Editorial opinion
Consequences
State Auditor General Al
Benedict does not approve of
how the University receives
its state funds.
Benedict calls for a change
in the basis for appropriations
to the University. He wants
the state legislature to clearly
define "net cost" or "change
the appropriation to a more
objective criteria." Currently,
the appropriation is based on
plain "cost." Apparently, the
"cost" criteria is based on all
of the University's expendi
tures but excludes considera
tion of any of the University's
revenue.
The University does make
money. Just consider its foot
ball game receipts.
*rotrastal - AND ii - , - HAst , h - EVEN CIDWN IN COMBAT ytr / 1
Letters to the Editor
A question of money
Certainly Dr. Oswald is correct in feeling that an un
derstanding of Penn State's fiscal situation would aid in an
early settlement of the teamster-PSU contract, but as a voting
teamster 1 feel that I need more information before I can
make a decision on such an important matter.
Firstly, how do I know that a 5 per cent increase of .my
salary is "Fully comparable'with increases received by other
groups of university employees," since these salaries are not
public knowledge?
Only salaries of union workers are open for all to see. If we,
as union employees, are to base our decision on whether or not
to strike strictly on the amount of the state allocation, the
salaries of all Penn State employees should be made public.
Secondly, since the state's allocation is but one-third of Penn
State's total budget, how does the remaining $2OO million
affect my salary? Some months ago The Daily Collegian
quoted the director of Penn State's Office of Public Infor
mation as saying that even that office's budget is not' public
Letters policy
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cannot be returned.
Detective solves the case of the reluctant recruits
Of all the cases that Detective Nero Fox ever took, the one
that netted him the most amount of money for the least
amount of work was, surprisngly, not a murder.
It was a government job. He was hired to discover who was
responsible for the decline in the nation's military recruit
ment.
He received a phone call from a military representative at
nine o'clock Friday morning and a certified check for $20,000
at 10. What follows is a transcript of his conversation with that
same representative at one o'clock that same afternoon.
The doorbell rang. I crossed the hall and looked through the
one-way front door glass. Outside stood a uniformed gen
tleman of the military persuasion. I counted the bars on his
uniform, decided he was a sergeant, checked my watch and
opened the door.
"If you're looking for the residence of Nero Fox, detective,
you've come to the right place. No need to salute. May I say
who is calling?"
"Recruiting sergeant John Spangler. Maybe you'd like one
of these pamphlets? A young guy like you, why the Marines
could . . . ."
"Sorry," I cut in, "I don't think I'm Army material. All that
saluting would get to me after a while. Besides, green just isn't
my color. This way, please."
I led him down the hall and into the office. He seated himself
in the red leather chair in front of Fox's desk.
I faced my employer and waited as he marked his book and
set' it on the disk. He looked at me, I announced Sergeant
The "net cost" and "cost"
controversy has plagued the
appropriations proceedings
since 1974 when the audit
report for the University first
recommended clarification of
the "net cost" problem.
No one really seems to un
derstand what "net cost"
means, so you probably are no
more confused than everyone
else.
Every year the University
sends voluminous documents
~. detailing its finances.
Every year the University is
audited to discover if it re
ceives sufficient state funds
and if it is , spending the funds
appropriately.
information. I realize that obtaining my strike-no strike de
cision is like achieving the impossible.
As a top level skilled tradesman (electronic technician), my
salary is about the same as a part-time postal worker, or, as
another example, thousands of dollars per year less than
equivalent workers at Kent State and The University of
Kentucky and their salaries include eyeglass prescriptions
and dental plans.
The union demand of an 8.5 per cent increase in pay, in my
opinion, is very conservative.
I wish to commend the Collegian for the fair and unbiased
reporting of this situation.
Boycott
It is perfectly clear, by now, that the Pennsylvania State
University, Inc., does not deal with students, or attend to
" student issues and input. As we have exhausted all of the so
called "proper" channels, in a frustrating-and-futile attempt
to meet with administration people, and to have them
reconsider and-or explain their failure to rehire a superior
educator, Dr. Jo-Ann Farr, I suggest that concerned persons
refuse to deal with the administration.
Let us consider, organize, and implement a boycott of psy
chology courses.
There are, I am sure, persons, psych majors who will claim
that they "can't possibly afford" to boycott psych courses;
apparently, the issue is not really all that important to these
people.
If no effort is made, if nothing is done, things will not
change. •
Alternatively, some people might better spend their time
getting to like the system as it is. I suppose that was always
how the system perpetuated itself.
Fox readjusted his three-hundred pound frame in his chair
and asked Spangler, "I take it, sergeant, that your problem is
the same as that you related to me over the phone?"
