—Editorial opinion
Two candidates are se
state Senate seat vacated
Joseph S. Ammerman w
won election to.the U.S
Representatives
Or are there?
It seems that the tw<
dates do not differ signifii
the relevant issues they i
to deliberate upon once 01
other reaches the Senate
Republican J. Doyle
and Democrat G. M. Mi
both agree on decriminalizi
juana, lowering the state
age to 19, supporting ai
bill for the legislature, pasr
set legislation, working to t
of the University’s approi
request fulfilled and utilizii
coal to meet future energy
Letters to the Editor
Get with
TO THE EDITOR: I picked up my football tickets for next
season yesterday. The lady gave me sophomore tickets. I said,
“What's this? I sat in the sophomore section last fall. Next year
is my third year at Penn State and I’m supposed to sit in the
junior section." “No you're not;” she said. "This six on your
application means that you’re going to be sixth term next fall.
Have you recently changed your major?”
So that was it. Just because I had changed my major, and
Collegian Forum
PSU:
Editors note: The following Coilegian
Forum was submitted by the four
students who have brought suit
against the board of trustees. They are
Jim Scarantino, Drianne Benner, Ann
Ziminski, and Jeffrey Aaron Glazier.
What inspires political All
too often the motive is personal gain;
too infrequently, adherence to an
ideal. Usually political action springs
from a disturbing feeling that all is not
well with the established system, that
someone or something is trampling
on the rules of the game.
Our challenge to the Penn State
Board of Trustees springs from the
latter sentiment. All is not well with
Penn State’s governing system; the
board of trustees is trampling on the
constitutional rules of the game.
you may label our action “radical."
But, to rephrase another writer’s
words,, if radicalism is defined as a
force against basic value systems of a
society, then Penn State is the chief
protagonist. The board of trustees, as
presently composed, violates
America’s basic values of equal
representation and equal protection
under law.
We have been weaned on the ideal
that people should not be subjected to
the dictates of a government they had
no hand in choosing. Yet at Penn
State, students must live their daily
lives under terms set by a governing
body elected without their par
ticipation. Our litigation seeks to
rectify that injustice by providing
student representation on the board.
• Our suit also challenges the
election procedures followed in
electing alumni trustees. A ballot is
automatically mailed to dues-paying
members of the Alumni Association.
Non-members must request a ballot.
The distinction drawn between
Alumni Association members and
non-members is in violation of the
equal protection guarantees of the
14th Amendment. Since when did one
have to pay dues for the right to vote?
Penn State's governing system is
x Cue-'] (wl
Two gvils
lekingthe But not only are the two candi- As for McCrossin, he has not J I ] f
'by Rep. dates similar on the important impressed The Daily Collegian as r§rj ill 113 ~i|fl .iffizSSßSOtr
'hen he, issues, they both have their share being sincerely committed to find- I DDT /l\ \s llin 1
House of of poor qualities that detract from ing out how his constituency feels | r jjj /If V •
their ability to do a credible job in about the issues. His nomination II I" tV, W«<\
representing the 34th Senatorial by the Democratic party appears • ft
ln District. to be more motivated by gratitude _ J*. v
icantlv on ' for contributin 9 heavily in past /rr «r f llunArfrTi A
are likelv Corman was a Centre County Democratic campaigns, .especially I SENT 1 I nARASSEP 1
.J Commissioner in 1972 when the to the campaigns of Joe Ammer- - ( TljnrATC I l MtiCDAI ’C AM ft
floor Board of Commissioners were man. He is 70 years old and it is • y InrxtHlJii/ V • UiDWaHL,) 111
ruled against in federal court for unlikely that if elected he could re- J V — \ \ THIS
Corman "frustrating and impairing the right main in the Senate long enough .1 I
IcCrossin to vote of students at Penn State." to gain needed experience and
:ingmari- Some students were not permitted prestige among the other sena- AjSwl m
drinking to register without having numer- tors.
