opinions
editorial opinion
Ideas for a general
Members of scholarly communities like to
discuss who they should be and what direc
tions they should follow. That's why they
hold conferences. And that's why last year
the University conducted two conferences
on general education.
But those conferences were different from
most. The discussion didn't end with the
Conferences. Instead, a committee formed
to further discuss the challenges and goals
of general education and to make proposals
for improving it. Now the results are in.
And for a change, jawboning has been
translated into workable ideas.
General education is probably the most
esoteric concbpt in education. Basically
according to the committee's report —grad
tes should be able to communicate, to
perceive the world with an international and
cross-cultural awareness, and to integrate
the relationships between natural and social
sciences and the arts and sciences. These
ideas are now represented by basic degree
requirements.
After one wades through the philosophical
jargon in the report, one can see some good
ideas by the Ad Hoc Group on General
Education.
Rather than just the University-wide re
quirements in general education, the com
mittee proposed two tracts one
,University-wide tract and one college-spe
:cific tract constructed by each academic
college. The colleges of Agriculture and of
:Earth and Mineral Sciences volunteered•to
be pilots for the program.
A proposed advisory committee would
,ieview the college programs. The commit
:tee of six faculty members, one student and
the vice president for undergraduate stud
ies mould also develop new ideas for provid
. ing general education.
In addition, the committee said colleges
-should provide programs, possibly semi
.
;pars, that would introduce freshmen to their
:colleges and majors.
Blurred budgetary
Congress is sending President Reagan a
message: We don't think your budget priori
• ties are in the best interest of this nation.
And Congress has backed up that • mes
sage with recent votes on Reagan's 1984
budget propbsals for defense and domestic
spending.
It's about time that Congress stood up to
Reagan.
Last week, a Republican-dominated Sen
ate Budget Committee cut Reagan's pro
posed defense buildup in half. Earlier this
Week, the same committee approved more
than $l2 billion in domestic spending over
what Reagan had asked.
And on Wednesday, the committee voted
- to increase money for a host of education
programs, including loans for college stu
dents, vocational education, improved tea
ching. of mathematics and science and
assistance to high schools and colleges.
For his first two years in office, Reagan
has had his way in the budget process. The
results: ever-growing deficits. And yet Rea
gan continues to ignore these huge deficits
while insisting on building up the military.
The threat of enormous budget deficits
which will surely destabilize the economy
pose a much greater threat to this country
than the Soviet menace Reagan is so scared
about.
The Senate has taken the right approach
in this year's budget process they have
ignored Reagan's unfair, insensitive and
potentially ruinous spending requests.
The days when Reagan's budgets passed
through both houses of Congress without
careful consideration are over. Reagan will
have to fight for every cut he proposes and
for every new Pentagon toy.
t a i g
d Collegian
Friday, April 15, 1983
(c)1983 Collegian Inc
Suzanne M. Cassidy
Judith Smith
Editor Business Manager
The Daily Collegian's editorial opin•
lon is determined by its Board of
Opinion, with the editor holding
final responsibility. Opinions ex•
pressed on the editorial pages are
not necessarily those of The Daily
Collegian, Collegian Inc. or The
Pennsylvania State University.
Collegian Inc., publishers of The
Daily Collegian and related publlca-
Also, seminars, research projects or com
prehensive examinations should be re
quired for seniors to integrate the
knowledge they have acquired.
The report proposed methods to reward
outstanding students, such as a "Scholars
Hall of Fame," and an undergraduate jour
nal for research papers and theses.
And to address the need for a more
scholarly life for students outside the class
room, the committee suggested making
cultural programs more visible and increas
ing financial support for honor and profes
sional societies.
But for general education to work, the
faculty must be commited to it.
One often-heard complaint is that faculty
members are not rewarded for teaching
general education courses. Therefore, the
report recommended including a clause in
the University's promotion and tenure poli
cy' to state that participation in general
education is equivalent to participation in
specialized activities.
AlSo suggested were programs and pro
fessional opportunities for general educa
tion instructors.
Overall the committee stressed the need
for adthinistrative support for general edu-
Cation. The support must come in the form
of words, actions and dollars.
The report has been sent to delegates of
the general education conferences, who
haVe returned their suggestions and com
ments to the University president.
The president is expected to meet soon
with the committee members to discuss
those suggestions and then decide what
action to take.
