eactions vary , to NAACP discrimination charges By JOYCE A. VENEZIA Collegian Stall Writer Reactiow to accusations of . discrimination against minorities by the University have ranged from surprise to confusion. The accusations came Wednesday from a representative and;supporters of the National Association for the _ .. Advancement of Colored People Following Wednesday afternoon's: conference with University Presdeot John W. Oswald to `discuss discrimination, an NAA Prohlentsof c membership meet. general meeting was held, led by Matthew Moore, state chairman of labor and industry/western sectional director for the group. Local supporters included The Rev. Gerald Loyd, pastor of the State College United Christian Ministry. Moore'and Loyd attempted to restart the Centre Colmty chapter of theYAACP at the Opinions of By RENAE HARDOBY Collegian Staff Writer Many students will come in contact, probably unwillingly, with this man and his office at least once during their four-year stay here. He isn't the dean of a college, or even the University president. He is Clifford H. Yorks, State College's district magistrate. Yorks remains somewhat a mystery to a majority of students at the University they never come face to-face with him until they find a hefty parking ticket on their cars or have a dispute to settle with a landlord in court. Before that time, though, for most students, Yorks is the reconstruction of one student's experience as related to another who is soon to appear before the magistrate. Yorks became State College's magistrate in 1972 after serving 12 years with the State College Police Department; there, he attained the rank of sergeant and was in charge of the criminal investigation unit for several years. "I enjoyed police work I enjoyed working with people," Yorks said. None of the five officers who worked with Yorks during that time would comment on either the magistrate or their experience with him; sonic were not available for comment. When asked for possible reasons why the officers would not comment, Police Chief Elwood G. Williams Jr. said he didn't know why. After an incident one July, Yorks decided to leave police work and become a magistrate. "I arrested a student dressed in overalls who wore no shoes he also had long hair and wore ribbons in it," he said. . The justice of 'the peace found the man guilty without swearing in Yorks for testimony, or even taking any testimony. "At that point, I had to do something because the judicial system wasn't working the way it should," Yorks explained. When Yorks took on the position of magistrate, he also took on the heaviest magisterial caseload in the county. Yorks estimated that in 1972, he handled 240 cases a month, a number that he said "has increased greatly" over the past 10 years. The highest caseload Xorks had to handle alone was 3,800 cases in one month, he said. During one weekend in January, Yorks got only three hours of sleep because of heavy judicial activity. inside The communications commit tee of the Calendar Conversion Council is moving ahead on sched ule, with no forseeable problems in the conversion, USG's Academic Assembly President Chris Hop wood said • Page 6 e The rnen's lacrosse team, ranked 15th in the nation, hosts No. 10 Syracuse tomorrow afternoon weather Blustery and cold today and to night with occasional snow show ers that may coat the ground. Steady or slowly falling tempera tures today, low tonight around 18. Some early morning sunshine, then becoming mostly cloudy and windy tommorrow with flurries at times. Continued cold with high tempera tures around 27. Partly cloudy early tommorrow night, then becoming mostly clear late at night, with lows around 12. —by Mark Stunder index Arts Comics/crossword News briefs Opinions Sports State/nation/world. Weekend meeting by signing up 37 people. Fifty are required to start a chapter. '' However, many members of the original,local NAACP chapter.were not aware that the meeting was taking place, said Ann Shields; an member of the original chapters "T just got wind of this Tuesday, but many other active members of the NAACP within the University community weren't even aware of the (general membership) meeting," Shields said. "When thek found out, it was too late; many of them had prior commitments.'' A meeting was originally scheduled for April >1 to attempt to reorganize the chapter. However, Gary MAWlah, secretary4reasurer of the original local NAACP chapter, said Moore would be in town only this week, so he consolidated the April meeting and tried to contact as many original Page 15 th :• ailY Magistrate Yorks differ "Some weekends I'm in my office more than my home," he said. But the heavy caseload doesn't bother him. "i'm a person who enjoys working —nothing discourages me more than if I have to sit around," he said. "I've taken work home you can't say because the office door closes at 5 o'clock that it's the end of the day." Yorks is also working toward an associate degree in administration of justice at the University, he said He has six credits to complete. "I enjoy going to class with the students I find it challenging, and have become friends with a couple of them," he said. While it is not a requirement that magistrates complete a baccalaureate degree or even a legal education in Pennsylvania, Yorks agrees that a law school education is not necessary to perform the magistrate's job. "I think the attorneys seem to be the worst district justices throughout the state because they're trained in the laws of evidence," he said. "They make it so tough for the individual person, and for the prosecution and defense, to present a case." During his 10-year career, Yorks has attempted to start several programs in the area, one of which involved retail theft. "I tried to suggest that the first offense for retail theft not be a crime —that the offender would be required to attend a six- to 10-hour school to educate him, then the offense would be wiped off the record," he explained. Perched A 12-year-old great horned owl, right, munches on a day-old chick for lunch at an outdoor seminar presented by Tau Phi Delta fraternity, 427 E. Fairmont Ave. The owl is the only reddish colored albino known to be alive. His owner, master falconer Earl Shriver of Baden, Pa., speaksabout birds of prey. MEE 'lt was a very abrasive meeting (with Oswald) from the moment (Moore and supporters) began to present their issues.' members as possible to come to Wednesday's meeting. "I loaned out my list, of the original members and did not, have it. to, contact everyone," Abdullah said, "so I sat down Tuesday night and tried to think of all the old members I could. "1 then tried to contact as many of them as possible, including (liriiversity Affirmative Action officer) William Asbury, (University Assistant Vice President for the Office of Student Photo by Nathan Lader Clifford H. Yorks —Donald G. Dickason, dean of admissions Yorks was "booed out" of a seminar on the idea by other Pennsylvania district magistrates. However, he still thinks education is a part of effective law enforcement. "We should educate people they don't realize what they've done until they're caught," he said. Yorks said that out of 600 retail thefts, only 1 percent of the offenders repeat the offense. That number could be decreased if some type of education was instituted, he said. State College businessmen don't readily accept his theory though, he said. "I try to stress to the business community that 'law and order' isn't necessarily 'arrest, fine and bail'. . . another method could be used to cut down on theft and benefit the community, but this doesn't seem to get through to them," he said. Reactions to Yorks as a magistrate vary within the community. Local officials, including State College Mayor Arnold Addison, have little or no complaint of the magistrate's perfOrmance. • "The dealings my c.ffice has had with him have gone very smoothly hr the past four years," Addison said. Addison said he made several recommendations for the dismissal of citations and that Yorks was "most cooperative." He also said that no one has ever complained to him about Yorks. However, one student, who requested anonymity, said he visited Addison once to specifically complain about Yorks and the way he runs his office. Addison said he didn't recall anyone ever complaining to him, and repeated that he never had problems with Yorks. However, University students who have come in contact with Yorks have a different impression of his ability as a magistrate for the most part. The students' comments represented below were obtained after the students responded to an advertisement placed by The Daily Collegian requesting that "anyone who ever had contact with State College Magistrate Yorks" contact the Collegian. Fifty students responded to the ad that offered anonymity to anyone who responded. Yorks was given the opportunity to respond to the general criticisms and complaints in an interview in which he also discussed his view of problems with justice and students. Many students, based on their experiences with Yorks, thought he did not ; ;V :. ;4; ;;S:VfX,i:ir); t f - 44-3 Affairs) Thelma Price and Ann Shields." Abdullah said he also went through;the black faculty/staff directory for names, but this does not include the white members of the original NAACP. However, Shields said Abdullah called her on Monday to ask her for a membership list, but never mentioned Wednesday's meeting. "I found out from a friend on Tuesday, and when 1 called Gary to ask Please see MAGISTRATE, Page 8 %;\ I..s\ ,t t ise...„.\ v ~ \ •,,,, ....7',":. v- k 0`;'" ', ' . - ci.at.2..... - .4, .....5.!..