in ethics 'ous means to validate their resi- Therefore, The Daily Collegian HII v/J I fitT
ising sun- dency in the county. The judge believes it irresponsible to con- HhH //Id W/fig/mBL „ - IBM* 'toyiT-1 * ' •
get more said the commissioners adopted sider. endorsing either candidate. /mf/fo, WBtim I l • J
>priations these rigorous residency require- Vote for one or the other but it is \ \ JjwKi: / B jßjnpl
ing more ments "as a result of their appre- not going to make too much differ- \ \ J I yWB
needs. hension over the student vote.” ence who wins. The voters lose. |J Hi }
all's not well
saddled with an ideology prominent
during the rise of commercial and
industrial capitalism: the regime
censitaire. According to this theory,
the affairs of the public must be left to
those with “real stakes” in the game
through the possession of land or
through investments in business. The
franchise was accorded to those who
owned land, invested,in business or
those who had acquired a direct in
terest in the maintenance of the
country' through their investment in
professional skills. The . implicit
notion is that since these were the
only people "really” affected by the
actions of government, only they
could and should participate in
framing public policy.
The structure of the board provides
twelve seats to representatives of
agricultural (usually agri-business)
and industrial interests, and not to
any other interests. As the story goes,
these groups recejve special
representation because, since they
hire PSU graduates, they therefore
have an interest in the education of
PSU graduates.
This formula may have been
justified during the 1800 s when PSU
was dedicated to the training of
farmers and engineers. But today, no
such justification can be concocted,
no matter what amount of double
think is applied. PSU now has ten
undergraduate schools and offers
degrees in over 100 fields of study.
Graduates (if they are hired at all) are
hired not only by agricultural and
industrial groups, but by commercial,
journalistic, medical, labor,
educational and many, many other
groups. These people have the same
interest in PSU as do the agricultural
and industrial concerns, yet they
receive no representation whatsoever.
One could go on almost indefinitely
listing those interests which have
been ignored at PSU until one had
named every citizen in Pennsylvania.
One would eventually conclude that
those people represented by the
agricultural" and industrial trustees
<&-***(AtJA Utf* 1
had lost a term doing so, I was going to end up sitting in the
sophomore section again at football games. Makes sense.
Why should tickets be sold on the basis of class rank, and
not on how many terms a person has attended Penn State? Is
this some form of added punishment for someone who has
lost a term through either switching majors or flunking
courses? Unless I go to school next summer term, I will never
get senior football tickets and the chance to view a game from
the coveted 50-yard line.
For an extra season now, I’m doomed to having to watch the
Nittany Lions coming and going, and I won’t get a chance to
From the editor
Fond farewell to former editors
Dear Jerry and Sheila, v
Six terms ago I was a first\ termer
writing police log stories and covering
the last gasps of PennPIRG organizers.
My by-line appeared perhaps once a
week in The Daily. Collegian. I did'my
stories and went home to goof-off and
sometimes to do homework.
Both of you seemed like ominously
important people to me at that time. I
became a bit nervous when I had to ask
you a trivial question. I worried when I
thought you were disappointed with one
of my stories. And you made my day
when you gave me a little praise of
encouragement. Many an evening I
trekked home from Carnegie Building
to Shunk Hall -overjoyed that you had
said, “Nice Story, Jeff."
But times change so quickly.
Now I occupy the editor’s seat for this
newspaper, a seat which each of you
ijave occupied. A seat that, until one
occupies it, one cannot understand how
uncomfortable it sometimes can get.
have no more of an interest in PSU
than any other Pennsylvania taxpayer,
but they receive such special treat
ment that they implicitly appropriate
to themselves representation for the
entire public of interests when in
fact they represent no more than their
own narrow concerns.
Perhaps we have bypassed an
important point: should an institution
of higher learning exist to serve the
needs of employers or to serve the
needs of students? The question has
been raised before; but, we raise it for
the first time in relation to the
political structure of the University.
Also, the selection procedures for
the special interest trustees unduly
favors sparsely populated counties.
Each county in the Commonwealth is
represented by three delegates at a
convention to choose the agricultural
trustees, and three "at a convention to
choose industrial trustees. This
means that Forest County (pop. 4,926)
receives the same number of
delegates as Allegheny (pop.
1,605,016) or Philadelphia (pop.
1,948,609) counties. This malap
portionment is strikingly similar to the
malapportionment the Supreme Court
has declared unconstitutional- in
elections for state legislatures. Surely
constitutional guidelines for publjc
institutions such as legislatures
should hold equally as well for a
public institution like Penn State.
