Reagan's El Salvador request halved by House committee By BARTON REPPERT Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON President Reagan’s request for $6O million in military aid to El Salvador was cut in half by a House panel yesterday as he readied a special plea to Congress and the nation to rally behind his Central America policy. The 7-5 decision by the appropriations subcommittee on foreign operations to slash the Salvador aid to $3O million followed a tie vote, 6-6, that would have barred any decision at all for 90 days. The compromise was engineered by Chairman Clarence D. Long, D-Md., who just returned from El Salvador. The Senate foreign relations committee already had settled on an identical cut. Meanwhile yesterday, the full Senate talked behind closed doors about whether the administration is waging a covert campaign against Nicaragua. And Reagan promised to name a special envoy for Central America, whose duties will include assisting “the Salvadorans in their efforts to find a basis for dialogue with their opponents.” Speculation centered on former Democratic Sen. Richard Stone of Florida as the choice for that post, Long said he supported the the scaled-down aid package after assurances that the new ambassodor “will be charged with advancing the peace process” in El Salvador. The Maryland Democrat also said he was satisfied with promised steps toward opening of Salvadoran prisons to inspection by the International Red Cross, freeing political prisoners and undertaking a review of evidence in the 1980 killings of four U.S. churchwomen in El Salvador. Legality of lie detectors for By KAREN KANE and TONY PHYRILLAS Collegian Staff Writers A hearing is scheduled today in Centre County Court to determine if the State College Police Department can require-its police officers to take lie detector tests.' Four police officers filed a complaint against the State College Bureau of Police Services, municipal manager Carl B. Fairbanks and Police Chief Elwood G. Williams Jr., asking for a temporary injuction to stop the administering of lie detector tests until today’s hearing. The hearing before Centre County Judge David E. Grine, who granted the injunction' Friday* is scheduled for 1 p.m. The judge Committee members offer opinions on Fall Commencement By ANN MATTURRO Collegian Staff Writer In its first meeting since January, the Calandar Conversion Council’s communications committee discussed the possibility of a Fall Commencement. James R. Dungan, Calendar Conversion Council secretary, said the University is investigating the feasiblity of holding a ceremony on Saturday, Jan. 7. Emil Parvensky, Undergraduate Student Government president, said he is not an advocate of a permanent Fall Commencement under the semester calendar, but students caught in the transition should be accommodated. However, Dungan said this the daily Long acknowledged that “this is not a perfect solution,” but he said the assurances represented substantial progress “in view of the tortured history of El Salvador.” After the vote approving the $3O million, the subcommittee released a letter to Long from Secretary of State George P. Shultz, in which Shultz said “we favor a negotiating process which would lead the way to a political solution through free and fair elections.” “To advance this objective, the president willsoon be designating a senior U.S. official of ambassadorial rank to act as a special envoy to Central American governments,” the secretary wrote. Shultz said the envoy “will assist the Salvadorans in their efforts to find a basis for dialogue with their opponents on the terms and conditions for free, fair and safe elections.” But he cautioned that the United States “will not support negotiations for power-sharing” moves to bring the Salvadoran guerrillas directly into any new coalition regime “without an election. The motion to defer a vote on the military aid for up to 90 days was offered by Rep. Matthew F. McHugh, D- N.Y., who said that regarding the administration’s policy toward El Salvador “we have had some constructive statements but very little concrete action” toward a political settlement. Reagan himself will address a joint session of Congress and a nationwide broadcast audience tonight to ask support for his policies toward the volatile region. Senate Minority Leader Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., said Dodd would give the Democratic response after Reagan’s speech tonight. will hear arguments from both sides on the validity of giving the tests to the police officers in an internal police investigation. The four officers David Burns, Brian Clouser, Jane Durovchic and Debra Hoffmaster filed the complaint because they believe the lie-detector .tests Avere - - arbitrarily administered by the State College police department. Attorney Amos Goodall, representing the borough, will answer the complaint and offer a defense for the police deparment’s actions today in court. Municipal solicitor Robert K. Kistler, who usually represents the borough, is out of town. According to the complaint filed by Roy K. Lisko, attorney for the four police officers, the officers were told April 2, along presents a problem "If the administration decides to have a Fall Commencement this year because of the term system’s effects on students, then it wouldn’t be fair not to have Fall commencements in 1984,1985 and 1986," he said. “Students graduating in those years would also be affected because of the term system.” Arthur 0. Lewis, committee chairman, said the CCC requested the communication committee’s input concerning Fall Commencement for its May 4 meeting. Committee member John Coyle said the CCC asked the wrong group for input. “Faculty really doesn’t care about graduation," Coyle said. “It’s an activity for the students and their parents.” Please see FALL, Page 18. Collegian Also, please see