Editorial Opinion
Winners
The U. S. Congress for
killing tuition tax credits and
for raising the income ceiling
for Basic Educational Op
portunity Grants eligibility
from $15,000 to $26,000.
The Penn State
Department of Health,
Physical Education and
Recreation for paying the
league fees, transportation
and ice time for the Hockey
Club which has been
displaced to the Skatium in
Mechanicsburg due to the
conversion of the Ice
Pavilion.
Colloquy, the In
terfraternity Council and the
The Associated Student
Activities Budgetary Com
mittee for refusing to fund
Students for a Pennsylvania
Public Interest Research
Group in its petition drive.
The University for
charging participants in the
ice skating therapy program
for the mentally and
physically handicapped fees
for ice time and skate rental
for the first time in 11 years.
In rationalizing .the decision,
Walter H. Schmidt, assistant
to the dean of the College of
It's California politics
starring Jerry Brown
A .
The ptiirkicitr'l6cfe of fen # 9las"- been
compared—to -tile art of, 'the 'theatre.
Subtle characterization, precise tithing
and a lock on the audience are the keys
to winning both good reviews and big
elections.
Nowhere is the metaphor better
illustrated than in the career of Gov.
Jerry Brown of California. Brown's
mastery of political role-playing is
peerless on the West Coast apd perhaps
equally unmatched throughout the
country. At times, it is also frightening.
Paul Pririgle
4 A case in point is Brown's current
roadshow as a candidate for re-election
in November. his campaign, now
' viewed as a big hit, had gotten off to an
'inauspicious start Nyith the passage of
'Proposition 13 by California voters in
'June, Brown had long been a widely
.quoted and vitriolic opponent of the tax
cutting measure, labeling it in
terchangeably as a "sham," a "ripoff"
and a "potential disaster."
With the ballot-box success of the
proposition, the youthful Democrat saw
his prestige as an issue spokesman
tarnished and his chances for re-election
diminished. Indeed, Evelle Younger,
who is state attorney general and the
governor's Republican challenger, was
shown neck-and-neck with Brown in
most opinion polls taken shortly after the
proposition's passage.
But like his actor predecessor, Ronald
Reagan, Brown is a quick study.'Within
hours of the voters' verdict, he and his
aides had re-worked the anti-13 script:
The cries of sham and ripoff, like Or
wellian oldspeak, had disappeared, and
the governor soon was talking about the
SOHIO SAILED 'THE OCEAN GREAT;
TO BRING le. LONG BEACH ALASKA. CRUDE.
AND ALL - THE OTHER POLLUTANTS RUDE ....
Panhellenic Council _ for
sponsoring the campus ap
pearance of investigative
reporter Bob Woodward.
Acting University
President Edward D. Eddy
for postponing his decision on
arming the campus police
until he has heard discussion
of the issue at the Oct. 31
Faculty Senate meeting.
Israeli and Egyptian
negotiators for agreeing on
tho text of a peacemaking
treaty in the Mideast. .
ABC for changing the
date of the Pitt game and the
University for opening the
dorms.
Sinners
Health, Physical Education
and Recreation, said he did
not see the fairness in
charging University students
while allowing other groups to
use the facilities free.
Democratic lieutenant
governor candidate Robert
Casey for his remarks to a
reporter that there was no
need for special education for
deaf children. "Put those kids
at the front of he classrooms
if they can't hear," Casey
said.
S ,
‘V,risdom'. of the voters' deed and the
timeliness of big tax cuts. What once had
been termed a disaster now was being
lauded as good policy.
At first glance, Brown's volte-face had
appeared to be the feeble ploy of a
sinking vote-seeker. That was at first
glance.
In a recent survey by the respected
California Poll, more than 40 percent of
voters polled in the state said they
believed Brown had been in favor of
Proposition 13 since the day it had been
drafted, The survey was conducted just
two months after the governor's final
scathing of the measure, which had
received front-page coverage statewide.
The poll also showed Broivn leading
Younger by a double-digit margin. Most
of the voters backing Brown, according
to the poll, cited his "early" support of 13
as a major factor in their favoring him
over the Republican.
Of course, it is not unusual for
politicians to ride popular coattails, even
though at one time they may have
discarded them as rags. What is
unusual, however, is the uncanny
measure of success Jerry Brown has had
in hoodwinking the California electorate.
