Candidates present platform apathy discussed By MARCY MERMEL Collegian Staff Writer "Inquisition 1982" began last night as the first debate among the candidates for Undergraduate Student Government president and vice president was held in Pollock Recreation Room. , During "Introduction," the first in a series of five debates sponsored by USG, the candidates presented their platforms and answered questions from members of the audience. To combat student apathy, Bob Nolen, a vice presidential candidate, said he and presidential candidate Andy Leisner would generate student interest with a student task force. The students in the task force would be "public relations people for USG. They're going to be out there working, manning tables and spreading the word about USG," Nolen said Presidential candidate Leni Barch said, "I don't think that all the students up here (at the University) are apathetic. It doesn't mean that students are apathetic if they're not interested in student government." But USG has departments for other student interests, her running mate Lee Facetti said. "There are many areas where students can further their education within USG," he said. • Jim Krauss, a candidate for president, agreed: "People don't have to be involved in just the (USG Senate) and (USG's Academic Assembly) to be involved in USG," he said. Krauss said he would introduce student government to new students during orientation so they could get involved early. Krauss is running with Steve Lunger. Presidential candidate Matt Wolford said USG senators should make themselves more available to their constituents. For example, they should sit at tables in the dining halls every other night, he said. His running mate, Bob McGonigle said, "People don't believe in the system. That's why they don't show up at the , polls." Vice presidential candidate Jim McJunkin said USG should "bring student government back to the students by educating the students to what we're doing." His running mate, B • I . „ . ; Menachem Begin in debate; presidential candidate Emil Parvensky, said that by providing more services for students, USG can decrease student apathy. Concerning the calendar conversion, Parvensky said the student councils should assist in the conversion of the departments in the colleges they represent. Leisner said USG should keep students informed during the process. Facetti said, "Students need some kind of comprehensive list of what's going on (from the administration)." Lunger said the student representatives to the Faculty Senate should be contacted as a means to voice input, especially the student on the senate's committee for curricular affairs. The candidates were asked to address two areas or policies and talk about the work they have already ' done on them. Leisner said he proposed the general assembly of student groups and had already gathered more than 50 people for his task force. Parvensky said he had worked with USG's campaign to stop financial aid reductions and if elected will "continue by using whichever programs are appropriate at the time." Wolford Said he has developed ideas for students to become more aware of the senate by having the tables and by printing fliers. Motivation in the senate could be improved by the senate if it rewarded its two hardest working senators each term by paying half of their tuitions for that term. "What I've done is to start campaigning," he said. Krauss said he was concerned with the foundation and the communication within USG. As chairman of the USG constitution revision committee, Krauss said he was familiar with the structure of USG. Barch said she had contacted people involved with her proposals of an ongoing job file, Facetti said academic advising is being studied by the Division of Undergraduate Studies , and that USG should work with the administration in solving the problem. In an effort to increase minority recruitment and retention, Barch attempt to resign overruled By ARTHUR MAX Associated Press Writer JERUSALEM (AP) Prime Minister Menachem Begin tried to resign yesterday after a tie vote in Parliament on a no-confidence motion, but his Cabinet overruled him, the Cabinet secretary reported. "The Cabinet has just decided to reject the prime minister's propOsal whereby he would have gone to the state president and tendered his resignation," Cabinet Secretary Aryeh Naor announced. "All this situation does is stave off the inevitable end," said Moshe Shahal, chairman of the opposition Labor Party's parliamentary faction, of the 12-6 Cabinet vote against Begin's proposal that his government resign. Naor said Begin had summoned his ministers to tell them the government could not function in the face of a 58-58 vote on a no-confidence motion. AP Laserphoto the daily olle • lan Bob McGonigle, candidate for USG vice president said, the University should first recruit minority faculty members. Krauss said the problem centered on retention, not recruitment. He proposed a task force dealing with retention to determine why other universities are able to retain minority students. ~ The vote was brought on by the government's handling of Palestinian unrest in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Rioting in the last five days has left two Arabs dead and more than a dozen wounded in clashes with Israeli troops. But the defection that caused the tie was in protest of Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula, scheduled to be completed April 25. But most ministers contended that the, tie was a fluke, brought about not by a coalition that supported a specific policy but by a mixed group united only in opposing the government. The Labor Party, which introduced the no-confide . nce motion, attacked the • Cabinet decision to stay in office. "Not only does this government not enjoy the confidence of the public and Parliament, it doesn't have the self respect to go to the president and resign, as the situation dictates," Shahal charged. Defection of a