Editorial opinion
In name only
Isn't it wonderful that 18-year
olds can vote? Doesn't it make you
feel like an adult, knowing you'll
have a hand in electing the next
President? And isn't it a kick in the
k teeth that you're entrusted with
'4
such a sacred privilege aficlyet are
constantly denied the other
privileges that accompany
adulthood?
The University Faculty Senate
voted this week that' parents of
students under 21 years of age
will be notified when their children
withdraw from the University.
That's just great, isn't it? Even if
you've supported yourself through
college, you can't leave the
University without your parents
Utters to the Editor
One point
TO THE EDITOR: The article in the Tuesday, Dec. 9 Collegian,
on the undesirability of an anti-abortion , constitutional
amendment, it seems, reflects only one point of view, and the
Collegian would be doing a disservice to the public not to
present the equally pertinant anti-abortionist's point of view.
Whitley's article states that a "human life" amendment
would deny the American people the right to freedom of
religion, compelling them to adhere to some Roman Catholic,
Orthodox Jewish, and a few fundamentalist Protestant group
beliefs. Because Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant religions TO THE EDITOR: Eva C. Whitley's editorialJ on the abortion
profess that stealing a person's private property is wrong, does proposal is a demonstration of propaganda con,varable to that
American law deny people freedom of religion by prohibiting --,of a skilled politician. Her hypothetical society in the begin
stealing'? Communists believe in taking peoples' private fling of the article is a good exampl& I could create a parallel
property, therefore American law denies Communists their society in which birth control wasl compUliory, conception
'right" to exercise their beliefs. In this sense American law wa; illegal, and people over sixty-five were put painlessly to
favors the Catholic, Protestant and Jewish religious belief, and sle p. '
rejects the Communist belief.
„I am surprised that someone with puch a brilliant knowledge
Whitley argues that a proilife amandment would make poor of' the 'Bill of Rights could have such little feeling for what
women suffer more "from the effects of unwanted pregnan- rttese amendments really representi-Yes, the First Amendment
cies" than WASP women because poor women have less "Tails for ithe separation of Church and State, but abortion is a
access to contraceptives. Suffering is a relative experience. moral, rather than a religious issue. Just because the
There are many women whose happiest experiences are the Catholics and other groups have the morals to see the wrong in
knowledge that they will be bringing a child into the world and it, does this make its illegality unconstitutional? These groups
wit' have the opportunity to help that child develop people also preach - against stealing, and murder. I suppose laws
who favor abortion seem embarrassed to admit such ideas - against these Crimes violate the First lAmendment, also.
as if they were trying to brainwash the public, through a
• - ;onstant barrage of "newthink." •
Finally Whitley states, "who has tie right to use another
person's body and life support systems; against their will?"
This statement comes - right dowri to the core of morality itself.
Alho has the right to breathe the air and to eat
. the plants and,
ant rats which are supplied by the earth'silife support systemil
Adolf 1-11 . 1er asserted that Jews aid not have that right, that
elarded persons did not have that right, that handicapped
oerspns did not have that right, !aril I* . wrinkled old people
die' or.. hat right. And helproved his assertion by suf
ii, a' many millions of thee .perwns in the Nazi !gas
:hampers. The Catholic Church, rthe Protestant Churches, and -
most especially the Jewish people speak i i dirept antithesis to
I,s ns Opinion or not, the views that Jews, retarded
;ieople handicapped people, and wriiikted people have!the
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are legal in this state.. Eighteeri
year-old criminals are ic p 1 in adiat
courts. And the final s n the
face -'- 18-year-Ois elect the ,
state senators and representatives
who continue tp treat them' like
minors.
If, according to the legislatgre's
and the . Faculty Senate's
reasoning, 18-year-olds aren't
mature enou43.to handle Ggpor or•
handle wit drawing from the
University, how can they 60. ecf
Pennsylvania 18-year-olds can them to vote riesponsibly7
own a bar. They can even work in Maybe the legislature and the
their bar. But they can't drink Senate don't think voting iis an
there. And the state legislature adult privilege.' Or maybe the 18-
defeated two attempts last fall to - year-old adults on this campus.or
do away with that ridiculous law: in this state, i for that matter, are
Contracts that 18-year-olds sign adultd in name only.
knowing about it.
That makes most Penn State
students adults in name only. The
federal government has called us
adults and allowed us to vote. But
— the *state of Pennsylvania anti the
University both ignore federal
opinion that 18-year-olds are
adults.
The Faculty Senate's decision
this week on withdrawal is in
keeping with state decisions.
right to l ive on earth was asserted on the defeat of N azism after
World War 11.
The present struggle between those who want to kill the
baby in , a mbther's womb, and those who believe it has the
right to live, is a struggle of the same caliber.
Parallel '
In all her twisting and bending of the Constitutional
Amendments,' Ms. Whitley is careful not to mention that the
Fifth Amendment tells us no person shall "be deprived of life
... without due process of law." I realize this leaves me wide
open, to the argument that the unborn child Is not a person.
This is a matter of semantics, and whether life starts at
cdriception, heartbeat, or birth, it Is still human life. It will
develop: into a person, with arms, legs; fingernails, and a
mind. Just how do you classify the fetus, as"thing?"
I am not a Rdman Catholic. Nor am I an Orthodox Jew or a
Protestant. I do' not belong to any of Ms. Whitley's so-called
"mandatory motherhood groups." I simply see immorality in
abortion by chdice. I can see the.need fon abortion when a
woman'p life would be threatened by childbirth, when a woman
has been raped, or in a few other isolated 'occasions. It is the
unquestioned slaughter of something so helpless that strikes
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The University's rape hearings
they a rush to judgment?
were
By JOHN DeVAULT
Collegian Columnist
Students often complain about how long it takes to
get anything done through University channels, but this
past weekend the University showed just how fast it can
get something done when it really wants to.
In case people didn't notice, and they certainly might
be excused if they didn't, the University finished its
hearings on the Oct. 10 alleged rape at Fiji fraternity
this - past Saturday. That's got to be some sort of a
record, the hearings having begun, only two days before.
The hearings` ere closed to the public and absolutely
no infbrmation as to whet had been found out or what
actions were taken was released by the University. In
fact, the University was in such a hurry to get the thing
over with and, I suspect, to get it over with during the
Weekend that it missed the testimony of at least one ,
witness and additional eVidence which surfaced shortly
after it had closed up shop.
It will not re-open its hearings to hear this new
evidence, but has instead sent it over to the_lnter
fraternity Council's Board of Control, which iecOn-
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ducting its own investigation.
The reason given for all this haste.and*crecy is that
the individuals involved, both the alleged victim and the
defendants, have a right to protection; from undue
publicity and the harassment that might arise from such
a sensitive matter. And this is certainly a valid prin
ciple; no one involved should have to be raked over the
coals by a scandal-hungry public.
But the University community at large also has some
rights in this matter, and I think we've been poorly
served by the blanket of silence the Unive(sity hps
draped over the entire matter. Specifically, the
University community needs to know that - the matter
was fully investigated and that jUstice was done. Of
course, the appetites of those who want to know exactly
who did what to whom how many times should not be
fed; but the itudentsi do have a right a need to
khow that as far as the University can prevent it, such a
rape, if it occurred, will not happen again.
The need for a clear demonstration by the University
that it will not tolerate rape of any kind was shown only
too clearly in a recent statement by the presiderit of Fiji
fraternity. In reference to the alleged
.rape and the
identification of the writer can be-made, although names can be withheld on request. If
r• letters are received by maiF, the Collegian will contact the 'tigner for verification before
,
publication. Letters cannot be returned.
me as immoral. This is a definition of abortion by choice.
Ask someone who has been adopted if he or she would
rather have been aborted.
Preventive detention
TO THE EDITOR: In response to Ms. Schoors letter of 12-9-75,
I wish to bring up certain facts of which she was apparently
unaware at the time she wrote that "non-Jews in` Israel are
treated like any other citizen (sic)":
So-called "preventive detention" is routine for Arabs in Israel
and is frequently; accompanied by torture, according to
Ma'ariv, Amnesty :International, and the International Red
Cross. "5,620 Arabs have been sentenced in the Gaza strip
alone for life imprisonment and hard labor... among prisoners
there are men over 80 years old and children between 12-14
years of age"-Ma'ariv 5-3-71. "On a visit which was carried out
without the presence of an observer, 81 prisoners were found
huddled in one cell. The prisoners all declared that they were
not allowed to leave their cells, even to use the toilets or
washing facilities. They had•to use the the cell tap which was
situated only 15 cm. from i the level of the floor"-International
Committee of the Red Cross, Report, 12-5-68. "He (Moham
med Kader Derbas) has been castrated in Gaza. The operation
took place when the witness was hospitalized for treatment
several other men had been castrated who were unwilling to
testify" U.N. Working Group 2-11-70. I would refer her also
to Amnesty International's April, 1970 "Report on Israeli
Methods of Torture," and to the numerous reports of the
closing of Arab hospitals and clinics on the West Bark, the
dynamiting of parish schools and churches (and the con
fiscation of money sent from the U.S. to rebuild them), the
imprionment of the archbishop of Jerusalem upOn his refusal
to go into exile, and the numerous articles in Israeli medical
journals encouraging birth control, abortion and castration for
Atabs but fertility drugs and increased incentives to bear
children for Jews. •
Now, I ask you, is that equal treatment?
Non-sequitur
TO THE EDITOR: To any ; reader of Ms. Whitley's Collegian
Forum article "Abortion Proposal Unconstitutional" it is
obvious that the author has no understanding of the purpose or
the intended effects of the "Fetal Lite Amendment." She must
have an excellent imagination to come up wit b the statement
that lUD's could be consideredconcealed deadly weapons,
accidehtal miscarriage could be considered manslaughter, and
the IRS could subject women to month pelvic exams "if the
National Conference of'Cat holic Bishops has its way," but her
logic, or lack thereof, astounds me:even more than her
:prophetic visions. She recurrently equates the Fetal Life
Amendment with the Catholic Church, ignoring the substantial
suppcirt it has received trOm other corners.
She is a mater of the scare-tactic and the non-sequitur.
Moaning about ithe separation of church and state has little to
do with the issue at hand: the preservation of innocent human
life I doubt that many'people consider Roman Catholicism a
sine qua non of, an antiabortion stance. Preserving human life
doesn't make us a ,nation of 210 million Catholics. As for the
statement "in all good; conscience, I cannot call them (man
datory motherhOod groups) 'pro-life' since life is clearly not'
what they're interested in," it baffles me. What can she mean?
Does she know?lf She knows, why won't she tell us?
'One' of her majOr arguments 'concerns, the chronology of ,
abortion laws vs. the passage of the Ninth' Amendment, which
provided, according to Ms. Whitley, that any.right held by the
people could 'not be disparaged or denied by the government.
May I Interject that In 1791 one of the cherished rights of many
A%ericans was the right to own slaves?
The author contends that 'legislation has never stopped
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than two persons and ..cyonger than 30 lines. Students' letters should include the name.
term and major of the writer.
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Joseph Cusatis
2nd-finance
Judy Foster
graduate-linguistics
subsequent demonstration, he said, "Even if it did
happen, this demonstration is premature. The city
police ... have not filed any charges."
Now, I've read that over quite a few times, the first
two or three just to make sure I'd read it right, but in the
end it only comes out one way: the president of the
fraternity where a rape might have taken place thinks it's
just fine if one did' because, after all, it wasn't an illegal
rape. So what's all the fuss about, girls?
I'll leave it to anybody who thinks it's safe to get near "
him to decide what to do with this particular fraternity
president, and I'll refrain from drawing any conclusions "
abotit fraternity l inen in general. But could there-be any
clearer demonstration that it isn't enough to do justice,
but that it is also necessary to show that justice has
been done, anatthat it takes a good smack with a two by
four just to get some people's attention?
I would like to see the University state. simply
whether or nod a rape occurred last Oct. 10 and, if so,
what it did abriut it No names. no "sordid details": just
an assurance' to most of us. and a warning, to those
few others, that this University will not tolerate rape
"illegal" or not.
abortions, but has instead driven underground." Some of
them, of course, but all of them? Scary stories about
motorcycle mechanics like the one Ms. Whitely herself
mentioned ensured that many illegal abortions never took
place. •
Ms. Whitely also feels that the proposed amendment will
"negate a woman's life in cases where abortion is necessary to '
save her life." Maybe if she took the time to read the amen
dment she would realize that it doesn't apply to cases where
the mother's life is endangered.
I will concede that more protection against pregnancy is
necessary in light of this new amendment,. but contraception
has always been a major concern. Although because of my '
personal beliefs, I would not practice birth control, I will
staunchly defend the right of any woman to conscientious
contraceptive education. Let her exercise her "right to choose"
before she conceives, thereby bringing a living individual into
this world. (Fetuses
an
alive. Witness Dr. Edelin's conviction
for manslaughter of an aborted fetus that lived after removal
from his mother's womb.)
In her conclusion Ms. Whitely flaunts her credentials as a
former Catholic as if we should accept her argume r pts on the '
basis of her conversion from what she considers archaic
beliefs to what she thinks is free-thinking. Unfortunately, her
incessant taunting of the Catholic Church leads one to believe
that she is prejudiced rather than unprejudiced. Dragging the
Church Into almost every one of her arguments only weakens
them further and leads to the speculation that perhaps she is
not attacking the Fetal Life Amendment but rather is venting
her spleen against the Catholic Church.
I urge all Collegian readers to reread her article scrupulously
(you'll find many more logical fallacies that don't require an A
in Phil 12 to spot) and to take her brand of inciting, incised
"journalism" with a grain of salt.
:Collegian
JERRY SCHWARTZ
Editor
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