Only a long and in-depth study can
determine the specific reasons behind
Brown's delusional performance. At
play are the peculiar factors of the
state's political climate in general, the
role of California media in the election
and the varying attitudes of the elec
torate, among others. Still, when one
political figure can apparently upstage
all these factors and change the political
reality of some 5 million voters, one
conclusion can be made the act itself
is scary.
Paul Pringle is a graduate student in
journalism.
€M.ti. , .;dbaiwiwilt . rro?
Letters to the Edito
Vicious
Certainly the election to the papacy of Cardinal Karol
Wojtyla, Archbishop of Krakow, should be the occasion
of much joy to Poles in the new pope's homeland and to
Polish-Americans in the United States. Polish-
American commentators have already expressed the
hope that the election would help to end the spate of
vicious, anti-Polish "jokes" which have become
fashionable in American society.
Apparently this will not be the case, for I see that The
Daily Collegian has used the papal election as an oc
casion to propagate Polonophobic sentiments based,
unconsciously or otherwise, on the quasi -racist myth
that Poles are mentally deficient. Mark VanDine's
cartoon Oct. 18 is patently offensive and in
astonishingly poor taste.
As a student in Nazi-occupied Poland, young Karol
Wojtyla literally risked his life because the foreign
oppressors, ostensibly convinced that Poles were
mentally deficient, had dismantled the formal Polish
educational system. Participation in the Polish un
derground's classes was punished severely, often by
death. And yet, Karol Wojtyla rose to earn a doctorate
in moral theology, become fluent in six languages and
author numerous scholarly articles and books.
In the light of these circumstances, Mr. VanDine's
cartoon is nothing less than an affront to the entire
Polish-American community. It is indeed unfortunate
that the Collegian has served as the medium for such
anti-Polish "humor."
Non-answer
I would like • to correct some misinformation you
provided to your readers. Your article on the can
didates night at Hillel was filled with some outstanding
examples of poor journalism. In particular, your report
on the genetic disease Tay-Sachs and on Gregg Cun
ningham's non-answer to a question about this disease
were in serious error.
First, Tay-Sachs is a disease which is predominantly
found in Jewish people. One out of 25 individuals in the
American Jewish community is a carrier for the Tay-
Sachs gene as compared to one out of 300 the carrier
rate for the entire American population. If both parents
are carriers for the Tay-Sachs gene they have a one out
of four chance of having a Tay-Sachs baby.
These children - progress normally for the first four to
six months. However, after this period of time, the
children go through a degeneration which leaves them
virtual vegetables. They remain in this half-dead state
for up to five years. Because of their condition, most
Tay-Sachs children have to be hospitalized by the end of
their first year. The hospital costs range from $40,000
to $60,000 a year.
This information was given to Mr. G.L. Cunningham.
He was then asked whether he believes that 'a women
who knows she is carrying a Tay-Sachs child should not
have the right to terminate the pregnancy. There are
. now available `tests which alloy; a woman to discolie - r if
she is 'carrying a Tay-Sachs child early in her
pregnancy. Mr Cunningham responded to this question
by saying he is opposed to the killing of fetuses. He also
went into a lengthy discussion on the horrors of slavery
and the virtues of Helen Keller. He concluded that it
was important for women to be forced to give birth to
vegetables because some of them may live.
I assured Mr. Cunningham, as I would like to assure
your readers, that there is no cure nor is there likely to
be a cure in the near future for the Tay-Sachs disorder.
In addition, Tay-Sachs babies are doomed from the
time of conception. However, at no time was it stated
that abortion is the only option for women carrying Tay-
Sachs fetuses. Unlike the 'Right to Lifers,' who would
force all women to adhere to their moral and religious
beliefs, those of us who are concerned with the quality
of life suggest that all'options be kept available.
Negative
I would like to express my opinion concerning the
issue of arming the University Police Services per
sonnel. First I would like to state that I am pro-arming.
In your editorial on Wednesday Oct. 18, The Daily
Collegian has recapped the events to this point ac
curately. It has shown that the University is not making
a hasty irrational decision, but rather a well-researched
one. The Collegian also states that the people who will
be affected most by the decision University students
should be polled as to their opinion on the matter. I
agree totally with this suggestion, but right now most
people I have spoken with do not have all the facts on
the issue, which are too numerous to list here.
