—Editorial opinion
Once again a bill to lower the
state drinking age is plodding
through the state legislature and
once again it has reached the
same impasse: the inner city.
Black legislators from the city
traditionally have opposed such a
bill, this time to lower the drinking
age to 19, because of the alleged
contribution it would make to de
linquency in urban areas.
The bill, which passed the
senate by a 27-21 vote last
Wednesday, is now before these
representatives from the inner
city who will preach the evils of
liquor and its potential effect on
"well, hello sob by... well., hello oohhnvl
nr* SO Nice TO SEE YOU HEBE WHERE YOU BELONG-/'
Letters to the Editor
Farr axed
TO THE EDITOR: We can see where the axe.will fall when
money-saving cuts are to be made.
Most likely, the administration will not be cut. In fact, a new
office will be created to handle administration of the cuts.
Superior educators who were hired “temporarily” will be axed
and the University will plead lack of funds.
It seems to me that students, who don't care anyway, were
subjected to a shoddy job of deceit when PSU failed to rehlre
Dr. Jo-Ann Farr. Granted, the so-called reasons were varied,
and we did get different stories at all levels, but, I was under
the impression that there was to be no full-time position open
which there is, as a result of a faculty person’s leave-of-
TO OUR READERS:
The Collegian is currently screening
prospective columnists to contribute to
the editorial page on a weekly basis. Ap
plicants should submit trial columns per
taining to student interests, local,
national or international issues to the
editorial editor, 126 Carnegie. Put your
research and creativity to use in well
written form, and submit the columns by
June 24
Sinners vs. Bryant
My orange juice tasted sort of funny
this morning.
Perhaps it is because somewhere in
Dade County. Florida, Anita Bryant is
dancing a jig over her victory in the
gay rights controversy. The residents
of the county rallied behind her on
Tuesday and brought about the repeal
of the ordinance which made it illegal
to discriminate against homosexuals
m employment and housing.
Good for Anita. But what about the
rest of us?
My question is. if Ms. Bryant was
staging this campaign against gay
rights on the basis that homoxexuality
is a sin and that a law supporting it is
an "affront to God's law," couldn't
each of us potentially be deprived of
our human rights because of
something we've done? After all, the
Bible says, "For all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God."
Couldn't some celebrity, whose
face and opinion would be quick to
make big news, start a well-publicized
crusade against the rights of almost
any group of people because they had
committed an offense against God’s
law as written in the Bible?
For example, the Bible says that
everyone must obey the government
and abide by its laws. Although the
Pennsylvania legislature seems to be
close to lowering the state drinking
age to 19, we are still not supposed to
be partaking of the spirits until we are
21.
But walk into almost any Penn Stafe
party (especially off-campus) you’ll be
sure to uncover a great many sinners.
Now imagine that after four years of
Impasse
young men and women in their
districts.
They have a legitimate point.
By making alcohol available to
youth it probably will have some
detrimental effect. However, the
evil isn’t the liquor itself because
the evil already exists in the decay
of inner cities.
It’s unfair to deny the rest of the
state’s 19 to 20-year-olds their
rights as full citizens because of
the troubles in Pittsburgh and Phil
adelphia.
Young people earned their
rights as full citizens when they be
came eligible for the draft, when
college, during which you have been
both drinking and working hard
toward a degree, you cannot land a
job due to the fact that someone has
succeeded in taking away your right to,
be employed (because you drink with
your friends on Saturday night and
you just might “flaunt your lifestyle to
our children ...’’)
And what about those who tell lies?
Couldn't they conceivably be the
victims of an anti-“l iars' rights”
crusade? Couldn’t some unprepared
student, who falsely told a professor
that he was at his grandmother’s
funeral in order to get out of taking a
mid-term, be denied a place to live
because of his sin? Or a girl who lies
to her roommate’s parents over the
phone about the early-morning
whereabouts of the roommate
couldn’t she be denied a job for her
actions?
