Editorial opinio Bombs can be old cars, beau tiful blondes, disappointing grades or fake threats made against Penn State students and faculty in the Human Developmerit Building.' For the past three weeks some one used the terror tactic of hid den bombs to cancel classes and confound professors and stu dents. On four separate occasions this anonymous threatener has closed the building to the wary and wasted valuable class time for hun dreds of students. Bombs were never found in the building but caution dictates that professors take each threat ser iously and refuse to subject their students to the risk of an explo sion. The culprit in this case may be seeking to intimidate a faculty English taught too literally for aspiring writers A friend of mine wants to be a writer. He takes every op portunity to write: features for his high school paper, articles for a branch campus publication, short stories for himself. What I've seen of his stories excites me. His words share experiences and views of life that I'd never considered. He could well become a professional writer, but because the English Department is playing games with the Writing Option, he may never have the chance. This term my friend is taking English 109 which was meant to be the bpic professional writing course. His instructor is helpful, knowledgeable, and sometimes interesting and unqualified to teach professional writing. The instructor's credentials, interests, and abilities are all in English literature. He's never tried to write for anything but.the literary Journals. My friend tells me he can't see any difference between his course and any other literature course except he's expected to write more compositions. , . My instructor for English 109, when I took it two years ago, was a writer. We read several short stories, but not to find 1f 2 6 MY PA ► C.F.4 CRY I WANT TO umußqs • .a . M .. wit OIMPI Cam 41•11114 Letters to the Editor Appreciation TO THE EDITOR: We would like to take this opportunity to thank the members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi, and Delta Upsilon for their support in the recent College Area Auxiliary Antique Show for the benefit of the Centre, Com munity Hospital. They provided enthuslistic crews to assist in setting up the show and dismantling the equipment at the conclusion. It Is gratifying to have the much needed help from . such public spirited students. Heavenly days TO THE EDITOR: I would like to make a couple of interesting points concerning an advertisment you ran on Oct. 29 for the movie "The Burning Hell" sponsored by the Penn State Overcomers. The ad warns, "20,000 degrees Fahrenheit and not a drop of water . . . ," presumably in reference to the temperature of hell. I confess that I have not seen the movie so I do not know what the basis of this claim is, but one can easily show that it .., is exaggerated. , Revelations 21:8 states, "But the fearful, and un believing . : .shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." In order for brimstone (i.e. surfur) to form a lake, the temperature would have to be less than the critical temperature for sulfur which is only 1900 degrees F. Compared to 20,000 degrees F. that's almost 'chilly. Fur thermore, liquid sulfur can only reach that temperature when the pressure is 116 times that on Earth. If hell is at the same pressure as Earth, it could not be hotter than 833 degrees. F. While I am on the subiect of Biblical temperatures, I would also like to point out a calculation of the temperature of heaven presented in "A Random Walk In Science" by Robert L. Weber, who is a faculty member here at Penn State. Using the Stefan- Blotzmann law for thermal radiation and a quotation from Isaiah 30:26, it is found that the temperature of heaven must be 980 degrees F. Hence, if we suppose that hell is indeed at 830 degrees F, we can say conclusively that heaven Is literally hotter than hell. , Penn State Overcomers, go to heaven! Bombs away By VAN R. KANE 10th-writing option Mrs. W. R. Rodney Mrs. W. K. Reed Show chairmen member or to purposely break up a particular class—each of the four threats came at the same time of day. He certainly is achieving one thing; a monumental loss of time, money and students' oppor tunity to learn. Some courses taught in the Human Development Building have lost a tenth of their class time because of the bully with fake bombs. With less than two weeks left in the term, each class meeting takes on a greater importance to stu dents trying to wrap the course up. If this anoymous caller is a student he is grossly mistreating his peers and should be ashamed of his infantile play for attention or revenge. If the caller is not a stu dent the crime is no less heinous; he is not only destroying the con Good move TO THE EDITOR: Concerning the record review on Elton John's "Blue Moves," I suggest Bob Frick recheck his copy. It must be defective. What he prob.ibly listened to was "Rock of the Westies" with the wrong label. If he thinks that "Goodbye Yellowbrick Road" was Elton's pinnacle of success, then he shouldn't even begin to think of "Blue Moves" as a disap pointment. This album has all the class and originality of the old Elton we have all come to know and love. The first con sideration of this album as drivel forces the listener to believe that Mr. Frick should be doing record reviews for Mad Magazine. (Sorry, Mad.) I only have two parting notes. I, too, have been disappointed with the Elton of post-Yellowbrick Road, but this latest album shows definite signs to the road to recovery. And in 1975, the number two album of the year in terms of sales featured an artist whose vocals can be considered awful at best. The album to which I am referring is Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run." Elton's "thin, screechy vocals" luckily don't compare to the vocals of Springsteen. Incidentally, the number one album of 1975? "Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy" by you-know-who. ' Paul Cowan graduate-physlcs symbolism or hidden meanings. Instead our instructor showed us how the author's words told what he had to say. We had one criterion for our written assignments: write like professionals..We wrote tWo essay's, two