The Collegian as a member of the news media has the
power to influence its readers as does any other paper. I
feel the Collegian, whether intentional or not, has in
fluenced the student body in a negative fashion. In the
editorial cited earlier there is a reference to the PSO
resume as, "This Gun for Hire." This appears as if you
are speaking of a mafia hit man, someone who is paid to
kill, not a professional who is paid to' protect the
University citizens. In other articles the Collegian has
referred to the PSO's as "Stormer's Troopers" and has
also depicted a cartoon of the cushman as a tank
Doing things the
Jeff Dixon, self-proclaimed President
of Rubber House in West Halls has come
up with a way to fund house projects
next year. He wants to have a two dollar
"Rubber House" fee tacked onto
everyone's estimated bill, and those
unwilling to pay it simply have to check
it off. Dixon hopes to make a fortune
simply on the basis of people not
knowing what they're paying.
Actually, Dixon's system isn't new, he
stole the idea from Jeff Goldsmith, who
hopes to fund PennPIRG in a similar
fashion.
Since the idea was first created,
however; many other people have tried
to steal it. This upsets Dixon, who said
that since he went to the trouble of
stealing the idea, it is, by rights, his, and
no other groups should be allowed to use
it.
Neither Dixon nor Goldsmith were
greedy in asking for money for their
group they only wanted two dollars
tacked on the bill that could be refunded
to the student at his request at a later
Laurence Orzell
graduate-history
Oct. 20
searching for an unaware student to gun, down. This
couldn't be further from the truth. I can't envision a
PSO waving a gun at a student or other person un
necessarily. Their guns would be holstered and only
drawn in a life threatening situation.
In our society today, the police have assumed the
responsibility for protection once held by male family
members. With this role they may be called into
situations where a gun is necessary to preserve in
nocent life. This situation can and could happen here.
Sending an unarmed officer into a situation like this is
like sending a fireman to fight a fire without a hose.
Prevention is a major area of police work. Arming
the PSO's may cause an aggressor to hesitate before
deviating from the accepted social norms. In research
ing the topic I found that the University lacked a de
fibrillator and IKG monitor until President Oswald was
the victim of a heart attack. I pray that we don't lose
a PSO or student because the University refused to arm
the PSOs a well trained group of professionals
entrusted with our safety. At least give them an equal
chance as that of the aggressor.,
Wondering
The editorial cartoon which was published on the
second page ,of Thursday's Daily Collegian makes me
wonder how, people can,live with so much apathy. The
artist of the cartoon . depicting India's first test tube
baby and the person responsible for having it published
are equally questioned, , as are those readers who
thought it was humorous or at least not disturbing.
I am not advocating the scientific breakthrough but I
detest the things inferred in reference to India's
population. Every life is equally important and of real
value. A married couple in India feels the same desire
to share love with a child as one in a more developed
country.
India 'has an overpopulation problem and a hunger
problem, but these problems must be dealt with by
needed reforms, advancements and aid. This , should not
deprive a childless couple of conceiving a much-wanted
child if the means are obtainable.
To those who are concerned with the desperate
situation of India's population put your efforts into
constructive action. Learn what an individual can do to
fight hunger in developing countries hunger which is
a cause of India's overpopulation. Stop devaluating
human life and start working toward the solutions for a
better life for everyone.
Ronald Yusbin
Oct. 19
Stooping
The cartoon that appeared on the editorial page of
The Daily Collegian Oct. 12 wag not only of poor taste,
but was wicked, mischievous and misleading, and it
certainly was not humorous. Far from lauding the
technological advancement of India, a nation which is
less developed and has limited resources, the Collegian,
too, like most other Western news media, chose to
portray only the bleak image.
The Collegian miserably failed in its attempt to
belittle the work of the researchers at Calcutta, who
successfully delivered a test-tube baby, which, in
cidentally, was only the second of its kind in the world.
It is only pragmatic and for their own good that the
Western nations (and their news media) recognize the'.
advancement of the developing nations. The days when
the developed nations could, technologically or
otherwise, dictate the developing third world nations
date. The refund would, of course, entail
standing in line for two hours and filling
out 513 forms, all of which require
verification by 37 nonexistent persons.
Actually, this last part was not in
Goldsmith's original plan. It was' added
at the behest of the University to make
this refund granting consistent with the
way all other refunds are granted here.
Walt
-
„.
