Editorial opinion Winners • The Undergraduate Student Government's Department of Political Affairs, for show ing a lot of hustle in getting gubernatbrial candidate Richard Thornburgh to come to the University, and for launching an aggressive, suc cessful voter registration drive. • The University, for not raising room and board rates especially after the high contract settlement with the • Teamsters over the summer. . The State College Munici pal government for its hear ings on a proposed human rights ordinance that would • The administration, for not revealing the problem with University President John W. Oswald's eye. • Allegedly, State Rep. Daniel Flood. • Gubernatorial candidates Richard Thornburgh and Pete Flaherty, for bringing name calling into their campaigns. • The University, for rais ing parking fines for students. • The four people who self ishly filed . suit against the University Park Airport because it expanded its com muter service. The plain tiffs say that by doing so, business at Mid-State Airport Missing link Something very important has been missing from this page the past few days. Unless you were one of the three people who wrote the letters to the editor in Tues day's pape, we're missing your opinion. It doesn't take much to get yourself heard on this campus you can preach from the steps of Willard, or if you're not quite such an extrovert, type no more than 30 lines, double-spaced, on the sub ject of your choice. Bring it into 126 Carnegie Building with-your signature It's your turn When the student population begins to dwindle in the 1980 s at Penn State, what will change? Will colleges by cut? Will branch campuses be closed? Should the University lower entrance requirements to delay dwindling enrollment? On Tuesday Sept. 12, The Daily Collegian will be running a special Op- Ed page on declining enrollment at Penn State. In addition to pieces by administrators witatTmcc • .4 77 " WHAT DID VW DO IN THE IXIML EQUIVALENVOF WAR, CADDY?* prohibit. housing discrimi nation against gays, unmar ried couples and minorities. • Benchmark Realty, for buying and fixing up the for mer Eastgate apartment complex and saving students from an even worse housing situation. • Temple University's foot ball team, for giving us a good run for our money. • The Orientation Commit tee, for a fine job handling this fall's orientation acti vities. • National Lampoon, for the movie "Animal House." Sinners has been adversely . af fected. If so, too bad. State College has long needed such a service. • The Daily Collegian, for missing its deadlines, causing Tuesday's paper to be dis tributed late. • Members of the student government,, for not picking up on the University Task Force's proposed student government this fall. If they were really concerned With improving student govern ment, the proposal would be revised and put to students, or the USG Executive Coun cil, for a vote. and phone number on the letter and your ID card for verification. Letters may be signed by no more than two persons and the editorial - editor re serves the right to edit letters and to reject them if they are libelous or in poor taste. Whether it's foreign af fairs or the Office of Student Affairs you're thinking about, it's up to you to supply what's been missing from The Daily Collegian's chain of com munication. Drop us a line. and other leaders in the University community, we are interested in how students and faculty think this problem should be handled. Contributions on this subject may be brought to 126 Carnegie Building before noon this Sunday. THey should be typewritten, double spaced and not more than 50 lines long. What should go, and what should stay? Perhaps your suggestions will influence the planning process. Top priority: Should the University divest its investments in corporations with holdings in the racist, apartheid regime of South Africa? . There is an immediate tendency for the mind's knee to jerk into the absolute"yes" position and lock there with an advanced case of rigor mortis on this question, but, unfortunately, the issue is much too complex for such a simplistic response. If the University had holdings in South African-based companies, the issue would be much simpler. There would be• no excuse for that, because there would be plenty of other avenues available for comparable in vestments in much more morally acceptable firms. However, the University investments in question are not with South African companies, but with huge multinationals like Exxon and General Motors, which know no flag and owe no allegiances to any ideology other than the profit margin. And, moral considerations aside for a brief moment, you can't b?at GM or Exxon when it comes to profit margins. They are the bluest of blue chips. These multinationals spread their interests across the globe with myriad tendrils, continually in tertwining. It is not the easiest task to discover which ones have holdings in a given country, under what conditions, and to what degree. And even when those details are unearthed, what is the true moral value in divesting from South African interests and retaining investments in companies which exploit workers and citizens in almost every country on every continent, even right here in the good old U.S.A.? As I write ' this, I'm sitting in Carnegie, the headquarters of the journalism and classics depart ments and once the original University library. This building was donated to the University by the noted "philanthropist," steel baron and captain of industry, Andrew Carnegie. , And I can't help thinking, right now, that the walls around me and the roof over my head were paid for with the blood of steelworkers who fought and died to establish a union in their workplace to protect their legitimate interests. From pollution (by circumventing, ignoring or More than sources at stake Farber case strikes at news roots New York Times reporter Myron Farber entered the Bergen County, N.J, jail Aug. 4 for defying a court order to turn over 4,000 pages of notes concerning the murder trial of Dr. Mario Jascalevich. On his way in, Farber told reporters: "I am going to jail for what I believe to be the public interest, for what I believe to be in the interest of my profession." Several days later, Farber's attorneys revealed the reporter had a $75,000 book contract with Doubleday Publishing and a movie contract with Warner Com munications. Doubleday had already paid him a $37,500 cash advance on the book. Now it seems Superior Court Judge Theodore W. Trautwein is probably right about Farber having a vested interest in the outcome of the trial: If Jascalevich is found guilty, Farber has a bestseller in the tradition of "All the President's Men." If he is found innocent, Farber loses a potentially large sum of money. And so that justice can be done, so that Jascalevich is assured due process of law, so that the court can be sure of the doctor's guilt or innocence, the judges involved in the case feel Farber's notes must be examined to determine if they have any bearing on the trial. If private examination indicated the notes John Mqrtellaro could have a bearing, they would probably be turned over to the defense attorneys. Farber and the Times, however, as well as most people in the journalistic profession, feel a forced surrender of the notes would be a violation of the First Amendment and of New Jersey "shield laws" which protect the press from government interference. invk Pete Barnes More importantly, though, surren dering the notes would almost certainly destroy the fragile and eroding relationship the press has with con fidential news sources. If the court is successful in getting the notes, the case would be precedent setting; confidential sources would probably never provide information to the press again for fear that in light of any legal action, their names would be revealed. But what is really the issue here? Is it moral or monetary values? lobbying against ,environmenfal laws ; • oil spills from shoddily-built tankers; etc.) to high , prices and in flation ( through collusion anc( monopolistic practices) to undue political influence ( through bribes, high pressure lobbying, and , illegal campaign con tributions), these super-companies have a pervasive; and largely negative, influence on the lives of most of the world's population. So the question really becomes one not of divestiture from South African connections, ,but of • divestiture from the multinationals altogether. Unfortunately, this question is not any easier to address. From a strictly moral point of view, of course, the answer is simple divest, immediately. The strictly moral point of view, however, fails to consider a very real practical problem: Somebody has to pay the bills. •,. Education in the 20th century calls for far more than books and classrooms, as everyone knows too well. Research facilities and the latest scientific equipment cost a great deal in terms of money and manpower. Penn State, like most American universities today, has realized this, and the accountants have taken control of the institution from the philosophers in recognition of the trend. This change has been accepted all along as an un fortunate, but necessary, ingredient in the "moder nization" of the educational system. ' ' And no accountant will accept divestiture from the multinationals from a strictly business stamipbint, because no other type of investment can possibly give such high dividends. Therefore, this question, like most others, comes down to a matter of priorities: Do we divest, and thereby lose important revenues, causing increased tuition and lower-quality education? Or do we keep our investments in the multinationals while accepting the moral irresponsibility of our actions? My own answer to this question is still yes, divest, and accept the consequences. After all, one must remember exactly what it is we are here for. To be faithful to the ideals of the great men whose names surround the parapets of Sparks and Burrowes, instead of merely paying lip service to them, no other choice is possible. Yet, there is one more thing to consider choice is easy for me to make in my position. In about 10 very short, very long weeks, I will walk out of my last class as a Penn State student. My last tuition bill has already been paid, and even if divestiture were to happen tomorrow, practically none of the negative after-effects would affect me directly. whether or not some hot-shot reporter should turn over some notes? Is it that if the notes are handed over, sources will never speak to the press again? No; the issue here in fact follows down to the very roots of the newspaper profession, to probably the primary function - of the press itself: the public's "watchdog" on government. In its idealistic adherance to justice and the truth, the press has many times revealed corruption and ineptitude in government as well as in other in stitutions such as medicine, law and business; it has done the job of police, lawyers and bureaucrats by out researching and out-investigating them. In its work, the press often brings out conditions or situations that otherwise might not, .. have been brought to light. For example, the Washington Post recently investigated the federal General Services Administration and found the GSA had' been paying higher prices for typewriters, calculators, etc., than it would if it was buying these items in a department store. Now, a federal grand jury is preparing to indict 15 GSA officials in the case. What it boils dpwn to is laziness; the press keeps officials on their toes by If I had walked onto the campus this fall as a firt term freshman, instead of a 13th-term senior, I'd like to think that I would be willing to make the very reel, very difficult sacrifices that divestiture would entail:, But I guess that's one of those questions that just can't be answered. John Martellaro is . a 13th-term journalism major and a copy editor 'for The Daily collegian, AP , dli.zeollegiart Dave Skidmore Editor BOARD OF EDITORS: Editorial Editor, Bob FriCk; News Editor, Mike Mentrek; Assistant Editorial Editor, Patty Rhule; Assistant News Editors, Barnes, Jerry Micco; Copy Editors, Matt Benson, Harry Glenn, John Martellaro, Cathy Slobodzian, Diana Younken, Jim Zarroli; Photo Editor, Lynn Dudinsky; Assistant Photo Editors, Chip Connelly, Joe Tori; Sports Editor, Joyce Tomana; Assistant Sports Editors, Gary Silvers, Rick Weber; Features Editor, Gina Carroll; Arts Editoi, Joyce Gannon; Graphigo Editor, Mark Van Dine; Contributing Editor, Jeff Hawkes; Office Manager, Vicki Butler. • BEAT COORDINATORS: Consumer-Business, Andy Ratner; Faculty-Administration,'Tom Peeling; Local Government, - Allen Reeder; Minorities, Pat Kiger; Politics, %Mark Leiden; Student Government, Mary Ellen Wright. ' M BOARD OF MANAGERS: Sales Manager, Steve Kornblit; Office Manager, Dave Niderberg; National Ad Manager, Margie Schlessinger; Assistant Sales Manager, Tony Frank; Assistant Office Manager, Don Hanley LAYOUT COORDINATORS: Cindy Dolinar, Missy McKelvy. 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 not longer than 30 lines. Students' letters should include the name, ter and major of the writer. Such a The editorial editor reserves the right to edit letters, and to reject them if they are libelous or do not conform to standards of good taste. No► Judi Rodrick Business Managers first, making the public aware of these officials' inabilities; and second, by doing a better job than these officials do. This is exactly what has happened: in the Farber matter. As Farber and others have said, the defense attorneys coUld, easily investigate their client's case well as Farber did; but instead, the attorneys are taking the easy way out asking the court to force Farber to surrender the notes. Farber, despite the ethical questions concerning his book contract, is still an innocent third party in the trial, and there should be legislation to protest innocent third parties in cases like thiW Farber is a victim of the laziness of Jascalevich's attorneys; he did the job they should have done and should not have gone to jail for it, The court is making a mistake. ' If ; Farber is forced to turn over his note the court will not only severely damage the ability of the press to gather in-' formation from confidential sources; it will also cripple the press as the public's watchdog. Pete Barnes is a 7th-term politickli science major and an assistant news editor for The Daily Collegian. Judy Stims on II) Bond, Terry
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers