The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, October 06, 1981, Image 1

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    ouse agrees to extend Voting Rights Act
By MIKE SHANAHAN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) In a rare congressional
victory for liberal . Democrats and civil rights
leaders, the House gave overwhelming approval
last night to an indefinite extension of the 1965
Voting Rights Act.
The 389-24 vote sent the extension to the
Republican-controlled Senate where a much
tougher fight is expected on legislation described
Correction
A task force to study and propose solutions
to the tax problems of graduate students does
not exist, contrary to a story in yesterday's
issue of Their:rally Collegian.
The task force was proposed last week but is
still in the developing stage, said Phill Gross,
president of the Graduate Student Associa
tion.
. The Collegian will print a further clarifica
tion when all concerned sources can be con
tacted for statements.
Physician stresses importance of health care
By BRIAN E. BOWERS
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Americans should orient themselves more toward
"health care" than "disease care" as they are now
doing, said Dr. G. William Hettler HI, director of
health services at Ihe University of Wisconsin at
Stevens Point.
Medical expenditures nationwide are estimated to
be about $2lO billion and are estimated to reach about
$1 trillion by the year 2000. Of this, 96 percent is for
disease care, he said. Only 4 percent of the expenses
are for health care, like stress management clinics
and exercise classes.
Hettler, developer of the "Lifestyle Assessment
Questionnaire" which is used to measure risk factors
and to motivate self-improvement, spoke on the
"Wellness Revolution" during the keynote address
for Health Expo 'Bl and in an interview after the
speech last night.
"Wellness tries to prevent illness, not deal with
symptoms," Hettler said. Disease care is an after the
factlreatment, whereas health care tries to prevent
&ease.
"There are a number of physicians who are upset
Financial aid programs may get 'blocked'
By JOHN SCHLANDER
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Congress is considering a plan to consolidate the
three campus-based financial aid programs into one
block grant to individual colleges or universities,
University Financial Aid Director John F. Brugel
said.
However, Brugel said he didn't see how lumping
the programs together into the block grant would
benefit higher education.
"Right now, they are discreet programs. They are
three separate entities with particular histories and
supporters and with a particular appropriations
level," Brugel said.
He said he is against the plan because it would
make it too easy for the federal government to cut the
programs further.
Haig attempts to save AWACS deal with Saudis
By JIM ADAMS
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON (AP) In a furious
attempt to salvage an $8.5 billion arms
deal to Saudi Arabia, Secretary of State
Alexander M. Haig Jr. charged
opponents with "illusions . . .
irresponsible in the extreme"
yesterday while President Reagan
unveiled support from former defense
and foreign policy officials.
Haig, in testimony to the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee,
personally assailed Democrat John
Glenn of Ohio for what he termed the
"imaginary" claim that a compromise
could be worked out calling for joint
U.S.-Saudi manning of the five AWACS
radar planes at the heart of the sale.
The president, meanwhile,
assembled 13 defense and foreign
policy officials from Washington's past
for a White House display of bipartisan
support. The officials included former
Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger,
who served presidents Nixon and Ford,
and Zbiigniew Brzezinski, the national
security adviser to President Carter.
Reagan personally read a joint
statement by his guests, signed by
three others who could not be there,
which declared that "the sale of
AWACS and other air defense
equipment to Saudi Arabia would make
a substantial contribution to the nation
security interests of the United States
in a vital part of the world."
"The rejection of this sale would
damage the ability of the United States
to conduct a credible and effective
foreign policy, not only in the Middle
East.
the
daily
by supporters as the most successful civil rights
law ever enacted.
Every one in a series ,of efforts by House .
Republicans and some southern Democrats to
loosen the federal hold over enforcement of voter
discrimination law was easily rejected by the
Democratic majority of the House.
Many of those leading the fight for extension
were black and Hispanic House members who
said that without the law they would have not been
elected to Congress.
As the frequently bitter, nine-hour debate
wound toward a close, Rep. Thomas F. Hartnett,
R-S.C., complained that as a southern politician,
the voting rights bill "keeps the heel of the federal
government on my neck."
But supporters of the toughly drafted renewal of
the act successfully argued that it has worked
well in making state legislators and county
officals think twice before they changed voting
districts or rules in ways that would discourage
blacks or other minorities from voting. -
Rep. Peter Rodino, D-N.J., chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee, said since the
landmark voting rights statute was enacted 16
years ago, "registration and voting by black and
with the term 'wellness,' " he said. "They like illness
alright, but not wellness."
The effectiveness of doctors and hospitals reached
its peak around 1950. After that, most infectious
diseases were of little worry, Hettler said. People
themselves have taken the initiative to make
themselves more healthy; therefore, there has been
an upward trend in health.
"People have to be involved on their own," he said.
