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
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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);
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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
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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.
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Photo by Eric C. Hegedus