse of the
white man.
The students successfully.demanded
that Lewis retract his statement, and by
TO Batty Totten-hut
Published Tuesday through Saturday during the Fall, Winter and Spring Terms/ and Thursday during
the Summer Term, by students of The Pennsylvania State University. Second class postale paid al
State College, Pa. 16801. Circulation: 12400.
Mailing Address Box 467, State College, Pa. 16201
Editorial and Business Office Basement of Sateen (North End)
Business office hours: Monday through Friday, t:3O a.m. to 4 p.m
PAUL. J. LEVINE
Edit=
William Epstein
Managing Editor
Committee on Accuracy and Fair Play: Charles Brown, Faith Tanney, Harvey Render. Adviser: Donna S
Clemson.
PAGE TWO
. - , .
- . . .•
..,..••• ..• • , .
• • . . • •.„ , .•
• - • • • • •
. .
. . . . ,
. . . . . . . ....•
~ • , •
STATE COLLEGE
ALL DAY WEDNESDAY
9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
IN STATE COLLEGE
WEEK'S
,„
THIS ,
ONE DAY
ALL DAY ONLY
~. . WEDNESDAY 9:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
• .
NO PHONE .•
- • SPECIAL
ORDERS
F.
1 -.-
] •-• 9:30 A.M. to 5:30 P.M. NOLAYAWAYS
•
. ~... y
"CAPRI" , ,
• -., . ..
... _
_,. , ~.. .
•
i . BELGIAN LINED
TABLECLOTHS
~, - .$,- , ~,01
• Brilliantly Colored
, ..... trt 4 '•4 , ..,--:?:'
~ „oil ,
,
. ..:
*Handsomely Finished :
•Scalloped & Hemstitched :
-. • • Reg. Size SALE
• ~ .
. 4, 4 , 4 . -
. ,
:;‘ 3.0 0•
4. 50x50"
50x50" 189
2.69 4 '4 , t. • -
8.00 .... 58x80" Oblong .... 4.89 , 44,„ ' O. •-,
8.00 58x80" Oval 4.89
10.00 68x90" 6.69 \ ' '''''' • 4.4 "; -:';,'..
• 12.00 68x108" 7.69 . ..,'
' 8.00 68" Round 4.89
' 69c Napkins39c
~.- .
...."
. •
:' Add an air of elegance to your table from this variety of shapes &
' - sizes of pure linen table cloths. . i
~.. t
State College Only .
f .
Editorial Opinion
the time they filed Out the corridors of
Old Main, the signature of Charles L.
Lewis was neatly emblazoned on a list
of 12 black demands.
No one can doubt that the demands
are legitimate. Of all 12, the demand
that the University increase the num
ber of black students deserves the most
attention. That a state University can
have less than one per cent black stu
dents is intolerable. The deMands to in
crease the number of black professors
and graduate students are similarly
valid.
The Administration knows it will
not be easy to increase tenfold the num
ber of black students by 1970. But it is
time that the University stopped look
ing for the easy_way out. The token pro
grams of recruiting blacks do not carry
much weight now.
It is another indication of the com
munication gap which plagues our multi
versity that a mere slip of the tongue
precipitated the incident.
Lewis could never have guessed that
the comments he made to a newspaper
reporter would have the effect they did.
His appraisal of the situation, as out
lined in the Bulletin story, was appalling
in its naivete.
In the paragraph immediately fol
lowing his remarks on Harlem and Col
umbia, Lewis discussed the avenue of
communication between Administration
and students:
"Dr. Lewis said one of the adminis
tration's problems is that it is hard for
it to 'communicate' with the 'activist
students' in SDS. He said it has not been
so difficult to make contact with 'black
militants' on campus."
Lewis made his contact yesterday.
But, by the end of the day, his brow
beaded with, , perspiration, his bow tie
drooping, Lewis may have changed his
mind about the relative difficulty of
communicatina b with black . students.
