Editorial opinion
Everyone wants a break
especially a tax break.
Congress might, just might, give
students a $lOO tax rebate start
ing next year. The rebate would
serve as an indirect subsidy of
higher education, an area which
has been losing governmental sup
port in recent years. Best of all, the
break would be given to students
from every economic stratum, with
a reduction for the upper middle
class and rich.
The tax rebate, unfortunately, is
languishing in a Congressional
committee for political reasons.
The problem isn’t with what the
committee is doing; it’s with what
they can’t do.
Because of Rep. Al Ullman’s (D-
Arizona) refusal to appoint mem
bers for a required committee,
House Speaker Carl Albert is let
ting time run out on the rebate bill.
With only five working days left
Sorry Charlie,
all booked up
Charles was seething as he turned his alarm clock off,
•It was his one day of the week to sleep late, and this was the
fourth time an alarm clock had awakened him that morning.
First to wake was James, his ROTC roommate. James always
woke up at 6 a.m. and ran to and from the Nittany Mall before
first period.
Another roommate woke up Just before first period, throwing
his.pajamas on Charles’s face in his haste to get dressed. A
third roommate who awoke before second, had a peculiar habit
of retching in the morning.
Charles did not like living in a study lounge. Living in
temporary housing was like living in a flop house; he felt like
he was living out of a suitcase, or perhaps in a suitcase,
And then there was his girl friend, a comely ERM major
named Polly. He had given up on trying to clear out his
roommates for a tryst with Polly, and now had to be content
with holding her hand while he ate taco dogs, a difficult feat in
itself.
But the University said that this was necessary. The
University said that the dorms must be overbooked, but thdt
there was a fairly'good chance that a number of students
would, drop out or try to chug a half-gallon of Southern
Comfort, allowing Charles to move into a real room by mid-
April.
In the meantime', Charles would have to put up with the
hassles, and the glares from floormates who desired a lounge
in which they could study and have birch beer parties.
Charles grumbled some more as he stood in line to take a
shower. He was hungry, but he decided against the idea of
going over to the dining hall for lunch. The dining hall was
overbooked, and the lines would be long. He rejected the idea
of standing in line for meat loaf sandwiches as an affront to his
dignity. .
Instead, he decided to stop in to see his adviser. He wanted
to know if there was some chance he could pick up Sewer
Engineering 101; his major was overbooked, and he had been
trying without success for four terms to pick up that vital
Picketer protests sexist crimes
Cynthia Zuikowski
State College resident
The editorial page has recently
carried considerable criticism of those
who picketed “Tender Flesh.” As one
who took part in the protest, I faced all
the objections you and your readers
have raised. I thought them through
and decided to stay in the picket line.
Let me tell you why.
One letter to the editor pleaded the
case for freedom of expression: film
makers should be free to photograph
what they choose and moviegoers
should be free to see it. Understand
first of all that we did not physically
prevent anyone from entering' the
theater. A good many patrons crossed
the line unharmed and bought tickets
despite our chant that "You’d have to
be sick to see this flick."
Realize, secondly, that our society
sets the limit of personal freedom at
the point where one’s actions threaten
the safety and well being of others.
No one has the right to injure anyone.
To the extent that we did seek a curb
Tax break
in this session of Congress, the
committee snag must be worked
out today if the rebate is to have
any chance of reaching the House
floor for a vote. It doesn’t matter
what the committee does once it
meets - it is just a formality the
bill goes onto the floor. Once
there, the nose-counters say it has
a very good chance of approval.
The Senate will then almost surely
give the bill its support.
No one really knows why
Ullman and his cohorts are against
this indirect aid to students. They
give a projected $5OO million
treasury loss as their public
reason.
'But they apparently haven’t
considered that, as an indirect
subsidy of education, the rebate
would help keep young people in
school and off the unemployment
or welfare rolls. They must not
believe other projections which
on expression, it was my judgement
that this movie’s potential harm
outweighed the otherwise great
importance of first amendment rights.
What harm? That’s my second
point. One of your readers complained
that "Tender Flesh" was neither as
‘violent nor as obscene as advertised.
You yourself chided us for not
picketing "Straw Dogs" or “Taxi
Driver." But it was not the obscenity I
objected to; I’ve seen my share of
porno flicks. Nor was it the violence
alone. Brutality is too.all-pervasive in
our entertainment for me to even
dream of stopping it. What I object to
is the depiction of murder,
dismemberment and cannibalism in a
sexual context, the implication being
that these are exciting and erotic acts.
