Editorial opinion
The United Mine Woi
strike may blackout your
cation.
At the current rate of
sumption, West Penn P<
Co. has about 40 days of
reserves for the Univei
An engineer for West ]
Power says that even ii
strike is settled today, if
take 15 to 17 days for a
coal shipment to come in.
If the strike continues
longer than three weeks
no conservation attempf
made, the University .
running without adeqi
electricity, or possibly '
ting down.
But if everyone consi.
now, the University’s fuel con-
Thank you
It is unfortunately true that the cost of education is rising
with the cost of everything else. In the Graduate School, the
increased costs of education have translated to a,decrease in
the availability of assistantships, which has, to some extent,
led to a decrease in graduate enrollment.
In an effort to help current, continuing and potential grads
come to grips with the financial realities, the Graduate
Student Association will be sponsoring a financial aid
workshop, January 26 (7:30 p.m.) in 101 Kern. The guest
speakers will be Dean Benjamin Howell of the Graduate
School and Holly Zuleba of the Office of Student Aid. We will
informally discuss everything from loans to grants, work
study to fellowships. A question and answer period will follow.
Additionally, GSA will make available information we have
been collecting from different graduate departments about
sources of aid within the departments. We are particularly
gratified by the enthusiasm of graduate faculty as they
assisted us in finding this information. It is through such
cooperative efforts that we will be able to maintain quality
education, communication and esprit de corps in the graduate
school, the University, and the community.
Our appreciation to all those who have assisted in these
efforts.
Wrong sponsor
Friday's In Edition critiqued an article which appeared in
“Turning Point,” about Changing Lifestyles, a new Spring
Term - course. In keeping with the Collegian’s concern for petty
“details,” the writer quotes one of the course initiators as
saying the time and location of the class are unknown, since
the initiators were a little slow with the paper work. The writer
goes on to say that “it seems they weren’t paying attention to
petty details.”
The writer has ignored a few petty details himself. In the
same article he states that “Turning Point,’.’ State College’s
new alternative paper, is put out by the College of The Liberal
Arts. Turning Point is, in fact, simply sponsored by the School
of Journalism.
• University officials did not see it in keeping with their rules
to permit an independent paper to be distributed on campus.
The School of Journalism empathized with our cause and
helped us to obtain permission to distribute on campus. But,
get them while you can folks, because University officials
continue to confiscate them.
Mars ton
It was very disappointing to read Charley Mitchell’s column
on U.S. Attorney David Marston.
Mitchell, and many of my friends, have had the same
reaction to this case. They have written off the Marston
problem as Jimmy Carter’s lesson in politics, although it is
apparent that as governor of Georgia he must have learned
enough of politics to know what was expected of him.
*B UTT FIRST, A \VORP FROM MVSFOU6O?..? DdUy CoIIQQIQH fOWITI
Blackout ■ ' Bisf
ivff w* vi iv v % | u&tdijKe j) P '
irkers sumption can be reduced by at for less than 15 minutes, I|fp H /
edu- least 20 percent possibly Dean says, and turned off if _^ r ., | j /« v
giving the University a fuel they will not be used for longer // 1 %A ap"’*'
con- reprieve. than that time. (C __ r<o> , 1 IUVr Hill ,% lmi M ill!
'ower J. Carroll Dean, manager of University President John Kin \ fU p yfif
t coal the University’s energy con- W. Oswald has ordered elec- 3L3* Mr t 1 1 1 fflwMw N >
srsity. servation program, says any tncity conservation on all JIS Is 11 ft J
Penn action that will Save energy in Penn State campuses. The -y • gpj y'
if the general will help conserve Association of Residence Hall. | 1 5 / ! ’
it will electricity. Students has recommended S . k iI ; f
new Students should accept the that dorm residents volun- lui ill JI ■
responsibility of reporting tarily reduce their energy con- M My in |\ ft
much malfunctioning systems, such sumption by 10 percent start- H rW/ i !i *5
and as heaters. Students can also ingJan.3o. mif
its are conserve energy by turning off If the United Mine Workers’ T| v
risks incandescent lights when they strike isn’t solved soon, the . <cw
juate are not needed, conserving University could be asked to , * -ww dmmmm
shut- water and eliminating the restrict non-essential opera- ***
non-essential use of energy. tionstoa4shourweek.
erves Fluorescent lights should be The message is all too clear. iig^
left on if they will not be in use
Gary Gillette
Marilyn Henry
GSA
Jan. 20
Betsy Morris
Michal Whitehouse
Staff members, Turning Point
Jan. 23
Letters to the Editor
Carter’s shabby conduct in the Marston case is not the most
discouraging point. What is discouraging is the attitude
toward that conduct.
From Kennedy through Johnson and ending in Richard
Nixon, the American public and press turned a blind eye on
one corrupt, underhanded action after another. They were
each excused as a necessary part of the system. Finally we
had a president who assumed that little, if anything, was
expected of him in the way of integrity and decency. The
disaster of Watergate need not be outlined; we are all familiar
with it.
The firing of David Marston does not rate near the com
plexity or importance of Watergate. It is exactly what it has
been described as a standard political maneuver.
Unfortunately the reaction to it is foreboding. The feryor to
“clean up" in post-Watergate days is now dying.
Progress springs only from the minds of those who would
improve. Anyone who has excused this action has put more
belief in the inevitability of the world as it is now than in their
hopes for the future. When a person settles for what he sees, he
prohibits himself progress. This is one of the saddest atrocities
a man can commit against society.
Misgivings
In reference to all the “Bleeding heart” individuals who are
against the reinstatement of the death reinstatement of the
death penalty for murder, I pose this hypothetical situation:
Picture a Charles Manson-type individual murdering your
family or anyone that you love, in a similar style that Manson
and his family committed their terrible atrocities, then tell
me that you wouldn’t be screaming for their heads.
Informed
Do you know what the Penn State Task Force is? Most
students who we have talked to know little or nothing about it.
Yet, it is a very important student issue that will affect every
student and all student organizations.
According to a USG official, the task force has been in
operation for two years gathering information on methods of
improving the efficiency of undergraduate student govern
ment. If their recommendations are adopted the present form
of undergraduate student government will drastically be
changed.
But before their recommendations can be adopted, public
hearings will be held probably in early February. The
hearings will determine whether the students support or
oppose the changes. If there is support, undergraduate student
government would like to hold a special referendum during
spring term registration tq permit the students to vote on the
new form of government.
We wonder how a committee as powerful as the task force
can work for two years and the students know nothing about
it? Also, why is the USG-backed task force so interested in
trying to push the public hearings and the elections before the
students are knowledgeable on the subject? If the public
hearings are held in February we feel there would not be
adequate student input.
How can students intelligently voice their opinions if they
don’t know anything about the task force or its policies? Also
Conserve energy now.
Gus A. Kostas
Uth-law enforcement and corrections
Task Force seeks student views!
By STEVE DiORIO
Co-Chairman, University Task Force on
Student Representation, and President
Interfraternity Council
On Jan. 30, 31, and Feb. 1 the
University Task. Force on student
representation will be holding public
hearings for the purpose of allowing
interested students the opportunity to
become involved in the process of
reorganizing student government at
Penn State. It is necessary that as broad
a base of opinion as possible be
represented in order for the Task Force
members to receive an even greater ’
cross-section of opinion than to date, in
particular student opinion, and to allow
Task Force members the opportunity to
reply to a variety of issues.
For purposes of clarification a brief
description of the origin of the Task
Force is in order as well as an iden
tification as to where the need for
student governmental reorganization
developed.
In ihe late fall of 197?, the
Undergraduate Student Government
charged a committee of students with
the task of examining and evaluating the
current internal situation and per
formance of USG. It was stated in this
report that the recommendations of the
USG Task Force was a first step in a
long process of evaluating the whole of
student governmental organizations.