The University community seems com
mited to the idea that a general education is
necessary to help graduates meet the needs
of a rapidly changing society. However,
commitment means nothing unless it is
coupled with action. The ad hoc group his
taken the first step.
vision
Reagan had proposed a so-called spend
ing freeze on hundreds of domestic pro
grams, but the freeze is blatantly unfair,
with Reagan's favorite programs receiving
more money while housing, education, law
enforcement and enviromental programs
suffered the deepest cuts..
The House saw through the president's
budget screen last month when it passed a
Democratic version of the budget one
that included $650 million more for federal
student aid programs.
In the Senate, the budget committee voted
to provide $1.7 billion more for education
than what Reagan had asked for. The Dem
ocrats on the committee had requested even
more funding. for education. And the com
mittee's recommendations for a 2 percent
increase in domestic spending will go to the
full Senate later this month. •
Last week, the Senate budget committee
voted 17-4 to cut Reagan's proposed 10
percent after-inflation defense buildup by 5
percent.
The Senate is facing the reality of a $l9O
billion deficit in the 1984 budget.
And unlike the president, the Senate is not
willing to sign a blank check for the Penta
gon. Defense spending will still increase in
coming years, but not at the astronomical
rates Reagan has proposed.
In these troubled economic times, the
Senate has finally stood up to the president
and said no to severe cuts in domestic
programs, while the military basks. in bil
lions.
The defeat of the Reagan budget propo
sals in the Senate, coupled with last month's
defeat in the House, is a clear sign that
Reagan's vision of America's future is not
shared by the Congress, or the people.
tions, is a separate corporate insti
tution from Penn State.
Board of Editors Managing Edi
tor: Lisa Hill; Editorial Editor: Re
nae Hardoby; Assistant Editorial
Editor: Marcy Mermel; News Edi
tors: Ron Crow, Rosa Eberly, David
Medzerian; Sports Editor: Ron
Gardner; Associate Sports Editor:
Greg Loder; Assistant Sports Edi
tors: Liz Kahn, John Severance;
Photo Editor: Eric C. Hegedus; As
sistant Photo Editor: Paul Chiland;
Arts Editor: M. Lee Schneider; As
sistant Arts Editor: Ann Fisher;
Campus Editor, Dina DeFabo; As
sistant Campus Editor: Mary Ste
phens; Town Editor: William Scott;
Assistant Town Editor: Rebecca
Albert; Graphics Editor: Gary Feiss;
change
Copy Editors: Dana Buccilli, Mark
Featherstone, Anne Gallagher,
Kathy Munn, John Schlander, Stella
Tsai; Weekly Collegian Managing
Editor: Brian Bowers; Weekly Colle
gian Assistant Managing Editor:
Lori Musser.
Board of Managers Assistant
Business Manager: Mary McCaf
frey; Office Manager: Kimberly Fox;
Assistant Office Manager: Colleen
Waters; Sales Manager: Terri Alvi
no; Assistant Sales Manager: Mark
Rebhoiz; Layout Coordinator: Ka
ren Rader; Creative Director: Randy
Rigdon; Marketing Manager: Barry
Reichenbaugh; National Ad Man
ager: Donna StreletZky; Assistant
National Ad Manager: Lynn Mc-
Laughlin.
reader opinion
Qualified?
The Penn State Athletic Depart
ment has failed to give the University
and the community the basketball
program it deserves. The hiring of
Bruce Parkhill shows that the athlet
ic department has based its decision
upon factors other than basketball. ,
Parkhill had a mediocre record at
William and Mary of 89-75, which
surely couldn't have been the major
reason he was hired. Being a local
resident and a Penn State alumnus
are hardly pertinent qualifications.
If the athletic department believes
that his local background will help
the sagging attendance at home
games they are wrong! ! What will
put fans in Rec Hall is an outstanding
team.
Parkhill has stated his beliefs con
cerning the integration of academics
and athletics, University policy that
has long been respected. However, it
is rather redundant since Head Foot
ball Coach Joe Paterno long ago
instilled this quality in the athletic
program at University Park.
One has to wonder why Penn State
didn't take the chance to hire one of
the top name coaches who have
switched jobs this year, such as Lute
Olsen, George Raveling, Abe Lem
mons and Frank Arnold. These men
are all proven winners and could
possibly have improved the basket
ball program at Penn State.
The athletic department needs to
realize that the community wants a
program at Penn State that they can
be proud of and that can possibly
bring home another national
championship.
Michael C. Strasser, 11th-education
Jeffrey J. Swab, 13th-ceramic sci
ence and engineering
April 12 .
Death of the average American
The small article didn't take up very much space on
the crowded page. It didn't boast a large, bold headline.
It didn't have a picture or a special box around it.
It was a very ordinary obituary.
And probably not too many people noticed it. After
all, it didn't flash around the world, transmitted by
high-speed AP wires.
It was quite an ordinary death.
The specifics go something like this: Mr. Herbert 0.
Hiller, 87, formerly of 835' Pristley Ave., Lawrence
Park, died Thursday at Corry Memorial Hospital.
Nothing that would make world capitals shake or
financial markets tremble. Yet, Mr. Herbert 0. Hiller,
(always Mr. Hiller to me), represented more than
himself: He embodied everybody's favorite picture of
the "average" American.
As his obituary notes, he lived in Lawrence Park all
of his life. He worked at the General Electric Company Anne Conners is a 9th-term journalism/English litera
for 38 years. He was a member of the Lawrence Park ture major and a member of The Daily Collegian's
United Methodist Church, the GE Quarter Century Board of Opinion.
THE. MONTH 71-147 ROARED
Myopic
I do not have the patience to dignify
Kelly Fracassa's sophomoric ravings
of April 7 (ERA: Can't Legislate
Equality) with rebuttal. This I leave
to cooler heads with better debating
skills. I would like instead to propose
a little exercise in comparative se
mantics.
I invite the readers of The Daily
Collegian, along with Fracassa, to
reread his column making the follow
ing alterations: Substitute the names
of Marty King and Stokey Carmi
chael for Betty Friedan and Ellie
Smeal; replace ERA with Civil
Rights Act; wherever you encounter
the words men or boys, substitute
whites; for women and girls, substi
tute the word blacks; replace the
words sexism and sex with racism
and race and insert white in front of
the word employers.
And don't forget to sing praise to
the competent few who have risen
above to prove themselves a credit to
their sex - (race). Now let's look at
what we have. Are you paying atten
tion, Fracassa? It doesn't sound so
good, does it? It sounds like poll
taxes, literacy tests, Selma and
Watts.
I submit that if Fracassa held simi
lar attitudes toward blacks and civil
rights as he does toward women and
the ERA, he would not dare to publish
his views in print. He would be fully
aware that the black community, to
put it mildly, would never stand for it.
, Well guess what, Fracassa? Wom
en won't either. Our patience is wear
ing thin with smug little boys who sit
holding forth on issues they have
neither the experience nor the wits to
comprehend. Just tO clue you in, we
are struggling for survival in the
same wretched economy as everyone
else. So to you and your ilk I say "Get
AAhdv‘i‘ , '
Le•i‘,o4B-A'A'l4
10
The Daily Collegian
back." Because women won't stand
for your bird-brained myopia any
more.
C.A. Wilson
State College resident
Don't fragment
When will all the attention given to ,
minority recruitment stop?
Minority recruitment should not
exist, yet alone be expanded. Recruit
ment exists at Penn State for keeping
enrollment up and attracting qual
ified candidates to the University. •
Candidates is the key word here. 7,
People should be recruited not % 4
whites, not blacks, not hispanics or
any other race. The purpose of the
Civil Rights movement is to insure
proper treatment for everybody in
the United States. The utopian world
that society now strives for sees no e.
color but has every person living
together in harmony. 11
Minority recruitment defeats this
purpose by giving preferential treat
ment to minorities. This singles them
out, thereby setting them apart from ' l '
the rest of the community.,
The calls for more black instruc
tors and a better black social life at
Penn State help differentiate, not
integrate, all races. t
Wake up, Pennsylvania! It is time
to stop letting the affirmative action
mood of the country cloud clear think- ..`1
ing.
Minority recruitment may help mi- 11, ,
norities, but it helps keep society , "
fragmented, instead of united.
Tony Pityk, 9th-mechanical
neering
April 13
Club and the GE Retired Employees Association.
No, Mr. Hiller didn't discover the cure for cancer or
unravel the solution to inflation or paint a great
masterpiece. But maybe what he did do is more
important.
He kept his family together; he loved his wife. He
planted rose bushes in his back yard and faithfully
trimmed the hedges in his front yard. He served his
country in World War I and was a member of the
American Legion (Carl Neff Post 571).
For 38 years, Mr. Hiller got up in the morning and
faithfully went to work. Every Sunday Mr. Hiller could
be found in his pew at the. Methodist Church. Once
every two years, his front porch got a new coat of paint.
He always donated money during the fire company's
annual fund drive.
He was a good American citizen.
But the order, the stability that Mr. Hiller was an
intrinsic part of is slowly fading from the American
scene. The question is: What's it being replaced with?
Who will be the Mr. Hillers of the 21st century? What
clubs will the new order belong to? What moral and
social web will they entwine themselves in? What will
they proudly represent?
I know what being an American meant to Mr. Hiller
I don't know what it means to our generation.
I only know that I'll miss Mr. Hiller.
Friday, April 15
/ 7
1 I
; ik. ,I
; II
Liberty insured by firearm freedom
"A well-regulated militia, being necessary to
the security of a free State, the right of the people
to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed."
Second Amendment to the Constitution of the
United Statei.
"Political power grows from the barrel of a
gun." —Mao Tse-Tung, Selected Military Writ
ings.
Surpassed only by the issues of nuclear power
and strategic weapons control, the topic of gun
control has evoked more emotional debate, slo
gans, name-calling and political maneuvers than
anything else in recent years.
The right to own firearms is not the right to
shoot burglars or to "defend our homes." Conver
sely, it seems a little hysterical to suggest that we
should melt all our guns into a lump and bury
them at sea.
The problem is just not that simple.
Recently the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on the
Constitution, chaired by Sen. Orrin G. Hatch,
arrived at some interesting conclusions about the
Second Amendment. Most of the following dis
cussion was obtained from their report to the
Senate.
The right of American citizens (except felons,
drug addicts and mental patients) to own fire
arms is well supported by history, tradition and
law.
From the dawn of written history, common law
has recognized the individual right to keep and
bear arms for personal as well as the common
defense. Even opponents of private firearm own
ership recognize the necessity of these provisions
in their time.
THE
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In the colonies the ownership of firearms was
more than tradition, it was law.
• In 1623, Virginia enacted a resolution that
absolutely forbid travel unless the subjects were
"well-arMed." Further legislation required the
colonists to bring their firearms to church and
practice with them en masse on Sundays.
• In 1673, Virginia required every householder
to own a functioning firearm and if they were too
poor to provide it themselves, the government
would purchase one for them.
• Massachusetts, during its first legislative
session, enacted a severe six shilling fine upon
any citizen, freeman or indentured servent who
failed to equip himself with a firearm in good
working order. (Sorry ladies, but women weren't
citizens).
When the anxious British began to increase
troop levels in the colonies, the call went out for
the citizens to take up arms in self-defense.
During Patrick Henry's impassioned "Give me
liberty or give me death" speech he also said,
"That a well-regulated militia composed of gen
tlemen and freemen is the natural strength and
only security of a free government."
One of the many arguments against the private
ownership of firearms is made from a misinter
pretation of the clause "well-regulated militia."
Opponents of firearms ownership would have us
believe that this militia is an organization of
government like the present-day National Guard.
The colonists themselves firnily rejected this
notion following the revolution. Richard Henry
Lee, in his popular pamphlet "Letters from the
Federal Farmer to the Republican" stated:
"Should one fifth or one eighth part of the people
capable of bearing arms be made into a select
militia. . . those young and ardent parts of the
community, possesed of little or no property, the
former .( the militia) will answer all the purposes
of an army, while the latter (the community at
large) will be defenseless:
"The Constitution ought to secure a genuine,
and guard against a select militia."
Finally, he said, "to preserve liberty, it is
essential that the whole body of the people always
possess arms and be taught alike, especially
when young, how to use them."
In short Lee believed that a militia, like the
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National Guard, composed of young men with
little or no actual stake in the community might
act against the interests of the community at
large.
l'Or those of you who disbelieve Lee's premise,
I only have two words: Kent State.
Noah Webster, great orator and politician, was
attempting to sway the Pennsylvania legislature
toward the ratification of the Constitution when
he said, "Before a standing army can rule, the ,
people must be disarmed; as they are in almost
every kingdom in Europe
"The supreme power in America cannot en
force unjust laws by the sword, because the
whole body of the people are armed, and consti
tute a force superior to any band of regular
troops that can be, on any pretense, raised in the
United States."
The states themselves called fora protection of
the private right to own firearms.
Here in Pennsylvania delegates proposed, "the
people have a right to bear arms for the defense
of themselves and their own state, or the United
States, or for the Orpose of killing game and no
law shall be passed for disarming the people or
any of them, unless for crimes committed, or a
real danger of public injury from individuals."
In my opinion, more than for sport, hunting or
any other reason, the freedom to possess fire
arms is the final insurance for our civil liberties.
This basic right of free men and women to
break the contract by which the democratic
government rules is placed in jeopardy when
the people have no viable means to resist.
This is not to say that there exists in this
country, at this time, any urgent and specific
reason which requires the necessity-of an armed
civilian population taking action.
The right to keep and' bear arms may have
little or no consequence on the quality of life or
the liberties that you and I sometimes take for
granted, today.
Unfortunately, there exists among us no one
who can safely foretell what the future holds for
us, tomorrow.
Eric Ewing is a 12th-term administration of
justice major and a sports columnist for The
Daily Collegian,
reader opinion
Good and bad
A few pressing issues here. I will
address the least important one first.
In his letter printed in The Daily
Collegian on March 31, Jon Peters
charged me with "election bias" and
urged that I resign my position as
Undergraduate Student Government
Elections Commissioner. Well, Jon,
here's some good news and some bad
news.
I will give up my position in a few
days, but not at your request only
because the election is over. As for
the matter of "election bias," I think
Peters should realize that it's sort of
difficult to express bias witout ex
pressing an opinion, and my
statement in the March 21 issue of the
Collegian contained no personal opin
ion, but Merely a painfully obvious
fact that one platform in the recent
USG presidential election did deal
with relevant issues, ones USG could
tackle, while the other dealt with
issues USG couldn't do anything
about. _ _
_ .
So, Jon, unless you argue that USG
has the funds and/or political clout to
raze Old Main and replace it with an
MX dense pack, then you should
probably do a bit more thinking be
fore you submit your next editorial
comment to a newspaper.
Now, on to more important stuff.
You can't have a USG election with
out an elections commission. As
usual, the people comprising the elec
tions commission this year did •an
incredible amount of work in publiciz
ing and ruuning the election, conduct
ing the debates, attracting senatorial
candidates; and, as usual, little rec
ognition was theirs.
Since plastering posters and the
like isn't the sort of thing that will
bring the Collegian USG beat report
er running to do a front page feature,
it looks as if this is the only way to
give credit where credit is due: To
Carin Goodall, assistant head com
missioner, who always knew what the
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The Daily . Collegian Friday, April 15, 1983-11
,
rest of us were forgetting; to Hildg
Hauver, town commissioner, wife
was faced with the seemingly insur
mountable task of staffing six town
polling locations for 10 hours for each
of two days, and accomplished this ,
feat without almost any problems.
To Ellen Bonder, publicity commis
sioner, who supplied all the artwork,
advertising and other publicity work
so vital to this election; to Deirdre
Kane, who coordinated the election in
all three of East Hall's voting dis
tricts; to Craig Riedinger,•fraternity
commissioner, who helped greatly
with the "dirty work" ( that is, put
ting up posters, setting up the election
and closing the polls after the election
was over); and to Jim Metzgar, de
bate commissioner, who, by all
counts, handled the two debates flaw
lessly and fairly all I can say to all
of you is thanks for and congratula
tions on a job well done.
Special thanks go also the the fine
people making up the South Halls
Residential Association and its presi
dent, Dave Labuskes, who covered
the election for us in South Halls with
an 11th-hour notice and did all they
could to ensure that the election there
went smoothly. We owe Labuskes a
debt of gratitude.
One more thing: When the final
tabulations were made, we found that
only 5 percent of all town students
bothered to vote. Why? I'd like to
present a report to USG before the
term ends that, in part, describes how
to increase voter turnout. If anyone
has ideas on how to get more people
to vote in the USG elections, please
tell me about them. I'd appreciate it.
In closing, I'd like to thank, of all
people, Jon Peters, who became the
first person in history to attack me in
a letter to the editor. Maybe the
second person will have something
legitimate to beef about.
James Marra
Former USG Elections Commission
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