—Editorial Opinion
The Volunteer Service Center for sponsoring
the first Gold Medal Day Saturday. The event,
held .in cooperation with the Centre County
Association for Retarded Citizens and the Penn
State University Veterans Organization, was
designed for the mentally retarded to enjoy
athletic competition without the pressures of
winning and losing.
The College of Human Development in
collaboration with the Child Development
Council of Centre County for opening an infant
and toddler day-care center on campus.
Eco Action for its ongoing recycling program.
According to Eco Action, 95 percent of the
energy needed to make a new beer could be
saved if consumers recycled their cans and
bottles instead of throwing them away.
staff for adopting the Dick Harter tactic of
Jerry Sandusky, assistant football coach, for chasing members of the press away from
his continuing efforts with “The Second Mile,” practice sessions. Can preseason practice for
a nonprofit organization established to house freshmen recruits be that secretive?
Something to strive for
Time to
I have always been leery of change. At
high school graduation, I was the last
one to march out of the auditorium.
When it came time to go to college, I
elected to go to a Commonwealth
campus near home. I could have
graduated Spring Term, but here I am.
Even now, I sometimes have doubts
about leaving. School has been the main
focus of my life for most of my almost-22
years. But I keep hearing this voice.
“It’s time to leave, Paul,-’’ a soft voice
somewhere off in the distance reminds
me.
But you don’t understand. There are so
many nice people I haven’t met yet, so
many things I never got around to
doing. . . .
“It’s .time to leave, Paul,” the voice
says sternly but with understanding.
But I still have a couple of good ideas
for columns and news stories. If only I
had some more time. . . .
“Paul, it’s time to leave,” the voice
says, firmly enough to make me heed its
advice and quit seeking excuses for
staying. Why do I listen?
The voice is my own.
So after 13 terms as a college student,
seven of those spent with an adorable
affliction I refer to as “Collegianaires’
disease” an incurable addiction to
The Daily Collegian it is time to leave,
time to change once again.
Time and change. Funny how these
two concepts rule our lives. Time makes
us older and wiser. The process is
inevitable and irreversible. But the
great thing about time is that you’re
going to learn some lessons whether you
want to or not. By virtue of the fact that
you live, you learn.
Equal Rights: accepting it and putting it into law
In the past decade, every aspect of American
society from the office to the altar has been
affected by the struggle for the recognition of
women’s rights.Today', virtually every op
portunity open to a man is also open to a woman
precisely as it should be.
If the social imbalance between the sexes has
really been rectified, as many assume, why does
the Equal Rights Amendent continue to flounder
before state legislatures? No one seems to know
the answer.
Why are many state legislatures opposed to
the amendment? If ratified, what earth
shattering changes will it make to have caused
such a fuss for the past eight years?
What exactly does the ERA propose?
“Equality of rights under the law shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by
any state on account of sex. ’ ’
*Winners. . .
Have fun during college years;
working worlcf is for growing up
When you take a summer off, or
graduate, you start thinking of all the
work you did in college, high school and
all the part-time jobs you had, and you
decide that you “deserve” a break.
Hell, you’ll have your whole life to
work, so why start right after school?
Really, you’ve always wanted to go to
California, Colorado, New England,
wherever. And now is the time, right?
Wrong.
If you decide to hold off on work, you’ll
be chasing dreams that don’t exist.
Think of your friends back home that
didn’t go to college. They got jobs in a
mill or factory someplace and have been
plugging away at them ever since. They
didn’t take a four-year respite from life
to chase an education.
Your vacation’s over and it’s time to
go to work.
But now that you’re educated, you can
come up with educated arguments to
make break and
Change is an indirect consequence of
time. The two most often go hand-in
hand. Willful change such as whether
or not to pursue a particular career or
what college to attend comes about as
a result of what you have learned about
yourself and what you want. So change is
linked to time through their sharing of a
common denominator: learning.
