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the
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Tuesday, Sept. 28 1982
Vol. 83, N 0.47 12 pages
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-Pttge- University Park, Pa. 18802
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Published by students of The Pennsylvania State Universit y
'eacekeeping troops arrive again in Beirut
By CLARA HEMPHILL
Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon French and Italian
peacekeeping troops, welcomed by smiling
Palestinian children and women offering
tea, moved into the S.abra and Chatilla
refugee camps yesterday, stene of the •
Beirut massacre.
But 1,200 U.S. Marines, the third
component of a new peacekeeping force,
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Bridge to nowhere
Debris clings to the remains of a bridge destroyed by flood waters in Big Pine, Calif., yesterday. Heavy rains in the area
washed out roads and destroyed or damaged numerous homes and businesses. Please see TORRENTIAL, Page 12.
Reagan's civil rights
claims disputed by reports
By MICHAEL PUTZEL
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON Internal records of the Egual
Employment Opportunity Commission and a lawyers'
study of Justice Department operations contradict
President Reagan's claim that his administration has
enforced civil rights laws more actively than its
predecessors.
An EEOC document obtained by The Associated
Press showed that, contrary to Reagan's recent claim
to a black audience, the number of job discrimination
suits approved by the commission has dropped
sharply.
And the independent Washington Council of Lawyers
concluded in a recent report that "the administration
has retreated from well-established, bipartisan civil
Fights policies" in several areas. Enforcement of
school desegregation and fair housing laws has all but
halted, according to the 138-page study.
Only in prosecuting police brutality and similar
violent denials of individuals' civil rights has the
Justice Department excelled, the report said.
A Reagan spokesman, Peter Roussel, said there
would be no immediate comment from the White
House.
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remained offshore, awaiting the complete
withdrawal of Israeli forces from this
bloodied capital.
"Tonight we will sleep in our house
because the French are here," said Amal
Alaa Adein, a 17-year-old girl whose father,
grandfather and grandmother were
murdered in the Sept. 16-18 massacre, which
was carried out by Lebanese Christian
militiamen.
She and her mother and sister have been
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Reagan told a dinner for black Republicans on Sept.
15 that he usually tries to ignore personal attacks, "but
one charge I will have to admit strikes at my heart
every time I hear it. That's the suggestion that we
Republicans are taking a less active approach to
protecting the civil rights of all Americans.
"No matter how you slice it, that's just plain baloney.
"Look at the record," Reagan suggested. "The level
of activity of this administration in investigating and
proiecuting those who would attempt to deny blacks
their civil liberties by violence and intimidation has
exceeded the level of every past administration."
The lawyers council, which bills itself as a bipartisan
association of attorneys from private firms,
government• and public interest groups, said in its
study published the same day Reagan made his speech,
that the administration's record in that area is at least
equal to those of the two previous administrations,
But Reagan went on to say, "The Justice Department
has filed nine new anti-discrimination cases against
public employers and has reviewed more than 9,Q00
electoral changes to determine compliance with the
Veting Rights Act. And that, too, is a higher level of
activity than in any prior administration."
The council study found these statistics, used earlier
by a Justice Department official, "highly misleading."
staying at a school outside the camps
because they were afraid the killers would
return. "Now we are not afraid," she said.
Lebanese authorities have thus far
reported about 600 people confirmed killed
in the bloodbath. Earlier yesterday,
hundreds of women , from the camps
gathered tearfully at a mass grave in
Chatilla to pray for the victims.
In Israel, all members of Prime Minister
Menachem Begin's Cabinet, bowing to
As t ,
`:‘
Although the physical education
department announced last spring
that the University's swim test is
not required for graduation, many
students are still confused about
the logistics of the test, several
I I I orientation leaders said.
The swim test
but many students think
By DINA DEFABO..
Collegian Staff Writer
"We definitely received a lot of
questions asking, 'Do we have to
take it? Some people tell me I don't
have to go and some say I'll get in
trouble if I don't,' " said Jane
Morris, an orientation leader in
South Halls
"We told them if you really want
to take it, take it, and if not, go
home. But we weren't even sure if
we were telling them the right
thing," she said.
Although West Halls Area
Chairman Jim Green said most
students in his area knew the test
was optional, Sandi Jackson, an
orientation leader .in North Halls,
said many new students she worked
with were confused about the test.
"I told them that the test was not
mandatory_ but that.the.University
really likes people to take it," she
said. "I've heard that drowning is
one of the biggest causes of death,
and the University likes people to
know how to swim before they get
out."
Most of the confusion among new
students and the OLs resulted
because revised information
defining the swimming
requirements did not appear in this
fall's orientation tabloid, the OLs
said.
James G. Thompson, associate
professor of physical education and
director of the Basic Instruction
Program of the College of Health,
Physical Education and
Recreation, said he personally took
correct information about the test
to William Farnsworth, assistant
director of new student programs, •
who is in charge of printing the
tabloid.
'We told them if you really want to take it,
take it, and if not, go home. But we
weren't even sure if we were telling them
the right thing.'
—Jane Morris, orientation leader
But Farnsworth said he does not
know if the information he received
was revised and why that new
information did not appear in the
tabloid.
"If (Thompson) said it was
revised information, well I'm not
going to call him a liar,"
Farnsworth said. "But I don't have
a copy of what he gave me. It's all a
mystery to me."
Thompson said correct
information concerning the test will
appear in the Winter Term tabloid.
Although the revised information
was not in the fall tabloid,
Thompson said, students were told
the test was optional at orientation
lectures and before the swim tests.
Also, Farnsworth said he told the
OLs the test was optional.
"We let them know the test was
optional but I didn't receive many
questions back," he said. "I feel
pretty good that our OLs in the
areas were aware that the test was
inside weather index
• The Centre Area Transporta• Partly to mostly sunny today, Comics 11
tion Authority board will move with a high of 65. Fair and cool Crossword 11
forward with 'the creation of its tonight, with patchy fog forming News briefs 5
transit advisory group Page 3 toward morning, low of 50. Partly Opinions - 6
• They'll be dancing Four Di- cloudy tomorrow, high near 70. Sports 8
amonds again Page 12 —by Craig Wagner State/nation/world 4
intense public pressure, are ready to
support a full judicial inquiry into Israeli
conduct during the camp killings, Israel
Television reported. The Cabinet meets
today.
Begin had proposed that Israel's chief
justice conduct an investigation, but without
subpoena power and other attributes of a
full inquiry.
Israeli Justice Miniker Moshe Nissim
was quoted in the Israeli press as saying a
'Students took the beginning swimming
policy of our department as a requirement
for graduation which it was not and
never had been.'
optional and were able to answer
questions that the students had."
Even though some OLs knew the
test was not required, others
thought it was mandatory and still
others didn't know what to believe.
"Some suggested that the
students should go and said it was a
good idea, but no one S ever said not
to go; I suggested that they didn't,"
said Maura Harling, North Halls
area chairwoman. ,
The OLs who thought the test was
mandatory followed information in
the tabloid while the OLs who
thought the test was optional went
by the stories printed . in The Daily
Collegian last spring, she said,
noting that information in the
tabloid was not very clear
Darryl Daisey, an
Undergraduate Student
Government senator, said the OLs
and Resident Assistants in East
Halls did a "super job" in giving
students correct information about
the test.
Concerned that many students
were confused about the test,
Daisey met with Thompson and the
Basic Instruction Program
Advisory Committee last spring to
make them aware of the confusion.
"Apparently a lot of students and
professors did' not know that it is
not a requirement for graduation,"
Thompson said in the Feb. 12 issue
of the Collegian.
Thompson said the Basic
Instruction Program maintains a
policy that students who fail the
swim test are encouraged fo take a
swimming course and learn the
skills.
The haziness surrounding the test
evolved because students confused
the departmental policy with the
three credits of physical education
required by the University.
"Students took the beginning
swimmming policy of our
department as a requirement for
graduation which it was not and
never had been," he said.
' Thompson said the department
maintains the policy because it
feels strongly about the importance
of swimming proficiency.
"We, as a basic instruction
program and department, are
committed to this feeling that
swimming is a survival skill and we
want'to give people who don't know
how to swim a chance to learn
how."
Depending on how students
respond to the optional test,
isn't required,
—James G. Thompson,
director of the Basic InstruCtion Program
formal inquiry "now seems inevitable."
Israeli troops had the two Beirut camps
surrounded during the massacre, and
Defense Minister Ariel Sharon has .
acknowledged that the assault on the camps
by Christian Phalangist militiamen was
mounted with Israeli planning and support
in an effort to root out PLO fighters reported
in the camps. But he maintains that the
Israelis intervened after learning that
civilians were being slaughtered.
Thompson said, the department
might consider trying to make
swimming proficiency a
graduation requirement.
He stressed, however, that no
action has been taken and the idea
is "just something to kick around."
' Daisey said he does not believe
the test should be a requirement
and would fight against it.
"I think (swimming proficiency)
is important, but I don't think it
should be required," he said. "It's
an athletic, not an academic , thing.
"I think it's a super swimming
program; Penn State has super
instructors. But ‘ I think it should be
optional all the time."
Thompson noted that following
the announcement last spring that
the test and beginning swimming
were not required, the physical
education department took on a
new approach concerning the test.
"The old program had been
adhered to as something that was
done," he said, noting . tha t the
policy is outlined in a 1972
document. "The new approach has
been taken in trying to point out to
the students who were non-
swimmers the value of being able
to take advantage of the activity of
beginning swimming before they
leave the University.
"We encourage the students, and
it is simply an ecouraging word
from us, not mandatory, that all
incoming freshmen take this test so
they can assess, and we can assess
for them, their swim competency."
Thompson said if students have
an extreme fear of the water,
arrangements can be made for
swimming classes on a one-to-one
After orientation lectures this
fall, students who could not swim
had the opportunity to meet with
representatives from the physical
education department to talk about
learning how to swim.
However, Thompson said he was
disappointed in the small number
of non-swimming students who
expressed interest in learning how
to swim
"Quite frankly, I'm disappointed
in the results but we have not had
really an opportunity to mount the
proper approach or campaign to
talk to these students.
Thompson said he hopes to work
with RAs to plan residence hall
functions where physical education
representatives can "make our
pitch to the students 'Hey we
have this for you and we want you
to take advantage of it.' "
Although the department has
taken a new approach to the test,
Thompson said the basic
philosophy of the importance of
swimming proficiency has not
changed.
"The difference now is we are
depending on the students to make
a judgment themselves to say,`On
my priority of things, learning how
to swim is important.' "
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