Editorial Opinion Editor’s Note: This is the first of a two-part series examining the Undergraduate Student Govern ment. Today’s editorial will deal with some of ’the problems within USG; tomorrow’s will offer possible solutions. Problems at the Undergraduate Student Goverment are like tribbles from “Star Trek” they keep multiplying and never go away. During Hal Shaffer’s administra tion last winter, USG executives made a hasty merger of JEM pro ductions with the department of pro grams and services, and another hasty merger of the department of women’s affairs with the depart ment of minority affairs. A weak transition complicated problems of communication, struc ture and priorities in Joe Healey’s administration, which has been punctuated by sharp divisions of opi nion. Although Healey claims inter- Check the facts As an historical researcher currently working on a project designed to place the Penn State fraternities on the National Register of Historic Places, I couldn’t help noticing some inac curacies in The Daily Collegian Homecoming tabloid article “Fraternity housesfull of tradition. . .and ghosts”. The Phi Delta Theta house is not necessarily the oldest fraternity house at Penn State, depending on how one defines “fraternity house.’’While it is the oldest house originally built as a fraternity and still in use as a fraternity, the Delta Upsilon house on Locust Lane (which was built as a private residence in the spring of 1891) is the oldest house being used today as a fraternity. Either the old Fiji house (214 S. Allen) or the old Sigma Chi house (228 S. Allen), both built in late 1891 or early 1892, would be the oldest houses built specifically for fraternity use still standing. Both are among the oldest extant buildings in town. The original Beta Theta Pi house, identified in the article as the “first. , .at the was several years thajii these tWo houses.'Also, the “new” Fiji house (1915) is the third oldest'of current fraternity houses, not the second as statbd by the article; if all houses still standing which were originally buH't as'fraternities are considered, the Fiji house ranks about 16th. Similarly, the Alpha Chi Rho house is not the fourth oldest of current fraternaties. The top five are Delta UpsiIon(1891), Phi Delta Theta(l9o4), Phi Gamma Delta( 1915), Sigma Tau Gamma(l9l6) and Phi Mu Delta! 1918) I would also like to call attention to some inaccuracies in the Collegian article of Oct. 2 on our fraternity nomination, which only came to our notice recently. We are the Historic Registration Project, not Historic Register Program as stated. Also, the National Register of Historic Places was referred to as the Pennsylvania National Historic Register. , The National Register, administered by the Department of the Interior, is an official listing of our nation ! s architectural heritage; inclusion on the National Register affords protection for historic buildings through various means. Paterno has rights like everyone else I am not Joe Paterno’s No. 1 fan. In fact, I’m riot even close. But, Joe Paterno has the right to speak his opinion just like you and I do. Paterno has been viciously attack ed this week by both The Daily Col legian and students for speaking his opinion an opinion that came in his endorsement of the Republican presidential ticket. Paterno’s endorsement was delivered during a talk by Barbara Bush, wife of Republican vice presidential candidate George Bush. During the course of the press con ference, Paterno lent his support to the party ticket. For this, Paterno was heavily criticized by the media and students. Paterno was crucified by his critics who did not do their homework, and now may be the time to pose some questions to these critics. Let’s start at square one. The United States Constitution says every person in this country is entitled to the right of freedom of speech. Pater no qualifies for this right. In this case, the Collegian and some students did not think so. It is tragically ironic that the media, which live by this freedom of speech doctrine, choose to lambast a man for exercising his Constitu tional right. If the media think it was so nal chaos has subsided, there is no strong evidence that USG has put ef fective government ahead of petty political battles. Healey says USG’s priorities are twofold serving students and men ding the internal structure and dissension in the organization. Healey does not believe that tackling both priorities simultaneously is un wise. But the problem is like riding two horses at the same time; Healey’s idealism has unintentional ly led USG off the track. For example, the Senate Appoint ments Review Board and Healey bucked and bickered about some Fall Term appointments that should have been made months ago, but that were approved only this week. Some department directors began working without proper Senate ap proval, a blatant violation of a bill revising appointment procedures for executive departments and a dangerous bypass of basic checks Letters to the Editor unethical for Paterno to use his name to support a political party and, in turn, influence voters in next week’s general elections, then why did the media print the stories on the press conference? Nobody forced the media to publish these stories. If the media disagreed with Paterno’s motives, then why did both local daily papers give the Paterno- Bush press conference front page coverage? The media also failed to do its homework on Paterno himself. Pater no is one of the leading Republicans in the state, according to David Winkler, a former chairman of the College Republicans. Evidently, the Collegian believes this does not qualify Paterno to en dorse a member of his own party. Does the Collegian know any more than Paterno on the major political issues? “Famous” people have been endor sing candidates for many elections now. And “not so famous” people have been endorsing candidates by their votes on election day. Paterno’s endorsement is not likely to sway the opinion of the informed voter. The media claim Paterno is using his name to sway voters toward a candidate for political office, but is it not hypocritical of the media to use their reputation to also influence voters by endorsing a political can didate on an editorial page? The media, in this case, want to suppress an individual’s right to freedom of speech. The story line goes something like this: “Hey, you, the people, can’t say that; only we, the media, can say that.” Andy Linker is an lltii-term jour nalism major and a copy editor for The Daily Collegian. Running on empty Problems of disorganization, lack of unity plague USG I feel that the writer of the article over-emphasized my con cerns about this fraternity nomination. There is an excellent chance that the Penn State fraternities will be duly enrolled as buildings of significance to our community. Douglas McMinn, researcher Oct. 20 ANP NOW T GIVE YOU THE MAN WHO GAVE IB THE BEAUS®S.ANPWHT HOW IS TWINS WSS OUR PRISONER? IN CUBA, A TREND IN NEED, A GREATGUYANP A BEAUTHDL HUM4NKING, l£lt HEAR IT RX,„ ' Politics beyond big business These issues revolve around the fact that certain huge corporations have such an effect on our lives that they no longer deserve to be treated as private entities. Due to several Supreme Court decisions of the late 1800 s, corporations enjoy constitutional protections originally intended for individuals. These huge economic machines, with influence undreamed of in colonial times, now find refuge in the courts, and cleverly manipulate public opinion, with words like “freedom,” “rights,” and “government harrassment.” Corporations have rights, but these are the “rights of capital,” not the political rights of individuals. In mounting their subtle public relations campaigns either directly through their cynical advertising, or in directly through the pathetic nostalgia of people like Ronald Reagan corporations rely on people confus ing rights of capital with the Bill of Rights. -Rights of capital entitle corporations to put their money wherever it will yield the highest return, with no one having outside the corporation having access to the decision making process. Agencies like OSHA and EPA can chase around after violations, but the result is a huge bureaucracy that can be outflanked by the brains in big corporations and doesn’t have the flexibility to deal with small outfits, too often clumsily bludgeoning them in the process. The rights of capital insure that the only people with. any say in corporate decisions are the managers. In formal terms stockholders have power over the and balances crucial to democratic government. The USG calendar is also taking a licking because of “illegal acts” and poor coordination. McDonald’s Corp. is justified for requesting com pensation because of the lack of copyright marks on its adver tisements and the added cost from an extra free Big Mac coupon in the calendar. Ernie Hicks, former JEM manager, resigned this summer and left the chores of producing the calendar behind without passing on any procedures. Past procedures should have been documented, and Hicks, whom Healey claimed would rather work alone than with other people, should have stuck with the calendar from the first day of plann ing to the first day of distribution. Poor communication and lack of structure in business proceedings is another sign of disorganization. A This is part one of a two-part series on Barry Com moner, the presidential nominee of the Citizen’s Party, and its Pennsylvania affliate, the Consumer Party. Eugene McCarthy asked people to vote a “protest” vote when he was on campus two weeks ago. Last week he came out in favor of Ronald Reagan. Unless he intends this as a protest against rationality, I have trouble understanding his reasoning. Before this bizarre development, McCarthy told a Daily Collegian reporter that affirmative protest votes might make it “. . . possible to put together a new political movement by 1984.” Barry Commoner’s speech at the HUB Oct. 23 show ed that this new political movement has already begun. Commoner, the presidential nominee of the Citizens Party, laid out his basic positions in a forceful, well reasoned manner. His was a voice of sanity and clari ty, one that stood in sharp contrast to the insane saber rattling and muddled economic soothsaying of mainstream politicians. Commoner claims that the Citizen’s Party is a truly new movement because it brings up fundamental issues, ones the mainstream parties refuse to address. Accusations The Nader Vakili Forum printed on Oct. 23 cannot hide his animosity toward the United States behind a facade of fallacies and nebulous accusations. In the first place, how is the United States responsible for the declaration of martial law in Turkey? Although Turkey is a managers, but in practice their most significant in volvement lies in cashing their dividend checks. Con sumers, whose miraclous “invisible hand” is supposed to be the ultimate arbiter, are more like passive cash flow conduits manipulated by advertising and in timidated into apathy by the confusing- jargon of “experts.” The truth is that managers are responsible for cor porate decisions; and these people are judged solely on the “bottom line” the maximization of profit in a relatively short time. And what happens when the bottom line conflicts with social good? Need you ask? Ideally, the bottom line should never conflict with social welfare. In Adam Smith’s idealized free market the end results of thousands of selfish decisions was supposed to yield the greatest public good. But we no longer live in the 1700 s Exxon is not a harmless little pin factory, and there is no free market in our major in dustries, but rather multi-national oligopolies. Have you ever heard mainstream candidates raise these issues? Of course you haven’t. Democrats and Republicans all join to sing the praises of the American “free-enterprise” system. Either they do not have the brains to analyze the situation or they lack the guts to talk about it, but either way they have failed us. This is why the Citizen’s Party was formed to ask these kind of fundamental questions about the very structure of the economic decision-making process. The usual reactions to such questions are to dismiss them as leftover 1960 s paranoia or to shrug one’s shoulders with a “ya can’t fight city hall” cliche. But is it so paranoid? Let’s examine the situation without the distortion of preconceived notions like “free enterprise” or “the rights of capital.” Isn’t it the truth that our foreign policy to a large ex tent follows along after corporate decisons? In the 19505, oil company executives decided to shift their production to the Middle East. This move has tied us into an extremely volatile area for the past 25 years, with no way to disentangle ourselves visible in the near future. perfect illustration is the $12,000 in unexpected, unpaid bills from Shaf fer’s administration bills . that USG could not immediately pay because of insufficient cash reserves. These ghost bills were eventually paid using funds from a money market certificate. A double standard of communcia tion with the news media also exists. USG would like The Daily Collegian to look the other way during meetings so members can bicker in peace, but some of those same members don’t mind airing their “dirty laundry” against USG anonymously. Moreover, USG is hampered in its effort to serve students by a con tinual stream of resignations. Senatorial departures often occur because people move on to other positions or do not attend meetings. But North Halls senator Ray Zarzeczny gave a more vivid reason for his resignation,' saying he was m. * disillusioned with USG and that some people “are too politically oriented” and are in student govern ment “for their own good.” Other resignations from depart ments have severely hampered ef fective student government. Bill Gluck and Vic Dupuis resigned this summer as directors of the voter registration drive over a misunderstanding with Healey con cerning key cards to the USG office. Business Manager Tim Noonan was the latest fatality on Oct. 20, at tributing his resignation to “academic and time constraints.” A captain must be ultimately responsible for .the sinking of his ship, but Healey’s lackluster leader ship is only partly at fault. Healey does not and may never have a firm base of support in. USG because senators and other members con sider him an outsider instead of a leader with fresh ideas. NATO member," NATO countries, best illustrated by the head strong France, do not have a history of blindly following United States dictates. ' Second, the delivery of'AWACS airplanes to Saudi Arabia;! was deemed necessary to protect that country from an expan-> sion of the hostilities. The United States does not want them to be used to monitor Iranian air missions for the use of Iraq. Vakili seems to ignore the 1972 cooperation treaty between Iraq and the Soviet Union. The Iraqi army has been equipped and advised soley by the Russians. It is thus against United States interests if Iraq conquers Iran, spreads its form of socialism in the Mid-East, and leaves Iran vulnerable to a Soviet invasion. Concerning the hostage issue, what guarantee does the United States have that the hostages will escape the war unharmed and be released by the Iraqis? With the Iranian Parliament finally deliberating on tlie hostage problem, the United States must tread carefully arid not disturb President Carter’s policy of “watchful waiting.” « As to Secretary of State Edmund Muskie’s remarks concern ing the hostages, although I do not have his exact words, our own presidential shows .us .how be.’y twisted and taken out of context! ........ The Iran-Iraq conflict must be seen for what it is: a te£,!'j (I ritorial dispute between two Moslem neighbors and not, a’ ',j United States plot to subjugate the people of Iran. Vakili has a” right to his opinions, but that is what they are, opinions and not * believable hypotheses. \ Alan S. Weber Oct. 24 Thursday Oct. 30, 1980-Page 2 Betsy Long Editor The end result of these private decisions is flje'fi? “Carter Doctrine” pledging that military force wili;b(J*s; used to protect our “vital interests” in the Middle Thus we,have the potential for war, and world suicictefjl as well, for not very far behind any military action the holocaust of nuclear war. Can we continue to allow corporate decisions like one made by those oil company executives to these kind of far-reaching implications? What is good for Exxon is not necessarily good for the country, but under our current system executives are forced to make their decisions with Exxon’s welfare as the criterion. VrJ&wj Other examples of corporate influence in foreign • policy are numerous. Why is it we support so many** j neo-fascist regimes? i! The only reasonable explanation, other than naively jj swallowing the “anti-communist” official line, is that s our corporations have profitable investments overseas jj that must be protected even if we prostitute our j heritage of freedom in the process. !; The same unacceptable corporate influence does f place in domestic affairs. In “The Poverty of Power,"vj associated with this move. The automobile industry shifted to bigger, heavier i| cars and the results were decreased fuel efficiency an<£ -sS- J Ji _ \t: 1 - And Little Sister Pledges: Pam Miller Deb Matzura COFFEE 15' WE OPEN AT 7:00 A.M. AND SERVE BREAKFAST TILL 10:30 A.M 1 Egg, any style 1 Strip Bacon or Sausage Toast w/Jelly Juice or Coffee 95° COFFEE 15' NEED AN EASY PART-TIME JOB? Sera Tec can help you earn extra money. By donating plasma, you’ll be helping in the treat ment of hemophilia, leukemia and other diseases, and Sera Tec will pay for your time. Stop by or give us a call when you get into town. 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