opinions
editorial opinion
Who's responsibile here?
It was a tough job, but somebody
had to do it.
Somebody, that is, had to point
out the flagrant disregard for the
Interfraternity Council’s policy
that prohibits fraternities from tak
ing any money except for philan
thropies. ,
No one objects to the members of
the fraternities and their guests
enjoying a few parties during the
summer or during any other
time of the year for that matter.
What was objectionable was the
- blatant disobedience of the IFC’s
policy and of statutes of the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
requiring liquor licenses to charge
admission or take donations at fra
ternity parties by some mem
bers of Penn State’s greek
community.
. And what was further objectiona
ble was the attitude expressed by
some that the violators the fra
: ternities were not the ones who
; were wrong, but rather that the
I wrongdoer was The Daily Colle
; gian which reported the viola
tors.
Like every newspaper, the Colie-
Tolerating noisy debate
The National Commission on Ex
cellence in Education’s special re
port has created a lot of hot air
around the nation. However, it
seems that some would prefer the
air to blow in only one direction.
In his weekly radio address Sat
urday, President Reagan advised
the nation to stay the course in its
pursuit of remedies for the nation’s
ailing education system.
“The commission gave us a
course to follow. It leads to better
education for our sons and daugh
ters. Let’s ignore the noisemakers
and set sail,” the president said.
In other words, let’s not debate
the issue of education.
But that’s a contradiction in
terms. What is education, if not the
exchange pf ideas? And what’s the
use of having an issue in a democ
racy if politicians and regular folks
can’t make a lot of noise about it?
The commission presented some
‘ good ideas for improving the sag
; ging quality of education in the
nation. But the ideas should be
'! taken as recommendations, as
; starting points for discussion, not
; as definitive answers to compli
; cated problems. Debate is essential
; in determining what changes must
■ ,
11 LAZARUS, ARISE ! "
gian has a responsibility to its
readers to endeavor consistently to
report the truth. To overlook the
truth when it is not convenient, or
makes some people uncomfortable,
would be a breach of that responsi
bility.
And the fraternities, which indi
vidually and collectively represent
the entire greek system at Penn
State, also have certain responsibi
lities. One of the most important of
these is to obey the rules of their
governing body IFC which
exists to ensure that they maintain
a respected and viable position in
the University community.
If the offending fraternities dis
agreed with the law, they should
have tried changing not dis
obeying it. Civil disobedience
may have worked for Henry David
Thoreau, but only because he was
willing to accept the consequences
of his acts.
Unfortunately, some fraternity
members seem more concerned
about next weekend’s parties than
the future good of themselves and
their fraternities.
be made in the education system
and who must pay for those im
provements.
The people in this nation have
been subject to “political voices
that saw a campaign horse to ride”
in the education issue, complained
Reagan in his address.
But if people that means vot
ers did not care so much about
their children’s educations, presi
dential hopefuls would not have
jumped at the chance to add their
own ideas. Education will be debat
ed and it will be an issue in the 1984
presidential election. Whether Mr.
Reagan cares to ride that horse or
not.
Further, Reagan chided poli
ticians and special interest groups
because in the two months since the
commission released, its report,
“the taxpaying citizens of this
country have been treated to a
noisy debate about what to do.”
But noisy debates help to keep
this nation alive. In fact, next week
we’ll be celebrating the 207th anni
versary of another noisy debate,
one without which Reagan’s advice
would not have meant very much to
anyone.
Write to us
We want to know what’s on your mind.
The Daily Collegian’s editorial page is for
some students the only opportunity to be
heard at the University. And the page is here
for other members of the University and State
College communities as well.
Letters to the editor and forums may be
written about topics as far out as the space
program or as close to home as the residence
halls. The issues raised may affect many or
just a few, but if they’re on your mind, they
deserve to be heard.
To insure that your letter is published,
please limit it to one page (typed double
space). Forums should be three to five double
space typed pages centering on a theme.
All letters and forums should include the
name, ID number and phone number of the
writer. Students should also include their
term standings and majors; University em
ployees should include their titles; and alum
ni should include their years of graduation
and majors with their letters.
Letters may be brought or mailed to The
Daily Collegian office in 126 Carnegie.
Write a letter to the editor and It Penn State
know what you’re thinking about.
Reasons, resignations and Russian
Journalists should be interested in everything.
This is the only aspect of the profession in which
lack of discrimination is a positive asset.
But not every story a reporter encounters can,
or should, appear in the newspaper. Reporters
must show some compassion for the reader and
answer a very important question before setting
fingers to keyboard: “why would anyone care
about this story?” If .the reporter cannot answer
the question, the reader will not be able to, either.
