Editorial opinion Come on, guys. Call the game a draw and cut the rest of us in for a second round. State legislators have been busy passing bills and amend ments, but so far, nothing tangible has come of it. It's fine to say the state related schools should have money, but you might as well say you support motherhood or hate war. Proper senti ments do not help anyone. Both parties are at fault in this game of politics. ats go off for an honest University administration The hat makes the man, or so they say. In any event, E.G. embraced the old adage as if it were gospel. E.G. is a Penn State administrator par ex cellence. He is the cream' of Old Main, the in trepid trouble-shooter, the University's water walker. Pure ability notwithstanding, E.G. prospers mainly because he knows how to play the game well. He smiles upon request. He divines his superiors' foibles. He astounds his coworkers with his amazing ability to anticipate his bosses' wishes and displeaures. Never deviating from the conventional wisdom and expediency, E.G. is as one with official policy and perspective. E.G. is Old Main incarnate. • One day E.G. was assigned the unenviable task of presenting Penn State's annual budget request to the Pennsylvania legislature. How should I approach the legislators? E.G. wondered. What image should Penn State project to the state government? E.G. recalled the old adage, The hat makes the man. Or, in this case, he added, the institution. So he went clown to Clyde's, the local haberdashery, to find the right hat for Penn State's appearance in Harrisburg. Ever hear Did you ever hear the one about the Collegian editor who wanted to do a page about the inaccessability of the ad ministration? -r; She thought shOd have to give it up because she couldn't get in touch, with any administrators. It happened. Honest. By the middle of last week I was ready to scream. I was certain there wouldn't be an op-ed page this week. Stories have to be in by Monday or Tuesday to meet a Tuesday night deadline. Which means they should be assigned a week in ad vance. And there I was, Wednesday, waiting for administrators to call me back so I could ask them to write an article for the page. "Hello. May I speak to Dr. X?" "Who's calling please?" "Karen Egolf of the Daily Collegian." "Oh, yes, Karen. I told him you called earlier. He hasn't returned your call yet? Well, he's not in right now. I'll have Legislators need By MIKE STINSON We're getting ripped off. And who's doing it? The elected representatives in our state legislature. That's right, the people we sent-to Harrisburg. How are they ripping us off? Here's how: Penn State University currently faces a serious financial crisis, the worst in its history as an institution of higher learning. The crisis was created solely by the Pennsylvania State Legislature. This past August the House and the Senate passed a $5.1 billion budget for the general Commonwealth. This budget exhausted all the expected State revenues for the fiscal year 1977-78 and left no monies for what the Commonwealth con stitution labels the "non-preferreds." What are the non-preferreds? They are Penn State, Pitt, Temple and Lincoln Universities .and a number of other items. To date, the House and Senate have failed to give Penn State any funds. The funds we haven't received represent an ap proximate 30 per cent gap in our University's total operating budget. For three and a half months this gap has existed. To fill the gap, our University has had to borrow funds from lending institutions to keep the doors of higher learning opened. The amount of borrowed funds is to the tune of about $9,000,000 every month, or $300,000 every day. The University doesn't borrow this money for nothing it has to pay interest, and a lot of it. For the month of October, interest payments on University loans amount to $3,000 every day. Come the end of October, our University will owe $2,000,000 in interest payments. Beginning in November, and if the state legislature fails to fund Penn State, Penn State will be paying $4,000 in interest every day. This money could have been used for our education. It is now being wasted. Harrisburg is simply taking too long in resolving this budget dilemma. We must begin pressuring our elected represen tatives to bring an end to this problem immediately. Stop by the Student Action Center in your area Residence Hall Association office and for you town folks, the OTIS office or Pattee Library, to get the name of your legislator. Call them, write them, tell them to get moving. And have your parents call too! If you'd like to travel to Harrisburg to talk to your representatives directly, sign up at the Student Action Cen-: ters. Our voices must be heard. Only you can'help. Mike Stinson is the USG State Government Liaison. Here are some facts that you should know! They concern every student at the University Park Campus, the eighteen branch campuses, and the two Graduate Centers. 1. Penn State faces a financial crisis the worst in its history as an Institution of Higher Learning. The state legislature, to . . • • . -. ~--..., ;. • . .4i ,4 s, . I . . . ‘ , . • . , New. game .• . . 3. pi , HT - .., (...( _\". The Republicans are trying for tax increases. constituents are going to re- '-,. S, ...._., \ §, , keep their hands clean in Both parties should do member all the hassles - )pes of winning the coveted more. Call off the game of around • election time next ' 1 I •:' ; ,'; ? ;: .;, , e ,'•V` ize in this ludicrous game. politicking and get to work. year, and the memories are • ~,, ;. ~ 1., •,:•,;ii,'l y not, proposing a tax in- The budget problems . have not going to be good ones. 5,..;.,.... , \ p,.. , '•. , ;..1 •ease, they are hoping to been going on since last sum- One more question needs ~,.0:....,..0; Yu We . . ~ ,: ,4 1 . 