right-wing rabbi to the Wolford said, "The more we treat a minority like a minority, the more a minority it becomes." The University atmosphere for minorities could be improved through efforts with the Association of Residence Hall Students and the residence assistants, he said. opposition handed Begin's coalition government the tie vote on the no confidence motion -- a result Begin had said would force his resignation Education Minister Zevulun Hammer said before the meeting, "I don't see why we (the government) have to resign." The law does not oblige a prime minister to quit if a no-confidence vote is tied. But Begin had made clear he did not want to govern if he couldn't win a vote of confidence. Only four of the 120 Knesset (parliament) deputies were absent from the dramatic vote, which was precipitated by controversy over Begin's policy toward West Bank Arabs. Immediately after Speaker Menachem, Savidor announced the result, Begin, 68, stood up and announced: "I have to consult with my colleagues in the government." Begin lost his majority because 10,000 killed in By JOSEPH PANOSSIAN Associated Press Writer NICOSIA, Cyprus (AP) Iraqi forces killed more than 10,000 Iranian troops and wounded or captured thousands more in a pre-dawn counter-offensive, a war communique broadcast by Baghdad Radio claimed yesterday. The radio, monitored here, said Iraqi forces have "contained" an Iranian onslaught in the Shush-Dezful region in southern Iran and were "chasing the enemy, isolating its tanks and vehicles and capturing them in large numbers." The Iranians on Monday mounted what they named "Operation Victory" to coincide with the beginning of the Iranian new year. They described it as the biggest offensive against the Iraqis since the ivar began' 18 months ago over disputed territory along the Shatt al- Arab waterway. The waterway is Iraq's only outlet to the Persian Gulf. Foreign journalists are not allowed in battle areas, and the reports could not be independently confirmed. The Shush-Dezful war front is 75 miles north of Ahwaz, capital of Iran's Walesas turn offer to leave By W. JOSEPH CAMPBELL Associated Press Writer WARSAW, Poland (AP) Interned Solidarity leader Lech Walesa spurned the military government's offer that he move out of Poland with his wife and seven children, Walesa's wife said yesterday. "The authorities made us an offer to leave the country. Of course we refused," Danuta Walesa said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press from her apartment in Gdansk, the Baltic port city that was Solidarity's birthplace. Mrs. Walesa declined to say when or by whom the offer was made. The Interior Ministry announced early this month that interned dissidents and their families could apply for passports to leave Poland Rabbi Haim Druckman, a member of one of the coalition parties, rebelled over Begin's insistence on going through with Israel's withdrawal from Sinai. Until the last moment it was not known how the bearded right-winger would vote. But he raised his hand along with the Labor Party, the communists, the tiny Shinui (Change) Party, the right-wing Tehiya faction and the right-of-center TELEM Party. Druckman belongs to the National Religious Party, which is a member of Begin's coalition. But Druckman quit the coalition a few weeks ago. Begin was elected in 1977 and won a second term in voting last June. Although the no-confidence motion focused on government action in occupied territories, it also criticized the government's handling of various foreign and domestic issues. 20C Wednesday March 24, 1982 Vol. 82, No. 139 20 pages University Park, Pa. 16802 Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University Iranians attack oil province of Khuzistan. Tehran radio and the official Iranian news agency, IRNA, claimed earlier in the day that operation had brought the "liberation" of 962 square miles of Iranian territory held by the Iraqis since the outbreak of the border war. There was no immediate comment from Iran on the Iraqi war communique. The communique denied Iranian claims that two Iraqi divisions and two battalions had been destroyed in the first hours of fighting. It made the counterclaim that the Iraqi attack resulted in the destruction of the 77th Iranian Division, three battalions of the 21st Division, an armored battalion from each of the 21st, 62nd and 96th Divisions, the 55th Paratroop Battalion, and the 84th "Independent" Battalion. The communique also said Iraqi war planes flew 119 bombing missions and helicopter gunships flew 17 missions against the Iranians yesterday. One aircraft crashed in the Shush region, but the rest returned safely to base, it said. But few of the 3,600 detainees accepted the offer. An Interior Ministry spokesman said yesterday he was unaware that a departure offer had been made specifically to the Walesas. Walesa, elected leader of the now suspended independent union, and the other detainees were rounded up by authorities after Premier Gen. Wojciech Jaruzelski declared martial law on Dec. 13. A member of a small group of militants calling themselves the "Armed Forces of Underground Poland" was quoted yesterday in the legal weekly Law and Life as saying the band had begun collecting firearms in preparation for an assault that would free internees at Bialoleka prison, near Warsaw, and at a camp near Lublin, southeastern Poland. • Local residents thank U.S. Rep. William F. Clinger, R-central Pa., for his co-sponsoring of an arms reductions resolution.. Page 20 • The men's gymnastics team is seeded third for the upcoming NCAA championships Page 11 Gradually increasing cloudiness today, high' near 55. Mostly cloudy with periods of rain tonight, low around 35. Mostly cloudy and breey with periods of rain tomorrow, high temperatures in the low 40s. —by Mark Stunder Arts Comics/crossword News briefs Opinions Research Sports ' State/nation/world. dovvn Poland inside weather index
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