"Our society expects doctors and nurses to help all
the time. The people expect way too much, when they
can only help about 10 percent of the time."
The other 90 percent of the help, Hettler said, must
come from the individual in the form of lifestyle
management.
"Almost all forms of premature death are related
to lifestyle," he said. "Many of the cultural norms in
our society are pushing us toward that premature
death."
Some of
,the major contributors to premature death
are cigarette smoking, stress, watching too much
television, drinking too much alcohol and incorrect
eating habits, Hettler said.
Under the plan, the federal government would
allocate money to the University in one sum for the
Supplementary Educational Opportunity Grant,
National Direct Student Loan and the College Work
Study programs.
Currently, federal funds for the three programs are
allocated separately.
"Work Study, which has long been a favorite of
Congress, gets lumped in with the National Direct
Student Loan which has been a little less popular
because of student default and that type of issue,"
Brugel said.
"It muddies it up," he said. "It makes it too easy
for us (the University) to get hurt.
"I don't know of a single spokesman in higher
education who is saying that. the block grant
approach is the way to go that it will better serve
"Our enemies and the enemies of
peace have not been idle," Haig said.
He said turmoil in Iran, a new
alliance among Libya, Ethiopia and
South Yemen, and the fragile ceasefire
in Lebanon all are threats to world
peace.
"Our margin for error and delay is
dangerously thin," he said. "This is not
a time to impose severe strain on our
relations with one of our closest friends
in the region."
"It seems to me that some who
oppose this sale may be in danger of
comforting themselves with two
dangerous illusions," Haig said. "It
would be irresponsible in the extreme
to succumb to illusions about the real
alternatives facing us."
Senate Majority Leader Howard
Baker Jr. of Tennessee said the Senate
as well as the House is now lined up to
veto the sale but said "I still have some
hope" for saving it.
"It will take a maximum effort and
special dedication to work it out,"
Baker said.
The sale includes the five AWACS
planes, plus missiles and fuel pods to
increase the range and firepower of 62
Saud F-15 jet fighters.
Asked if Reagan has considered
cancelling the AWACS part of the sale
to save the F-15 weaponry part of the
deal, Baker said "I see no indication of
that."
Over the weekend, the Saudis
rejected any joint manning of the craft,
and Reagan himself said that "We have
no intention of violating their (the
Saudi's) sovereignty . . . We have no
intention of sharing ownership. We and
olle • ian
Please see EXPO, Page 16
President Reagan, surrounded by former administrators and leading policy statement to reporters outside the White House. Suppotters include Henry
makers who all support the sale of the AWACS plane to Saudi Arabia, makes a Kissinger (left of Reagan) and Harold Brown, former defense secretary (right).
they will, yes, share the intelligence
obtained by those AWACS."
Reagan was asked if negotiations
with the Saudis were continuing, and he
replied, "No, the negotiations with
Congress will continue."
"I don't think we've really gone to bat
yet," he said. But the president also
said "I'm always worried until I can
count the votes." ,
Senate staff aides who declined to be
identified said last night some senators
were considering a non-binding "sense
of the Senate" resolution that would
call on the president to "guarantee"
Hispanic citizens who had been deliberately
denied their constitutional rights has risen
dramatically."
But while there has been major progress in
voting rights, he said, there are also many places
where local officials and state legislators continue
to find ways to dilute the voting power of blacks
and other minorities. •
Arguing for the more stringent renewal of the
law, Rodino said, ploys to dilute minority voter
power are "limited only by the imagination."
In extending the legislation, the House
established machinery under which individual
counties, cities or states can "bail out" or escape
from the so-called "preclearance" provisions of
the act.
All of parts of 22 states, many of them in the
South, are now required to come to the. Justice
Department every time they change a voting rule
or livv. Beginning in 1984, the bail-out provision
would allow them to ask the U.S. District Court in
Washington to free them from the preclearance
provision if they can demonstrate that they no
longer discriminate against blacks and other
minorities.
That opponents of a tough extension measure
students or better serve higher education.
"The only (entity) it will better serve is the federal
government because it may make it easier to shave
the programs."
Other possible cutbacks in student aid programs
are difficult to project, Brugel said.
"What we've been reading about with the fiscal
year 'B2 cuts is from the Omnibus Reconciliation,
which was passed (by Congress) Aug. 13," he said.
"Since then, you've been reading about additional
shavings or cuts.
"But that's merely in the discussion stage of the
House and Senate. There's been no agreement or
formal action on that."
Additions or cuts in funds to programs may be
made at anytime during the year, Brugel said.
G. William Hettler
that "all legal requirements" were met
before delivery of the AWACS planes.
It was not clear what the phrase "all
legal requirements" meant, beyond
such standard provisions for arms sales
abroad that the weapons would be used
only for defense, and the aides declined
to elaborate.
Early in the evening, Haig met with
Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzak
Shamir, who told reporters the AWACS
issue did not come up.
Before Haig's appearance, the Senate
committee got conflicting testimony
from a former Carter administration
would fail became clear following two votes early
in the debate, which was reminiscent of the civil
rights battles of the 1960 s when the late Lyndon B.
Johnson was president.
The House first rejected 277-132 an amendment
that would have empowered local U.S. district
judges to declare states and counties exempt
from federal supervision. Instead the U.S.
District Court in Washington would retain
jurisdiction.
Then, a proposal sponsored by Rep. Carroll
Campbell, R-S.C., which would have made it
easier for states to bail out or escape continued
monitoring by the Justice Department, was
beaten 313-95.
Republicans and conservative Democrats
opened a series of efforts to sharply revise a
Voting Rights extension bill approved 23-1 by the
House Judiciary Committee.
Civil rights leaders and liberal Democrats said
the revisions would sharply weaken the
legislation and take the federal heat off some
local and state politicians wary of growing
minority political power.
Testimony before a House Judiciary
subcommittee showed there have been broad
Student S.S. benefits cut
by 25 percent next year
By JOHN SCHLANDER
Daily Collegian Staff Writer
Students eligible for Social
Security checks as of August 1981
will have their benefits cut by 25
percent next year, Charles Moran,
State College Social Security
Administration manager said.
For these students, benefits will be
reduced by 25 percent each year,
starting with the September 1982
check, until they are completely
phased out, Moran said. Also,
starting in 1982, no benefits will be
paid for May, June, July and
August.
Because of financial problems
with Social Security, Congress
legislated a plan this summer to
curtail, then to phase out, Social
Security benefits for students aged
18 to 22, Moran said.
University Financial Aid Director
John F. Brugel said: "The law
states it's not part of that student
assistance law, but another section
of the (Congress's) Omnibus
Reconciliation that by 1985, it will
be phased out.
"Not only is it going to be phased
out, but students currently in the
program will see reductions," he
Variable cloudiness, breezy and warm today with occasional showers and
thundershowers. High temperatures will be near 75 degrees. Evening showers
and thunderstorms will give way to partly cloudy skies late tonight.
official and a leader of the pro-Israel
lobby on whether veto of the sale would
hurt U.S.-Arab relations.
Harold H. Saunders, who was
Carter's assistant secretary of state for
Mideast affairs, said congressional
rejection would "further confirmation
in Arab eyes that the United States has
made Israel its chosen instrument in
the Middle East and is not prepared to
treat key Arab states as full partners."
But Thomas A. Dine, executive
director of the American-Israel Public
Affairs Committee, said the Saudis
have already shown they do not want to
20°
Tuesday Oct. 6, 1981
Vol. 82, No. 53 16 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
gains in numbers of black and other minority
voters since the original bill was signed into law
by President Johnson at the height of the civil
rights movement.
BUt dozens of local civil rights workers and
minority public officials also portrayed a broad
pattern of voter discrimination in many
jurisdictions.
Discriminatory practices included making it
difficult for blacks to register to vote and
redistricting plans which dilute the voting power
of black populations in local or state jurisdictions.
At issue in the Congress is a so-called pre
clearance provision under which all of nine states,
mainly in,the South, and parts of 13 others are
required to come to the Justice Department
whenever they make any changes in local voting
laws or rules.
Beginning in 1984, individual counties and
states would be able to escape the pre-clearance
requirement if can show that:
Over the last decade, they used no "test or
device" to deprive minority members of the right
to vote, and that all discriminatory practices have
been eliminated.
College and other post-secondary
students who become eligible for
benefits in the 1981-82 school year
may end up receiving the benefits
for as short a time as one month,
Mor6n said.
No benefits will be paid to this
group of students after July 1982, he
said. So a student who becomes
eligible shortly before this deadline
may only receive one month's
benefits.
The benefits are paid in . the form
of monthly checks to children of
deceased, disabled or retired
workers covered by Social Security,
and comprise an estimated 2.2
percent of aid received by .
University students, according to
the University's Office of Financial
Aid.
Moran said that before this law
went into effect, students were
eligible for funds until age 22 but
after the phase-out is completed in
1985, the maximum age for
eligibility will be 19.
Beginning August 1982,
elementary and secondary school
students can receive benefits as
under the old law.
weather
cooperate with the United States
militarily or for a Middle East peace
Dine said the sale "would reward the
Saudis for being the principal obstacle
to an American presence in the Gulf
and for being the principal obstacle to
peace in the Middle East."
Deputy White House press secretary
Larry Speakes said Reagan felt "we
are making some progress in some key
areas with some key members of
Congress."
"We do see some bright spots," he
said.
AP Lasorphoto