REBELLIONS, Page 6. with several other officers, to take the lie detector tests. At least eight or nine officers have taken the test, Lisko said. Of the officers who filed the complaint, only Durovchic had taken the test before the temporary injunction was handed dawn.. Durovchio-took' the test an > - hour beforfe Judge Grine signed the court order. "Police knew the restraining order was coming and they gave her the test,” he said, The State College police department actions are “basically wrong when they know something is going to happen and they rush her through the test,” Lisko said. Police Chief Williams would not comment on the specifics of the case, but he did v confirm that the department is now Playing games Jack Kostrab (6th-business administration) is feeding water through a baby bottle to Howard Biichle (12th-health planning administration) at the third stop in a. tricycle obstacle course yesterday. The obstacle course is one event in North Week, sponsored by the North Halls Association of Students. Ernesto Rivas-Gallont, El Salvador’s ambassador to the United States, confers yesterday with House appropriations subcommittee Chairman Clarence Long, D-Md., before the panel voted to appropriate $3O million in military aid to his country. police questioned conducting an internal investigation and that lie detector tests have recently been given to some police officers. “I will be in court tomorrow. What I have to say I will say at the hearing,” Williams said yesterday. : -The department has used lie detectors for criminal investigations in the past, but has not previously used them in an internal investigation of officers at least since he joined the force in 1961, Williams said. “We are following the provisions of state law and the lie detector is part of the day-in day-out tool of the department,” Williams said. When asked if the State College police department has a standard procedure for administering a lie detector test, Williams Wednesday, April 27,1983 Vol. 83, No. 165 18 pages University Park, Pa. 16802 Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University Parvensky defines future USG presidential priorities By CHRISTINE MURRAY Collegian Staff Writer Improving communications between the Undergraduate Student Government, students and administrators, and defining the identity of the USG Academic Assembly will be main priorities for USG President Emil Parvensky next year. Parvensky announced his plans for the executive and legislative branches of USG for the coming year at a news conference yesterday. Parvensky, who was inaugurated Monday night, had declined to give specific plans for his administration before officially taking office to avoid “stepping on the toes” of the previous administration. In the area of communication, Parvensky said he plans to talk to students about the programs USG offers and whether they are needed. USG provides such programs as running buses during term breaks, but USG never asked students if the buses could be improved, he said. “If we’re offering programs that students are not interested in —■ we’ll just scrap them,” Parvensky said. He said he wants to cut down on unwanted services and make the wanted ones more efficient. Parvensky also said he did not like the idea of USG senators sending written responses to . newspapers, concerning editorials and letters to the editor submitted by students dissatisfied with USG. He said he and vice president Elizabeth Saylor plan to contact students who wrote the letters and talk to them individually about what upset them. Parvensky said he is not trying to change students opinions about USG, instead he is only trying to clear up information. said the department adheres to appropriate state laws and handles each case on an individual basis. Lisko said his clients believe the the ■department’s procedure for administering the lie detector tests lack standards such as how, when and to whom the tests can be administered. “Just because these four people are police officers doesn’t mean they have to give up their civil and constitutional rights,” Lisko said. Lisko said he believes the act of administering the test was “arbitrary and capricious” in that the defendants had.no reason to require the four officers to undergo the test. Parvensky said he believes members of the USG Academic Assembly are facing an identity problem and he wants to alleviate that problem by getting Academic Assembly involved in faculty advising and academic rights. In the area of faculty advising, Parvensky said too many students have problems with academic advisers and, as a result, the situation must be studied in greater detail than the study made by the administration. The University’s study reported 82 percent of the students surveyed said they never discussed career goals and directives, he said. Parvensky also said most students do not know where to go with a problem concerning academic rights, such as reporting a teaching assistant who can not speak or write English well enough to teach a course. Parvensky said getting the Academic Assembly involved in these matters may help the organization regain its identity. In addition to faculty advising, Parvensky said a Fall Semester commencement ceremony is a pertinent student issue that he plans to address. “The strongest student sentiment in any issue even the Beaver Stadium (concert) proposal is Fall commencement,” he said. Parvensky sent a letter to James Dungan, secretary to the Calendar Conversion Council, explaining Parvensky’s opinion about the Fall Commencement decision under the semester system, he said. Parvensky said although he understands Fall Commencement will not be necessary under the semester calendar, a ceremony should be held at the end of the Fall Semester 1983 for those students caught in the transition. AP Laserpholo
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