Discussion halted on semesters
By ROSA EBERLY
Collegian Staff Writer
University President John W.
Oswald said yesterday that the
decision to convert to semesters,
effective in the fall of 1983, is no longer
before the University community for
decision.
"The calendar matter is not before
the UniVersity for decision. That final
decision has been made. The task
before all of us is to make the new
calendar as effective as possible. Let's
get on with the job," Oswald said in a
press release.
Oswald's statement followed the
release of a faculty report urging the
University to stop the calendar
conversion process yesterday by the
Faculty Committee for Semester
Review.
Oswald also said he had authority to
decide on the conversion under
University Board of Trustees
governing regulations.
, In addition, Oswald said he asked the
University community for input before
making his official decision to convert.
"The decision was preceded by a
seven-month period of full discussion
during which well over 100
communications were received from
members or groups of the University
community. This included a forensic
session by the University Faculty
Senate and a detailed study by the
University Council.
"An extra-ordinary effort was made
to seek the views of academic leaders
academic deans, members of the
faculty advisory committee, and in
addition each individual faculty
senator was contacted. Many student
organizations and an ad hoc group .
known as Committee for Credible
Student Input were active in the
dialogue," Oswald said.
In response to Oswald's statement,
Barry Myers, a member of the Faculty
Committee for Semester Review and
an associate professor in the College of
Business Administration, said
Oswald's statement was an -
acknowledgement of the report, even
though Oswald didn't directly mention
the report.
In a statement to The Daily
Collegian, Myers said:
"Any decision of a public institution
is reviewable. To suggest that public
discussion is undesirable and
unwanted runs counter to the basic
concepts underlying a great academic
institution.
"Rarely does a group of mostly
senior faculty involve themselves in
the professionally non-rewarding task
of questioning administrative action.
dlii'l;.H. - .• .- 1: - _'• . .i..... - .: . ..i.::'.......''. 1 _ . ,:,:, - .:oll.e.•..._i_• • •••,•...: . ••••:ian
'The calendar matter is not before the
University for decision. That final decision
has been made . .
University President John W. Oswald
When this event occurs, the situation
calls out for attention.
"The Semester Review Report,
based on current knowledge and
current problems, raises issues of
substance that will affect the well-
being of Penn State in the years ahead.
"I do not believe anyone wants an
ongoing exchange of press releases
with the president, but the community
will be discussing this matter in the
weeks ahead and I would hope that Dr.
Oswald and the Board of Trustees will
listen and participate in that
discussion with an open mind and an
open heart.
"Nothing less than the future quality
of Penn State is at stake," Myers said.
Chris Hopwood, president of the
Undergraduate Student Government's
Academic Assembly and a member of
both the Calendar Conversion Council
and the council's communications
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University President John W. Oswald
committee, said he thinks the report
would have a greater effect if it had
been put together sooner.
"It's a little bit too late to do
anything about it," Hopwood said.
He said the report compiles
arguments into one package so the
University community "knows what
the other side is thinking" and that
releasing the report is fair because
now the University community "will
know both sides."
Hopwood said he agrees with the
report in that the University's current
calendar conversion goes beyond
physical calendar change. Rather, he
said, it will affect members of the
University community academically,
personally and with their careers.
"Nothing will stay the same,"
Hopwood said.
He said that if the report has any
effect, it will be with the trustees.
;;;
USG may sponsor national student rally
By MARCY MERMEL
Collegian Staff Writer
In a further attempt to prevent reductions in
financial 'aid for students, the Undergraduate Student
Government may sponsor a national student rally in
April, USG President Bill Cluck said last night.
The rally will be "one option being discussed"
during the March 31 to April 4 conference of the
American Association of University Students, Cluck
said.
"The possibility is real" that representatives from
the other member schools of the association will
accept the University's proposal to hold the rally, he
said.
Last night the USG Senate passed a bill allocating
$1,066 to send 10 USG representatives to the
conference to be held at the University of
Pennsylvania.
Reagan
despite
By JAY PERKINS
Associated Press Writer
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) President Reagan revealed
yesterday he has his own second thoughts about the three
year tax cut for which he applauded Congress last year.
But while his critics claim it was too much, too soon,
Reagan declared it was too little and too late.
With that, the president again denied any responsibility
for economic decline and the massive red ink, approaching
$lOO billion or more, in his 1983 budget. Instead, he said,
Congress is to blame for a tax bill that "aggravated the
recession, causing more unemployment spending and a
bigger deficit."
The president thus made it clear that he continues to
cling to the "supply-side" economic theory which holds
that reduced tax rates eventually will produce a boom to
benefit the private and government sectors alike.
Others, including some Republican leaders, argue that
the higher priority is to find revenues to more closely
balance the books.
Though Reagan previously has vowed "no retreat" from
t
y~
"If anybody would stop the
conversion now, it would be the
(University) Board of Trustees,"
Hopwood said.
USG President Bill Cluck said he is
pleased with the release of the report
because it shows that faculty members
are "in fact finally taking an interest
in the calendar conversion."
Cluck said he thinks the report will
raise student and faculty awareness of
the conversion and possible problems
with it.
The report surfaces some fears that
some student leaders have had about
the conversion, he said.
For example, the proposed 14-week
semesters may place an added. burden
on students, Cluck said. He also said he
is not sure if the University can handle
the cost factor involved with
semesters
In general, Cluck said he thinks the
report "will have very little effect."
The report brought certain concerns
to the surface that, Cluck said, he is
concerned about as USG president.
Certain details about the calendar
conversion are starting to come forth
now details that weren't available
when the Committee for Credible
Student Input was working on input to
the semester decision, Cluck said.
stands behind cuts,
his second thoughts
Cluck said he and John Lord, head of the USG
department of political affairs, will participate with
members of the association to reorganize the group
and to draft a new constitution.
At the conference the association, presently an
organization of the 25 largest private universities in
the nation, will be expanding to include the 25 largest
public universities, he said
Also, workshops will be held concerning financial
aid cuts and tuition increases, student/faculty
interaction and relations among races, sexes and
other groups. USG will help conduct the financial aid
program and may conduct workshops in
student/faculty interaction, Cluck said.
Although no University graduate student
representatives are scheduled to attend the
conference, the association does include graduate
students.
If the University decides to form a chapter, it could
his tax program, his remarks to the Alabama legislature
marked the first time that he expressed serious
dissatisfaction with the bill Congress gave him last
summer.
The president complained that he "had to accept a
compromise" that reduced his original 30-percent cut over
three years to 25 percent, with the first installment cut
from 10 to 5 percent, starting last October instead of
January of 1981
Actually, that so-called "compromise" was a clear-cut
victory for Reagan, since it was that bill which beat out a
Democratic alternative calling for a much smaller cut
over two years. The president embraced it wholly at the
time, saying it represented "a new renaissance in
America."
In Montgomery, Reagan made no call for expanding the
tax cut. Despite his complaint, he still pronounced the
measure "the best darn thing that's been done for working
and middle-income people in nearly 20 years."
But in saying so, he served notice he will not tolerate any
further attempt to backtrack as leaders of both parties
have suggested may be necessary to slash deficits.
Draft will return
because U.S. baiting
USSR, objector says
By SCOTT G. OTT
Collegian Staff Writer
The Reagan administration is
taunting the Soviet Union to invade
Poland and thus bring back the draft
in the United States, the associate
director of the National Interreligious
Service Board for Conscientious
Objectors said Friday. ,
In a telephone interview, Shawn
Perry said, "The administration has
done every thing it can to set the bait
for Russia to invade."
"All we need is one international
crisis" to bring back the draft, he
said, "and a Russian invasion of
Poland would bring it back more
surely than anything else."
President Reagan's economic
sanctions and political rhetoric could
incite the Soviet Union to invade
Poland, Perry said.
Although other areas of the world
are presently in crisis situations,
more people in the United States
sympathize with Poland than with El
Salvador or the Middle East, he said.
Because the United States has more
Poles and Europeans than El
Salvadorans, Americans would be
more likely to support a draft in the
event of a Soviet invasion of Poland,
Perry said.
"People are concerned about El
Salvador," he said, "but not enough to
want to have their boy go fight there."
Perry said Americans are
beginning to question the motives of
the United States and the Soviet Union
in Poland, and many are deciding not
to register for a possible draft.
About 927,000 men had not answered
the Reagan administration's call to
register as of February 28, according
to Selective Service System figures,
although the penalty for non
compliance is five years in jail and a
$lO,OOO fine.
Most of those who have not
registered are either ignorant of the
requirement or too lazy to walk to
their local post office, an
administrative assistant to U.S. Rep.
Les Aspin, D-Wis., said Friday in a
telephone interview.
Warren Nelson, Aspin's
administrative assistant, said,
"There's no reason to assume people
are not registering because of any
principles they might have."
But Perry said, "That's patently
20C
Tuesday March 16, 1982
Vol. 82, No. 133 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
false. People are making conscious
and conscientious decisions."
About 90 percent of non-registrants
know of the requirement, but do not •
want to sign-up, he said.
Aspin introduced legislation last '
week to reduce the penalty for not
registering from a felony to a
misdemeanor with a ` s2oo fine and no
jail term.
"The penalties are not realistic,"
Nelson said. "The idea is to get people
registered and not prosecuted.
"If you want people to comply with
a law, you should get the word out
about the law rather than threaten
prosecution, he said."
The penalties for draft evasion were
created in 1940 and "only
incidentally" carried over to
registration evasion, he said.
Nelson said Aspin's bill provides tor
a return to the original penalties
should the draft. resume.
Perry said, "I think that Aspin
could be on the right track in reducing
the penalties, except that he is in
favor of registration."
Although no actual prosecutions
have begun, more than 183 names of '
non-registrants have been submitted
to the Justice Department, said Betty.
Alexander, public affairs officer for
the Selective Service.
Nelson said prosecution was an: .
"idle threat," and now that the
Justice Department has the 183
names, "they don't know what . . .
they're going , to do with them." . .
Perry called the limited prosecution
"selective and unfair" and . designed
to "make examples of a few men." • '
"To date, the majority of the 183
that we have talked to about 30
are religious objectors; that's
selebtive," he said. "If you prosecute
a couple hundred and let hundreds of
thousands go free, that's unfair,".
Alexander said the Selective.
Service plans to begin an active
program in which lists of
registrants are compared to social',
security
security and driver's license lists
starting in late April or early May.
President Reagan had granted a
"grace period," which ended
February 28, to allow those who had
not registered to do so without fear of
prosecution.
"Prosecution is a double-edged
sword," Perry said. . '
be the first University organization to include both
undergraduate and graduate students; Clu . ek said,
Bob Pulgino,'USG coordinator of surveys', said the
results of last term's survey of student views about
financial aid reductions have been compiled. The
results show that about 72 percent of University
undergraduate students oppose and about 10 percent
are in favor of the reductions. About 17 percent are
uncommitted, he said.
The surveys of black and graduate students have
been discontinued because of a lack of manpower,
Pulgino said.
Also, the survey results showed that . general .. .
student opinion is not unlike opinions that would be.
expected from the two groups, he said. • . ' ' .
USG will hold a a press conference for all . .
candidates at 2 p.m. Sunday in 321 and 322 HUB. The
presidential debates are scheduled tor March 24, 25,
28 and 29, he said.
inside
• The Interfraternity Council dis
cussed a new hazing policy.... Page 2
• Add two new bids to the list of
those running for the offices of USG
president and vice president
weather
Mostly cloudy and breezy today
with periods of rain developing.
High near 48. Rain tapering off this
evening, becoming partly cloudy
and breezy later tonight, low around
44. Variable cloudiness tomorrow
with a few showers, high around 58
degrees.
index
Arts
Comics/crossword
BUsiness
News briefs
Opinions
Sports
State/nation/world.
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