Meyer
WICI (Women in Communications,
Inc.) is requesting a seven dollar check
off. The Water Polo Club does not want
to be accused of being greedy, and wants
only 50 cents from each student. The
Potfiml;olkivf!uAsl7so
John A. Daniiano
7th-pre-med
Oct. 20
Antoinette Bilik
10th-agriculture
Oct. 12
PennPIRG way
ARHS slush fund wants 20 dollars from
every student added to the estimated
bill.
David Stormer wants $1.50 per person
for .38 caliber bullets. The Ice Hockey
Club wants $9.50 tacked on to each bill on
the pretext that if it can't have ice, it at
least wants monetary compensation.
McDonald's, in conjunction with Joe
Paterno, wants the estimated bill of each
student increased by $l5 to pay for the
new sports complex.
All of these groups realize they are not
guaranteed these funds and that they are
contributions, but unlike the old system
of contributions, under this one, instead
of giving the money freely, it is taken
from you, until you ask to get it back.
vice
president
Patterson, University vice
president for finance, said that by spring
he expects the estimated bill for the
term to be in the neighborhood of $1,700
for dorm dwellers that is, barring an
increase in tuition or room and board
costs.
Students for PennPIRG insists that
are over. India is more than just a country of 600 million
people. Sure, we are behind, but we are catching up . . .
fast.
Finally, a word to the editorial editor please, do not
stoop so low to get the readers' attention.
Annoying
This is with reference to your cartoon on the creation
of a test-tube baby in India. It is annoying to note that
every time India comes out with a great scientific
achievement it gets a cold reception and negative and.
prejudiced publicity in the western world.
It is shocking that this great achievement did not
even get equally generous publicity as the recent one in
Europe got. It sure deserves even more than that
considering that this great achievement is' from' a
country with barely half the technological ad
vancement of the other developed countries. Instead,iti f
got negative publicity by way of your cartoon and a
certain TV news-coverage depicting that India has
added one more person to that non-existent situation —,
starvation.
It is high time the West has a positive attitude toward •
India and takes advantage of its scientific
breakthroughs rather than try to snub' them out witly ik,
envy and contempt. -t
S. Venkataroipani
graduate-solidistate 4 scie ( iice
S.V. Ki•ishiiasw - afily
research associate for Materials Research Lab
0ct.15
=Collegian
Dave Skidmore
Editor
Business Managees
BOARD OF EDITORS: Editorial Editor, Bob Frick;
News Editor, Mike Mentrek; Assistant Editorial
Editor, Patty Rhule; Assistant News Editors, Pete
Barnes, Jerry Micco; Copy Editors, Matt Benson,
Harry Glenn, John Martellaro, Andy Ratner, Diana It
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 Editor, Joyce Gannon; Graphics
Editor, Della Hoke; Contributing Editor, Jeff Hawkes; iv
Office Manager, Vicki Butler. ,
BEAT COORDINATORS: Consumer-Business, Lynn
Osgood; Faculty Administration, Tom Peeling; Local
Government, Allen Reeder; Minorities, Pat Kiger;
Politics, Mark Leiden; Student Government, Ma'ry
Ellen Wright. , 4
BOARD OF MANAGERS: Sales Manager, . Steve
Kornblit; Office Manager, Dave Niderberg; Nationol
Ad Manager, Margie Schiessinger; Assistant Salg's
Manager, Tony Frank; Assistant Office Manager, Doh
Hanley.
The Daily Collegian encourages comments on neii.o
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 thiin
30 lines. Students' letters should include the name, term
and major of the writer.
since their's is such a worthy cause,:it
should be the one funded with the check
off system. Dave Haberle, of course,
insists that USG is at least as worthy:o
being funded this way and Provost Eddy
makes a good case for letting the
University' slide a donation space or tyjo
on the bill. And if these grotips aie
worthy, certainly Rubber House can't ik.4
far behind.
"I'm excited about the possibilities;"
said Eddy in a rare outburst of lucki
ness. He explained that rather th4n
having one check-off for special
University funding, he prefers severil,r
in the hopes that people will miss one!ir 7
two: or possibly will refuse to pay the
wrong part, and will find that they ilo
longer have a dorm room. :-
If enough PennPIRG petitidns afe
signed, by next fall, every student on ,
campus will be keeping Rubber HouSe
supplied with water balloons. .
Walt Meyer is a last term advertising
major.
Mridul Kumar
graduate-mechanical engineering
Oct. 13
ii.
Judy Stimson 4
Judi Rodric,kri