This all sounds pretty cut and dry,
right? Time equals learning equals
change, Theorem 8.20.58 in the equation
of life. All three work together to make
tomorrow better than today and to make
today better than yesterday. The result
is a steady, upward progression to a
better life.
But one element has been left out of
the equation. It is called un
Never-never land doesn’t exist,
Without specifying either sex, the ERA would
extend to women full status as citizens for the
first time in our nation’s history.
Contrary to many of its opponents’ arguments,
the objectives of the ERA are not to threaten
religious beliefs or to force states to recognize
homosexual marriages or to create coed
bathrooms. Debate of the ERA is too often
clouded by these emotional arguments, which
totally depart from the fundamental question of
the legal status of women.
Rather, the objectives of the amendment, as
stated in a majority report of the Senate
Judiciary Committee, are: “Sex should not be a
factor in determining the legal rights of men or
women. The Amendment thus recognizes the
fundamental dignity and individuality of each
human being. The Amendmentwill only affect
governmental action; the privateactions and the
troubled youngsters
Vice President Walter Mondale and Sen. Ed
ward Kennedy for delivering emotionally
stirring speechs which drove Democratic
National Convention delegates to their feet in a
new upsurge of party unity.
SS^inners
Time Magazine for its news judgment in put
ting “Dallas” character J.R. Ewing on last
week’s cover while the Democratic National
Convention dominated the news.
Penn State’s football team and its coaching
predictability.
Unpredictabilty throws the whole
equation out of kilter. It makes the time
change formula a volatile and poten
tially explosive mix. Time and change
can bring about something better. They
can also bring about something worse,
or anything in between. No one can
predict the future.
If indeed I am a normal person and
in spite of the off-the-wall columns I’ve
done this summer, I think I am I feel
justified in being leery of change. No one
leaves an' atmosphere of comfort and
security for a question mark without
feeling uneasy. But it is something you
have to do, sooner or later.
Those of you who are graduating, as
well as those who are worried about the
defend a decision to fulfill a childhood
fantasy.
Probably the most common argument
is “I want to expand my horizons.”
Expanding your horizons usually
consists of experiencing things that
you’ve never experienced.
Like work, perhaps. Here, in Happy
Valley, no one works, everyone is in the
same age bracket and we all seem to be
stamped from the same mold.
By getting a career-related job, you’ll
have a chance to get out and meet a few
folks who haven’t been students all their
■?A
SMud
private relationships of men and women are
unaffected.”
But the question remains: is there really a
need for an amendment? Many believe there
isn’t because equal rights for women go without
saying.
The same thing could be said for the unratified
Equal Rights Amendment that my high school
business law teacher used to say about an oral
contract: “It isn’t worth the paper it’s written
on.” In other words, unless equal rights are
legally recognized through binding legislation,
all the progress that has been made will be
meaningless.
Even though many Americans support equal
rights, the needed majority of 38 states has yet to
ratify the amendment. Consequently, in
legalistic terms, the imbalance between the
sexes has not really been rectified.
Why hasn’t the ERA been ratified?
Women’s rights have been a major social
dilemma ever since 19th Amendment extended
the right to vote to women. Equal rights
amendments have been proposed in almost
every Congress since 1923. Once the ball started
rolling, more and more legislation to protect the
legal status of women was adopted, including the
recent Title IV.
Far from a fleeting social reform, the ERA is
inherently practical. It is not an attempt to
legislate morals, as the Prohibition Amendment
so woefully failed to do. In today’s society, where
more and more women are becoming sole
supporters of families, the ERA would protect
©IWWAW/K6OH JW?
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change
future in general, might take solace in
knowing that I have done the worrying
for you. After examining all the angles
and after conversing with scores of
people, I have concluded that we are not
alone.
Everybody worries about the future
and what it may bring. The key is not to
let that worry • interfere with your en
joyment of life. Do what you feel is best
and roll with the punches.
Set your sights high and don’t stop
until you drink from the silver cup.
I know I won’t.