short stories, and one article. My papers were returned with so many comments that I often couldn't read what I had written. I missed a few nights sleep that term, but I learned a lot about writing. I've realized since, after taking several more writing courses, that it is essential for a beginning writer to learn his craft from established authors. An article, for example, may require participation in an event and several interviews along with the library work. Complex subjects must be explained to the layman; the reader's interest must be kept; a feel must be given' for the unfamiliar place or thing. Fiction is more dif ficult: plot, characterization, suspense, dialogue. The writer has to keep in mind the audience he's writing for and then he has to sell his work to an editor. Only a professional writer will have handled these problems daily. When the English Department developed the Writing Option, it had the nucleus of a first-rate writing program. Writers taught almost all the sections of the writing courses. The training received by the first students in - the Writing Option dtai;Collegian SHEILA McCAULEY Editor Business Manager BOARD OF EDITORS: EDITORIAL EDITOR, Brenda Turner; EDITORIAL ASSISTANT, Deanna Finley; NEWS EDITOR, Pamela Reasner; ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR, Phil Storey; STATE4IATIONAL EDITOR, Leah Rozen; CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, Jerry Schwartz; COPY EDITORS, Mike Joseph, Jim Lockhart, Charlene Sampedro; OFFICE MANAGER, Laura Shemick; FEATURES EDITOR, Janie Musala; SPORTS EDITOR, Brian Miller; ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITORS, Tom McNichol, Barb Parmer; PHOTO EDITOR, Julie Cipolla; ASSISTANT PHOTO EDITORS, Eric Felack, Barry Wyshinski; GRAPHICS EDITOR, Lynne Maimed. structive efforts of others but tor menting them with threats of bomb explosions. Meanwhile, the Human Develop ment Building is beseiged, stu dents are angry because of class cancellations and the police' have no motive or suspect. They will, eventually track down thesb anon ymous calls and find the culprit if he chooses to continue • his threats. We urge the bomber to end hii sinister calls and to make public any grievances he may have. In timidation and repeated threati upon the safety of hundreds of people can be no 'way to solve difficulties. It certainly is no way to make friends. Life is tight inside the closet... By SANDY STUMBAUGN . Collegian Columnist I am one of the chosen minority who spends her free time in a closet, corn monly knoWn as my dorm room. .1 It came is a shock when I first opened the door to my room and found a 5-foot by 10-foot cubicle. I prayed I had made a mistake and rechecked the door to make sure it didn't say "Janitor's closet." Na' such fuck. , Did University housing really expect two people to live in that crack in the wall? Apparently so. s_ For those of you who aren't aware of what it's like to live in a single room converted to a double, let me elucidate. Imagine, if you will, two people scheduling their days from beginning to end so that they don't have to be in the room at the same time. Now let me explain that my roommate and I get along fine and we aren't trying to avoid each other. The fact is that there just isn't enough space in the room for the two of us to move about freely. Usually we time our mornings so that one or the other of us gets up first and gets ready for clasp. .Unfortunately we Ken Frebowitz 2nd-business administration NADINE KINSEY -EL-Eci - toq '762 : Tkke. cwo4,_ Tkc\-- could 'only be Improved upon by making writing their livelihood. ...-% Recently, however, literature courses disguised as writing courses have become common. While half the English majors are in the Writing Option, only onerfifth of the , English Department's faculty consists of writers. There are no longer enough writers to teach all the writing courses: Instead of hiring more writers, the department puts literature professors behind the lectern. Why? I believe the literature people are afraid of the Writing Option's success. A literature professor has admitted that English could offer three times as many sections of its writing courses as it does now and still have no trouble filling-them. Hiring the writers to teach all these sections would• mean that the hiring of literature professors would have to be frozen. It might even become necessary to lay-off untenured literature people. When - positions have become open in the Writing Option, literature PhD's get the jobs. I'm told that the resumes of prominent writers who have applied for the same jobs are ignored. The English Department seems unconcerned about the educations of half its students. aren't always so methodical about our activities. Many are the times when we both scramble in front of the mirror in the morning and I strangle her with any hair dryer cord or; she stabs,my eye ,with her mascara wand. -, • ' However, the most atrocious aspect of the rdom was the bunk beds. I say "was" because those bunk beds are a night mare of the past in our - room now. They were taken apart long ago. During the brief time the bunk beds were in our room, I was the "lucky" person to get the top bunk. I'm taller than my roommate and so I didn't have as much trouble climbing to the top as she did. I had a terrible fear of coming home some night in a slightly inebriated state, falling onto my bed and in order to make the room stop spinning, putting my foot over the edge of the bed only to crash to the floor in a groaning heap. Hence; at the expense of removing one of the desks and for the sake of my sanity the bunk beds were taken apart. Since my roommate and I were bestowed with this room, we haven't done too' much . entertaining. I can just imagine what a party would be like in ...if you can even get one BrLAURA SHEMICK Collegian Staff Writer Russian roulette is not a fun game to play. I'm sure some thrill-seekers get their jollies out of playing that wonderful game, but I never had any intention of joining their ranks, until I tried to buy a dorm contract last week. , Funny thing, how the University does not publicize the fact that if you buy a contract, you get a space not the space you