It seems clear to me if not to yoy that
these are dangerous ideas, ones
which could well threaten my safety
and well being.
Finally, you charged us with female
chauvinism In ignoring violence
against males. I, too, yearn for the day
course. But his adviser was overbooked that day, and before he
got to see him, the next period had begun. s f ,
He dashed up to the Forum, but he was too late! His course
was not overbooked, but two Econ 2 students were still asleep
in their seats from\the previous period, and thus there were no
seats for Charles and his friend Leroy. They sat on the steps,
and gazed at the knee of a football player seated on the aisle.
Inspired by the view, Charles began to daydream. He
remembered fondly the football game had not seen the last
weekend; he had season tickets, but the stadium was over
booked, and he had to be satisfied with watching the'
cheerleaders do absurd things on the sidelines.
He remembered having read that the stadium was going to
be enlarged by 16,000 seats at a cost of $4.5 million. They were
going to add more seats by lifting the stadium, probably using
the defensive line to give it the old heave-ho. Charles was
certain that the new seats would not goto students, but he did
look forward to being overbooked out of a seat in a 76,000-seat
stadium. '
Rousted from his reverie by the end of class, Charles
decided to bag his fifth-period class and call Polly, that comely
ERM major. They had a date for that night ; they intended to go
to Mr. C’s, although there was always the chance that State
College’s newest venture in bad taste might be overbooked.
But it was not to be. Charles slammed the receiver down and
walked away from the phone—Polly, absent-minded ERM
major that she was, had made two dates for that night, and he
had lost out to a Bavarian soccer player who looked like Joe
Paterno.
To hell with her, he thought. He’d study, instead. He packed
up his books, and started the trek to Pattee.
This is where we must turn away. There are some things that
are too painful, too scarring for the editorial page. But I’m sure
some of our more astute readers have foreseen what happened
to Charles on that fateful evening.
Yes, Pattee was overbooked.
when treating both sexes the same
will lead to equality v and human
liberation. But when the sexes start
out from such vastly different social
positions, no amount of traveling in
parallel will ever bring them to the
same place. It’s true that men suffer
from violence In our society. But the
source of their oppression is different,
the consequences are different and
the problem must be fought in a
different arena.
Right now it is women who are
predominantly the victims of sexually
motivated assault. Given this im
balance, it is fair for me to con
centrate my efforts on stopping abuse
of women. When the day comes that
female rape victims are as scarce as
male victims, when wife beating Is as
unheard of as husband beating, when
women no longer fear the attacks of a
Richard Speck or a Boston Strangler,
on that day I will cross out the word
"women” on my banner and replace It
with a plea to stop abuse of “human
beings.”
show the higher taxes paid by
college educated workers would
more than make up for the rebate
loss to students. And they can’t
have thought of the human side of
the issue.
Some students go through
agony to scrape together the
money for tuition, books and living
expenses. Others are supported
by husbands or wives while try
ing to hurry through degree re
quirements so they can get a job
and pay their share. The $lOO tax
rebate would be a godsend to a
graduate student living on a
$4,000 fellowship or a married
student struggling to give his
children necessities..
The rebate would ease the
financial burden to students’
parents, no matter where they
stood on the economic scale. This
rebate is for the benefit of the
poor, the middle class and the rich;
Schorr line ebbs
I was working on a column about the
ruthless competition among TV
correspondents when the news came
over the wire that Dan Schorr had
resigned from CBS. A bitter irony, that,
because it seemed almost as if Schorr
had resigned to prove my point.
At age 60, after 23 years as a network
correspondent, the crusty old man of
broadcasting wrote-'a "Dear Dick” letter
to CBS president Richard Salant and
announced his resignation. Schorr said
that his ability to function effectively as'
a reporter had been undermined by the
controversy over the Pike Committee
report.
Schorr, who is as hard on himself as
he is on his opponents, said that his
reinstatement would be a source of
tension within the network, an
organization Schorr says he still cares
about. Controversy and tension have
never been far from Schorr; he’s on
Jerry
Schwartz
the rebate is reduced, however, if
taxpayers earn more than
$22,500 a year. This rebate is the
closest thing to an across-the
board student grant we’ve seen
yet.
. And the $lOO rebate isn’t fixed
it will be increased by $5O each
year until a ceiling of $250 is
reached in 1080. This will keep
pace with creeping tuition hikes
and other rising costs of higher
education.
It's too late to take individual ac
tion this session. But if the bill does
die, get in touch with your con
gressman and urge him to sup
port the bill when it is reintroduced
in January.
But we may be saved the wait. '
Carl Albert is retiring with this
session - it would be a fitting and
gracious last act for him to give the
students of this country an
educational gift.
nearly every correspondent’s list of
unpopular people.
HRKv Kathleen
It is interesting to note that Schorr
Identified “the controversy” over the Pike
Committee report, rather than the
congressional investigation itself, as
what made it impossible for him to
continue as a correspondent.
What Schorr was implying
and what he said very clearly on “60
Minutes" a few days ago was that
office gossip, and not Congress, had
ended his career.
U.S. soft on nuke stand
By CORBETTS. KLEIN
10th-microblology
One of my professors read an an
nouncement, reportedly from
Washington, about what to do In the
event of a nuclear attack warning. It was
a hoax and the class obviously enjoyed
it. This article is not a criticism of the
joke. However, I feel that the joke might
be characteristic of a popularly held lack
of appreciation for the realities of
nuclear war. The fact is that nuclear war
is conceivable and that we can and must
take action to defend ourselves against
It.
' it is not true as many people believe
that nuclear war would totally and
automatically eliminate man from the
planet. Mr. Haaland, physicist at Oak
Ridge National Laboratory, and Mr.
Wigner, a member of the Princeton
University Department of Physics and
recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics
in 1963, lambast this point of view in
their article, “Surviving a Nuclear War,"
published in National Review, Sep
tember 17, 1976.
This means that nuclear Weapons can
be used as an effective instrument of war
without bringing the annihilation so
many predict. In fact Lt. Gen. Daniel O.
Graham, former chief of the Defense
Intelligence Agency, quoting from a
Soviet military journal says that to the
Kremlin nuclear weapons mean that,
"immeasureably more effective means of
struggle are now at the disposal of state
power" (Reader’s Digest, September
1976).'
The Soviet Union Is a nation well
equipped for struggle.-According to Lt.
Gen. Graham, 75 per cent of production
goes to building the military power of
their country while only 25 per cent goes
to providing goods and services for its
citizens. Presently the Soviets have 600
more ICBMs than the United States and
13 more nuclear missile submarines than
we. They surpass us in numbers of
Letters to the Editor
No thanks ?
TO THE EDITOR: In response to Donna Lurie’s letter to the
editor that appeared In the Daily Collegian, Friday September
24,1976.
Ms. Lurie; in her letter, maintains that not one newspaper
article or press release mentioned the generous support of
AFSCME Local 1203-B In the current State College-wide voter
registration drive. Let’s keep the record straight.
On September 7, 1976, Paul Stevenson, Director of USG’s
Department of Political Affairs, held a press conference that
dealt specifically with the current voter registration drive. In a
printed statement that was distributed to all members of the
local news media, Mr. Stevenson personally thanked Jeff
Zlnser— Shop Steward of the CATA Bus Driver’s Local of the
AFSCME of the AFL-CIO, along with Donna Lurie—Central
Pennsylvania Coordinator for Frontlash, and a number of other
organizations and individuals. If my memory serves me
correctly, Donna Lurie herself attended that press conference
and was handed three copies of Mr. Stevenson's statement.
e .obe nice.if that student tax break passes, W
oobe ntcelf that student tax break passes, fiuH?
at networks
Hi's so-called "colleagues” in the
media were so anxious to air gripes and
petty hatreds long savored that the real
issue In Schorr’s decision to publish the
Pike report was obscured in a haze of
recrimination and grudges.
Much of the air time devoted to the
“Schorr case" included interviews with
slighted correspondents who attested to
Schorr’s bad temper and overweaning
ambition. The commentary on the First
‘Amendment Issue at hand was clearly
less interesting to reporters covering the
story than the decades-old gossip about
Schorr’s ruthless “scooping" of com
petitors.
Schorr, after years of handling this
sort of peer jealousy in his own, hard
edged way, finally gave in. “No alter
native remains for me under the cir
cumstances,” he said.
The real sadness is not Schorr's
tactical aircraft, major surface ships,
ground divisions and tanks. Are the
Soviets technologically behind the
United States? Maybe, but Graham
reports, "Their new MIRVed missiles and
improved warhead accuracy approach
our own technology. Their new ships
have the latest in propulsion and bristle
with sophisticated missile systems.”