Paul Sunyak is a Kith-term journalism
major and is dedicating this column in
memory of Raymond Krichbaum, a
long-time friend who lived life to the
fullest.
life. They have something to offer
something you won’t find while hitch
hiking across the country or pumping
gas in Denver.
Another excuse you come up with is
that you want to stay home for awhile
“to get my head together.”
Perhaps a more accurate way of
phrasing it should be “I want to stay
home for awhile and become a big frog
in a small puddle.” Unless you’re from
one of the metropolitan areas of the
state,'chances are you won’t find a job
near home. So you take a semi-career
related job there and do really well
because you’re over-qualified.
Go to work after school. Don’t try to
“find yourself” by running around the
country from two-bit job to two-bit job
because the only thing you’ll find doing
that is that never-never land doesn’t
exist.
Mike Sillup is a former Daily Collegian
staff writer and reporter for The New
Jersey Herald.
Joe Paterno said he wants to get
along with the members of the media,
particularly the sports writers. He
said he wants the media to play fair.
That’s not a whole lot to ask, I guess.
But Paterno certainly has strange
ways of showing his sincerity.
In a column by Stan Isle in a July
copy of The Sporting News, Paterno
was quoted as saying that if he ever
needed a new brain he’d like to get
one from a sports writer, because, as
Paterno said, “it’ll have never been
used.”
Paterno said Saturday he uses that
line all time. “It’s a great beginning
to a speech,” he said. “I use to say
that about athletic directors, but
since I’m athletic director, I can’t say
that anymore.”
That sounds strange from a man
who, by his own admission, wants to
work with the press to promote Penn
State and the University’s sports.
Paterno, who is one of the nation’s top
collegiate football coaches, has been
accused in the past of trying to in
fluence members of the sports media.
Paterno has said in the past he
especially likes to train the younger
sports writers “his way.”
This tactic of training sports
writers to serve as appendages of a
team’s public relations department
was successfully employed several
years ago.
“Newspapers have a different
style. They just can’t write about the
them from sex discrimination and the working
world slavery of a second class citizen.
Unfortunately, in light of pressing issues such
as inflation, the energy crisis and national
defense, the ERA has been placed on the back
burner of national issues.
If the ERA is not ratified soon, it will be pushed
farther and farther into the background of social
policy-making where it is certain to die a slow
death in some legislature’s Subcomittee on
Subcomittees.
Furthermore, our society too often takes for
granted the rights women have gained through
long, hard struggle. In the end, complacency will
NOl
MPW-BJWIMS
Respect of media
based on fair play
A?*
■s' |
game,” Paterno said. Today, Paterno
said, writers are more interested in
covering “social implications or what
reporters would like to think are
(social implications). ”
That’s part of the media’s job to
report what they know to their
readers. This should also apply to the
sports media.
Several weeks ago, Paterno and
Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach
Dick Vermiel were reported as
calling for a new unity between sports
writers and the athletes they write
about. That suggestion would
eliminate the arms length
relationship existing. between jour
nalists and athletes.
According to Paterno, the sports
editors at the conference said it was
the coaches’ “obligation” to tell the
editors of problems with reporters.
The coaches -should be doing .this
anyway. They shouldn’t need sports
editors to tell them this.
Paterno has said in the past that he
has nothing against sports writers
and that he always try to get along
with them.
Although Paterno said he is making
himself more available to the press,
the Nittany Lion coach has been
known to take up to eight days to
return telephone calls from
professional sportswriters. If you
work for The Daily Collegian, you
may as well forget about Paterno
returning a phone call.
How does Paterno expect to get a
fair shake from the sports writers if
he does not seem to respect these
journalists?
Little things like suggesting that a
sports writer’s brain is rarely used
will not attract the respect of sports
writers. It’s hardly playing fair.
Andy Linker is a lOth-term jour
nalism major and editorial editor of
The Daily Collegian.
kill the ERA. Tired of endless frustration and
apathy, proponents of the ERA may just give up
the fight.
