Reagan
-4 4 By JOHN SCHLANDER
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
President Reagan's proposed cut
backs ask student loan and grant
programs and federal endowment
programs to shoulder more than their -
fair share of the economic austerity
Ap burden, the council to the congressional,
Subcommittee on post-secondary
education, said yesterday.
William Blakey said Reagan is ,
seeking to cut back two major sources of
federal aid to students Guaranteed
Student Loans and Pell Grants ( f0r
,60 merly called Basic Educational Op
portunity Grants)— by about one-third,
Blakey said.
In fact, Blakey said, no Pell Grant
Rapers prepared by
research companies
*constitute dishonesty
Editor's Note: This •is the second in a
two-part series on academic dishonesty.
Today's article examines term paper
companies.
By CINDY COX
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
, TERM PAPER BLUES CURED! !
Flyers carrying that promise were
posted on this campus at the end 'of
Winter Term and appear on college
campuses across the country.
Such a proposition seems especially
appealing in the eighth week of the term
to students who have to write three
papers that must be 15 to 20 pages each
and also have 14 footnotes.
For only $l, the flyers offer to send the
weary writer a 400-page catalog of more
than 10,000 research papers from Pacific
v , Research in Seattle, Wash.
The catalog lists prepared papers with
topics ranging from Abram Amsel's
work on frustrative nonreward theory to
naturalism and order in Renaissance
Art to the quest for identity in Whitman
and Melville.
Papers like these, complete with
footnotes and bibliography, can be ob
tained for only $3 a page. If the catalog
does not list a desired topic, Pacific
Research will custom-research a topic
for $8 a page for undergraduate
research, $9 a page for science, business
and economics topics and $lO a page for
graduate research.• Thesis assistance
enn bc-oj?tgitiedfor a mere .5.,a page,:.:..
Sounds 'like a pretty good'deal. Instead
of staying iip all night to write a paper, a
student can send away for one already
written by a staff of experts.
vs One small catch. If caught subinitting
a term paper prepared by someone else,
a student may be charged with
plagiarism, which is academic
dishonesty, and as a result may receive
an F grade or be suspended or expelled
from the University.
Plagiarism is the act of passing off
flO someone else's work as your own, ac
cording to a handout prepared by the
English department for freshman
composition classes.
James T. Harwood, associate
professor of English and director of the
freshman composition program, said he
*has never seen a case of plagiarism
involving a term paper company.
"Plagiarism does not occur very often
in my judgment," Harwood said. "It is
an infrequent problem but a very serious
offense."
This is spring?
The first day of spring will feature
mainly cloudy skies, breezy and cold
conditions with occasional flurries and
heavier snow bursts that should produce
R only a light accumulation. The high
today should be in the mid 30s. Con
siderable cloudiess and cold tonight with
flurries likely and a low of 21. There
should be more clouds than sun
tomorrow with flurries still possible as
the high reaches 39. Sunshine on Sunday
should be followed by increasing
*cloudiness as temperatures approach 40.
Bill Cluck, left, and Ken Reeves hope to squeak past Wimpy the Gerbil and his running mate Fredrick A. Schiller in the upcoming
Undergraduate Student Government presidential race. Cluck and Reeves announced their candidacy yesterday.
W '202 PATTEZ
budget
applications have been processed since
Reagan took office Jan. 21.
• The Department of Education, which
processes the applications, will start
sending postcards to applicants telling
them of the grant suspension, he said.
Blakey said he does not expect any
applications to be processed in the near
future and possibly not in Reagan's
tenure of office, although Reagan has
budgeted money to the grant program.
The subcommittee recently had six
days of hearings on the predicted effects
of the proposed cutbacks on higher
education. Although he said some cuts
must be made, the subcommittee will
try to reduce these cuts. The sub
committee is trying to alert people to the
A student can plagiarize in two ways,
Harwood said. A student can "naively"
plagiarize material from a reference
without citing that reference. Students
often plagiarize because they are unsure
of what must be quoted or attributed in a
paper, Harwood said.
Also, students can commit the more
serious offense of handing in a paper
that has been written by someone else,
he added.
Freshman composition instructors try
to forestall plagiarism by approving a
student's paper topic and requiring
students to hand in their notes and rough
drafts when they hand in their paper,
Harwood said. Many papers are written
on the same subject because up to 5,000
papers a year may be submitted to
English 10, 20 and 30 sections, Harwood
said.
Because each student has a distinctive
writing style, instructors would
probably he able to recognize if a student
handed in a term paper from a research
company, Harwood said.
Robert M. Stern, head of the depart
ment of psychology, agreed that in
certain cases instructors would be able'
to detect a prepared term paper.
"If a student is doing D-level work and
he turns in a super paper, the instructor
would probably bring the student in and
question him," Stern said. "However, in
many cases there's really no way to
detect it."
-A..dPin in the. College .of !The. Liberal
Arts said instructors
~,, might have a
difficult time proving that a student
handed in a paper from a term paper
company.
"Although students have access to
such companies, I can't say that we have
much evidence of specific cases," said
John J. Romano, associate dean for
undergraduate studies. "Term paper
companies are a total fraud and a clear
violation of any kind of academic in
tegrity."
This violation of integrity is a serious
matter subject to dismissal from the
University, said Tom' Broitman,
assistant director of undergraduate
programs for the College of Business
Administration.
But, he said, "Whether the student is
caught or not is not always the issue. The
student is missing the experience of
writing a term paper and doing the
research."
Within the College of Human
Development, paper assignments are
often specialized so students cannot use
term paper companies, said Graham
Spanier, associate dean for resident
instruction in that college.
"Term paper companies provide
students with products that turn out to be
inferior," he said. "With most of the
assignments, the companies aren't able
to come up with a•product that students
couldn't produce themselves."
Harwood said the increase in ghost
writing companies is a symptom of
serious educational problem.
"Students have the notion that
posessing a degree is more important
than earning a degree," he said. "They
lose sight of the educational process."
4 i COPT 7,
will cut federal loans to students
problems which may result, Blakey
said.
"If the burden of restraint and
austerity is needed, then the burden
ought to be evenly spread," he said.
"Why should all the cuts be made in
education? There's some fat in all these
programs."
Blakey said other areas of government
spending are being asked to take cuts
averaging 10 to 12 percent, while
education is being asked to take a cut of
about 30 percent.
"Reagan's whole program is counter
productive," he said. "We're talking
about cutting back on human capital."
Nothing is more worthwhile than
human capital, he Said.
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP)
One worker was killed, a second was
critically hurt and four others were
nearly asphyxiated yesterday when
they entered a nitrogen-filled engine
compartment of the space shuttle
Columbia after a rehearsal for next
month's launch, National
Aeronautics and Space Ad
ministration officials said.
The accident marred a- "super"
dress-rehearsal of the shuttle's first
launch at the Kennedy Space Center,
but space agency officials in
Washington said the accident was not•
a result of any flaw in the shuttle and
said there would be no change in the
launch schedule.
The shuttle, delayed repeatedly by
technical problems in the past two
years, is to lift off sometime - during
the week of April 5.
It was the first launch pad fatality
at the space center since' El Jan.• 27,
1967, flash fire killed, three Apollo I
astronauts during a pre-launch test.
Five Rockwell International em
ployees were working in the aft
section of the orbiter near the engine
compartment when they were
overcome shortly after 9 a.m., of
ficials said. A Kennedy Space Center
security guard also was overcome
when he went in to help.
.NASA spokesmen said it was un
clear why the men went into the
compartment.
"Right now, we just don't know
what they were doing in there," said.
space center spokesman Chuck
Hollinshead. "It all happened in a
matter of minutes and we haven't had
time to interview people yet to find
out exactly what procedure they were
doing."
But Rockwell spokesman Dick
Barton said the men apparently
entered the compartment after
hearing an announcement clearing
technicians to return to work on the
launch pad.
"I just happened to be in the area,.
and I heard the announcement:
`Clear for return to normal work.'
Regretfully, it was not," Barton said.
"They were just doing their normal
jobs. All our 'people were waiting
around for the test to end. The guy
who died was the senior mechanical
technician, and each of our men was
assigned different duties in the
compartment."
Added another Rockwell official,
who asked not to be identified: "It
was a goof-up."
The technicians apparently
the
NASA technician killed
"It flies back in his face."
Blakey said cutting education for the
sake of national defense the only
federal program receiving increased
allocations is ridiculous.
"An aircraft carrier is a sitting duck,"
he said. "Why build one so it can get
blown the hell out of the water?"
For the cost of one aircraft carrier,
Blakey said, a huge amount of people
could be educated.
Blakey said he disagreed with
Reagan's strategy to force students and
their parents to share more of the
educational costs.
"Many parents are already straining
to send their children to school," he said,
"They (the Reagan administration) are
This file photo shows the engine compartment of the space shuttle Columbia in Which one NASA workman wag killed
after a dress rehearsal countdown yesterday. The engine compartment, in which several other workmen were over
come by nitrogen gas, is located directly above the circular rocket nozzles.
removed an access panel and entered
the compartment, unaware it had
been purged of oxygen and filled with
pure nitrogen.
"The aft portion of orbiter nor
mally is filled with nitrogen to get all
the oxygen out," said space center
spokesman Rocky Raab. "That is
done to prevent fires in that area and
to prevent anything explosive from
seeping in there."
The workers, unaware they were
moving into a "nitrogen purge" zone,
were felled quickly by the lack of
oxygen, Raab said.
"There is no way you can see or
smell that you're moving into an area
that lacks oxygen," Raab said. "The
whole compartment is purged. We
insert nitrogen to get rid of the
oxygen and other gasses. It is nor
mally a closed area and you can only
get into it by going through access
panels."
