F FL
NASA's space shuttle Columbia launches from Cape Canaveral yesterday morning leaving behind clouds of smoke. The long
awaited shuttle, piloted by Robert Crippen and John Young, cost more than $lO billion to put into its two-day orbit around the
Earth.
Religious studies discontinued
By DIANNE GARYANTES
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
The University's department of religious studies
will be dissolved and reorganized into an inter-disci
plinary program this summer, said Arthur 0. Lewis,
associate dean of the College of The Liberal Arts.
The departmental structure of religious studies
will be discontinued in July because of low enroll
ments in the major and budget cutbacks, he said.
"This is purely an adminstrative thing," he said.
"A change from the department structure to a
program structure will save some money."
• An inter-disciplinary program is one that draws
on different disciplines within the University for a
baccalaureate package. Other such programs in
-elude linguistics and compqarative literature.
Undergraduate students will still be able to major
in religious studies, although there will be new
requirements for the major next fall, said Yoshio
Fukuyama, head of the department of .religious
studies.
The new requirements will not affect students who
are now religious studies majors, he added.
However, the college is not accepting any more
graduate students in religious studies, Lewis said.
No final decisions have been made about the
master's program, Lewis said, but the doctoral
Program is being phased out.
"It looks as if we won't be having a doctoral
program and may not have an master's program,"
he said.
"The demand is not great enough to justify having
The graduate students now enrolled will not be
affected by this decision either, he said.
The religious studies department was formed in
1965 when there was more of a demand for the
program, but Fukuyama said students are geared to
a more practical education today.
"It's difficult for a University to keep programs
going when there are these radical shifts of interest,"
Fukuyama said.
There are four students now in the doctoral
program, four students in the master's program and
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five students majoring in the undergraduate pro
gram.
Religious studies programs attract very few ma
jors because it is basically a service program,
Fukuyama said.
"Most of our courses draw studenth in other
majors and other colleges," he said.
At one point there were 12 faculty members in the
department, Fukuyama said. There are now seven
and one-half faculty members because the adminis
tration stopped replacing faculty members who leave
or retire, he said.
Fukuyama is also leaving for a new position in
Chicago. This created a problem because the college
could not replace him, he said.
"The dean saw an opportunity to make this
change since I was leaving," Fukuyama said."
This is the first time in the University's history
that a department has been dissolved, Lewis said.
Lewis said he thought the decision was a good one
because the inter-diciplinary program will allow the
religious program to expand into other areas.
"When you have a department, a program can
become more narrow," he said. "An inter-diciplinary
program will expand into other areas."
Fukuyama said he agreed that the proposed
curriculum demonstrates the expansion in other
fields.
"With the change, there are more options for
course selection," he said. "The new majors will
have a more flexible program to get into."
"Religious studies is an inter-dicipliinary field
anyway," Fukuyama said. "I'm a sociologist and
used to teach Social Science 001."
The faculty is also qualified to teach other dici
plines including classics, American studies and psy
chology, hesaid, and will doing so under the new
program.
Judith Van Herik, assistant professor of religious
studies, said she hopes that the structure change will
not inhibit the teaching of religion.
"The most important issue for me is that there be
courses on religion and religious phenomena avail
able to undergraduates under the program at Penn
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Shuttle finally in space
after delays and drama
By HOWARD BENEDICT
AP Aerospace Writer
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Two American astro
nauts rode the fire and thunder of rocketship Columbia into
orbit yesterday on their long-delayed, high-drama test of the
world's first reflyable spaceship.,
The delta-winged shuttle was soaring 152 miles above Earth.
"That was one fantastic ride; I highly recommend it," said
rookie astronaut Robert Crippen after Columbia eclipsed its
launch path and entered orbit.
With commander John Young and Crippen at the controls,
Columbia vaulted swiftly off moon pad 39A, spewing, long
plumes of smoke from the solid boosters as it cut across the sky
and sped out over the Atlantic Ocean on a northeast heading.
"What a feeling, what a view," said Crippen, making his
first space flight after 15 years' training. He and Young were 86
miles away from terra firma, five minutes into the flight.
Young, the first man to make five trips into space, told
Mission Control, "It sure hasn't changed any. It's something
else out here." And Crippen chimed in, "He's been telling me
about it for three years, but when you see it it's unbelievable."
A few of Columbia's 30,000 thermal tiles tore loose from the
rear of the spaceship and officials of the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration were making an assessment to
determine whether any tiles had fallen away in more critical
locations, such as the underbelly of the ship.
The loss of topside tiles "represents no hazard to the vehicle
or the crew," NASA said. Tiles beneath the craft are necessary
to protect Columbia from burning up on reentry into the
atmosphere.
The first and most important test of Columbia's mechanical
systems was accomplished 105 minutes intq the flight, at the
beginning of the second of a planned 36 orbits, when Young and
Crippen remotely opened two large doors on the spaceship's 60-
foot-long cargo bay.
Shuttle
0 - he.o : op - space- race :-agaip
By HOWARD BENEDICT
AP Aerospace Writer
-CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) The
United States has rejoined the space
race.
The last time Americans were in
space, it was a joint mission with the
Soviet Union. Since then, 43 cosmonauts
have been launched into orbit. Two have
been afloat in space since last March.
Now, the Soviets are not alone.
Columbia's successful launch ends a
six-year drought in the U.S. man-in
space program and signals this nation's
intention to regain eminence in a domain
it once dominated with the man-on-the
moon missions.
Since the dawn of the space age, the
world's two superpowers have used that
arena as a symbol of national power. The
renewed race will focus heavily on mili
tary superiority.
State," she said.
"I don't foresee this," she said, "but it would be
upsetting to me if Penn State students had nowhere to
go to learn."
Beth 'Glazier-MacDonald, religious studies in
structor, said she thought the change may be good for
the program.
"Becoming an inter-disciplinary program is prob
ably a good idea," she said. "It gives students access
to other areas of the college."
Charles Prebish, associate professor of religious
studies, said he disagrees with the decision because
religious studies is such an inportant part of a liberal
arts education.
"I believe that humanities, in general, are at the
very core of a general education," he said, "and in
many ways, religious studies is at the core of humani
ties.
"Given that," he said, "to demote religious stud
ies to a program status is making a most unfortunate
mistake."
Prebish said he thought the college should ride out
the financial problems instead of making final deci
sions..
"These decisions always seem to be geared to
ward quantitative measures, like student credit
hours, with too little concern for-qualitative mea
sures," he said.
Paul M. Harrison, professor of religious studies
and one of the founders of the department, also
disagrees with the administrative decision.
"The dean had to make some decisions about
some departments and our's was not getting high
enrollments," he said. "Naturally we were picked."
"I came here to build this thing, not to see it torn
apart," he said. "There are students who are horri
fied about what's happening."
Anabelle Wenzke (graduate-religious studies)
said she disagrees with the dean's decision because
there is a student demand for religion courses, but
not majors.
"It's a shame they are phasing out the graduate
program. We had one of the best in the country," she
said. "There is a great need for scholars in religion.
launch puts
With American astronauts on the side
lines since 1975, the Soviets have wrested
away every endurance record once held
by the Americans.
The flight of John Young and Robert
Crippen, slated for just over two days,
seems slight in comparison. The big edge
for the United States is Columbia.
Columbia, says Young, is light years
ahead of the Soviet spaceships.
George Page, the launch director who
sent the astronauts on their way, put it
this way as he waved an American flag:
"I think they (the Russians) would be
real happy to have something like we
have launched today."
Columbia is the first spaceship. de
signed to land back on Earth like an
airplane, to be refurbished for repeated
roundtrips into orbit.
Former professor
is nuclear activist
Editor's Note: Chauncey Kepford has
been active in the anti-nuclear
movement since 1971. He has testified at
Nuclear Regulatory Commission licens
ing hearings, including the Three Mile
Island Unit 2 hearing. Daily Collegian
staff writer Ellyn Harley recently inter
viewed Kepford. The following has been
edited for length and clarity.
COLLEGIAN: How did you first be
come involved in the nuclear power is
sue? What did you do in the beginning?
KEPFORD: I read a book called Perils
of the Peaceful Atom, and I had a diffi
cult time believing the conclusions. I
went to their bibliography and govern
ment reports and tried to obtain reports
to see if they had been misconstrued or
misrepresented. I found to my
amazement that, if anything, the authors
had been quite charitable toward atomic
energy in their conclusions.
Intek view
COLLEGIAN: In your book Unaccep
table Risk, you claim that the nuclear
industry put pressure on Penn State
(Kepford taught at York campus) to
have you dismissed because you were
becoming involved in anti-nuclear activ
itities. What led you to believe that?
KEPFORD: I don't want to go into that
too much but I will tell you this: A couple
of years after I was dumped by Penn
State, I was told by a Metropolitan Edi
son employee in their front office in York
that it was common knowledge in that
office that Met Ed had put pressure on
the York campus to get rid of me because
15°
Monday April 13, 1981 •
Vol. 81, No. 149 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by Students of The Pennsylvania State University
ammaii the space shuttle
The doors expose radiators needed to dissipate heat. The:
must be closed at the end of the mission to keep out the ver:
intense heat generated during re-entry through the atmo
sphere.
The astronauts beamed a televised picture of the operation
and Shuttle Control said, "We show both payload doors open
The radiators look good."
Columbia's trail-blazing mission began in a burst of flamt
and smoke as the spaceship's three main engines and two solid
fuel rocket boosters flashed to life right just off the 7 a.m
schedule it was 7:00:03.983 a.m. EST.
Lift-off originally set for last Friday but pushed back du(
to a last-minute computer problem brought a raucus roar 01
applause from thousands of awed spectators at the Kennedy
Space Center.
"Great! Great! Great! There isn't another country in the
world that's going to do this you've got to say America':
first!"' said Mabel Pierce, a Melbourne, Fla., woman who ha:
been watching space shots since Alan Shepard's 15-minute
inaugural in 1961.
As Columbia cleared its launch tower, responsibility for its
mission shifted from Cape Canaveral to the Johnson Space
Center in Houston, which quickly dubbed itself "Shuttle Con.
trol."
' "Roger Columbia, on a nice ride," said Dan Brandenstein,
the capsule communicator in Houston. At about four minutes,
he added: "Columbia given green to continue." At that instant,
emergency return was unnecessary, impossible and he said,
"Columbia (is) now committed to space travel."
"For a first launch, it was fantastic," said launch director
George Page. "It's a . proud day for America!" It was the first
time that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
had flown a spacecraft without an unmanned test flight.
U.S.
See related stories on Page 6
inside
The women's gymnastics team ,
finished fourth; but Heidi'Ahderson
won the national floor exercise title
at the AIAW champlonships..Page 8
Renowned actor Vincent Price
captured the wit and humor of 19th
century playwright Oscar Wilde in
"Diversions and Delights"..Page 16
weather
Today should be cloudy and cool
with periods of rain or drizzle. Tem
peratures today will hold in the 50s.
Continued cloudy tonight and to
morrow with showers and thun
dershowers likely. The low tonight
should be 50 with tomorrow's high
temperature reaching 60. It will
become windy and turn noticeably
cooler Tuesday night and Wednes
day.
Chauncey Kepford
I was saying things uncomplimentary
things about Met Ed.
COLLEGIAN: You participated in sev
eral license and hearing procedures for
the TMI plants. Can you describe some of
those procedures?
KEPFORD: You have to realize that
you are not dealing with an agency whose
purpose is to determine whether or not a
plant should be licensed. That situation
has never existed with either the Atomic
Energy Commision or the Nuclear Regu
latory Commission. Their purpose is to
license the nuclear power plant.
COLLEGIAN: How did you feel when •
you heard about the accident at TMI 2?
KEPFORD: I was simply stunned. I
heard about it about 9 a.m. Wednesday'
morning March 28 (1979).; For the rest of
that day and most of that night and for
the next two or three days, our phone
would only be on the hook for a matter of
seconds before it would ring again.
Continued on Page 5