We pride ourselves-on the value our country
places on dignity, rights and freedoms' of each
human being. Why, then, should there be any
question about ratifying the ERA?
The ERA is a simple statement, unequivocal in
its principle: sex shall not be a factor in deter
mining the rights of men or women. Thus, it]
guarantees equal rights for all its citizens both -
men and women.
Bernadette Eylcr is a 4th-term French business
major and staff writer for The Daily Collegian.
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! Changing times
Congratulations to the State College School Board for
adopting a new drug policy. I am pleased that the
board recognizes that prevention, not punishment is
‘he answer to the increase in drug usage among our
•Children.
I also hope that the board and the Informed Parents
group direct its energy to the question of why our
children feel the need to use drugs in school. What is
turning them off from their studies?
The National Organization for the Reform of
Marijuana Lawa (NORML) has always supported non
icriminal approaches towards marijuana possession.
Although 11 states have substituted civil fines up to
$lOO for criminal penalties (decriminalization),
Pennsylvania maintains the threat of incarceration
and a lifelong criminal record for marijuana
possession.
Arrest statistics f0r.1979 in Pennsylvania, show that
aver 70 percent of all drug arrests are for simple
possession of marijuana. Surely, the priorities of our
police should be directed to serious crime. The
Governor’s Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse
estimates that in Pennsylvania last year, $l5 million in
law enforcement resources were spent on marijuana
arrests.
5' v During California’s first year of decriminalization in
*&v v 1976, officials estimate savings close to $25 million by
| writing citations for marijuana possessors rather than
[ arresting them.
[ Also, surveys in Oregon, Maine and California
showed that usage did not increase substantially after
decriminalization. The major reason given for not
using marijuana is a personl lack of interest, not the
threat of arrest.
It is time the General Assembly follow the lead of 11
states and the Slate College School Board and
recognize that criminal penalties haven’t worked in
solving the problems of marijuana abuse. Rational
drug education programs and decriminalizing
marijuana possession will be steps in the right
direction.
Hill Cluck, advisor
I’cnn State NORML
August I t
4 Moral decision
If
|| . lam writing this in response to Mark D. Van Ouse's
letter which appeared in the August 13 issue of the
iv Collegian.
Is Van Ouse states: “Killing, thus, has been legalized
[■ and marketed in the form of abortion. All because of
,t£ seven men (of the Supreme Court) who imposed their
| morals (or lack of it) upon the millions of innocent
I unborn.”
The Supreme Court made no such imposition. As a'
matter of fact, they withheld their personal moral
t; codes when deciding Roe v. Wade. Justice Blackmun
ji : prefaces his opinion with a quote by Justice Holmes
db.- from the case Lochner v. New York:
f, “It (the Constitution) is made from people of fun
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damentally differing views, and the accident of our
finding certain opinions natural and familiar or novel
and even shocking ought not to conclude our judgment
upon the question whether statutes embodying them
conflict with the Constitution of the United States.”
This would seem to me as though Justice Blackmun
is warning against the imposition of personal views in
deciding this case, delicate and emotional as it is.
I would also like to point out a much overlooked
element of the Court’s decisoin. Further on in his
opinion, Justice Blackmun states:
“We need not resolve the difficult question of when
life begins. When those trained in the respective
disciplines of medicine, philosophy and theology are
unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this
point in the development of man’s knowledge is not in a
position to speculate as to the answer.”
I think this is the key to understanding the Court’s
reasoning. No, Van Ouse, they did not “impose” their
morals on anyone. Instead, they said that since experts
in more applicable fields could not determine when life
began, they couldn’t either.
Thus, being legal experts, they turned to the law (the
Constitution) to determine whether procurring an
abortion would violate it. This, too, strikes me as a
reluctance to make rash assumptions on the starting
point of life rather than an “imposition” of their views,
particularly upon the disciplines of medicine,
philosophy and theology.
I find it presumtuous of the Pro-Lifers to say they
know when life begins when even the experts admit to
their ignorance. As the Court reasoned, since noone
can be sure that the fetus is a life (being deprived of its
rights) but we can be sure of the detriment to women
forced to bear children they don’t want and are unable
to care for, whether or not to have an abortion is the
mother’s decision.
Few people advocate grabbing hesitant mothers by
the arm and shoving them on a bus for Harrisburg.
More often, people are Pro-Choice. The nature of Pro-
Choice is that a woman has the right to decide whether
or not to have her child. With the legalization of
abortion, a woman may or biay not choose to terminate
her pregnancy.
If abortion is legalized, a woman will be forced to
bear her unwanted child unless she chooses to risk her
life and have a “back room" abortion. Who is imposing
their morals on whom, Van Ouse.
In a time of overpopulation and lack or resources, it
is irresponsible to bring unwanted children into the
world. I personally feel there should be more emphasis
on finding a 100 percent effective birth control method.
However, considering the innumerable extenuating
circumstances why a woman gets pregnant with the
available contraceptives and considering how wrong it
would be to impose one’s morals on those women who
fall victim to those circumstances, don’t you think it is
only fair to give them the choice whether or not to have
their children?
They certainly can carry their pregnancies to term if
they so choose. It would be nothing less than an im
position on them not to present the alternative of
abortion.
Carol Ruth Fritsch, Ith-division of undergraduate
studies
August 15
Now hear this
Draft registration has divided many people in this
country and on this campus. With Supreme Court
Justice William Brennan Jr.’s stay of a
Philadelphia court decision ruling the sign-up
process unconstitutional, many young people will be
anxiously waiting for the Supreme Court’s final
ruling on the matter.
The constitutionality of forcing persons to reveal
their social security numbers has been questioned.
Moreover, any registration plan excluding women
may be ruled as discriminatory against males.
Although The Daily Collegian has run op-ed pages
in the past on women in the draft and on
registration, the question still lingers of whether
registration is right or wrong.
On Tuesday, Sept. 9, The Daily Collegian 1 will
focus its first op-ed page of Fall Term on the con
tinuing controversy surrounding the new military
draft sign-up. If you have any comments on
registration, please submit them to the Editorial
Editor, 126 Carnegie. All letters must be typed,
double-spaced and no longer than 30 lines. Deadline
is Friday, August 22. •
Monday, August 18, 1980
Betsy Long
Editor
BOARD OF EDITORS:. Managing Editor, P.J. Platz;
Editorial Editor, Andy Linker; News Editor, Rick Jackson;
Sports Editor, Paul Boynton; Arts Editor, Paddy Patton;
Photo Editor, Rick Graff; Graphics Editor, Randy Guseman;
Co|iy Editors, Elyse Chiland, Lynne Johnson, Callas
Richardson, Bari Winemiller; Weekly Collegian Editor,
Martha Snyder McCoy; Assistant Weekly Collegian Editor,
Wendy Trilling; Office Manager; Jackie Clifford.
BOARD OF MANAGERS: Sales Manager, David Niderberg;
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Markcting/Circulation Manager, Terri Gregos; Assistant
Business Manager, Chris Arnold.
BUSINESS COORDINATORS: Layout, Ruth Myers and
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Projects, Elizabeth Mong.
LETTERS POLICY: The Daily Collegian encourages com
ments on news coverage, editorial policy and University af
fairs. Letters should be typewritten, double-spaced, signed by
no more than two persons and not longer than 30 lines.
Students’ letters should include the term, major and campus
of the writer. Letters from alumni should include the major
and year of graduation of the writer. All writers should.
provide their address and phone number for verification of the
letter.
The editorial editor reserves the right to edit letters, and to
reject letters if they are libelous or do not conform to stan
dards'of good taste.
Mail letters to: The Daily Collegian; 126 Carnegie Building;
University Park, Pa. 16802. Names may be withheld on
request. Letters may also be selected for publication in The
Weekly Collegian.
