Caveat emptor
BOOKSTORE BUSINESS BOOMED this week, as students flocked to buy new textbooks. But a Collegian study of area book
stores shoo price ariations, so it pays to shop around. See story andfprice comparison chart, page 18.
USG loses control of insurance
By JANICE SELINGER
Collegian Staff Writer
The University administration will
now be handling the student insurance
contract, University President John W.
Oswald told the Board of Trustees at the
Nov. 15 meeting.
The action was taken because of the
controversy surrounding USG's hand
ling of the contract this year, Oswald
said.
"The University must play an official
role in the awarding of such policies," he
explained.
But he said students l will sit on an
advisory committee to award the con
tract.
In other action; the board discussed
the possibility Of open committee
Klan recruiting 'a joke'
By JOHN McDERMOTT
Collegian Staff Writer
Rumors of a Penn State chapter of the
Ku Klux Klan have rekindled visions of
cross burnings and white hooded Klan
members. \ -
A card, randonily sent last term to
residents oTPinchot Hall, stated: "Hate
niggers? Join the newly formed chapter
of the Penn State KKK."
But according to Ray Szumigraj, (2nd
science), the distributor of the cards,
there will not be any KKK chapter at
Penn State. "I intended it to be a
practical joke, but it got out of hand,7 he
said.
However, Bob Ross, president of the
Minority Veterans Organization, said
the incident was much more serious
than a practical joke,
Ross said that Curtis Hunter, a black
veteran, came to Penn State last year
with the idea that all whites were
racists.
"But working through the Community
Awareness program we got him over
that hump,"! Ross added. He said Hunter
then received one of the cards and
reverted back into his, shell. Ross also
said the incident caused Hunter to drop
out of school.
In an open letter to University
President John W. Oswald, members of
the Minority Veterans Organization said
they "vehemently protest the overt
insensitivity and blatant laxity of the
P.S.U. Administration in dealing with
the potentially explosive initiation of a
Ku Klux Klan chapter on this campus! !"
Rost said the cards were the third
KKK-type related incident he has wit
nessed within the past year on campus.
There was a cross burning incid9hl in
West. Halls last Winter Term. Rogs":also
Dutch jet to
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (UPI) A chartered Dutch jetliner
carrying 191 persons, most of them Indonesian Moslems on a
pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca, crashed in rain and fog
last night minutes before it was to land for refueling at
Colombo airport.
First reports indicated all aboard perished, making the
crash the second worst air disaster in history.
Sri Lanka Radio said the plane went down in a mountainous
region EIO miles east of the capital. The broadcast quoted of
ficials as saying there apparently were no survivors.
In The Hague, Holland, Martin Schoeder, president of
Martin Air, the charter airliner which operated the DCB
jetliner, said:
"On the basis of the scant information, we fear there were
no survivors."
Witnesses said the plane burst into flames as it came down,
its 'fiery wreckage scattering over the mountainous, fogged
over terrain. The radio said recovery, of bodies was hampered
by poor visibility.
Collegian
the
daily
meetings and approved a rent hike for
on-campus--graduate housing.
In a press conference following the
meeting, Board President Michael J.
Baker Jr. said the board's throe stand
ing committee meetings would probably
soon be open to cut down on unnecessary
repetition.
The committees are educational
policy, physical plant and finance. Th3y
meet on the Thursday or Friday before
trustee meetings.
Trustee meetings have been open
since October. The board decided to
open its meetings days after the state
legislature gave final approval to the
Sunshine Law, which would have forced
them to open their meetings anyway.
Before the enforcement of the Law,
said two persons dressed as white
hooded KKK members came to the Black
Lounge last Spring Term.
"We can't keep letting it go on, it just
reitorces stereotypes on both sides of
the fence," Ross said.
The open letter to Oswald said those
involved in the "circulation of in
flammatory...literature have somehow
managed to escape the severe Ross added that he thinks Szumigraj
disciplinary consequences which the , should be expelled.
offense justly deserved...and have Oswald was unavailable for comment,
therefore been given unofficial license but his secretary said as far as she
"to continue with their endeavors." knows Oswald has not received a copy
Szumigraj said he has been placed on of the letter or is aware of the incident
probation for Winter Term for his in- which prompted the letter.
Ways and Means fights back
House reforms faltering
WASHINGTON (UPI) The reform
movement among House Democrats
began to falter late yesterday when
angry Ways and Means Committee
members rebelled against alleged
discrimination.
Almost insuring a clash with the House
Deniocratic leadership, the Ways and
Means Democrats said they will go
ahead and move to organize the com
mittee for the next session now while`
they will have the power to do it.
Under broad reforms mandated this
week' by Democrats who will be serving
in the next Congress, committees will
no longer have the authority to make
their own sub-committee assignments
after this congress ends.
Baker said„,most arguments took place
during the committee meetings and the
trustees simply gave final approval to
committee decisions at their meeting.
Now, since no formal action can be
taken at the closed committee meetings,
Baker said members must go over every
item a second time in trustee meetings.
This can become a very tiresome
practice, he said.
Most of the two-and-a-half-hour
trustee meeting was spent discussing the
$lO-a-month rent increase for Eastview
Terrace and Graduate Circle Apart
ments.
The increase was approved after
opposition from student Trustee Dion C.
Stewart and Trustee Hardy Williams,
who questioned the effect on students hit
volvement in the incident.
However,'„ in the open letter, the
members of the Minority Veterans
Organization asked that "more] severe
disciplinary action be taken 'against
those individuals who have insulted the
presence and the integrity of those Black
Americans who reside and study in this
area."
Acting Ways and Means Chairman Al
Ullman, D-Ore., had promised the
Democratic leadership he would not
thwart the reforms by organizing his
committee now.
But when the Democratic Caucus
failed to approve a rule requiring other
committees to abide by the same pledge,
Ullman withdrew it.
"Any other committees can organize
subcommittees and grandfather
themselves in on them," Ullman said.
"The leadership says we on Ways and
Means can't do that. That's making us
second class citizens."
Ullmann said he would "have it out"
with the leadership.
In Holland, a Martin Air spokesman said reports received
from Colombo indicated the plane was burning as it went
down.
If those fears were to be confirmed, the crash would be the
second worst air disaster, surpassed only by the crash of a
Turkish Airlines DC 10 jetliner March 3, 1974, 25 miles mkth of
Paris, killing all 345 persons aboard.
A company spokesman said the crash occurred about 100
miles east of Colombo on the island fcgmerly knwn as Ceylon.
"The . aircraft crashed in bad weather," Schroeder said.
"The weather conditions also prevented helieopters from
leaving the airport for the site of the crash. They will have to
wait until daylight."
"We were informed that just after the aircraft was given
permission to go down from 8,000 to 2,000 feet in the landing
procedure, a huge ball of fire was noticed," said Schroeder.
"We do not know, but we presume this ball of fire marked the
impact when the aircraft crashed to the ground," he said.
Mecca crashes; 191 dead
Miners support pact;
strike to end today
CHARLESTON, W.VA. (UPI) The
nation's miners have ratified a wage
contract with the soft coal industry and
United Mine Workers President Arnold
Miller will announce today an official
end to the 24-day strike which jolted the
U.S. economy.
High union sources told UPI that about
56 per cent of the rank and file had voted
for ratification and that miners in
District 31, which has the third largest
membership in the UMW, had approved
the pact overwhelmingly. •
District 29 in the Southern West
Virginia coal fields, which has 26,000
members, largest in the UMW, also,
approved the pact but by a narrow
margin, UPI was told, The district,
where anti-Miller sentiment has run
high, had been expected to reject the
agreement.
The contract provides, for a 10 per cent
wage increase the first year, 4 per cent
with a $5-a-month increase last July.
Robert A. Patterson, vice president
for finance and operations, said in
creased trash collections and utility
costs made the increase necessary so the
apartments could continue to operate on
a break-even basis.
The measure was approved after
Patterson agreed to tell tenants exactly
why the increase is necessary.
The rent in Eastview Terrace had
been $B5 per month for a one-bedroom
apartment and $95 per month for two
bedrooms; in Graduate Circle the prices
were $95 per month for one bedroom and
$lO5 for two.
In other business, the board approved
the formal designation of a Regional
Mining Education Center at the Fayette
Campus.
The center will be used for specialized
training and to help the nation meet
energy dethands.
The board approved preliminary plans
for a faculty club but Trustee Walter J.
Conti asked for a report on the club's
funding.
According to Oswald, the club now-has
between 300 and 400 members and will
be built totally from gift funds.
The Board also officially activatedlhe
Penn State Fund Council with the ap
pointment of 21 charter members. The
council is designed to look over gifts to
the University and to advise the Board
and Oswald.
To help ease a critical space problem
on the Delaware County Campus the
board approved the purchase and
erection of six modular structures
estimated at $275,000. The campus now
has 1,700 students and only one building,
designed for 735 students.
The reforms, sparked by the arrival of
75 new younger members with a more
liberal perspective than their
predecessors, stripped Ways and Means
of its exclusive power to make assign
ments to all committees and' enlarged
the committee so its conservative bent
will be diluted.
Ways and Means members put up
little resistance, largely because
Chairman Wilbur Mills, D-Ark., was
preoccupied with problems arising from
Association with a strip tease dancer and
appeared to be offering little leadership.
On Tuesday he was hospitalized for
exhaustion amid reports he is likely to
lose the chiirmanship.
The DCB was making its 19th flight as part of a massive
airlift of 25,000 Moslem pilgrims from Surabaja, on the In
donesian island of Java, to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and was to
make a refueling stop in Colombo. The airlift began in Oc
tober.
Mecca is holy in the Moslem faith because it was the birth-
place of Mohammed, the founder of Islamism: and every
Moslem who can afford it is obliged once in his life to make the
journey from his home to Mecca.
Martin Air has been flying Moslems to Mecca for years
and this year's total number of pilgrirris is expected to be a
record. The Pilgrims are to stay at Mecca until after the end of
the year. Then they will be flown back to Surabaja, a city at
the opposite end of the island of Java from Indonesia's capital
city of Jakarta.
A total of 182 passengers were Moslems on pilgrimage and
two stewardesses of the Indonesian airline Garuda were also
aboard. The seven crew-members were all Dutch and in
cluded two pilots, one mechanic, and four stewardesses.
BINDERY
2 PATTEE
Ten cents per copy
Thursday, December 5, 1974
Vol. 75, No. 82 24 pages University Park, (Pennsylvania
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
in the second year and 3 per cent in the
third year. It also contains a cost of
living clause, which miners have never
had in previous agreements.
The miners could return to work early
next week, possibly at midnight Sunday,
after maintenance personnel; the first
ones to be called back to work, had
declared the pits safe.
It was pointed out by one union source
that a hard core of dissident miners may
resist a return to work, but he said he
knew of no such movement at this time.
Sources said the Miller forces were
jubilant over approval of the pact and
that a celebration was underway at
UMW headquarters in Washington.
It also was learned that the UMW was
making plans for a contract signing
ceremony with the Bituminous Coal
Operators Association, which meets in
Washington today to consider the
agreement drawn up by its negotiating
committee and submitted to the UMW
last week.
Balloting ended at 8 p.m. local time
last night hi the UMW's 22 districts and
Miller will hold a news conference in
Washington at 11 a.m. today to announce
the official ratification vote.
Early semester
becomes favorite
of commission
By JANICE SELINGER
Collegian Staff Writer
The University Calendar Commission
h.js chosen the early semester system as
the best alternative to the term systen.
"The feeling of the commission is that
if they were to recommend a semester
system—and I'm not sure that they will
at this time—they feel that the early
semester system is the one they would
select," Chairman Asa Berlin said
yesterday.
'As the commission's last two meetings
members eliminated the short semester,
traditional semester and modified
semester from consideration.
The early semester starts between
August 20 and 25 with work and finals
finished before Christmas. The second
semester begins after the holidays and
ends no later than May 7.
The commission' is now writing a
preliminary report concerning the pros
and cons of the early semester system.
The report will be presented to
commission members at a four-hour
meeting 9 a.m. Saturday in 404 Old Main.
The preliminary report is being
written in preparation for a final report,
That report will be given to University
President John W. Oswald for con
sideralion and reply, Berlin said.
According to Berlin, Oswild will see
the report before it is made public.
Berlin said some faculty members want
the report made public when it is
Rao. Albert Johnson is smiling a lot . .
The great sugar substitute search is on
Froth hits frosty P.S.O
Basketball, wrestling & FOOTBALL
Penn State and snow again
Three prisoners still at large
3 COPIES
The three-year contract packaged
calls for a 64 per cent wage and benefits
increase, plus provisions providing for
new jobs, paid sick leave and greatly
improved pensions.
The strike began last Nov. 12 when the
old contract with the BCOA expired.
BCOA members produce 70 per cent of
the nation's soft coal.
In addition to the 120,000 UMW
members idled by the walkout,
thousands of workers were laid off by
railroads and at least 18,000
steelworkers were idled by the strike.
Economists had warned that a two
week strike by the miners would cost the
country billion in lost production, but
since the strike has latted more than
three weeks the figure is now ap
proaching $5 million.
Earlier yesterday a union source told
UPI that the contract "definitely" had
passed.
"They are already celebrating in
Washington," the source said.
Miller had predicted shortly after
submitting the proposal to the rank and
file that it would be ratified by about 60
per cent of the membership.
presented to Oswald. He said it is a
matter of courtesy for the report to go to
Oswald first. "
The results of the Academic Assem
bly's poll on the calendar will not be
available for at least another week.
Berlin said he would have liked to
have had the results but he couldn't hold
back ,the drafting of the report.
Joe Kaplan, president of Academic
Assembly, said he -Thought the com
mission would choose a semester
system.
"From the things I've heard and
observed I think that any recom
mendation that the commission makes
at this time is far and away too
premature," Kaplan said.
Kaplan said the Academic Assembly
poll will be addressed to Oswald and not
necessarily to the commission.
The commission's recommendation to
Oswald is based on academic con
siderations. Once Oswald receives the
report it is assumed that he will look into
other problems such as adapting housing
and-physical plant services to the new
calendar before making any decisions
Sunny today with a chance of snow, high
in the mid 30s to 40s.
What's Inside
Martin Air identified the Dutch crew as first pilot H
Lamme, 58, married with two children, second pilot R
Blomsma, 33, married with three children, and mechanic J.G
Wijnands, 48, married with two children.
The four Dutch stewardesses were Ingrid Van Der Vliet,
Hetty Borghols, Titia van Dijkum, and H. van Hamburg,. the
airline said.
The two Indonesian stewardesses were not immediately
identified.
It was the third crash of a commercial airliner in bad
weather in four days. On Sunday, a Trans World Airlines
Boeing 727 jet struck a hilltop near Upperville, Va., killing 92
persons, and the same day, a 727 of Northwest Airlines
crashed in 'Bear Mountain State . Park near Haverstraw,
N.Y., killing the three-member crew. There were no
passengers aboard.
Schroeder said the crash was the first major accident in the
16-year-old history of his company.
STATE COLLEGE
PA.. 16801
PERMIT No.lo
Weather
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