If the Soviets could blow up the world
10 times why do they build more
missiles? The answer is that the Soviets
can’t blow up the world 10 times and,
moreover, they don’t want to. They want
to rule the world, not destroy It.
Brezhnev would get no joy out of a
cinder. If we actually had a nuclear war
you quite likely wouldn't be lucky
enough to be among the ones slain. You
would have to witness and survive the
devastation.
If nuclear war isn’t going to
automatically destroy us then the line
that, “all defenses against nuclear war
are futile," Is invalid. The Soviets
themselves are actively involved in
constructing an elaborate system of
shelters which will protect 240 million of
them from the short term effects of an all
out nuclear war. They practice
evacuation of large cities such as
Leningrad. They even ,plan to store 2.5
billion bushels of grain to feed their
population for 300 days while the effects
of radiation and fallout recede and new
crops can be planted and harvested. The
Soviets obviously don't expect to be
wiped cut by a nuclear attack.
When the Russians realize that they
can survive nuclear war but we can’t will
they hesitate to deploy their superior
military strength in Yugoslavia 1 , in the
Middle East, in the Presian Gulf? Will we
be forced to acquiesce in these and other
situations because we did not feel the
need to retain a sufficient lead in military
power over the Soviet Union to deter
them?
GRAD HOUSING
m -
GRAD'
Perhaps what Ms. Lurie was most concerned about was the
fact that our "thank you’s” were not put into print by the local
news media. Ms. Lurie must understand that in many In
stances, because of space limitations, all details of a story can
not be included. With this in mind, Ms. Lurie should direct her
comments and criticisms to the local news media not the
Undergraduate Student Government. We have not forgotten
our obligations. We have not acted hypocritically.
In the future I hope Ms. Lurie will be certain of her in
formation including a thorough review of her memory,
before making unjust accusations in public.
Grant R. Ackerman
Director,- USG Department of Communications
Collegian
sheila mccauley
Editor
obvious regret over leaving his craft, but
our loss of a fine reporter. What his
seven-month suspension from CBS had
taught him, Schorr said, was that he^
could live without broadcasting. He
could live without the daily "fix" of a few
minutes air-time each day. At 60, there
were still things he wanted to do.
For us, Schorr's departure represents
the triumph of the bland and non- .
controversial over the gifted and the
quirky. A correspondent may not offend
in speech, in manner or in private life.
Soon everybody will look and talk like
the harmless Tom Brokaw.
We need the Schorrs of the world.
They inevitably are the ones who
upon themselves the unpleasant tasks, 4,1
the difficult decisions. No matter how
ineptly Schorr handled the publication of
the Pike report, still he got it to us, and
we owe him a lot more than seven
months back pay for that.
In order to avoid these situations we
need to take a more serious attitudes?
towards nuclear war. The object is not to
fight a nuclear war but to preveqt it from
being used against us. To do this we
must resist temptations to cut the
defense budget and go ahead with
building a fleet of the B-1 bombers and
develop the cruise missile system. The
Soviets dread our implementing these $
technological advances because they
would require them to provide more
additional protection for themselves if
they want to launch a nuclear attack.
No one .will dispute that building
weapons seems a tragic waste of human
resources, but if we are prudent enough
to adequately protect ourselves we may
never have to use them. Also we should
regard seriously the plans being made by
the Civil Defense Preparedness Agency
to counter evacuate likely targets in the
United States should the Soviet Union
undertake full-scale evacuation of their
major cities.
Are SALT talks a deterrent to nuclear
war? The Soviets have consistently
demonstrated that they are willing to talk
about arms limitations while they forge
ahead with the development of more
arms and refuse us information con
cerning them. Meanwhile we set
limitations which are disadvantageous
to ourselves and at the same time create
the euphoric impression that we are
doing something to avert nuclear war.
The Soviets will only keep a treaty as
long as it’s to their own interests.
Inasmuch as SALT talks allow us to fall
behind in weaponry they actually
diminish our deterrent to nuclear war,
The Soviets are preparing to fight and
survive nuclear war. We must realize this
and prepare for it. If we do not
demonstrate a readiness-to be able to
fight and survive nuclear war ourselves,
we will become the object of nuclear
blackmail. To the Soviet Union, nuclear
war is no joke.
NADINE KINSEY
Business Manager