And the same'could be said for all
those who have gotten angry or have
had sexual relations outside of
marriage or have been jealous of
someone at sometime in their lives.
To take the thought further: If Ms.
Bryant believes in the Bible as the
Word of God, then she must also
absence in psych. I also read that there was some sort of
arrangement with the mental health center whereby, their full
time staff would take up any slack in the psych department.
Are the persons who were offered part-time positions also
full-time staff at the mental health center? I know that they are
wives of faculty members.
How come the administration finally did offer Dr. Farr a part
time position at a ludicrous sum, about one-half what she is
getting now?? What’s going on? The Committee,to Rehire Dr.
Farr met with a lot of buck-passing and stalling for time, as
they exhausted all of the so-called proper channels, trying to
get someone to listen to us and to explain the reason(s) (of that
particular day) for the University’s action.
I notice that President Oswald did, finally, deign to address
the issue after having ignored the committee’s requests for
audience in the very last Collegian, last term, so as to insure
that there would be not chance for rebuttal. Clearly, this ad
ministration does not think much of, or allow student input
into student education.
Truth hurts
With just three weeks left in which to decide on a budget,
the reality of the situation now faces every legislator. The
budget proposed by the House Leadership calls for a $260
million subsidy proposal and this, coupled with a $2OB
million deficit, means that to provide for this budget (which is
almost $9O million less than that proposed by the Governor) we
will ha\/e to raise close to half a billion dollars in new revenues.
No tax is really popular, and yet if we are to provide property
tax relief for Pennsylvania school districts, and provide even a
believe that “all men have sinned”;
and. therefore that she herself has
sinned. I wonder how she’d like it if
her human rights were denied if she
were kicked off the orange juice
circuit because she had lusted after
Bing Crosby and the whole Minute
Maid gang in her heart.
These examples may seem a bit far
fetched, and yet they all follow the
reasoning that has been put forth by
Anita Bryant and her cohorts to deny a
group of people their rights.
Ms. Bryant seems to be trying to
tell us that homosexuals are not equal
to heterosexuals as human beings.
Well, if we use her criterion for
judging equality that homosexuals
are unequal because they have'
committed an “affront to God’s law”
then we can still consider all
people as equal for "all have sinned
Ms. Bryant can dance her little jig if
she wants to at this point I cannot
deny her human right to do so. But I
am afraid that she had started
something that is damaging and is
potentially powerful enough to keep
building and gaining strength into a
"witch hunt."
The moral of the story: If you are at
a party, passively sipping a
screwdriver and a little orange bird
lands on the side of your glass, you
had better pour _the drink in the
nearest potted plant. Either you have
had one too many, or, in light of the
success of this recent campaign
against human rights, your own rights
may about to become endangered.
they become self-supporting and
when they earned the right to vote
for the very government which will
refuse them full equality if this
legislation is not passed.'
It’s time Pennsylvania followed
its bordering states in allowing all
adults to enjoy all the privileges
and responsibilities that come
with adulthood.
Crime and delinquency in the
city can be cured only by attacking
the diseases of poverty and insuf
ficient education and not by easing
the symptoms such as delinquen
cy due to drunkenness.
The tuition, the tuition's the thing
running here, a kindergarten? Stewart: I cannot vote'for an increase]
Scene Three. The Capitol Building, based on 9.1 percent. A hike equal to
Harrisburg. Senator Henry Cianfrani, inflationary increase maybe, but I’d . .- ;i
chairman of the Appropriations Com- Board President: All in favor? i f
mittee, who has yet to respond to a Chorus: AYE!
written request to inspect a $360,000 . President: Opposed? rj
account of his, speaks. Stewart: nay! «!;
Cian.: I don’t see where you would be Scene Five. It is August in a typigpl [j
doing any damage to the University if household somewhere in Pennsylvania. 'i
there was a $75 to $lOO increase (in The father has just returned from a hard /j
tuition). " day at the factory; he is typical of the
J.W.: But we really need the money. state’s working class for which the lahd j
Cian.: How bad? * grant institution, Penn State, wasJ
J.W.: Real bad. designed.
Cian.: Sorry. Son: Hey Dad, guess what came in ffTgj
Scene Four: The Penn State Board of mail today. ,■" .
Trustees meeting in late May. J.W. Father: Ah, a dead albatross? f
explains the dire situation and that an Son: Nope! ,
average 9.1 percent tuition increase is Father: A thermonuclear device?
regrettably, but absolutely necessary. Son: You're getting warm . . .”
The trustees all reach into their well- Father: Yourtuition bill?
lined pockets for their rubber stamps Son:’Fraidso, Dad. ' u '
preparing to approve the increase. Father: How’s it look? r
Student trustee, Dion Stewart speaks: Son: Bad, real bad. ,
To assist students in comprehending
the bureaucratic maze which ultimately
decides how much tuition they will pay,
the following synopsis of the entire
process (in play form) is offered:
Scene One. The setting is early
autumn in a mahogany paneled, plushly
carpeted office in Old Main. Eight men
sit in leather recliners around a massive
oak table. The men are University
executives and have haggered,
despondent faces.
In front of each of them Is a stack of
budgets, transmittals, cost analysis,
computer printouts and calculators.
After hours of intense debate, one
executive speaks to the figure at the
head of the table.
Exec: Well, J.W., it looks bad, real bad
J.W.: How bad?
Exec: Real bad.
J.W.: How much we need?
Exec: $125 million.
J.W.: Jesus! Well, all we can do is ask
Jean C. Guertler
graduate-solid state science
she wins
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Scene Two. It is now late February.
The Governor has made his budget
recommendations public and an
executive now enters J.W.’s office with
the news.
J.W.: Well, how's it look?
Exec: Looks bad, real bad.
J.W.: How bad?
Exec: Real bad.
J.W.: How much we get?
Exec: Only $lO9 million.
J.W.: My God, what do they think we’re
minimal increase in state programs and services, it seems to
me that the only realistic answer is to increase taxes in some
way. Most people surveyed in a recent poll truly believed that
state taxation had gone up; actually, the Pennsylvania income
tax was reduced from 2.3 to 2.0 per cent in 1974. On the other
hand, local taxes have been rising in Pennsylvania during the
past five years, and much of the pressure for a tax increase
comes from local government and school officials who believe
that the state has a better, more progressive tax schedule and
should relieve local burdens.
Many representatives want to support a school subsidy
proposal that will aid a majority of the 505 Pennsylvania school
districts, but there is no real agreement yet on what that
subsidy program should be. It is easy for me to support House
Bill 593, the bill now under discussion because it does provide
substantial aid to all Centre County school districts; it is not
easy for those legislators whose districts do not benefit,as
much or at all.
I have received many letters urging me to support different
programs and budgets: environmental research and
development; conservation programs; increased program aid
to mental health and mental retardation service, school aid, aid
for higher education, better road maintenance, to name just a
few. Although no letters have arrived asking me to cut
programs, I well realize that the legislature has a responsibility
to try to eliminate waste, inefficiency and duplication ~ and
as we go over the budget line-by-line I will be trying to
balance our needs with our resources, and doing what I can to
see that we provide the best possible program for the least
cost.
For the balance of this month or until a budget is adopted,
we will be in four, five and possibly six-day sessions in
Harrisburg. During that time you can continue to leave
messages on my home code-a-phone or you can reach me in
Harrisburg, 717-783-8515. I am fortunate now to have a full-
* THANK YOU GENERAL FOR THOSE CANPID VIEWS ON KOREA
’^TvCtk,
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time administrative assistant, who is always in the Harrisburg
office. We will do all we can to answer your questionsja/i
problems as soon as possible even though I may have long
hours in voting sessions.
rCollegian
JEFFREY HAWKES
Editor
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sbc'm
■&A
sli
Helen 0. Wise f
State Representative
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Business Manager |
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