"*oW
daily E office will close at 4 p.m. on August 18 and J
won’t reopen until 9 a.m. on September 2. if
Deadline for display advertising for our September 5 issue is Tuesday, fj
September 2 at noon. Deadline for our September 8 issue is Thursday, //
September 4 at 4 p.m.
r >
© 1980 Collegian Inc.
Kathy Matheny
Business Manager
Adding fuel to fire:
hatred among races
The stupid hatred that runs rampant
among the races is saddening. Rational
behavior needed to forget past hostilities
is buried by irrational claims to
“sticking to one’s own kind.”
Minority prejudice responds to white
racism. Racism or prejudice or bigotry
are all basically one thing though
hatred. And it thrives among all races
and classes.
There has been an upsurge in Klu Klux
Klan activities in the country. Klansmen
are urged to build up arms for an
inevitable race war. The Klan wants to
achieve racial purity because it feels it
faces reverse discrimination.
“Whitey” already controls the deck of
cards that is our economy and politics.
Obviously, the Klan wants to rig that
deck.
The May riots that were so destructive
in Miami and Tampa broke out again in
Miami last month. Economic hardships
and social inequities were the reasons,
as they were in May. But there was no
convenient reason for “whitey” to
justify the outbursts, like the Arthur
McDuffie case in Miami, in which an all
white jury acquitted four white
policemen of the beating death of Mc-
Duffie, a black man.
Economic hardships and social
inequities apparently caused the recent
racial violence in Chattanooga, Tenn.,
and Orlando, Fla., as well.
Chattanooga policemen equipped with
riot gear blocked off the black section of
town. The streets were deserted. Blacks
hid in their homes with firearms poised.
American against American with
firearms poised. R is sad.
Blacks in Orlando and Chattanooga
apparently felt there was nothing better
to do than to vandalize and hurt people.
Will blacks in other towns think it
vogue again to destroy property, loot
and hurt other people? Could be.
The Black Leadership Forum, a
coalition of the nation’s most influential
civil rights groups, said a growing anger
in the streets could explode into more
violence in any city in the country, ac
cording to the New York Times. The
Cr 1
The Daily Collegian
coalition said there is an immediate
sense of frustration in the black com-
munities
Assistant Attorney General Drew
Days 111 said in the Times article there
are “deep-seeded problems that are
going to be around and there is still
potential this summer for violence
anywhere in the country because these
problems exist.”
Perhaps the rabble-rousers are not
rioting to reveal their condition as much
as they are desperately hurting
“whitey” while drifting hopelessly
further from prosperity, or even from a
fair shake from the system; the
hopelessness is scary.
Maybe saner heads will prevail and
realize riots are not the tool to improve
the black plight.
A black acquaintance of mine said
blacks are vital consumers for many
businesses. He said blacks could arouse
peaceful attention to their problems if
they organized a mass boycott of various
goods and services.
Another outlet could be the creation of
an all-black political party. However,
considering the divergent ideas among
black leaders, a political party would be
difficult to organize. Blacks also lack the
money necessary to establish a political
party.
To those of you who have stayed with
me thus far, I appeal to your sense of
compassion. Question your bigotry. Is it
worth it?
Hatred does not solve past problems,
but spurs new ones. Open-mindedness
could help solve social inequities.
Children emulate their parents’ at
titudes; bigotry is carried from
generation to generation. I appeal to you
who have been fortunate to gain access
to higher education teach your
children to accept people as humans and
look beyond convenient groupings.
Cynics will sneer at my idealism. They
will think I am a naive fool. Racial
hatred is here to stay, they say.
It will take time, but I think through
education our prejudices can be pushed
aside. Hatred is a waste of time and
energy.
We must start somewhere to ease the
overt and covert hostilities that eat away
at the core of human existence. Love and
understanding of each other as humans,
not as whites or blacks or Jews or Arabs,
can be the roots from which spring a
better world.
We shall destroy ourselves, otherwise,
Paul Boynton is a (ith-term journalism
major and sports editor for the Daily
Collegian.
Monday, August 18,1880 —:i