"Yes, sir, the same, sir. Our recruiting methods just aren't
working. We offer scholarships, training programs, rank
incentives, and other privileges never before available to
young men entering the service, but we just aren't getting
recruits! We can't understand it. This has never been quite the
problem that it is now. We are sure that the commies are
behind this. Either the commies or some other group of
mindless subversives. We want you to find out exactly who is
behind this."
Earl W. Lutz Jr.
electronic shop-maintenance and operations
tt%
C.)
mw Iblm_
Fox looked at me and said, "Archie, the sergeant's check is
in the safe?"
"Ng,nol in our safe..ln the bank's safe, maybe. I walked
Every year politics enters
into the decision for state ap
propriations to institutions of
higher education. This year
the State Senate's appropria
tions committee chairman
threatened that the Univer
sity would not receive an in
crease in its appropriation.
Every year legislators and
University administrators
squawk and quibble until it is
difficult to determine their
legitimate arguments from
show.
There is one unfortunate re
sult of this tangled and often
ridiculous process that is cer
tain: Students must live with
its consequences. .
Open meetings: a public
At last Wednesday's press conference
with University President John W.
Oswald, I asked if he would permit the
Student Advisory Board to open its
meeting to the public.
He replied that it is not his decision,
but that of the students on the board.
After the press, conference, the
president requested a letter explaining
my criteria for what meetings I believe
should be open to public inspection.
Because I believe the issue of open
meetings is one of public concern and not
a private feud between the ad
ministration and The Daily Collegian, I
am printing the letter I wrote to the
president. The letter follows in full.
Dear President Oswald,
Please permit me to be frank in order
to reach what I hope will be a sincere
understanding with you.
I have not attacked the closed door
meetings of the University Council and
the Student Advisory Board merely as a
means to embarrass the University
administration. Rather, I am defending
the principle of access to public in
formation.
I believe the recommendations
Jean C. Guertler
graduate-solid state science
a~yp~va~j~us
r gTim
reached by these advisory councils are
public information. The members
serving on these boards are acting as
representatives of the student body.
Jeff
'hawker
These councils ideally channel student
sentiment as advice to the ad
ministration. True, the administrators
may or may not consider the recom
mendations seriously. That is the ad
ministration's prerogative. Never
theless, these advisory councils play a
role from which the average student is
removed. Students must trust that these
councils are acting in their best interest.
No doubt the councils succeed in their
'tasks of expressing student concerns.
The problem with closed meeting is
that students cannot be assured that
Throw away the key
One reason that the 21-year-old drinking law in Pennsylvan
ia doesn't keep people under 21 from drinking is that our socie
ty is, replete with crooks like John Martellaro who not only
disregard and break the law but openly brag about it in public
as well. The major injustice I see at this point is that John
Martellaro is here at Penn State instead of in jail where he
belongs along with all others who wig!), that the laws that
contribute order and sense to society would conveniently
evaporate and thereby exonerate them.
'New morality'
In the June 27 article, "living together," the comments of
the subjects point out what is wrong with this world. lan and
Sylvia, for instance, express no knowledge about their future
and so find several present-oriented reasons to justify their
arrangements.
They do not know why they are getting an education, what
they want to do with their lives, having thought little about the
future. Small wonder many people today have no real ap
preciation of the energy crisis and other political problems we
face.
Morality can make no sense without some idea of how to
cope with the future. That is the secret of the "new morality"
it is based on ignorance and blindness. We can point to
many institutional reasons for this behavior social
fragmentation, huge organizations such as this university that
deny the intelligence of its participants (why can't we see a
budget?), and the prospect of boring work that needs,
`psyching' to get oneself to perform well.
But the individuals who are 'victims' of this system carry
the burden of their blindness, and it is they who can decide to
resist.
"Excellent. The reason I asked Mr. Goodrich the question,
Sgt. Spangler, is that I, have discovered your 'group of sub
versives' and I am not entirely sure you will be happy about
my discovery, and I am sure you will not want to pay for my
services when you hear it."
"Nonsenie, sir! It is essential that this group is discovered
and destroyed! The very fate of our country depends upon it!"
"Hmm, yes. I won't argue with that," muttered Fox. "But
I'll not detain you longer than necessary. Quite plainly, the
enemy is yourself."
•
"What? Is this some kind of a joke?"
"It is no joke, sergeant. Look at the facts. You represent a
group whose greatest asset is its aura of potential aggression.
In wartime, of course, it represents a cut and dried rationale
to kill other human beings in order to obtain some transient
desire or to administer some current political ideology. In
peacetime it projects an image of military might that induces
peace only through the fear of that aggression. A fear, I might
add, that lasts only as long as it takes to build enough guns and
bombs and.the like to alleviate that fear."
Spangler was mad, hopping mad. He hopped from his chair
and yelled, "You're being ridiculous! It's more involved than
that! Everybody else is doing it! Those goddamn Russkies and
Red Chinese don't sit around all day making daisy chains!"
Fox scowled and said, "Your argument contains a rather
blatant fallacy, sergeant,_ Ad Hominem circuynstantiA.
these advisory councils are acting in
their best interest unless all are per
mitted to observe the councils'
proceedings.
I am a student who is curious about
how the councils' arrive, at their
recommendations. As an editor, I
believe I have a responsibility to let all
the students know what happens when
these advisory councils convene.
I certainly do not suggest all meetings
you have with students or your ad
ministrative staff should be open to
public inspection. On the other hand,
when a board such as the Student
Advisory Board has an official status as
a spokesman for all students, then I
believe both students and ad
ministrators benefit if the unnecessary
mystery surrounding closed meetings is
dispelled by sunshine from an open door.
Excuse me for drawing the inaccurate
conclusion that you had the final
decision as to whether these advisory
council meetings are open or not. As is
often the result of closed proceedings, I
was mislead by partisan information,
i.e. by information dispersed by in-
James L. McDonel
assistant professor-microbiology
Name withheld
NOW SWEEL A CARD
A liol4N MiItHELL
VERFUL
Be sensible
Some years ago when The University of Singapore hiked
tuition it applied only to new entrants to the University ana
to those already enrolled and in the process of complain. 1 ,-
their education.
To me this was a most sensible approach as it allowed fo;
the fact that families which had planned ahead for theii? ,
children's education would not be penalized for something:thaz: 4
was not their doing.
It's a pity that some students will have to discontinue iheil
education if unable to keep up with the pecuniary travails t,;-
the times.
And what about the foreign students who have come &owl
thousands of miles and at great expense? al
I would suggest that the proposed increase in tuitioji
applicable only to new students beginning on a degree course 1 '
This way those coming to join the university will be able t.
plan ahead their expenses accordingly and those already in
the university to complete their studies without interruption. -
Nay Tej Singh'
graduate-journalism •
d t a l lZr Collegian
JEFFREY HAWKES SCOTT R. SERER
Editor Business Manager
BOARD OF MANAGERS: Sales Coordinator, Alek N.
Barenblitt; Office Coordinator, Judy Stimson, National Ad
Manager, Judi Rodrick; Layout Coordinator, Terry Dolinar
Editorial policy is determined by the Editor.
Opinions expressed by theeditors and staff of the Daily
Collegian are not necessarily those of the University ad
ministration, faculty or students.
the same way does not rationalize that betrayal for yourself.
Indeed, it does not rationalize that betrayal for anyone." ;
Spangler sat down. "All right, all right, we could argue this
all day. Just tell me how this is turning people away from our
recruiters."
"Given that premise, sergeant, the reasons fall into place.
Why should someone join an organization that blatantly goes
against his ideals? The new genre of social ideas spawned
during the sixties, though they have been trodden upon and
practically suffocated over the last few years, are not com
pletely dead. The extensive television coverage of the coun t ,
try's military activities during the Vietnam war removed the
glory associated with war. Why would anyone support a
system when he is convinced there is a better way to run
things?"
Spangler muttered, "Not everyone has turned away."
"I do not ascribe my conclusion to everyone, I cannot: Yi
have asked me to discover the cause of a trend and I havd done
so. The problem lies with the underlying purpose of your
organization. The most elaborate facade of scholarship in
centives and the like cannot sufficiently hide that purpose
from view. People are looking at you harder now, and the
more they look, the more they . "-
Spangler wasn't listening. He was marching towards the
door shouting something about how wrong Fox was and how
he wanted his money back and how, by God, if we didn't give
v him his money back he was going to send a tank around to the
co n cer
•
dividuals to serve their private not-tl4
public's interests.
I was pleased to see the Univdbib
Council open its meetings at the end
last term. I encourage the StUde A
Advisory Board to do the same, I Cul ,
hope that you would suggest that I
consider open meetings.
.....
Oswald said an open Student Advisori.
Board (SAB) will degenerate into e ,
ineffective rap session. He said he ill
tends to tell the SAB that c 1 sew
meetings are more effective. '..!
, ,
I disagree. Closed meetings
enable the participants to cover up,pa'4
decisions or to sit on their hands at'
accomplish nothing. " •
• „
I am disappointed that Oswald did nN
accept my invitation to reply to oil
letter. Perhaps he has good reasob
da.siring the SAB to remain closed. -1 I
Without an explanation, his lack 11
faith in an open SAB sounds like a thretTh
to student members to keep it closed, ;1
Sincerel
Jeffrey Hawke,;,