\ • I ' L' i'' why he didn't tell me, he said he forgot," Shields said. "I don't know why he didn't ask Thelma (Price) or (Arthur V. Ciento, director of the University Office of Public Information and an original member of the local NAACP) for the membership list." Ciervo said he was aware the group was in the process of reorganizing, but was informed of Wednesday's general membership meeting too late to attend. "Five or six months ago the original NAACP chapter lost their charter because we fell below 50 members," Ciervo said. Members of the original NAACP did not reinstate their memberships every year, he said. Aixtullah said, "Apathy and lack of actual support was apparent. The next organizational NAACP meeting will be held April 1., Abdullah said, adding that an attempt will be made to contact all original members this time. . Candidates discuss USG impact and input on policy decisions By MARCY MERMEL Collegian Staff Writer The Undergraduate Student Government's ability to affect University policies was discussed by candidates for USG president and vice president last night during the third of five debates. Presidential candidate Emil Parvensky, when asked if he thought USG had input despite University President John W. Oswald's decisions on coed housing and the calendar conversion, said, "Just because the (University) president stands hard on a certain issue doesn't mean USG can't have input on other issues." Matt Wolford, another presidential candidate, said he did not know the makeup of the University Board of Trustees, but if elected. he would meet the members during the transition period. Wolford said he would have to be diplomatic and "go in, shake their hands and discuss my concerns." When asked how to deal with Oswald when conflicting ideas are being discussed, presidential candidate Jim Krauss said USG would have to have facts to show that the majority of students supported his position. Surveys are a way to gather the information, he said. Also during the debate, each presidential candidate was asked to name ideas for helping off-campus students. Wolford said that by holding the senate's meetings on a night other than Monday, town senators would be able to attend Organization for Town Independent Students meetings. Krauss said a USG department of community affairs could be established, with two branches: one dealing with campus, the other with town problems. The USG department of political affair's local branch could be improved, Parvensky said. The department's local liaison should work with OTIS, he said. Leni Barch proposed a community group that would include representatives from organzations such as OTIS, the Interfraternity Council, the Penn State University Veterans Organization and The University's Forum on Black Affairs was in the process of a survey to discover whether or not there was sufficient interest to re-establish a local NAACP chapter again, Shields said. The group had undertaken the task and was planning a meeting next week to get a feel for the amount of interest, she said. "(Wednesday's organizational) meeting took a lot of people by surprise," Shields said. Daniel Walden, University professor of American studies and an original NAACP member, said the first time he heard of the meeting was when he saw yesterday's issue of The Daily Collegian. Barton Fields, central regional director of the NAACP in Harrisburg, said he was aware of the conference between Oswald, Moore and Moore's supporters. Friday March 26, 1982 Vol. 82, No. 141 28 pages University Park, Pa. 16802 Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University Jim Krauss Andy Leisner said. "I would like to see a closer coordination with OTIS and I would like to see OTIS become more politically involved." Concerning internal issues, Steve Lunger, Krauss's running mate, was asked how to avoid a backlog of hills and appointments in the USG Senate if he planned to make every other meeting a work session for senate committees. When an agenda is written, lime is provided for emergency issues and appointments, Lunger said Krauss said if discussions on bills were held in the committees, the senate could spend less time discussing hills as a whole and would be able to get through the other issue:, more quickly. However, Barch said the structure of USG is adequate to deal with issues. About communication difficulties among the USG departments, she said "I don't think the structure is inhibiting communication... Asked about the senate's role. tiara said, "I don't necessarily think a buds' is passive merely because it passes legislation and allocates funds .• The senators should develop their awn goals, decide their priorities and work together to fulfill those goals, she said. Parvensky said he proposed the idea of a students' rights committee to deal with academic violations before he knew of a students' advocates office being developed in USG's Academic Assembly. "If a viable plan is being developed by Academic Assembly, you can throw out the name of student rights committee. That's not important. It's the service that counts," he said. Also, Leisner said his proposed general assembly of the University's more than Please see CANDIDATES, Page 28 Correction In a photograph in yesterday's Daily Collegian, The Rev. Gerald Loyd, pastor of the Unity Christian Ministry at Penn State, was incorrectly identified as former University employee Haroon Kharem. Please see REACTIONS, Page 28. ;' : :P • ; 'V:. • . 1 4 .A.r‘Vi A • Photo by Eric C. Hegedus
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers