—Editorial Opinion Like lemmings to the sea, hopeful dormitory residents will soon be lining up to turn in their dorm contracts for next year, hoping against hope that they are among the first 8,800 students submitting contracts, thus guaranteeing themselves rooms. The death race to the three housing stations where con tracts may be submitted Waring, Findlay and Pollock dining halls although shor ter than the usual two-day session will be just as in tense. Although the system of being assigned a space on a first-come, first-served basis is fairer than the previous policy of special con sideration given to present dormies, well, there's got to be a better way. Residential life at the University can best be com pared to the opposite sex you can't live with the dorms and you can't live without 'em. Especially on contract submitting day, it seems everyone wants to live in the dorms, yet those who are now snug in their building block shoeboxes consistently com plain about their living con ditions. This paradox will be demonstrated late the night before the March 8 deadline, The Golden Rule In 1976 Jimmy Carter promised to reform the Federal Income s Tax system, if elected. He .; stated there would be a fairer system, one that '' would be less complex. Very little :change has tr , come about in his two years in office. The tax F laws are still very unfair, and extremely com plicated. The laws tend to favor the wealthy. One . example is the tax law concerning income from investments. If you worked part time during the year and put some of the money you earned, t along with some money from a student loan in the bank, then you must pay tax on the interest from this money. If you have your money in : vested in stocks, you need only pay tax on the . amount of interest over $lOO. if, on the other hand, you bought municipal bonds, of which there is usually a minimum dollar amount that must be purchased (sometimes $10,000), you don't have to pay any tax on the interest. How many people do you know who own stock in corporations or own $lO,OOO of municipal bonds.? The Federal Income Tax laws contain an enormous amount of loOpholes that favor the rich. There are legal deductions which also seem to favor the rich. Some of these deductions fall into the categories of charitable contributions; contributions to political candidates, unreim bursed business expenses connected with em ployment ( this covers a multitude of sins), and a category termed investor's expenses. This country is run by the super rich. They see that their interests are protected. Although President Carter seems sincere in trying to • reform the tax laws, he doesn't get much help • from the Senate. Approximately 30 percent of the senators are millionaires or wealthier, and quite a few can almost make that claim. These individuals are looking out for number one. They want to protect their millions. The solution to the problem lies with the public. The people of this country must not be fooled. It seems like our society has been socialized into thinking that the political leaders know more than we common folks, and we should trust their judgment. We are led, by mass media, which is controlled to a great extent by the super rich, to believe that big business has the best interest of the people in view. We must not let the super rich control us. Well-paying I am writing in response to Mark Harmon's article, "Satisfying a Big Maxine Attack," which appeared in the Feb. 2 issue of The Daily Collegian. I agree that our prostitution laws are "silly." Prostitutes have always been a part of society and probably always will be. In many types of societies, prostitutes have enjoyed high social status with great respect ( e.g., ancient Greece, the ancient Middle and Far East, and Cyprus). Prostitution was an accepted norm of scoeity, but recent morals have changed this attitude. Even though "call girls" are involved with many high-class politicians and executives, most people think of them as "trash" and societal deviants. This is only because our society has programmed us to believe that sex without love is wrong, for everyone. Prostitution is a victimless crime, and per sonal to the two people involved. With the proper health regulations, it can be beneficial and advantageous. The prostitute has the op portunity to work when she wants to, earning a relatively good income, doing something she enjoys! Her client is able to satisfy sexual needs he may not be able to have fulfilled by his wife, when those students sub mitting contracts will begin queuing up by the thousands in anxious anticipation of what the following morning's contract assignments will hold in store for them.- With this incredible demand . for on-campus housing, one would think that the University's physical plan for the future would include Gerald R. Avillion Bth-biology Feb. 6 Death race t=,-- girlfriend, etc., without any obligations or commitments. Since prostitution arises in response to societal restrictions on sex, it will continue (legal or illegal) as long as these restrictions exist. I do.. not. condemn _ or condone prostitutibp.,.lt can be., harmful and it can be beneficial. I do think thdt anyone who chooses to partake in this activity has the right to. Prejudice In response to Thomas Palchak's letter "Consider this" (Feb. 6), I would like to ask what is "human nature" and does such a thing actually exist? After reading Palchak's letter, I have the impression that he believes prejudice is something each and everyone of us is born with. What a poor and ignorant excuse for the in justices that man has inflicted upon his fellow man! If it is . inborn, why do some men devote their entire lives to the abolition of it? If it is present in everyone, why is it looked upon with disgust? I argue that prejudice is not and never has been "human nature," rather, it is a product of society, having been passed from generation to generation. Where it all began, I have no idea, and where it will all end, no one knows. I also argue that "oppression" most certainly is in existence today. Although it is not so evident in the actions of men as it has been in the past, "oppression" still runs rampant in the minds of men. To totally wipe out all prejuaice and op pression, would involve a complete overhaul of the attitudes and beliefs of mankind, and the day that I or anyone else finds a way to do just that, will be the last day that I open the newspaper to read such infuriating opinions as those of Thomas Palchak. It's about time I am writing this letter in response to Thomas Polchak's letter (Feb. 6). I think Tom fails to realize why affirmative action programs were set up. No, there are no white studies programs or a white caucus here at Penn State. They are not needed. True, opportunities should be based on merit, and not race, creed, or color. However, since blacks have been oppressed in the past, they should be given a chance to reach a state of equality. This is where affirmative action becomes effective. Affirmative action is designed to help blacks develop their talents so they can compete successfully in "democratic" America. Blacks have been held back for too long. It is about time that the government steps in and gives blacks a chance to reach the educational level ascribed to whites. Stuart G. Rothenberg 3rd-liberal arts Feb. 7 Biting the hand The Penn State students are caught between on- and off-campus bureaucracies. The Penn State Administration is cutting down on already severely limited dorm space. They've increased their income by putting two people in a room built for one, and four in one built for two. Does the administration have any idea what the living and studying conditions are like in such situations? Obviously not. They are now plan ning to tear down two Nittany dorms, thus 11%%,,.,iii6ii(t( \ • „141 I - \t t4 .' ; 1111111( A.. 00 Itil/ 014, Le4 l w o o : A it e 125/:11, .c-- ie'l additional housing facilities. Instead, two Nittany dorms will be lost to make room for the indoor sports complex. The "official" excuse for the lack of a building plan points at the projected lack of college students in the 'Bos. Although projections show University-wide enrollment dropping, the same projec tions show University Park Letters to the Editor Karen S. Poster 6th-advertising Feb. 7 Lori Smith 2nd-computer science Feb. 6 111 111 limiting space even further. What are they going to do with the ousted students start letting three people share one dresser and one closet?? But students who don't like the University , dorms ,have ,the :option to move .off .campus, right? Wrong! ~ • • Now the State College Borough is proposing an amendment to limit the number of unrelated persons who may live together in an apartment or converted 'house from five to three. The reason? Supposedly because of the excessive noise level. Do these businessmen actually believe that two fewer occupants will effect a significant drop in the noise level? In their hurry to make a few fast bucks, both the University and the State College housing administrators seem to have forgotten one key consideration: Where are the students, who are literally the life of Happy Valley, supposed to live? Myths I am writing in reference to the Human Rights Ordinance which is currently being debated in State College. I am in support of this resolution, and particularly dismayed at those who opposed equal rights for homosexuals at the Feb. 5 Council meeting. Homosexuality is unjustly one of the most stigmatized forms of sexual variance, as the myths that enforce this situation simply do not check out in society. Homosexuals are not necessarily effeminate in the case of men nor masculine in the case of women. Gays do not harass people on the street, are not a public nuisance, and are not irresponsible citizens. It seems that by far, the greatest fear of "normal" people is the menace that homosexuals pose to the young, when in fact, over 90 percent of child molestation is heterosexual. As of now, too much emphasis is placed on sexual preference, and not on the individual's ability and character. Until this conflict is resolved, prejudice and stereotyping of homosexuals unfortunately will exist in our society. Jeff Winokur Bth-individual and family studies Feb. 7 Of from & of As The Daily Collegian editorials have demonstrated, a tolerance of criticism and of dissenting opinions is fundamental to "freedom" in this country. They have printed a wide range of letters which have criticized the paper for discrimination. Although minorities have been given freedom "of" the press, freedom "of" assembly, freedom "of" speech, freedom "of" the individual to make a fortune, etc., in the United States, they are still discriminated against. Our democracy is primarily concerned with liberty (freedom "of"). But to alleviate discrimination, our society will have to pay more attention to equality (freedom "from"). That is freedom "from" hunger, freedom "from" want, freedom "from" unemployment, and freedom "from" exploitation by individuals who have or want to make fortunes. A few Wastern European countries have begun to provide this equality but have traded off liberty. Only when our country's philosophy of democracy includes both liberty and equality will it provide true freedom. Don Grant 11th-health planning and administration Feb. 6 ~tll! • - 1, - 1 11 Ilt i` 1 4 3: '',4cris)Ver •() . arrn 016.- enrollment remaining relatively stable. Arthur E. Goldschmidt, a Faculty Senate committee chairman, pointed out the need for more dorms at a senate meeting Tuesday. It's about time the University listened to Goldschmidt and others so the lemmings won't have to rush to the sea every year at dorm contract renewal time: Lisa Plasko 2nd-nursing Clare Conley 2nd-liberal arts-engineering Feb. 6 'ickot«ti , ' \, \ , k doll tolll y, )1 iii ( 11 1 1 i tiot, 2 L: I I / ' '' l 1 11 \liilti 1 i t ( qto I 1 (II "‘ 10%1111111 I QIII' Ilitt4lllltllllllV' l itl NlNlll l lll‘llllr o f. 1,6 i :'~s; , Who's guilty? I disagree with the logic of Bruce McKinley's Letter to e the4Editor concerning the payment for :an, elevatoi: . in Pinchot Hall. In his letter, Mr. McKinley suggested each student pay 81 cents to cover the cost of refurnishing the elevator. If we students were to pay this estimated amount, wouldn't that mean we were all guilty of this crime? After all, who would ever agree to pay for something which they had had nothing to do with? I wouldn't. Also, by paying for this unlawful act, wouldn't we, in a sense, be letting the real criminal off "scot free"? After all, he would only be requried to pay 81 cents instead of what he would other wise be expected to pay. Unfortunately, this would probably influence him to do something else destructive. Are we supposed to continue paying for all these "mysterious" crimes? I, for one, do not intend to pay for something which I had nothing to do with. Reinforced Michelle DeMars' Feb. 5 letter shows a startling lack of consciousness. Perhaps she takes any attack on racism as a personal attack on her. Michelle, the issue of oppression of any minority is much bigger than the both of us, and much bigger than The Daily Collegian, or even Penn State University. Dynamism Normally in this space The Daily Collegian graciously prints my ad mittedly fictitious accounts of the political realities of the day. But today I'd like to talk theory. If my colleague Mark Harmon has the New Dynamism, then I'd like to offer some thoughts on "The Renewed Dynamism" a return to the principles and prac tices that made this country great. The basis for anyone's political beliefs should be what he or she sees as the proper government role in the lives of the citizenry. You can't show me an example in human history where big government and individual freedom have flourished simultaneously. Sure, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries for a long time held out against this inevitable conclusion. But look at the problems in Great Britain today, and see that most of the Scandinavian countries have cut back on their social welfare outlays, while in