Last Thursday’s article “Small business grant
proposals are due tomorrow," was a story in
which the “why should anyone care?” question
was never asked.
The story reported that Friday was the dead
line to apply for a federal grant to promote the
export of products by small businesses. The
reporter could find no one in the Centre Region
who had applied for the program, or who had
even heard of it. The information coordinator of
PennTAP, the University’s Pennsylvania Techni
cal Assistance Program, Paul Houck, said that
the University had made no application, and that,
in any case, “you would almost need a full-time
person sitting around logging in all the (grant)
possibilities.”
The Small Business Export Expansion .pro
gram has a $1 million budget this year (a tiny
sum in federal terms) and last year spent only
daily Collegian
Monday, June 27, 1983
Suzanne M. Cassidy Judith Smith Complaints: News and editorial complaints
Editor Business Manager should be presented to the editor. Business
The Daily Collegian’s editorial opinion is and advertising complaints should be pre
determined by its Board of Opinion, with sented to the business manager. If the
the editor holding final responsibility. Opin- complaint is not satisfactorily resol ed,
ions expressed on the editorial pages are grievances may be filed with . y
not necessarily those of The Daily Colle- and Fair Play Committee of Collegian In .
gian, Collegian Inc. or The Pennsylvania Information on filing grievances is available
State University. Collegian Inc., publishers from Gerry Lynn Hamilton, executive secre
of The Daily Collegian and related publica- tary, Collegian Inc.
tions, is a separate corporate institution
from Penn State,
Board of Editors Editorial Editor: Marcy
Mermel; News Editor: Rosa Eberly; Sports
Editor: John Severance; Photo Editor:
Thomas Swarr; Arts Editor: Ron Crow; As
sistant Arts Editor: Ron Yeany; Campus
Editor, Alecia Swasy; Town Editor: Mike
Netherland; Copy Editors: Dana Buccilli,
Tom Sakell; Weekly Collegian Managing
Editor: Brian Bowers; Weekly Collegian
Assistant Managing Editor: Lori Musser.
Board of Managers Assistant Business
Manager: Valerie Plame; Office Manager:
$150,000 in Pennsylvania (a grant to the Philadel
phia Industrial Development Corporation). This
year, the grants are limited to $lOO,OOO.
My point is not that small business exports are
unimportant economists from Milton Fried
man to Lester Thurow emphasize America’s
need to compete more effectively in the world
marketplace but that reporters have a respon
sibility to prove to readers why a story about
small business exports is important.
Readers should know why they’re reading a
story as well as what they’re reading.
• • •
A retirement is not a resignation and “recent
ly” is not news. Last Friday’s front page featured
an article, “Two senior administrators resign
from University,"- which reported that “two of
the University’s senior officers have announced
their resignations giving incoming University
President Bryce Jordan two more items for his
list of administrative priorities."
But one of the so-called resignations was really
a retirement Loren M. Fortado, director of the
Office of Planning and Budget, will retire from
the University in October. And the other, the
resignation of Theodore L. Gross, provost and
dean of the University’s Capitol Campus, actual
ly occurred at the end of Spring Term.
The juxtaposition of the two events implied a
connection, where none was demonstrated, and
the inaccurate description of Fortado’s retire
ment mislead this reader into thinking the “res
ignations” had. something to do with Jordan's
impending arrival which they did not.
• • •
In the category of “Lest you believe that only
the Collegian makes mistakes,” comes this re
port from Bob Kierstead, Boston Globe's
Monday, June 27, 1983
Colleen Waters; Sales Manager: Terri Alvi
no; Layout Coordinator: Kimberly Fox; Crea
tive Director: Lori Hitz; Marketing Manager:
Bevbrly Sobel; National Ad Manager: Kim
berly Fox.
c 1983 Collegian Inc.
About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian
and The Weekly Collegian are published by
Collegian Inc., an independent, non-profit
corporation with a board of directors com
posed of students', faculty and profession
als. Students of The Pennsylvania State
University write and edit both papers and
solicit advertising material for them. The
Daily Collegian is published Monday, Thurs
day and Friday during the summer, and
distributed at the University Park campus.
The Weekly Collegian is mailed to Common
wealth campus students, parents of stu
dents, alumni and other subscribers who
want to keep abreast of University news.
ombudsman. The Globe’s political cartoonist,
Paul Szep, published a cartoon on May 27 cap
tioned “Reagan asks for upgrading of hot line
with Andropov.” It showed Reagan asking “Hey
Yuri, guess who’s getting a new MX missile
system to help arms reduction and world
peace?” Andropov was seen responding with two
short words in Russian.