For, by then', his name was affixed to
12 demands that the University will be
hard-preSsed to fulfill.
But fulfill them it should. —P.J:L.
Successor to The Free Lance, est. 1887
al Freedom
62 Years of Editori
mi=m;ammlizcco
Mt3MIIMM
Member of The Associated Press
-Mo.
WILLIAM. FOWLER
• Business Manager
Michael S. Serrill
Editorial Editor
TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1968
OPEN
BERRY'S WOilLll
1966 by NEA, Inc. `Q' ^ "'"
"I'm 01l for jogging, Winterbotham! But on your
MA/ A 1
Collegian Invites Faculty Writers
University faculty are in
vite° to submit articles to Col
legian's "Faculty Forum."
Columns of opinion from all
members of the faculty are
welcome.
The articles shourd be type
11a
~ J ~
~'
What outstanding literary critics say of
// . a remarkable poetry magazine."
---Kenneth Burke
... a very high-level of talent and taste."
---Stanley Edgar Hyrr)an
// ... excellent poetry."
"We intend to remain a spirited, readable,. and self-supporting
poetry journal."—Joseph L. Grucci, founder and director. of..
PIVOT and the Poetry Workshop.
NOW ON SALE '
written and triple-spaced and
shotild not exceed 75 lines in
length. Interested f acuity
should bring their articles to
Collegian office, 20 Sackett
Building.
( 0 . )
ler 2 _
TEAKETTLE!
-:: A
PIVOT
now in its -17th year:
, . •
• „
r •
s . to
_ • _ •
Just a Make Believe,Place
TO THE EDITOR: Once upon a time there
was a place called the Happy Valley; it was
just a make-believe place because it had
nothing to do with' being alive. The Happy
Valley had a student government which
said clever things: "You have a responsibility
to be responsible," and then spent all its
time "being responsible." As if wishing made
it so.
There were teachers in the Happy Valley
—teachers to guide the young. Some of the
teachers worked for the IDA, and since no
one knew what the teachers did, no one
minded ;very much. And the Happy Valley's
newspaper said of the IDA petition, "Some
people will sign anything." The smell of
blood was far, far away.
And, sometimes the teacher has fupny
dreams because they'd look into the empty
faces in their classrooms, they'd see the blank
eyes. saying, "Easy does it, prof, I've got a
heavy date Saturday." Very few eyes in the
Happy Valley said, "Challenge me." And
most of the people went to jemmies, only
sometimes the people at the jammies looked
funny because they wanted something that
they couldn't quite understand, something
they didn't know how*.to find..
And funniest of all, most of the people in
the Happy Valley were dying. We know why
today: to be alive is to act decisively, to
live dangerously, - to love; to try to change
an - imperfect, world, to - abandon reason when
necessary and destroy the ugly; or simply
to be viable people, doing our own things.
But the Happy' Valley somehow smothered
passion with indifference, reduced life to a
bland pleasant, sterile nothingness. It was a
very happy and a very sad place.
Sometimes a few of the people in the
Happy Valley wised-up: and realized the
death-trap inherent in polite rationalization
and docile compromise, the awful indifference
that bigness and power inevitably breed, the
carrion smell of a dream deferred. For these,
who still lived, - the only words to answer the
Happy Valley were "Forget this shit." But
the Happy Valley went on. just the same
forever and ever. -
What's Wrong . with /DA?
TO THE EDITOR: The contents of the May
10 issue of the Collegian - confirm what many
students have long believed: That SDS and
its "traveling correspondent," Neil Buckley,
are indeed sick.
The, position of SDS on the matter of
weapons research is clearly unreasonable.
Repugnant though they may be. weapons
are essential for the survival of the United
States. Imagine the nuclear weapons of the
/Soviet Union and Red China trained on our
nation. How would we deter an all-out at
tack—with demonstrations in front of the
Soviet Embassy?
The world is not ready for total dis
armament on either a unilateral or multi
lateral basis. As long as people are human
there will be war, for such is the nature of
human beings. The best we, as peace-loving
people, can do is to deter war with the threat
of retaliation. I challenge SDS to name one
conflict in the history of the Defense De
partment which the United States initiated,
rather than reacted to, with its weapons.
To have the best weapons, the Defense
Department must employ the best minds.
This means using scientists and engineers,
as well as others, from college and university
campuses.
I see nothing more evil about weapons
research at the University than I do about
agricultural, or psychological or air pollu
tion research. R interferes with the educe
' these. And fels.
educational pro-
tionariliacess no More, than tl
no more inconducive to the er
—Wm. Van O'Connor
35c a copy
1 . '• Dick Yarzab '6B
West Halls
Education and Cultural Committee
Presents
"THE -HISTORY OF CARTOONS"
Movie and Lecture
by
David Shepard
Wednesday, May 15 6:30
Waring Lounge • Free
The
UNIVERSITY
FORUM
. Scheduled For
Tuesday, May 14
Has •Been Postponed--
A New Date and Time
Will Be Announced
In The Future
cess than foothill gamei, jammies,or demon
strations' in front of Old Main.
SDS had better forget the IDA and
weapons research and concentrate on other
problems—like the high cost of haircuts. Or
are they already doing that?
Gary L. Oplinger '7O
William G. Butler Jr. '7O
One Sport at a Time
TO THE EDITOR: How will the University
explain to parents that their• son is on the
critical list because he was hit by a tennis
racket while playing basketball? How can
this tennis player ever forget the other's
expression the split second before the racket
hit?
This accident is very possible when
basketball courts are combined with tennis
courts; this combination is exactly what the
University has set up. Basketball courts
have been added to the tennis courts behind
Pennypacker and McKean Halls and the nets
of four of the courts have been completely
removed.
The first thought for consideration is
just what are the tennis players supposed
to do? They could remain on these courts
and try to play; however, their games will
be constantly interrupted by lost basketballs
and by players. Their game is further hin
dered since they can't use corner shots-be
cause this area is no longer tennis territory.
And it's not just the corners which ere
the overlapping areas, for the boundaries
for basketball extend to the middle of the
tennis court. Since they can in no way play
an uninterrupted game of tennis, the tennis
players must find different courts—where?
The courts behind the Natatorium have
been ruined by basketball nets already. Pol
lock courts can't be used between 8 a.m. and
5 p.m. on Monday thru Friday because of
girls' physical education classes. North Halls
has _only four courts and those by Rec Hall
are used for boys' classes. And besides these
additional factors, th e courts are over
crowded to begin with. So, there is no place
to go.
But most important is the fact that there
is not room for both basketball and tennis
in one area. Accidents are going to occur—
who is going to accept the blame? The un
conscious basketball player who has just
jumped out to stop the ball? 'Me tennis
player who didn't see the other until too
late? The University for erecting this dan
gerous combination of courts? •
Lynne Foote '7l
Questioning Authority
TO THE EDITOR: Kudos to the participants
in the "tree-in"! A small group of activists
spoke and acted in behalf of many of us.
They pleaded on the grounds of aesthetics
and the common interest that the trees be
spared. Their protest did not save the trees.
It did demonstrate, however, that they were
fulfilling their responsibility engendered by
their education, i.e., to engage in "the ag
gressive questioning of authority, privilege
and tradition." (Theodore Roszak)
Perhaps we ought to have a bigger and
better and hopefully more successful
protest against the projected execution of
three men at the Rockview Correctional In
stitute during June and July 1968. The edu
cated and the enlightened have the burden
and responsibility of challenging barbarism
and tradition that menace humane and
civilized values.
Just as we get exercised when the lives
of trees are threatened, so we should get
concerned when, in the name of justice and
societal sanctions, human beings are about
to be cut down.
John Withall. ,
Head Secondary Education