Murphy advises USG Senate to seek administration By ANNE McDONOUGH Collegian Staff Writer Vice President for Student Affairs Raymond 0 Murphy, speaking at the Undergraduate Student Government Senate meeting last night, addressed the issues of the Beaver Stadium concert proposal rejection and administration-student communication. Murphy said senate adviser Craig Millar told him: 'You will be lucky if you don't get the 'James Watt shot in the foot award' for the concert decision." Concerning the concert rejection, potential security problems were the major factor and the legal and tax questions were also considered, he said. The administration carefully considered all factors before reaching a decision, he said. • Administrators received security reports from other universities about their experiences with large concerts, he said. Murphy said another reason for the concert rejection was the fact that the University was concerned about its tax exempt status in College Township and the borough of State College. Murphy said he was unaware that the concert proposal was a senate project. He said he was supportive of the proposal because it was an example of students acting in the best interest of students. Concerning student input in administration decisions, Murphy criticized the senate for focusing on issues that it did not act on instead of concentrating on issues that the senate could have an effect on. "You spend time jawing around on things you didn't do," he said. USG should use its creative, intelligent ideas, he said. To USG's credit, it doesn't kid itself and think it governs students, he said. "Yet, most of our student government spends its time reacting to the administration," he said. The USG input concerning the deferred tuition payment plan was an example of USG effectiveness about student issues, he said. Jorge Luis Borges, world•renowned Argentinian short story writer, poet and novelist, spoke to an enthusiastic crowd last night in Kern Building. Borge, 83, is on a tour of the eastern United States. An article on Borge's discussion will appear in tomorrow's Daily Collegian. lu=ttgba4f-- inside • "Gandhi" dominated the Academy Awards last night by taking eight Oscars, including. best picture and best actor. Meryl Streep won best actress award for her role in "Sophie's Choice" • Survivors of World War II Nazi concentration camps gathered yesterday in to search for long lost relatives and friends... Page 4 • Seve Ballesteros of Spain won the 47th Masters yesterday in Augusta, Georgia Page 8 index Comics/crossword News Briefs Opinions Sports State/nation/world. weather Partly cloudy and pleasant today, high of 56. Fair and cool tonight, low of 38. Becoming mostly cloudy tomorrow with a chance of showers, high near 60. —by Craig Wagner Asbury: Black recruitment is difficult MINORIT "V RETENTION Ji : .:. : AT:,.p:,pNN,STATE'.. The numbers of minority faculty and students at the University were criticized by three black legislators at a state House appropriations hearing in • Harrisburg earlier this year. As of Fall Term 1982, black students comprised 2.5 percent of the total University student enrollment; full-time black faculty members made up 1.1 percent of the entire University faculty. ' Daily Collegian reporter Phil Gutis talked to William W. Asbury, the University's affirmative action officer and assistant to the provost, who was among the University administrators at the Feb. 28 hearing to respond to the legislators' concerns. Following are excerpts from Gutis' interview with Asbury. In tomorrow's issue, administrators and student leaders will address minority retention at the University. COLLEGIAN: In a hearing in Harrisburg, Penn State was asked about numbers and percentages of minorities. Do you think that is an Page 4 the daily The 'administration looks at USG as a composite group not with the senate as a separate unit, he said The problem is that there is no feeling of cooperation between the administration and•the students, he said. USG must develop a positive initiative and allow the adminstration to respond directly, he said. Murphy said that the senate's invitation to him to attend meeting was a step in the right direction. "I would hate to meet (the senate) on Old Main lawn with placards," he said. He was referring to a rally that was later cancelled protesting lack of student input in administration decisions. Inviting administrators to speak at senate meetings would help improve communication and let them know what the senate , is working on, he said. The • administration is "too shy" to barge into senate meeting, he said. Also, the senate meets in isolation too much, he said. Town. Senator Darryl Daisey asked Murphy what he thinks is the most representative student organization. Murphy replied that he contacts the Student Advisory Board when he wants student reaction to issues. SAB "is an accumulation of representative interest groups," he said. University President John Oswald meets with the board in matters concerning students, he said. After Murphy's talk and a,40 minute committee break, eight senators left the meeting, leaving the senate without a quorum. About 50 minutes was spent calling senators, asking two of them to come to the meeting so there would be a sufficient number of votes for bills to pass. Once a quorum was regained, the senate allocated $1,190.50 for John Anderson, 1980 presidential candidate and former Illinois congressman, to speak at the University on May 3. His appearance is an effort to increase University students' national awareness, said Deb Reibman, director of Special Programs for International Awareness. ()Ile • ian input Vote nears By KAREN KANE • • _ boliegian Staff Writer The state Senate is expected to vote today or tomorrow on an amended bill, designed to require the installation of clean air control systems in non-conforming vehicles throughout Pennsylvania', state Sen. J. Doyle Corman, R- Centre County, said yesterday. Corman, at a breakfast meeting with area constituents, said he opposes the amendments set forth by the House of Representatives in late March. The Senate passed the bill in early February and sent it to the House for further consideration. The House then amended the bill to include a provision stating that money spent by state residents to correct a vehicle's emission problem would be reimbursed from state taxes. The amendment affects CAntre County residents because some of their tax money will be used in the reimbursement process, Corman added. In addition to the reimbursement provision, the House has also included an amendment requiring $3 penalty for any person who neglects to correct a car's emission problems. "No one is going to do it; everyone is going to pay $3," Corman said. The