According to Kierstead, these words turned out
to be a Russian obscenity referring; depending
upon the translation, either to oral sex or to a
commonly used Anglo-Saxon profanity.
It seems that Szep had asked another staff,
member who spoke Russian t- to provide a few
real Russian swear-words rather than use “dum
my” or nonsense words. What Szep didn’t ask
was the meaning of the words provided.
But many readers did know the meaning of the
words and made sure the Glob 6 knew, too. As a
result, Szep was suspended without pay for two
weeks and the Globe published an apology to
readers for “'the unacceptable phrase in a foreign
language.”
The Globe incident is the sort of thing that,
happens at every newspaper. All it takes is
laziness and a certain exuberant disregard for
detail.
The readers’ representative is available for
reader comments and complaints. I can be
reached at 126 Carnegie Building, University
Park, PA 16802.
Kathleen A. Pavelko speaks for the readers of
The Daily Collegian and comments regularly on
the newspaper’s journalistic performance.
The Daily Collegian
• • •
reader opinion
Plus/minus better
In the April 22 issue of The Daily
Collegian, Erik Randolph stated that
'the plus/minus grading system is
more a minus than a plus. He said
that the plus/minus grading “would
cause more hassle for professors it
will triple the amount of borderline
cases and will lower most students’
grade point averages."
He supported his view with surveys
- showing the drop in the GPAs and the
'number of students favoring five
point system over the 12 point sys
tem. As a Penn State freshman, I was
interested in Randolph’s argument,
but after reading his column, I re
main convinced that the twelve point
plus/minus grading system is better.
Randolph said, “a general drop in
GPAs can be expected. . .’’By adding
minuses to the letter grades, obvious
ly the grade point averages would
decrease. Students who would re
ceive the higher straight letter
grades would receive the lower minus
grades they deserve. On the other
hand, students who would receive a
plus’ would get the lower straight
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grade. How fair is that?
Randolph supported his theory that
GPAs would drop with a study of 2,000
high school students taken by science
teacher James L. Shannon. The re
sults of the study indicated a “signifi
cant” decrease in the GPAs. But the
study cannot represent the change in
GPAs that the plus/minus system
would have on Penn State’s student
body. 1
Actually, the GPA in the five point
system inflates the grade, thus mak
ing the grade an inaccurate represen
tation of the student’s progress.
The Daily Collegian supported the
plus/minus system in the April 1
editorial, “A plus for grading.” The
editorial stated that through the 12
point system “students would receive
a more accurate assessment of their
abilities and course work.”
Also, the plus/minus system
“would make a student’s transcript a
more accurate description of aca
demic achievement. This would aid
potential employers by providing
them with a more accurate picture of
what a student has done and could
do.” That truer recording of a stu-
Pollock Rec. Room
dent’s accomplishments in classes
outweighs the insignificant decrease
of GPAs.
Another reason for Randolph’s sup
port of the five point system, is based
on surveys of student opinions. In
1963, a poll of 556 University students
showed a 57 percent preference for
the five point system. Randolph con
trasted the 1963 survey with the most
recent survey of 251 University stu
dents and stated that the recent sur
vey had a “slight majority” of
students who preferred the plus/mi
nus system, but he failed to mention
that the "slight majority” is 67 per
cent. The April 1 Collegian editorial
stated that “of the 251 students sur
veyed, 67 percent said the would
prefer a 4.0 plus/minus grading sys
tem.” Besides, his incorporation of
the 1963 figure into his argument was
not valid. These students have since
graduated; should we not focus on
education in the ’80s?
Randolph’s support for the five
point system is also flawed in his
statement,, “the systems (plus/mir
nus) are no good; they would not
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benefit students or faculty.” Ran
dolph also said that the change would
cause more problems for professors.
But, many faculty members favor
the change to the plus/minus system.
In an article in the April 7 Collegian,
Faculty Senate Chairman-elect Peter
Bennett said, “It hurts me to give a
student who just squeaks by that
same C.” By changing to the plus/mi
nUs system, faculty, members would
be able to give their students a more
precise evaluation of their past work.
With the five point system, each
letter grade has “a range of 10 per
centage points; there is no way to tell
where the student was in that range. ’ ’
Borderline students also benefit from
the plus/minus system, because of
the better chance to receive the next
higher grade. A student will find it
easier to raise a B to a B plus than to
raise a B to an A. More precise and
fair grades from the plus/minus
grading system will benefit both the
faculty and students.
Elizabeth D. Hummer, 3rd-arts
May 4
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