wanted but a space. I doubt if many people know this. I constantly see signs around campus saying, "Dorm Contract West Halls" or "Dorm Contract Centre." These poor people think that they will be able to sell their contracts if someone who wants West or Centre is, willing to buy. Sorry, folks. It doesn't work that way. According to the people in housing assignments, buying up a dorm contract merely insures a student a dorm space. The lady in the office explained that I was doing a fellow student "a favor" by taking over her contract. If I didn't want to keep the contract at some point during my days in the dorms, it was my seller's responsibility to take / that room You say you're looking for George? Oh yes,‘l think he's in the closet with Vivian and Marty. Irene? Oh she's under one of the beds talking to John:' And Bruce? There he is peeking out from underneath the desk. Be careful, you almost stepped on Joe's hand. Of course this oversized shoe box has its advantages, .too. My roommate and I only have half as ,much dirt to clean as students with regular rooms. Also, we don't have any , problem with cockroaches since they don't like the cramped conditions. And finally, I don't have to worry about my mother visiting too often because she has a terrible case of claustrophobia and can't s tand being in my room for more than five minutes. Unfortunately, the disadvantages seem to' outweigh the advantages. If I only, had to sleep in that room it probably wouldn't be so bad since there.is enough space for two beds, but that is all there is room for. Howevet,,l also have to get dressed, study and entertain there, and I don't think University housing took these small aspects of my_lifestyle into consideration when )t ' decided to care of the contract. I could leave for Acapulco tomorrow, refuse to pay my bill, and she would be stuck. I don't think that's terribly fair to either side. It puts a great deal of responsibility,on me, as the buyer, to not rock the.boat and play along, if I get East and wanted West. It puts a great deal of in debtedness ,to me on -my friend,-the dorm contract seller, because I have her in the palm of my hot little hand. I hardly think that is a good way to ' start off a relationship. In ; all fairness, I believe it would be difficult to convince students of the existence of this regulation. I'm sure students are not prone to read about the amazingly complex and astoundingly hard-to-understand rules and by-laws of this University, except in those in stances when they wish to drop-add, drop out, re-matriculate, pre-register or pay their bills and fines. But why can't the administration change the rule? To me, it seems more sensible to use the transfer-type of arrangement when dorm contracts are bought and sold. Why can't a student who lives off-campus buy a room from a seller, and by-pass " administrative re- The literature professors don't seem to understand that tr; purpose of the Writing Option is to produce professional writers. When a survey showed that 80 per cent of the Writing Option's graduates had jobs as writers or editors, they weren't impressed. They wanted to know if any of the graduates - had published a novel. People trained to study literature see writing only as a means to produce more literature., Several weeks ago, six professors wrote the 'Dean of iqe College of Liberal Arts asking the Writing Option be separated from English and be merged with the School of Journalism. The English, Department's response was to fire Leonard Rubinstein, a writer, as the director of the Writing Option, and then to abolish the position. \ • When I took English 109, I never expected anything to come of it; my instructors for English 1 and 3 had made it clear thiOt I had no talent for writing. Yet I recently sold my first article. The improvement was not because of my talent, but because of the talent of the writers who taught me. My friend who's taking English 109 this term deserves the same oppoytunity. And as long as the Writing Option is part of the English Department, he'll never get it. If University housing really wants to do the students a favor, it could bulb] more residence halls or add space td present rooms. This could tie done by making use of janitor's ,closets and storage rooms presently unused or littli used. On the other hand, the housin service wouldn't have to take on such ani excess of students if it 'Would infornj students earlier whether or not they had received a room. Then, at least, the students would have more time to look for other living accommodations. With' these possibilities in mind, Universiq! housing could ease the housing short age without condemning students bz the atrocities of living in a converted room. a location? Leave it to the students, they, know what they want. And they're less , likely to hate the bureaucracy if they are not shunted around like cattle:. d . 1 And perhaps, if they make their own mistakes, they may learn to appreciati the value of computer programs an 4 business-like clerks. r. Russian roulette. I want West and 3 don't want East. I work in. Carnegie Building and I dislike lonely midnighA L walks across parking lot 80. I looked WV a room in West and dealt with a girl in West. I may settle for Centre, or maybe North, or at the worst, South. The other 4 are too far for a long, dark walk in thl winter nights. .:V I suppose it's more fair to transfer students to leave it to Shields Building.) think It's more fair to townies to leave 11 to students. -- P But I don't suppose it'll change. Nol enough people complain. Few peoplt , put Shields to the test. g Maybe I will. That's Russian roulettA too. •V Well, it's the thrill of the thing, you know. Wish me luck. 4 ‘"°• P "7 IP , 46 e aladq l / 4 1!) . • squeeze two people into that room. I am tired of accommodating myself tb . the makeshift operations of thie‘ University. Just as the athletic depart ment sells more tickets than there are seats at ,the football ' stadium, s 9 University housing accommodates more students than there are occupancies: Both are proposing to be doing they students a favor while actually they EA doing the students an injustice. , •
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