Sweden the architects of great society-utopia were voted out of office in the last election. Jefferson and Lincoln, two pretty perceptive guys, both said "That government is best which governs least." Give us government to do only those things the citizens can't do for themselves, like national defense (do you know the home installation cost of a cruise missile system?) or public words like bridge's and parks, and currency to facilitate the workings of the economy. I submit that charity is not a function of government. Any time you set up the incredible bureacracy we now have to administer the semi-welfare state to 230 million Americans, you're bound to have social welfare funds lost on the octopus middle man. That is the problem today. Despite our good intentions, we have more black poor now than we did when Martin Luther King Jr. took up the march for equality. Yet we spend more now on social welfare outlays than ever before, so how can this be, you say? The answer is, liberal America, those dollars you fork Wendy Wright 2nd•anirnal productions Feb. 5 GUNS AND PEAKUr 134.1111VZ renewed ' over in taxes don't go to fund a great humanitarian effort to equalize the differences of birth they go to feed add nurture an army of bureaucrats who go home to Silver Spring and Chevy Chase and Arlington each night to eat stefilr 4, while the cases they handle at work aVvr: sitting down to whatever it is you can get on $lO worth of food stamps. Don't get me wrong, the big 4- porations don't pay their fair shale, either. Senator Kennedy accurately points out that if President Carter hadd't 4 crapped out on his pledge to elirnin e the three-martini lunch last ye , there'd be two billion more dollars in t e federal coffers to fund the social programs which may finally puitz, Kennedy into next year's presidential race. So what is my formula for attaining the nirvana the liberals talk about but 1 10 little to effect? I say simply, let's put the power of the individual determining Hs, own destiny back in the hands of t . 6 4 individual, not the elites in Washington. Government hasn't licked poverty, it's only aggravated it; I say let free en terprise have a crack at pulling our nation's poor out of the rut fil , , deprivation, by giving them the tools fo do the pulling themselves. We need people in government who don't want government jobs, who dorl't i want history to remember them as t e great saviors who cured povert ` (They're usually on such an ego trip th i y can't see straight anyway.) ~ The people in Washington now are not those people. They don't pay socilal security taxes, and they have built-rn escalator clauses to profit from the inflation their fiscal policies spawn. :;., On Monday I plan to write about the / t great American Abraham Lincoln arid how he'd turn over in his grave if he saw the likes of the people aspiring to canny the republican mantle next year. For Zile mean time, think about it, feltqw ' students who will one day bear the br),int of the coast of inflation and defri l it spending and broken promises fhr utopia: Who knows better how to spud your money, you or Uncle Sam? ~:.,. Brian Golden is an eighth term broad cast journalism major. i= Blacks are not oppressed by the patholog "of the ghetto; they are oppressed by the pathology of the white community which declines to athilit that a belief ferocious enough to allow human slavery cannot be dissipated by a mere century. In America, we listen to our leaders tell usThip.' divestment will be "financial suicidd,"•'anitthe we should have a "sense of humor," and laugh at our oppression when we don't find anything funny about racial slurs in advertisements. Racism is being quietly reinforced, ansi:nbt that . y man people care enough to do anything ab i dut . Ili Racist fanatics are a real and very vitible problem. But part of the problem is the lapger group of people who are not racists, and :katio think that racism is wrong, but who do nothittglo stop it. And I suppose that parts of the 14rige silent majority don't do much thinking at , e 4t. `iill about anything past their own lives. ~ I . Silence permits the tyranny of any minorityg ' rule the majority. Jean C. Guetapr member, Homophiles of Penn S,t4e Febt 5 attii;Collegiao Dave Skidmore Editor BOARD OF MANAGERS: Sales Manager, Steve Korn')hi Wive Manager, Dave Niderberg: National Ad Manager. Mak; Schless:tiger, Assistant Sales Manager, Tony Frank, Issiswiir Office Manager, Don Hanley: Assistant National Ad liana:4o. Kathy Matheny. OPINION BOARD: Bob Frick, Colleen Gallagher. Mike ). trek. Jerry Micco, Lynn Osgood, Pally Mtnle, Dave Skidmore ll] Judy Stini§iin Business ManAOr
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