We are asking that the court enjoin
the alumni, agricultural and industrial
trustees from conducting any official
business, and that no further elec
tions for these positions be held until
the Pennsylvania Legislature provides
a new system for the selection for
trustees that comports with the U.S.
Constitution. As long as independent
alumni are discriminated against, as
long as students are denied their due
rights and as long as agricultural and
Industrial Interests are represented to
the exclusion of other interests, all
talk of democratic ideals at Penn State
will/ing dismally hollow.
In light of what I have learned this past
term about being an editor, I have a deep
admiration for the way both of you filled
that position. In retrospect, I now
perceive the subtleties in your
management of . the newspaper that I
failed to recognize before this term.
tjeff
hawkes
Of course, you expanded the paper to
include an op-ed page, a living page and
a full editorial‘page. You organized the
staff into a workable system of news
beats and beat coordinators in order to
reduce the chaos and inefficiency in
which a newspaper quickly can
degenerate. You recruited a large and
see them going left and right during my college days. I’m sure
that many other students have been in the same situation.
C’mon Penn State, get with it!
Deep throat
TO THE EDITOR: We find it interesting that the Daily Collegian
insists on continuing to quote an "active member of the local
Democratic Party” or a “highly placed source within the local
Democratic Party” in their series of stories concerning this
Tuesday’s primary election. As two “highly placed members of
the Democratic Party” who aren't afraid to use their names we
would like to briefly reply to some inaccuracies which have
been attributed to the Collegian's own’“Deep Throat.”
First, an open primary can only, by definition, be violated
when the party organization or a party official endorses a slate
of candidates. This has clearly not happened in this election.
Second, the suggestions that an informal relationship
between candidates is some kind of a “power play” iS'either
political stupidity or a blatant lie. It is common practice for
candidates to distribute literature together, particularly when
they are supporting each other. We find it interesting that the
very people who have been raising this point are the same
people who have utilized joint literature distributions for the
past five years. These same people certainly found nothing
wrong when they attempted to organize a “student slate.”
There is certainly nothing wrong with a group of people making
a decision about who is and who is not qualified to sit on
council, and then acting on this decision.
it would probably be considerably more responsible and
considerably more informative if the Collegian would broaden
its sources a bit. It would not hurt to ask questions of those"
people who are not afraid to state their names, it would not
hurt to interview all candidates, rather than just a favored few.'
In other words, it would not hurt to get the facts before playing
into the hands of those who believe that the most effective
means of winning an election is to create political hysteria and
irrespons.ible rumor and innuendo.
The Democratic Party is not the sole possession of one or
two people who are merely representatives of a small and vocal
minority, a minority which doesn’t represent students or
anyone else, only themselves.
Is there a “power play?” You bet there is, but it won’t work,
because you can’t fool the voters with unnamed,sources and
partisan statements. Misrepresenting the facts has never been
a particularly effective way of electing candidates.
Gary W. Potter
State College Democratic Party
Peter B. Meyer
vice chairman, State College Democratic Party
Nous follies?
Par mi
TO THE EDITOR: Late Friday afternoon, it broke that
Operation SOB (Save Our Bell) was a hoax. The reason
members of Parmi Nous pulled the prank might not be
legitimate to many people. But, where is the rationale in other
activities such as trying to be Emperor of North or dancing for
48 hours other than to do it?
Those persons who view the prank as asinine have the right
to do so. For them we would do the entire thing again.
We apologize to those persons who took our project so
seriously. You were the ones who made us feel both bad and
good. Bad because we knew we were fooling you wanted to be
able to tell you the whole story’.'Good because we knew that
there were many concerned students on campus. Another
reason we did it was for the benefit of townspeople and
alumni.
In the past, freshmen were required to go through a quasi
initiation into campus and had to wear dinks (hats) and do
other sometimes humiliating acts. We definitely did not ad
vocate the revival of these freshmen customs, but we did want
to bring back the traditional spring prank.
The Daily Collegian encourages comments on news coverage, editorial policy and campus
and off-campus affairs. Letters should be typewritten, double spaced, signed by no more than
two persons and no longer than 30 lines. Students’ letters should include the name, term and
major of the writer. The editors reserve the right not to print letters If they do not conform to
standards of good taste, or if they present an opinion which may be irresponsible or libelous.
1 Letters-should be brought to the Collegian office, 126 Carnegie, In person so properlden
tification of the writer can be made, although names will be withheld on request. If letters are
received by mail, the Collegian will contact the signer for verification before publication.
Letters cannot be returned.
Dave Ruppen
sth-business administration
hardworking staff. And you motivated
the staff to sacrifice the time and effort
to make the Collegian an award vyinning
newspaper.
These are a few of the obvious
changes you instituted.
But what really made both of you
successful editors is the way you
operated on a day-to-day and person-to
person basis. Often you sat down to help
staff members improve their writing.
There were times when a reporter
came to you saying that an administrator
or faculty member would not talk.
Immediately, you were on,the phone
calling that person's boss to find out
why he refused to talk with a reporter.
There were times when you defended
the integrity of the newspaper from so
called student, leaders who wanted the
Collegian used as their personal
propaganda instrument.
There were times when you took the
blame from an irate reader for an
inaccuracy printed which you had
Our final reason for the prank was to be able to utilize the
publicity we assumed it would receive to solicit funds for a
scholarship. In the July issue of the alumni magazine, the
Penn Stater, we are asking alumni to be a part of our hoax and
contribute a few dollars to a scholarship fund to be used for
students with financial need.
We should also apologize to the Collegian for some of our
unethical actions. The letter that appeared in Friday’s paper
was from a person who has said he was the president of a
fictitious organization, the Penn State Historical Society.
When no one was in the Collegian editor’s office, we switched
letters so that the letter would appear.
Secondly, a reporter from the newspaper was in Old Main
Thursday evening. Even though she pretended to believe our
story, we knew she would go back to the office and expose our
scheme. In order to avoid this, we locked ourselves and the
reporter in the bell tower until we were assured that she would
not publish the story, or until Friday’s paper had already gone
'to print. (Sorry but thanks Laura!) We needed everyone’s
support whether it was known or not.
In the months and years to come we hope that you can see
the humor in the “day the chimes stood still.” We called the
prank Operation SOB (Save Our Bell). Feel free to add any
additional meaning to the letters.
Arguing for
TO THE EDITOR: Students and faculty and their relationship
to one another form the roots of our institution. The space for
that relationship to transpire is the classroom, the lowest rung
of the organizational hierarchy and our closest link to the
organization.
The classroom is the smallest unit within the organization;
could we say we practice democracy here? Take the Bill of
Rights and apply it to the classroom does one experience
the principles of .freedom? Some will argue that learning
cannot go on in an uhrestricted environment; others believe it
can.
The claim here is that if we do not experience this freedom
that democracy implies in our working-learning places we
cannot understand what democracy means: we have abdicated
the,/responsibility to act responsibly. So you tell me, where
does student input begin?
Apology
Last week, the Daily Collegian ran a letter which complained
that a wrong diagnosis by a doctor at the Ritenour Health
Center might have resulted in serious consequences for the
patient Involved. The Collegian apologizes for not presenting
the doctor’s side of the story.
JEFFREY HAWKES
Editor
BOARD OF MANAGERS: Sales Coordinator, Alex N.
Barenblitt; Office Coordinator, Judy Stimson, National Ad
Manager, Judi Rodrick; Layout Coordinators, Hope Goldstein,
John Zurcher
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.
nothing to do with. . i
There were the times you wanted to
tell a fool: “You’re a fool,” but you
restrained yourselves. There were times
you wanted to hang up on those chronic
complainers. You didn’t. There were
times you almost lost your temper. You
remained calm. There were times you
wanted to leave the office and not come
back, You stayed.
This past term has been a test of my
wit and patience. Thank you, Jerry and
Sheila, for your help when I needed it.
Thank you for your support of decisions
I’ve made, for a sense of perspective
when things seemed dismal, and for
encouragement that came from too few
others.
The Daily Collegian will never be the
same for any of us once you graduate.
Good luck in the real world (as if you
need it). You know we love you. You
know we are really going to miss you.
'• Love,
Jeffrey
Don Mains
14th-communications studies
input
David Corey
9th-political science
Drianne Benner
9th-political science
SCOTT R.SESLER
Business Manager