Editorial opinion
If the owner of a house looked
out aiwindow and saw someone
peering at him with a telescope,
he’d probably .call the police. But if
a student complained about a
“peeping Tom," Tom would
probably turn out to be an officer
looking for pot.
It's scary to learn that campus
police are playing telescope
games with all the fervor of FBI and
CIA agents. Bugged rooms and
secret agent infiltration might be
the next step. Or may be used
even now.
A dorm room is private, even
though it’s on University property.
A landlord downtown can’t spy on
his tenants, so why should the
University have tfiat permission? •
Besides that, it’s an invasion of
Letters to the Editor
Commendations
TO THE EDITOR: As usual, the University Concert Committee
is getting blasted for their choice of concerts,, by letter writers
to the Collegian. The general complaint seems tojbe a lack of
"good concerts.” I
Let us examine the list of performers that have appeared
here thus far this year. Relying on memory, I have compiled
this list: Miles Davis, Cannonball Adderly, Dave Mason,
Norman Blake, Vassar Clements, Loggins & Messina, Eumir
Deodato, Bruce Springsteen, Sonny Terry, Herbie Hancock,
Richie Havens, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Mahavishnu,
John McLaughlin, and Jean-Luc Ponty. Hardly anywhere can
one find a list of more talented musicians, nori more diver
sified. It is true, however, that the majority of these performers
are not "million selling" singles stars, and perhaps this is the
root of the complaints. It does seem to me that the UCC is
more interested in bringing in artists of exceptional talent,
rather than exceptional “top-forty” record sales (two categories
which seem to be mutually exclusive these days), and I ap
plaud them for this stand. 1
To those who complain of the UCC’s selections, I offer my
sympathies for their innability 4o enjoy -the fine and varied
musical entertainment provided; to the UCC, I offer my
commendations for a job well done this year.
Student power
TO THE EDITOR: I would like to comment on a .casual state
ment made by'Tony Pallimore, vice presidential candidate for
USG in the April Ist issue of the Collegian. When asked if he
would support a faculty union, Pallimore commented, “I
thought tl\ey already had a union. They always seem to work
together against us.” Despite the casualness of this remark the
misconception it contains is very dangerous. What incident is
Pallimore referring to? If he considers the use of mid-terms
and finals an example of the faculty working tdgether against
the students, he has a very distorted view of the process of
education.
Furthermore„,the faculty of this university is just as poorly
organized and powerless as the student body. Both students
and faculty from their lack of meaningful participation in
decision-making. Both students and faculty would benefit
from gains made by either of them in changing this situation.
Pallimore’s remark implies that greater faculty power would be
against the students. On the contrary, a faculty union
makes it easier for students to attain power by breaking into
the administration's domination of the decision-making
process and opening it up to other groups. If Williams and
Pallimore are really interested in student power, they should
think before making a statement that alienates a useful ally.
Low enforcement
TO THE EDITOR: I have now almost completed four years of
studying “Law Enforcement" here at Penn State 1 University and
am somewhat disillusioned at our own law enforcement
system here on University Park Campus. I feel that I know the
rules and am familiar with when and how they can be ef
fectively enforced.
Resident Assistants and the police face many problems,
both maior and minor, on a daily basis. For example, last week
there was a fire in Hamilton Hall at 1 a.m. Within minutes,
University Safety officers responded and risked their lives to
put out the fire. The smoke was very, very thick—visibility was
zero and breathing was difficult. I know, I was there. The of
ficers on the scene handled the problem tactfully and ef
ficiently. Overall—very professional.
On the other hand, the arrest of underage "possessors of
alcoholic beverages" and subsequent confiscation of the
beverage can be very abused at times. To be more specific, on
Saturday morning at approximately 11:20 a.m. two guests of a
Vietnam commitments finished
By CHARLEY MITCHELL
Collegian Columnist
The current disasterous situation in South Vietnam is
valuable in the sense that it has finally rammed home a
lesson for the U.S. South Vietnam has received over 28
per cent of all U.S. foreign aid since 1950. Close to
50,000 American men have died over there'Since 1965.
And what has happened? The Communists from the
•North are methodically overrunning the country.
America was by far the most powerful nation im
mediately following WWII. We were the military and
industrial leaders of the world. Presidents Trluman and
Eisenhower challenged communism with a passion,
pouring money into areas throughout Europe and Asia.
This big-brother attitude was evident in President
Kennedy's 1960 inaugural address in which he promised
that the U.S. would do most anything to “insure the
survival and success of liberty.”
This belief that it is America’s duty to protect en
dangered countries of the world peaked during the
Kennedy Administration, as 15,000 military advisors set
up shop in South Vietnam to help Saigon run the war
against the Viet Cong. Before long, these advisors
turned into ground troops, and, suddenly, Lyndon
Johnson found himself facing America’s first con
troversial post-war involvement. In 1965, uncjer the
advice of the Kennedy Administration which still
dominated the White House, Johnson elected to
escalate the war.
It is easy now for America to look back and blame
Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon for Vietnam, for
hindsight is far simpler than foresight. Due to the
emergence of hotbeds of Communism around the world
Yaaoirca
; 0 . n «»''s. i
Eye spy
privacy. A policeman needs a
warrant before he can physically
search any dorm room. And he
needs a list of specific illegal
material to search for. But when a
policeman looks through a tele
scope, he’s basically searching a
room without a warrant. He may
not be physically in the room but
the telescope just about puts him
there.
When the government spies on
its own citizens it’s bad enough.
But when the University spies on
the Very students that pay to keep
it going it’s disgusting. And scary.
Because for students to feel really
safe jin their rooms anymore
they're going to have to keep their
curtains closed. And you thought
that kind of thing happened only in
David Carlson
12th-electrica) engineering
Name Withheld
Hamilton resident were arrested in Hamilton Court and
charged with possession by a University Safety supervisor,
who happened to be sitting in an’ unmarked car writing out
parking tickets. The two individuals were caught carrying a tub
with a half-empty half barrel of beer in it (with the tap
removed). The two 18-year-olds were simply helping out
another person (over 21) by carrying his beer which weighs over
100 pounds. They had not had a drop to drink nor was there a
noisy or rowdy party out of hand. They now face a possible fine
of up to $3OO (usually only $25 plus costs is levied by Mr.
Yorks, who tries very hard to be fair and understanding).
The beer was confiscated, including the tap and ice, and
when I inquired as to why the tap, tub and ice must also be
taken, I was told "It is all evidence—the beer will be destroyed
and the empty keg, tap and tub can be picked up at the sheriff's
office,” (Please do not interpret this as any insinuation oh my
part that the officers will have a party with the “evidence,"
which is what students yelled out to the officers. All I am
stating is what I was told.) -
I just hate to see $2O worth of beer taken from people who
are not causing any problems.
I can only interpret this action by the officers as harassment
showing a lack of good judgement and discretion in police
work in a college environment where drinking apparently is an
accepted norm.
I have worked in a State Correctional Institution and with the
State Parole Board and I have found that under certain
situations not every rule should be enforced “strictly by the
book" (The officer quoted statutes and numbers to me from the
crime code.) t.
However, the non-drinking supervisor informed, me that he
feels that 75 per cent of our damages occur when students
drink alcohol. He told me, “Beer is worse than'a drgg; I don’t
drink.” (I was always under the impression that alcohol is
drug.) | :
Anyway, if and when I am a law enforcement official, I hope I
can do more useful things than write tickets and
confiscate (and “destroy”) beer from underage people. So it
goes!
True beauty
TCY THE EDITOR: The obvious narrow-mindedness of some
students could not have been better exemplified than by Linda
Skyrm’s 'sexist photo’ letter. Yes, Linda, an offense l?as been
committed against women, caused by lack of perceptual
abilities, ignorance and selfishness. It truly enrages me to
discover that some person has had the blatant, rudeness to
throw such a stone in the eye of pure beauty. But this offense
has not been committed by the Collegian or Eric Felack, but.
oddly enough by a real live woman.
The assumption that the ’posed picture shot’ was taken ‘with
a pre-conceived notion of displaying a woman as a sex object’
is as stupid as it is outrageous. How could such a deduction
possibly be derived from a beautiful picture of such a beautiful
person? The Collegian and Diane have been offended by such a
gross misunderstanding of their true intent to bring beauty and
aesthetic value to the masses. To these two parties, an
apology is due. I’m sure most students recognize the picture
for what it was, an expression of true, unpolluted beauty.
It also needs pointing out that Joe Penn State is not
necessarily more or less enlightened than anyone are
not a free-thinking student body, we are people; !with ob
jectivity, prejudices, values, enlightenment, sexist and non
sexist attitudes.
Beauty, then, is truly tn the eye of the beholder, as is
ugliness, obsenity, prejudice and humor. So Linda, bring your
head down from your self-righteousness cloud and realize your
own shortcomings. The picture is only degrading because you
perceive it to be so.
After all, you never thought a wrestler’s ass was sexist, did
you? s->
How about it, girls? '
Michael Prenn
9th—business administration
and the increasing strength of the Communist
superpowers, Nixon had us patching differences with
the Soviet Union and China while we continued to fight
communism in other areas—such as Vietnam.
American foreign policy was wise until the Vietnam
tragedy. Economic aid failed to stop Communism in
China, so we swallowed the lumps and went on. The
Marshall Plan and the Truman Doctrine bolstered the
entire free world, and the U.S. was truly big brother to
the free world.
Smaller countries no longer line up behind either the
U.S. or the Soviet Union. Many are pursuing their own
interests independent of the superpowers—Portugal is
not as closely aligned with the West as it once was, and
North Vietnam, while Communist, has managed to
remain free of policy commitments to either China or
the Soviet Union.
What the U.S. elects to do about South Vietnam in
1975 will be a landmark decision in its foreign policy. In
four short months since Christmas, we will have cut off
military aid to Turkey, almost certainly to Cambodia,
and probably South Vietnam, which has received more
U.S. aid since 1950 than any other nation.
The Executive branch of government doesn’t seem to
want to stop playing big brother. President Ford wants
to send $3OO million to South Vietnam, despite the fact
that the Viet Cong have captured five provinces in the
last week and now control roughly half of the country.
Virtually all of the remaining area is endangered of
falling: South Vietnamese soldiers are deserting at the
rate of 24,000 per month, corruption infests both the
government and the military, and opposition to
President Thieu runs deeper than ever.
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger has been chiding a
police states. Or in Orwell’s
''1984.” '
The police claim telescopes can
be used to prevent rapes and
other violent crimes in dorms. First
of all, not enough violent crimes
occur in dorm rooms to warrant
spying with telescopes. Second of
all, a policeman on top of a campus
building can see a rape being com
mitted just as easily without a'tele
scope. How are women to tell if a
policeman is looking for pot with
his telescope or looking for some
excitement?
"I spy with my little eye” used to
be played during grade school
recess. But now University Safety
is playing. And instead of marbles,
they’re playing for real.
In a town where students comprise
more than half of the population, it’s
amazing what little influence they have.
Consider our situation, due to this
lack of influence. We have landlords who
are unresponsive to the needs their
tenants. Our State College Borough
Council has taken two years to legislate
one bike path. We have the third highest
rents in the Borough Council has
failed to act on the proposed Human
Relations Ordinance. The list goes on
and on.
The reason students have so little
influence is because they choose to.
They sit back and let others participate
in community affairs for them. And
frequently those .people who do the
participating don’t care much about
students.
. Name Withheld
This week you can do something to
rectify this situation. This week the
League of Women Voters will be con
ducting a local voter regjstration drive
for the upcoming May 20th primary.
j From 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and from
10 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, you can
register to vote at the Glennland Build
ing—l 37 S. Pugh St., across from the
parking garage. Or at the Nittany Mall on
Saturday.
IJ’s completely painless and chances
are* you'll be glad you did it. If you’re
afriad, or don’t know the advantages of
registering to vote in State
College—read on!
Today, the privilege of registering to
vote locally is guaranteed. This hasn't
always been the case though. It fs im
portant to understand the battle
students fought to obtain this privilege.
In June, 1970, the 26th Amendment
was ratified, giving 18-year-olds the right
to [vote. Also that year, the Federal
•Bureau of Census counted students as
residents of their college towns. All over
the country, students began registering
in their collegetommunities.
All over the country that is, except in
Centre County, where the county
commissioners ruled that students were
not residents and refused to allow them
to register. A popular slogan at the time
Congress reluctant to grant the aid. He claims that the
$3OO million investment is worth proving to our allies
that we will uphold our commitments, even if the
country is to fall anyway. Kissinger has offered a.
compromise to Congress, asking them to authorize $5.5 -
billion to be spread out over a three-year period.
Congressional approval appears highly unlikely.
President Thieu has given up several northern
provinces, abandoning thousands of his countrymen to
the advancing Communists. This abandonment was
done in the hope that what is left of South Vietnam’s
military forces will be able to set up stronger lines of
defense to the south, protecting the area around
Saigon. ,
The possibility of this strategy succeeding is not very
good, with or without Ford's $3OO million. ’ South
Vietnamese morale has never been lower, the Com
munists have captured many South Vietnamese troops
and their U.S.-made weapons, and the Southern cities
are teeming, with starving, homeless At this
point, the only tactic which can stave off an eventual
Communist take-over is the reentry of the U.S. into the
war—a prospect that governmental pragmatism and
public opiniomwill never permit.
By trying to send more military aid to South Vietnam,
Ford and I Kissinger are perpetuating the myth that the
U.S. has to support every nation of the free world. Why
not send humanitarian assistance to the country while
negotiating a peaceful transition to power by a coalition
government consisting of North and South Vietnamese?
Indochina is no longer America’s backyard, for our key
interests lie elsewhere. We have been in South Vietnam
for 17 years, and, finally, our commitments and
obligations are finished.
Assert
your
voting
power
By 808 BRICMONT
Collegian Columnist
'We still have a firm hold on Saigon.’
was, "In Russia they tell you who to vote
for —In Centre County, they tell you you
can’t vote.” ’ •
In October of 1971, 11 Penn Statfc
students filed a class action suit against
the commissioners in Federal Court in
Scranton. Judge Neiland ruled in favor of
the students and ordered the com
missioners to open the registration
process. however,
resisted. They set up guidelines that
many students were unable to meet.
They demanded proof of residency: past'
rent receipts, iccal credit cards and a
local driver’s license. Students were
effectively unable to register.
/'his time however, the Com
monwealth came to the students aid.
Delores Tucker, Secretary of State,
brought in Federal marshals to oversee
the registration process. Finally
students were allowed to register with
out harassment.
Things moved along smoothly until
December of 1973, when the com
missioners came up with a new trick:
student taxation.
This in itself was not a crime. All good
citizens are expected to pay taxes. What
was a crime was that the commissioned ■
changed "the county exoneration polk _v
at the same time. (Exoneration is tl'3
process by which those who are unab a
to pay their taxes are excused from
doing so.)
Prior to this policy change,
exoneration had been granted for two
reasons.
1) Financial inability excused anyone
who earned under $l,BOO annually.
2) Non-residency was granted to any
citizen who paid taxes elsewhere.
The commissioners changed the
financial inability clause to excuse
anyone who made under $l,BOO annually
and was over 65 years old.
This left students in a dilemma.
AWrough 98 per cent of the un
defbtaduate student body made under
$l,BOO, not many were over 65 years old.
This only way to avoid paying the tax
was’ to seek exoneration by claiming
non-residency. And this is exactly what
the commissioners had hoped the
students would do. Their logic was, if
students claimed to be non-residents for
tax purposes, they couldn't vote here.
' Although poll taxes went out with the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, the county
commissioners established one here in
Centre County. For the second time in
two years, a class action suit was filed
against the commissioners, this time by
four students and two other State
College residents. The entire tax was
thrown out as a result.
Even though the lost
the battle, they may have won the war.
As a result of the confusion precipitated
by the tax policy, students have been
hesitant to register. This has happened,
even though it has been clearly
established that registering to vote, and
Collegian
JERRY SCHWARTZ
Editor
Editorial policy is determined by the Editor
Opinions expressed by the editors and staff of The Daily Collegian are not necessarily
those of the University administration, faculty or students
Editorial Staff: 865-1828
Sports Staff:B6s-1820
Business Staff: 865-2531
BOARD OF EDITORS: MANAGING EDITOR. Randy Woodbury. EDITORIAL EDITOR Sheila
McCauley; NEWS EDITOR, Jim-Kuhnhenn; ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR. John McDermott
COPY EDITORS. Jeff Deßray, Marie Green, Nancy Postrel; LAYOUT EDITORS Robyn
Moses, Pam Reasner; SPORTS EDITOR, Jeff Young. ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS Dave
Morris, Mike Rodman; PHOTO EDITOR, Eric Felack; ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS. Ira Joffe
Tom Peters; EDITORIAL CARTOONISTS, Bob Conn. Tom Gibb: WEATHER REPORTER
Paul Knight. ’
BOARD OF MANAGERS: ADVERTISING MANAGER, David Lang, ASSISTANT ADVER
TISING MANAGERS, Rich Green. Joan Kirschner; NATIONAL ADVERTISING MANAGER
Kim Batey ’
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paying taxes, have nothing to do with
each other.
Hopefully, this discussion will clear
up some of the mystery surrounding the
issue, and get on with the
reasons for registering. ’
First off, and perhaps most obvious,
you live here, at least nine months out of
the year. And this benefits a lot of
people. The merchants, landlords and
businessmen in State College exist on
• the student dollar. And believe it or not,
so does local government. When
students were added to the census.
Centre County went from a sixth to a
fifth class county —entitling all county
employes to a nice pay raise. This in
crease in the census has also doubled
State College’s revenue sharing funds
You should have some say in how these
monies are spent.
Another point to consider is the nature
of a transient population. There will
always be 30,000 students living in this
area. If they never participate in local
government, students will always be
second class citizens. When your little
brother or sister comes to Penn State in
1984. students will still be taken ad
vantage of just like they are now. A
transient population needs represen
tation just as much as a permanent
population does.
Students trave recently been, and are
presently, running for local offices. They
need". the support of the student
population. Only one student has ever
been elected to Borough Council —Dean
Phillips. In 1973, a student lost the
mayoral primary by only 14 votes (to a
man who has been in local and state
government for 40 years). A stronger
student voting bloc could have assured
his victory.
By supporting student-oriented
candidates, we can-affect many local
issues—rent control, ’ the Human
Refations Ordinance, bike lanes, mass
transit, landlord-tenant legislation and
consumer protection. Without the
student vote, these issues will be
decided for us or possibly never even be
raised.
. If you are registered to vote elsewhere,
it's easy to switch. The registrars will
inform your local courthouse and have
your name removed from the rolls there.
If you are registered in State. College,
but have moved, file.a change of address
card with the registrars.
If you have’ no intention of doing
anything, why not leave town? You're
just dead weight for those people who
really care.
To register to vote here is in your own
best interest. And if enough of us do it,
we might be able to do something about
our lack of influence.
The potential of 30.000 student voters
is overwhelming.
Be a part of it.
Register.
ROBERT A. MOFFETT
Business Manager
Business Office Hours
Monday through Friday
9:3oam to 4 p m
TH3E Gets L.
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