During this time several staff mem
bers of the Office of Student Affairs met
how can those just learning about the task force be expected to
gather enough information on their position in the short
amount of time remaining?
We think that it would not be in the best interest of the
students to hold the referendum balloting during spring
registration or any time in early March as many students will
not be ready to vote. Especially since February will be a time
students will be preparing for finals rather than collecting
feedback on the issue.
We urge that'an educational campaign be initiated to inform
the students of the issue and we encourage undergraduate
student government not to conduct the hearings and election
until this is done.
Short letter
Chuck Zito
2nd-liberal arts
Jan. 13
I have been attending this University on and off for five
years and have been reading about the same issues in your
“newspaper” for five years. However, it has come to my
attention that your “newspaper” is biased against, short
people.
While I have never read a word of degradation against
blacks, homosexuals, women or any other minority, you seem
to think that being short is somehow amusing. Your attempt at
being funny with Friday’s weather report (drifting may be
monumental and cover up short people) was totally out of line,
lacked respect for a substantial percentage of the population
and revealed how much short people’s problems are
overlooked.
It is no fun living in a world where everything is out of reach,
or where you are overlooked because of your size. Short people
are easily as smart, agile, artistic and creative as tall people.
Given the chance, short people can do anything that a tall
person can do, even athletically (tall people aren’t so great;
look at our basketball team).
I am tired of being called a midget and the brunt of jokes
about short people. Enough is enough! I would hope that short
people on campus will unite to fight discrimination (i.e. high
tables, low chairs, big people with small minds, etc.).
All interested short people call me or write to The Daily
Collegian to express your views. So, to the Collegian, Randy
Newman and the rest of you prejudiced people, stick a live
chicken in your undershorts.
Mission
In view of the recent development in the Middle East, it is
clear that since its inception the goal of Zionism has been the
creation and expansion of a colonial settler state in the heart
of the Arab lands. Israel’s intransigence in the recent
negotiations, despite the massive concessions by Mr. Sadat,
makes it clear Israel intends to continue to expand into,
colonize and settle the neighboring Arab lands.
Zionist cries for “security” and “defensible borders” are
thereby'shown to be merely a smoke screen for the continued
expulsion of Arab inhabitants of the region from their homes
and farmlands in order to obtain such homes and farmlands
for settlers coming in from other countires.
with the members of the USG Task
Force at the students’ request to discuss
the interrelationship of USG to the ad
ministration. From these meetings a
consensus was reached that student
participation needed to be improved at
both the “decision-making” and the
“policy-level” of the University.
In general, then, it was agreed that
there must be further consideration of
student representation as it relates to
existing University government. As a
result of these sentiments being ex
pressed by both students and ad
ministrators, Raymond 0. Murphy, vice
president for student affairs, established
a University Task Force on student
representation. The objective of the
Task Force, as was stated in its charge,
was to establish a “proposal of ways and
means to improve the quality of par
ticipation and representation for
students in University matters.” The
composition of the University Task
Force included individuals who worked
on the USG Task Force as well as the
student leaders of executive council
organizations. The Council of Branch
Campus Student Government
Association became an additional
member of the Task Force at a later
date. In addition, four administrators
from the Office of Student Affairs were
requested to sit on the University Task
Force in order to allow the necessary
interaction for an intelligent review of
student representation in University
matters.
’ Thomas D. Gracik
12th-poly mer science
Bill Reininger
9th-man-environment relations
Jan. 24
Charles Mazzitti (5’6”)
7th-division of undergraduate studies
Jan. 23
Initially the Task Force divided into
two subcommittees: internal and ex
ternal. The internal committee
examined the interface between student
organizations, (i.e., the Association of
Residence Hall Students and the
Organization of Town Independent
Students) while the external committee
analyzed areas of student concern and
answered the question as to whether or
not these concerns were being met by a
student input group to satisfy those
concerns.
A survey of students was utilized to
generate student opinion as to needed
services and programs. Having
acquired the above information the
subcommittees issued their final
reports, and the task of restructuring a
student government according to the
needs of students at Penn State was
underway.
The purpose of the University Task
Force is not to make other student
groups pay for USG’s problems, as has
been stated. Its purpose is merely to
develop the most efficient and effective
organization of student services as
possible. This requires an open mind to
change and a willingness on the part of
students and organizations to work for
thai. change, into whatever form it
develops. Self-interest present in the
existing student government must be
replaced with an attitude beneficial to
the good of the whole. i
In Jim Scarantino’s article he stated
Mr. Begin’s open defense of such colonization makes it clear
that the only peace the Israelis are willing to make with the
native Arabs, particularly the Palestinians, is the sort of
peace Hitler intended to make with the neighboring Slavs.
It is no wonder that the PLO has refused to be a party to such
a “peace,” which necessarily entails a “final solution” to the
Palestinian problem in the form of the destruction and ex
tinction of the Palestinians, not only as a nation, but as human
beings. --
While the predominant force in the PLO, that of Mr. Arafat
is willing to concede more than the Czechs did at Munich, the
PLO cannot lend itself to serving as a mere' front and a
legitimation for the total expulsion and destruction of ths
people it represents, from which it draws its sole reason
existence
Miscreants
Scenario: ' .
Upon returning to your families’ '";
home from an evening out, you .
sense that the house is too quiet. „
The dog didn’t greet you—“he’s probably '
sleeping upstairs under someone’s bed.” . ■
The only sound is the TV’s post-Anthem hum. ‘ a
You walk into the next room . ..
your stomach immediately reacts to the picture
that your eyes have just confirmed.
No need to continue.
Now . . . Vengence is whose? j.
When murder walks through your castle, who will decide ,
what is just? When capital crime and punishment become. r
more than a detached abstract discourse because of a vivid,
unforgettable memory trace, the problem becomes urgent. 1
Your attitude would be different if you were to spend some*
time as an aide on a ward for the criminally insane and
patrolled a cell block in the behavior adjustment unit oPe
penitentiary. ,1!.
When you begin to raise a family and send your children to
school and remember who peopled those institutions and whj£
they were there, you become a realist and not a sophist./
Murderers, sexual psychopaths, child molesters, rapists,
kidnapers, etc., are not just stories on Kojak. . ‘
And, if murder walks into your house, it will be because ybtt
opened the door for him. So until the abstract becomes the
real
Dan Evalf
graduate—community system and planning development 1
Jan. 22
iCollegiari
Jeffrey Hawkes
Editor
. orij,
Formal grievances may be sent to Gerry Hamilton,
Inc., executive secretary, 126 Carnegie Building, Universifos
Park, Pa. 16802.
Sabah A. Wali
Organization of Arab Student^
, Jan.-io
■ra
Business Manager
that “Task Force members insist that'
reorganization model is only tentative
and not amenable to public discussion.I’’" 1 ’’"
While the reorganizatipn model 'is 1
tentative, the latter part of thdt 1
statement is both extremely misleading
and completely inaccurate. The feed-7
back generated from public hearings
planned for next week will play an iti°
tegral role in the completion of a final
document and in the final development
of a new student government structure. 111
The voice of the students has been
will continue to be heard by the Tqsk
Force, but it must be an organized one.
As a Daily Collegian editorial stated,
the Task Force tried to hear every
of every issue, it would be years before
anything concrete would ever come qut
of it.”
The Task Force members desire
change a change for the benefit of all
students. The legitimacy of the
recommended structural changes will
lie in the hands of the students wher?it
belongs. The Task Force welcomes
criticism criticism directed at tjbfi
ability of the new structure to aid pi]
students.
Finally, and most importantly, the
Task Force welcomes suggestions : te
remedy any weaknesses identified in its
proposals. To simply criticize without
subsequent suggestions for ini l
provement would be senseless. The Td§R(
Force’s mind is open we hope that tH6
organizations’ minds are open as well. 1
zksctf?B ' i.
5
4
, .-JT
a
Scott R. Sesler