4 :, , ,,... t )me away with ' the state mer, and still nothing has been answering right now: Do we, ' 'AMV:P . t. T Ku.. wernorship and a number of done. the students of the state-re- ;a 4 .ll'ft , ets in the General Assembly Hasn't anyone in the state lated universities, have to put ' 4 ,e,P,,;;;0,;CM0r0._, ..,....N0v, , , , ,v.,.a; , ,t4 , , , ,v,7 I gb, the 1978 elections. legislature learned the impor- up with this game again next . -s;..k 0V. 4 ? w. , ...be*, 6 ~, t 4 - \ ii, ~:! 40.:4 1 ' t ‘ Noble aims, no. tance of making and keeping year? Are you going to start \ , ,...-:,-;„:iw , l And the Democrats are not deadlines? this hassle all over again . •1,1 . ____ ril-aw .: \,.,.. ying so nicely either. What Maybe legislators should when the next budget comes ;ter method is there than look at the problem realistic- up? .. ‘,... :. '---: ,kir the Rc 'ibli - . look illy ,--.- -f - 'he: - Th! 131 ` pla, bett making .ie .tepublicans . lool. bad by forcing them to vote "It seems to me," Clyde said to E.G., "that you need something unassuming, something un pretentious. Your image must make the legislators realize that they have a responsibility for Penn State. "After all, Penn State is a public institution, a creature of the Commonwealth. You need something that emphasizes Penn State's land grant status. I think I've got just the thing for you in populist, democratic grey." • ..r,' . :w. ,, ,, ' 4:i: • t 9 A k.:14,1 Clyde sold E.G. the latest in a line of "public hats." It was just a modest, little, grey cabby's cap, but it did the trick of making Penn State look like a public university. E.G. wore his public hat before the legislature. The people in Harrisburg liked his hat and gave him the money he had come to get. With his feather in his cap, E.G. was assigned the one about the PSU administrator? him try to reach you later." After calling five or six times, a person becomes slightly infuriated. I was ready to condemn the administration for inattentiveness to the needs of students, for failing to see the trees for the forest. As you can see, I finally did get a response. Patience and endurance paid off, but they're the only things that will. The administration is busy. The amount of paper work alone is staggering, and the number of meetings is enough to drive anyone mad. It was doing a good job of driving me crazy, and I didn't have to attend any of 4/(1/71 & ) , 1 1/ I a kick in pants date, has not given Penn State any funds for the fiscal year 1977-78. 2. The money we should have received from the state represents 30 per cent of our total University budget! 3. Penn State is currently borrowing $300,000 every day and is paying interest on these loans. Ending the month of October, PSU will have paid $200,000 in interest just to stay open! 4. Interest payments for the month of October are $3,000 per day! In November, daily interest payments will reach $4,000. Unless the state legislature gives Penn State its funds, plus extra money to pay the interest on loans, the students of Penn State will have to pay for the interest with increased tuition and cutbacks in University services ( he: shorter library hours). 5. The state House of Representatives has passed an ap propriations bill of $lOB.B million for Penn State. This is $900,000 less than the budget approved - by the Board of Trustees last spring. Expect additional increases in tuition and decreases in University services for the Winter and Spring Terms. • 6. An appropriations bill does not mean Penn State will receive its money. Taxes must be increased and-or cuts must be made in the state budget to raise the dollars to support the appropriations. 7. The tax increase represents a 0.3 per cent increase in personal income taxes, or $3O additional tax per $lO,OOO per sonal income, and a 1 per cent increase in corporate net in come taxes. 8. It may take a very long time for the House of Represent atives and the Senate to raise the funds for Penn State. One hundred and two votes are needed in the House and 26 in the Senate to pass a tax increase and-or cuts in the state budget. As of date, there are about 80 representatives and 19 senators who will vote for a tax increase about 22 more votes in the House and seven more votes in the Senate are needed to in crease taxes. 9. The longer it takes the state legislature to raise funds for Penn State, the more interest Penn State will eave to pay on borrowed funds. There is no guarantee the state will pay this interest. Our elected officials must act swiftly in raising funds for Penn State, and they must guarantee these funds will pay the interest on Penn State loans. If a guarantee is not given, it will be the students of Penn State who will have to pay through tuition increases and cuts in University services. 10. ATTENTION STUDENTS you can help. You must let your own representatives know how you feel about this matter! Call or write your representative and senator today! Tell them you want and expect their support for Penn State State. . 