amended bill stipulates that the maximum payment for repairs may not exceed $5O; accurate picture of Penn State's efforts at minority recruitment? ASBURY: I think it is an accurate picture in the sense that it describes factually what is, that is, if we say there are 1,390 black students here, that's a reasonably accurate picture of how many black students there are It does not, however, describe the atmosphere and the terms and conditions under which those students function and operate at the University. It does not describe the University's interest and intent on accepting or rejecting those students. And it really doesn't provide anything more than a factual statement of what is. And the same thing is true, of course, with faculty and staff. One viewer may interpret numbers positively and one viewer may interpret them negatively. COLLEGIAN: How would you characterize the level of minority involvement at Penn State? ASBURY: Well, there are simply too few minorities. You have to be clear about minority involvement. I think the whole issue that has been raised here has been raised as essentially a black issue, but the University's Affirmative Action employment program deals with many minorities, including blacks. It also deals'with women and on auto emissions bill however, Corman indicated that research,... revealed some repairs could cost residents up to $lOO for the work to be completed. "It makes no sense at all," Corman said. The cost of the initial adjustment to the vehicle would be separate from the state inspection costs charged by authorized stations. Additional costs will also be charged each time the vehicle is inspected to see if the emission control equipment functions properly, Corman said. The bill, if approved, would not affect buses, trucks or cars operating with diesel fuel. The concept behind the auto emissions bill was initiated during former governor Milton Shapp's administration as an agreement with a federal government mandate to improve air quality in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh and the surrounding counties. The conditions of the agreement were never carried out and therefore necessitated some legislative action. In a related matter, Corman reported a bill requiring that a vehicular child safety seat be used for children less than four years old or 40 pounds in body weight is expected to be voted on by the Senate today. Although Corman indicated that he supports the idea behind the bill, he said enforcement of the measure would be difficult. "Maybe it will increase the knowledge of the need to protect babies riding in a car," Corman added. `lt's clear when you deal with minorities you're talking about a lot more than "X" number of blacks.' —William W. Asbury, University's affirmative action handicapped persons and veterans It's clear when you deal with minorities you're talking about a lot more than "X" number of blacks. And when you deal with the minority issue particularly the minority faculty issue it doesn't look quite the same as if you look simply at the black faculty issue. In some instances minorities are well involved in the case of Asian faculty. Asian faculty do not appear to be underrepresented at this University. On the other hand, they appear to be under-utilized in the managerial academic/administrative positions based on their representation in the faculty. I would say that, generally, no one is satisfied with the level of representation generally of minorities at the institution either as undergraduate students, graduate students or faculty and staff. Tuesday, April 12, 1983 Vol. 83, No. 154 12 pages University Park, Pa. 16802 Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University COLLEGIAN: What do you think the answers are for Penn State's minority problems? Are there any answers? ASBURY: That's a tough question because I'm not sure there are any answers. I think there are approaches things you can try and hope they work. You try programs to recruit students. You recruit students from the centers of population in this case the minority population being in the urban areas primarily in Pennsylvania. And right away you recognize that you have to overcome what appears to have been historically an attempt to cooperate between Penn State and institutions in the Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas. But we are all competing for the same pool of students. I think that we have to make more personal contact. These things have already been The bill will be directed toward any vehicle in which residents can transport children. Twenty two states now have laws that require some form of restraint. Also, following an example from Ohio, Orman recently introduced a bill designed to promote commerce within the state. The bill requires that state agencies, when possible, give preference to in-state contractors and vendors "so long as the goods are available in the desired quality and at reasonable prices." Exceptions would be permitted only in cases where the products are priced at more than 5 percent above comparable goods from out-of state sources. Under another provision, the state Departments of Commerce and General Services would compile monthly reports on current and future state purchases of all state agencies. Correction It was incorrectly stated on the front page of yesterday's Daily Collegian that the new men's basketball coach, Bruce Parkhill, is a Penn State alumnus. Parkhill is a native of State College; He received his bachelor's degree at Lock Haven State College and his master's degree at the University of Virginia. recommended and I suspect they will be further implemented. When we look at this whole issue with regard to faculty, we looked at it in the form of a survey of all minority faculty, and a comparable control group of non minority faculty primarily officer We came out of that recognizing that things we were doing may not be best in the sense of trying to attract individuals. For example, one thing was confirmed, at least for black faculty, that all things being equal, if they were offered a comparable job at some other institution, the primary reason as indicated on the survey for leaving would be the small number of minority faculty and staff at the institution. So, in effect, we've got maybe not a Catch-22 but a Catch-21 in the sense that to keep the faculty we've got, we must increase the number significantly. Otherwise, they will tend to leave. And of 'course if you relate that to students again it's a question of whose survey you believe we need more faculty and staff to attract more students or we need more students and community to attract more faculty and staff. l' don't know which Please see ASBURY, Page 2
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