As officials evacuated launch pad
Cluck candidate in USG race
By ANNE CONNERS
Daily Collegian Staff Write►
Bill Cluck (11th-speech com
munications) and *Ken Reeves (6th
meteorology) announced their can
didacy for president and vice president
of the Undergraduate Student Govern
ment yesterday.
Cluck, a USG senator for the past
year, said tuition is the major issue
facing the University.
"Although we can't promise lower
tuition, it's time for the student's
viewpoint to be considered," Cluck said.
If elected he would work to strengthen
the Pennsylvania Student Association of
State Related Universities, a student
lobby association, he said.
"We want to inform state legislators
about the vital interest education has in
our state," Cluck said.
Cluck also said he wants to restore
visability and credibilty to USG.
"The overall theme (of the campaign)
is to restore credibility to USG and to
increase student awareness of USG and
other organizations," Cluck said.
To be more responsive to student
needs and to get student input, Cluck
said he would implement a USG
talking about more of a burden than
parents already have."
Under Reagan's plan, GSLs would no
longer be guaranteed, Blakey said. They
would no longer be made regardless of
the parents', income.
Students would be eligible for loans on
the basis of "remaining need" which is
the cost of the education minus the
parents' contribution minus other aid.
About 20,000 University students use
GSL loans, John Brugel, director of the
Office of Student Aid, said.
The new Pell Grant program would
require middle- to upper-income parents
to pay a higher percentage of the
education. It would also require a $750
M
. .
. . .
Friday, March 20, 1981
Vol. 81, N0..133 24 pages
39-A as a precaution, emergency
medical teams' treated the men at the
scene and then rushed them to the
Major Health Facility at the Kennedy
Space Center.
Doctors worked frantically on John
Bjornstad, 50, of Titusville, but he
died aboard a helicopter en route to
the nearby Titusville hospital, Raab
said.
Another technician, Forrest Cole,
of Merritt Island, was stabilized,
flown to the Titusville hospital and
later airlifted to Shands Teaching
Hospital in Gainesville where he was
placed in intensive care in critical
condition with brain • and lung
swelling.
A third man, William Wolford, of
Rockledge, Fla., was hospitalized in
Melbourne for observation. The three
others were released after treatment,
officials said. The two other Rockwell
technicians were identified as
Nicholas Mullon and Jay Harper and ,
Speaker's Bureau consisting of mem
bers of USG and other student
organizations. The bureau would inform
interested student groups about campus
issues.
"(The bureau would) give USG a
chance to be more visible and elicit
feedback from students," he said.
Cluck also said he would create a
Department of Campus and Community
Services to "better inform the students
about the many services and cultural
events available within the University."
To combat poor student participation
in USG, Cluck said more students should
be recruited at orientation.
"USG should work with the orientation
staffs to inform and recruit incoming
students," he said. "This would include
workshops and information packets
designed to show incoming students
where to go with a problem."
Reeves, a USG senator for a year and
a half, said he would work with USG's
Academic Assembly to improve
academic advising.
"The amount of emphasis put on
advising is not as much as we'd like,"
Reeves said. "There's no formal way of
evaluating an instructor."
University Park, PA 16802
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
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self-help contribution from the
student. These two changes cause the
remaining need to be less or nothing at
all for some students who have received
grants in the past.
Private colleges and universities will
suffer from education cuts more than
state-related schools, Blakey said, since
students attending private schools
generally depend more on federal aid
programs to finance their educations.
Predominantly black schools will
probably suffer the most, he said.
Federal endowments to the arts and
the humanities will also suffer. Reagan
seeks to cut these funds in half, Blakey
said.
the security guard, an employee of
the Wackenhut Corp., was identified
as Don Largent. Wackenhut
spokesman Dick Wilson said Largent
and other guards helped rescue the
Rockwell workers.
NASA and Rockwell officials
quickly appointed boards of inquiry
to investigate the accident. Charles
Gay, director of the Expendable
Vehicle Program, was named to head
the NASA committee.
The incident came shortly after
NASA officials proclaimed that the
rehearsal "went super." A simulated
ignition at 7:25 a.m. EST, marked the
end of the test run, NASA spokesman
Mark Hess said.
The rehearsal, which began late
Tuesday, primarily was a dry run of
what astronauts John Young and
Robert Crippen will be doing on
launch day, Hess said.
See related story on Page 3
Another major goal of Cluck and
Reeves is to improve minority
recruitment at the University and in
crease the voice of disabled students in
student government, the candidates
said.
"We're willing to work with other
student organizations
. to get a more
representive group of students at Penn
State," Reeves said.
Cluck promised to work closely with
the Association for Barrier Free Living,
Environment and Design.
"Disabled students are overlooked in
USG and the University," Cluck said.
"Our facilities and resources are at their
disposal."
In political matters, Cluck said he
would make student views known to
local government officials by
strengthening the local liaison depart
ment of the USG department of political
affairs.
USG has been ineffective in the past
because of a lack of direction from its
executives, Cluck said.
"We feel we've been effective as
senators and we can appl, me ex
perience to the presidency 'and vice
presidency," Cluck said.
15'
UPI Wirephoto