11. ATTENTION STUDENTS your parents can help. Talk to your parents and ask them to contact their representatives and senators, by phone or letter. They have a big impact in Harrisburg, and if they don't want to pay for higher tuition, they should express their concerns to their legislators. ally and forget their efforts to harm the other party. Their an even more formidable task, that of dealing with and controlling students. Once again, E.G. sought Clyde's advice in the matter of a suitable hat. i "The public hat absolutely won't do in this case," Clyde lectured. "It burdens you with 'too many of the responsibilities of a public official, like toeing a constitutional line, lending an ear to student complaints and such. "What you need is a hat that frees you from all these constraints, one that maximizes your discretion, so to speak. You need, foremost, something to protect you from student demands for just treatment and effective participation in decisions. Lucky for you, I've got just the thing." E.G. bought what Clyde called "the private hat." It was a weathered, but stubbornly stiff, black Homburg, much like those worn by im perial politicians at the Congress of Vienna. E.G. proudly, and perhaps a bit arrogantly, displayed his hat around campus. Wearing his Homburg, he devised a judicial system that ignored the constitutional rights of students. He structured the governance of the University to preclude students from practicing self determination. When students complained that a public them. Everyone I was trying to call was in one meeting or another, and sometimes they were meeting with each other. At this point, I was ready to accuse them of conspiracy, arranging dastardly trials for one frustrated editor. The job of an administrator isn't an easy one. Those nice, neat offices that students see can't be the real thing. I'd be willing to bet that the basement of Old Main is flooded with papers, and behind every innocent-looking closet door are stacks of neat, white sheets waiting to cascade out across carpeted floors. Keep that in mind if you ever have to see an administrator. Other than being potentially hazardous, those papers could be a reason behind delayed ap pointments or sending students to other offices. It's probably pretty hard to get adequate insurance to cover injuries caused by lurking stacks of ad ministrative literature and student- Think about it. Then deal everyone a new game. • hating course cards. Probably one of the best ways to get to see an administrator is to plan your problems about three weeks in advance. During the first week, call his. secretßry about five times daily. By the third or fourth call, she'll be taking detailed messages • and recognizing your voice. By the fifth call, there's a good chance she'll tell you the best route to, take. If so, your problem will be as good as solved: There are two levels of the ad ministration the administrators and the administrators' secretaries. Either way, students can find answers. It's just a matter of one day versus one week. If, however, you absolutely have to talk to the administrator, stop calling by the second week. Your time limit is getting shorter, and your problem will be ready for you before you know what to do. Try going to the administrator's of fice. Chances are you should start in Letters to the Editor Irreplaceable loss On Oct. 14 and 15, some thoughtless person(s) stole material from a fire prevention exhibit here in the Kern Graduate Building. This material was contributed by local volunteer firemen in an effort to provide an attractive display for Fire' Prevention Week. As it now stands several individuals have lost valuable antiques, some of which are irreplaceable. Over the past, seven years we have hosted over 300 exhibits with a minimal problem with theft. Has the character of this University community degraded to the point where guards, locks and constant supervision must take the place of mere respect for others? Along with the performing arts, the visual arts are a vital. part of the collegiate experience. Must they too go the way of late night unescorted walks across campus? If this message happens to find its way to the person( s) responsible for the theft, could you please return the material and restore our faith in the integrity of our community? J. William Johnston director, Graduate Commons Sources I would like to comment on the editorial by Mark Harmon on Senator John Heinz. It seems that Mark is guilty of a crime he accuses Mr. Heinz of: having no sources! • He accuses Heinz of. paying out $55,046 in hush money to George Young and Salvatore Guzzetta, so they would not report being fired. Well, where is his source? Does he have a stitch of proof to back this up or is this just his opinion? He also charges Heinz with "concocting a completely false story that Guzzetta had Legionnaire's Disease." Again, Mark any proof? Must be your opinion. From these two unproven statements, Harmon refers to Heinz as dealing in "shady politics." Mark also accuses the senator of receiving an illegal con tribution of $6,000 froin Gulf Oil. If this and his other aci cusations are true, why isn't .Heinz behind bars? Why hasn't he even been brought to court? Obviously, there is not enough evidence to present a case against him. Mark also attacks Heinz's spending during the campaign. What is he so upset about? It was Heinz's own money, not the taxpayers. It came out of his own pocket! If John Heinz is so "cunning, ambitious, corrupt and shady," why did all this money come from his own finances? I university could not behave in such a manner, E.G. touched the brim of his private hat and chortled, "Horsefeathersl Who's a public in stitution? Not us. So better forget all this talk about fair shares and democracy in action." E.G. took good care of his hats and learned to use them proficiently. When Penn State needed the image of a public university, especially aroung budget time, E.G. donned . his public cap. When the public image proved inexpedient in dealing with students, he put on his private Homburg. In time E.G. discovered that by wearing other hats, he could manipulate various groups' per ceptions of PSU. - For the defense community in Washington, he wore a dun soldier's helmet. For farmers, he wore a beat-up straw bonnet. For the alumni, he insisted upon the most fashionable chapeau of the day. For the national television audience, he wore a flashy football helmet. As long as E.G. could segregate these groups and avoid dealing with two or more of them concurrently, he could sport whichever hat suited his audiences and manage Penn State's images and concommitant duties to fit his needs. But it came to pass that the world grew your own college. But if that's failed, the next step is Old Main. . , , Hold it, don't ,panic. Students are allowed in the sacred" Nittany ' shrine. You can walk in the door of Old Main just as easily as the door of Willard or the Forum. It's easy. As a matter of fact, it's better than the Forum. It's quieter, like Pattee, and relaxing. There's even an information booth to tell you where to go. To which office, that is. Now that you've made it to the right office, there's the secretary, the lady behind the voice you've come to know so well. Just tell her what you need, what you've gone through to •get this far and that you would like to see the ad ministrator. If you can't arrange that, . ask for 50 bonus points for trying., You see, - it's not that hard. It takes a lot of time and a lot of patience. Once you have an appointment, don't change it. Plan out ahead what you're going to say. He doesn't have all day, and you'll - ccoititlittetli GF tlikßkloguarZG see nothing wrong with a candidate spending, his own money for the purpose of holding an elective office. a I'm certain that if Bill Green had the money, he would have done the same. The object of the game is to win, and I may add, Mr. Heinz did legally. No proof has been brought u to dispute this. r: As for Heinz's personality, ambition and controlling 'The conversation, name me a governmental official who does not possess these traits. Even our president is known for his gieat ambition. rii , • t Is this a negative trait? Certainly one would not wail* a leader who does not posses ambition! I knoW a few people4ho know John Heinz personally, and they found him pleaant, intelligent, ambitious and concerned. I believe that Mark Harmon 'went overboard withl-his criticisms of John Heinz. He had no proof to back up a siltle charge. I think that what we see here is a "shady and tim bilious" reporter that lacks any evidence to support his case. Scott Martin (Ist-animal science) ' C.J. Muskas (Ist-business admin.) A ' d . a t h i l e y Collegian Jeffrey Hawkes Editor BOARD OF EDITORS: Editorial Editor, Marty Smith; News Editor, Mike Mentrek; Assistant Editorial Editor, . Karen Egolf; Assistant News Editor, Dave Skidmore; Wire Editor, Judy Mesko; Copy Editors, Jay Bookman, Dave Colbornavy Goldberg, Laura Shemick; Layout Editors, Sally ',Ref fentreyer, Jerry Micco; Features Editor, Patty Rh,qle; Graphics Editor, Mark Van Dine; Arts Editor, Julie Swindell; Sports Editor, Pete Dougherty; Assistant . Sports Editors, Jerry Lucci, Joyce Tomana; Photo, Editor, Ken Kammer; Assistant Photo Editors, Andy Gumberg, Rich HoffnWn; Office Manager, Vicki Butler. PI t . : BOARD OF MANAGERS: Sales Coordinator, Alex N. Bwn blitt; Office Coordinator, Judy Stimson; National Ad 4011- ager, Judi Rodrick; Layout Coordinators,' Terry Dolijlar, Hope Goldstein. 1 smaller, or Penn State larger. ,The University's constituencies refused to be kept at bay and had to be dealt with simultaneously, Out of necessity, E.G. took to carrying with him all his hats at the same time. He wore them piled atop one another high upon his head. Novi he had each hat with him whenever it was needed. Though the weight of the hats was terrible and manipulating Penn State's images became a cumbersome process, E.G. persisted in his behavior. For he had come to rely so dearly upon his hats that he felt helpless withbut them. (He did begin to blush, though, whenever he caught his reflection in a mirror). Then one day while walking through a crowd, E.G, felt his tower of hats slip suddenly over his. eyes. Completely in the dark, E.G. stumbled into the person before him. "What's the matter• with you," the person complained. "Can't you - see where you're going? It might help if you took off those silly hats." E.G. lifted his load of hats back on his head "But the hats make the man," he protested and continued on his way while his hats continued to cover his eyes once again. - Jim Scarantino is a ninth term political science major. probably forget any mental notes for an impromptu speech in the shocif i of finding yourself in the inner Office.„... It doe§Vei did get to` see more than one administrator, but I actually got to talk to a few on the phone. The articles came in for some, amr,the rest told their secretaries to try to arrange a different deadline later on in the year. It took a while, but it was worth it. I learned that patience is a virtue and that students have to be part of the fewhat possess it. Maybe the University should offpr a course, Patience 321 or Administrative Process 123. Either way, get to know the workings of the administration and 'Oke advantage of them if the need arises,' After all, the administration is theo to serve you. It's just up to you to figuriout how to set up communications. Karen Egolf (7th-journalism )' b is assistant editorial editor of The Wily Collegian. Scott Sell er Business Mana;ker
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers