Editorial opinion
The party’s
The dorm party. It’s become as
much a part of Penn State tradition
as Joe Patemo or a mint chocolate
chip ice cream cone from the
Creamery.
It exists many’times to the
dismay (or disgust) of residence
hall coordinators or the few
students who choose to spend
their Saturday nights hitting books
instead of bottles.
And now, like many great
traditions before it, the dorm party
must face a challenge.
As a result of the now well
known chugging incident in Beaver
Hall last week, the Association of
Residence Hall Students (ARHS)
coordinators said they will intensify
enforcement of the University’s
drug and alcohol policies.
And, in the same spirit of
righteousness, the coordinators
saw fit to dismiss the Beaver Hall
RA from his duties for the rest of
the Summer Term.
Let terrorists have Uganda —
Amin welcomes them warmly
The tragedy, at Kampala’s Entebbe
Airport earlier this month has focused
attention on one of the world's worst
tyrants Uganda’s President-for-llfe Idl
Amin Dada, the man who took power in
1971 by way of a bloody coup.
Amin evidentally helped the terrorists
in many ways, according to Israeli
Ambassador to the - United Nations
Chaim Herzog and also according to
various other European diplomats.
Herzog claims that the hijackers knew
where they were going before they left
Greece, that the terrorists were relieved
at the sight of the army at Entebbe, that
Amin warmly embraced the hijackers
when they arrived, and that the Ugan
dans supplied machine guns and men to
guard the hostages.
Amin has always been anti-Israel and
pro-Arab, because his country needs
monetary aid from Arab oil countries. He
was close to madness when he
discovered the raid had taken place, and
responded by killing off the airport tower
Letters to the Editor
Canned
TO THE EDITOR: Firing the resident assistant In Beaver Hall
and enforcing anti-party regulations in the dorms are reaotlons
typical of the authoritarian policies of Residential Life
Programs staff. The high staffers of RL, In spite of their liberal
platitudes and wire rim glasses, are paranoid of the dorm
residents. They would rather slap hands and dictate wide
ranging flats than encourage common sense In dealing with
alcohol and drugs.
If reactionary paranoia is not the cause, then the Residential
Life staff Is guilty once again of kow-towing to the pressures
from above. I can picture the Director sweating with visions of
being “called to the carpet" to account for the Irresponsible
actions of his students In his dorms.
In any case, It is typical for a resident assistant to get
canned and for another pile of papal bull to get shoveled down
the line. The RA Is the most expendable thread in the web of
Residential Life and he has little recourse for appeal. This
makes the RA a perfect scapegoat when things go wrong In the
dorms. And of course, there’s nothing easier than to come up
with more rules and regulations.
But rules cannot replace common sense, nor can common
sense be enforced. Students will drink too much, smoke too
much, abuse drugs and otherwise behave like asses. This Is
the universal right of the student. Lee Upcrafj and all the rules
In the world will not change this.
To you students who feel hassled by your RAs; feel some
compassion. The RA is selected for his creativity and
leadership abilities, but he Is placed in a position where
While the coordinators’ actions
may be in tune with University reg
ulations, they certainly strike a
sour note when judged on. a
rational scale.
You can tighten rules regarding
pot and booze. You can replace
one RA with another. You can
search students’ rooms, and ask
for their identification.
But you can’t regulate student
behavior. Even the highest law of
the land cannot make intelligence
and common sense mandatory.
Asking Penn State students to
stop throwing parties in their
dorms is like asking Billy Graham
to stop crusading it’s almost like
asking a person to renounce his or
her religion.
But the real fault in the coor
dinators’ recent edict is that it is a
panic reaction to a single un
fortunate incident.
It has been an unwritten law that
RA’s would ‘look the other way’ as
controllers, all the Kenyans he could
find (Kenya had permitted the rescue
plane to land when they ran low on fuel)
and one little old lady who had been
I, Shemick
taken off the hostage list for medical
reasons. The Ugandans say she was not
their problem, especially after the raid,
and since then, no one has been able to
find her. Reliable sources say she is
dead.
Refugees fleeing Uganda say that
Amin has been taking revenge also on
those people who, in the past, have
regulations preclude original approaches to problems and
where enforcement of rules replaces leadership.
This situation cannot last for long. The Residential Life
Program will either be reformed or forgotten In some future
year’s budget. So here’s looking at you, kid.
Just the facts
TO THE EDITOR: Does the "chugging episode" truly stiffen
the rules? It doesn't seem so In Wednesday’s front page ar
ticle. Who and what kind of authority is “an R.A. said,” and
"several sources?” if Kathy O'Toole and Mike Grice had
bothered Tom Eakin and-or Lee Upcraft maybe you could have
received solid facts, something worth publishing. This article
appears to be a gossipy, exaggerated front page filler. Quit
persecuting Phil Wilts. Get the facts from the reliable source,
then put It to the press.
Land of 'Oz'
TO THE EDITOR: A painfulfact for us all In recent years (the
past nine In a row to be exact) has been the annual tuition
increase every year the leaves fall. Every year the snow flies.
Every year Santa comes. And every year the students at Penn
over
kegs or fifths are ’snuck’ into
dorms. And it has also been an un
written law that students would do
their best at keeping things in hand
and under control.
It was a flexible system, a
system of compromising. For the
RA, caught in the nearly impossible
position of pleasing and gaining
the respect of both administrators
AND students, it made things a lit
tle easier.
The job of keeping hundreds of
students ’in line’ is difficult enough.
It is a job that requires a personal
approach and individual sound
judgment.
A blanket ruling will not stop
students from smoking or drinking
excessively. If they can’t do it in
the dorms, they’ll simply do it
elsewhere.
Drinking while at college will
survive. It’s the one tradition
students will fight to save.
U.S. needs
The Democrats have chosen a presidential candidate.
In two weeks the Republican party will meet in Kansas
City to pick their standard bearer.
It is almost certain that the next President of the
United States will be chosen from among Jimmy Carter,
Gerald Ford or, God-help-us, Ronald Reagan.
What is not certain is the course any one of these
three men will lead our nation on as we enter the last
quarter of the twentieth century.
What is certainly needed is a plan, one that will look
at America's current economic, social, and political
problems in terms of the next 25-50 years.
Alvin Toffler, author of "Future Shock," said recently,
"The American future Is being stolen, dribbled and
bumbled away by a government that does not plan for
the long range, does not know how to plan, is afraid to
talk about th 6 need for long-range planning, and is
therefore being outplanned ... by major corporations
and by foreign nations."
We have been cast adrift, as a nation, for the past
decade by leaders with short-sighted policies designed
to serve their immediate constituency and by caretaker
government whose only goal is to offend as few people
as possible.
While our government has remained virtually
paralyzed through the late sixties and seventies, the
world has gone through great change both at home and
abroad. Science and technology, the growth of suburbs
and the decay of cities, popular education and racial
tensions,have, challenged our old Institutions,.schools,
social conventions and traditional morality. It has
been a period of shocking political and business
corruption. It has been a period of confusion.
spoken out against the government’s
policies. Such people have disappeared
Into the night, 1984-style, and never
heard from again.
Amin Is truely a homicidal maniac. He
has to be the worst possible "leader” for
a black African nation struggling to
modernize and become self-sufficient.
In the words of an unidentified African
diplomat, "I’m only .sorry the Israelis
couldn’t have shot Amin along with the
hijackers. Africans would have been the
better for it.”
Amin's Nazi-like country, where
soldiers have the power of life and death
over the civilians, where the military
serves as a personal bodyguard for the
dictator, where dissent is swiftly and
viciously punished, is the perfect haven
for terrorists. It’s a fair bet that the latest
hijacking diverted there will not be the
last.
As a matter of fact, there's no reason
why the terrorists can’t have a country of
their own. Let It be Uganda.
Wm. J. Holland
13th-Journ and former RA
State get a size twelve (or whatever Oswald wears) right In their
collective anal orifice. ' ,
Why does this happen? Part of the reason Is that certain
parties know they can get away with It. For now.
vjn Wednesday’s Collegian, right on the front page, we see a
picture, accompanied by a story, of the university's newest
acquisition, a quarter million dollar airplane, (A humble llmo?
Forget It!), to match the one they already have. And, as the
story stated, when a Collegian reporter Inquired about It to the
appropriate worthless bureaucrat, she was met with what
could only be described as utter arrogance andcontemptl
Of course, folks, you know how It Is. Whenever someone
else has your money in their hands (paws?), it is not un
characteristic for them to (A) not give a shit how much of It
they spend, or (B) not give a shit who knows It. Look at all the
money poured down the tubes supporting faclsm in Vietnam.
Same principle, same arrogance.
Chrla Vlncelette
Sth-Arta
We're getting these tuition hikes shoved down our throats so
people like J.O. (Doesn't necessarily stand for John Oswald)
can pretend they’re president of some banana republic, and
buzz through the clouds in alr-conditloned, pressurized,
burgeois opulence.
I'm a little unsure how other suckers (excuse me,Penn State
students) might feel when they look up and see this plane but,
If It ever flies over my house, I’ll do two things:
plans, not just visions
The American people have grown Inward, become
self-centered and self-concerned. We have at times
demanded government responsive to our needs and
desires, but not responsible government. It has been a
period of misplaced priorities.
This attitude can have traglc'consequences, leading
us toward short term government and military policies
necessitated by lost economic and social reform op
portunities, that may threaten our peaceful existence.
S
‘ ’
Now is the time to formulateanswers that will work in
the long run and apply them to problems of race
relations, economics, and transportation. These
problems along with those concerning conservation and
the selective development of national and world
resources, reassessment of education systems, and
city renaissance, while pressingly grave are still
plannable; The solutions or at least workable planning
toward the eventual solutions can be at our fingertips
noW with a little effort.
We have the resources to make this start. The op
portunity is, however, a fleeting one. The problems will
become more unmanageable as time passes.
The first step toward any solution must be a
willingness by a majority of people to make a com-
X MCE we closed
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MObflftL
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(1) I'll think of the winged monkles of the "Wizard of Oz"
(2) I'll shoot the thing down.
JANICE SELINGER
Summer Editor
BOARD OF EDITORS: EDITORIAL EDITOR, Janie Musalaw
NEWS EDITOR, Paula Gochnour; WIRE EDITOR, Laura;
Shemlck; COPY EDITORS, Debbie Fitch, Mike Joseph
SPORTS EDITOR, Bob Buday; PHOTO EDITOR, Barry"
Wyshinski; WEATHERMAN, Scott Chesner. ‘
Editorial policy Is determined by the Editor. *
Opinions expressed by the editors and staff of the Dally”
Collegian are not necessarily those of the University ad-*
ministration, faculty or students.
Mailing Address: Box 467, State College, Pa. 16801
Office: 126 Carnegie
mitment to participation In the decision making
processes. A creative, participatory, anticipatory must]
be created if America Is to survive its third century. •*
We must choose leaders with more care. We musft
choose leaders who possess the character, intellect anta;
personality to deal with a rapidly changing world, to
positively affect change; leaders who can cope with the
trends and priorities of the coming years.
We must demand more of our political leaders. i
We must demand more of the candidates in thls
presidential election year. We must ask them some hard
questions and we should expect hard answers front'-
those who ask for the public trust. *
Gerald Ford, while given only a limited opportunity it
is true, has been content to tread water. We can
expect no more from him than continued reactionary
government if he is elected to a full term as president. *
Ronald Reagan is an unprincipled politician, a
demagogue content to appeal to the
prejudices and fears of America In his quest for politick
power. He cannot be taken.seriously. "i
Jimmy Carter may be the visionary force this country
needs as it enters its third century, but as yet his
dreams of the future remain clouded by a reluctance to
articulate them in specific terms. Campaign strategy of
a man smart enough to be cautious about the easily;
offended American public, It is to be hoped. a
But the voters should be cautious. They should
demand to see a plan. “
“Some people plan, others are planned upon. Some
governments plan, others are planned upon,” Toffler
asserted. '
Let's wake up and choose a president and other
government leaders who will give us not just direction
for today but also a map for the future. >
jk
BQR£T
ASAiNn,
Kerry Hlxenbaugh,
10th-anthropology;
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NADINE KINSEY’’-
Business Manager