opinions
editorial opinion
Looking for jobs
Thanks to apparent philosophical
differences, the University's Ad
vanced Technology Center of Cen
tral and Northern Pennsylvania
will be hindered, in performing the
job that it has been established to
do: create jobs and contribute to
the growth of the Commoriwealth's
economy.
, The Ben Franklin Partnership
Challenge Grant Board . the
board that approves the levels of
state funding for four new ad
vanced technology centers -- gave
the University's center second
year Eunding of $1.4 million, only 34
percent of the $4 million it had
_requested. That amount is less than
what the state's other three centers
-- located in Philadelphia, Pitts
:burgh and the Lehigh Valley
received.
The University's center will also
receive about $2.5 million from
cash pledges and commitments of
in-kind services from private in
dustry. Nevertheless, cuts in the
:budget must be made, and some
-proposed projects will have to be
cancelled.
Board chairman Walter H. Plosi
la, deputy state secretary of corn
•merce for technology and policy
idevelopment, said at the board's
:Aug. 11 meeting that the center's
- . projects were not as likely to create
'lobs as the projects\ proposed by
Other centers.
But the, University's center
:serving central and northern Penn
=Sylvania encompasses an area
larger and more diverse than the
other centers and is the only one to
include satellites, one serving the
Harrisburg, Lancaster and York
area and the other serving the Erie
Houses of camaraderie
By MATTHEW L. WOLFORD
1983 graduate• English
Each spring, you start thinking. You still haven't
*committed yourself to any living arrangement for next
year. Spring terms end all too soon, and you know
time's limited. You decide you want to join a fraternity
_because every time you've visited one it had cold beer,
hot girls, and funky tunes.
The guys at house A are flesh-crawling prima don
. has, but the guys at house B are peachy-keen and well
' fed. You'd like to join house B, but you're apprehensive
• about the entire frat scene: rushing (you may not get a
- .bid), pledging (you may not want a bid), and being a
,brother (all your friends will disown you if you accept a
"bid). So, you wonder what you should do, and all you
.can think about are the scenes from "Animal House."
;You decide fraternities are not for you, and you may be
' On the other hand, you may be wrong. The first thing
to get straight in your mind is that fraternity parties
l• and fraternity living are not the same thing. When the
•
.party's over, the house quiets down just like the
"study lounge at the end of the hall, the room those five
, guys are crammed into.
I've found that the best way to look at fraternity
living is as a cross between the dorms and the apart-
Anents. At the house I lived in, I had the freedom of
,'"choice and mobility I had in my apartment, and the
Camaraderie I enjoyed in the dorms. My food was
:cooked for me, my dishes washed, my bathrooms
"Cleaned. I had a free parking space. And as if that
weren't enough, I was allowed to have a coffee-maker
in my room. "Unheard of," you say; but it's true. I did
sacrifice some of the peace and quiet of an apartment,
-put not as much as I did when I lived in Geary Hall.
I know it's hard, but if you're going to rush, try to be
:yourself. If you like to eat spaghetti with your hands, do
it. You may not-be called out to dinner again, but you
wouldn't have wanted to live with all those unsullied
characters anyhow. Rush dinners are not intended to
frighten anybody, they are simply a means by which
;you can meet the brothers of a house, and they can
meet you. Try to meet as many people as you can.
If you don't get a bid at the house you like, try not to
hold a grudge. The brother might be saying, "Don't go
away mad, just go away," but I doubt it. What usually
happens is that you didn't have that certain something
that lights up their scoreboard, that gays "this guy's for
us." No one is to blame; no crime has been committed.
More often than not, it's their loss, not yours. Remem
• ber, you probably won't get every job you'll ever apply
for either. Maybe for the same reasons.
If you do get a bid at the house you like, congratula
tions. But before accepting a bid, find out all the details
(or as many of them as you can). Talk to your parents,
talk to your friends, and think about what you really
want. Also, stop by the house sometime when you're
forum
area. The region, despite its size,
includes few major industrial cen
ters. Thus, the emphasis of the'
University's center seems to be on
the creation of jobs in the long term
through research and devel
opment.
' This is not the first time the
board has expressed disappoint
ment in the University's proposals.
Earlier this year the board delayed
granting the center its initial $250,-
000 appropriation until the Univer
sity agreed to adjust its proposal to
follow six conditions, including an
increase in funding for its two sa
tellites. •
However, John L. Leathers, ex
ecutive director of the University's
center, said he believes the cen
ter's proposal was a good one.
Rather than complaining about the
second-year budget, he wants to
concentrate on creating a positive
proposal for board consideration
next week.
Perhaps , nexkyear the center will
have made some progress and the
board will have a better idea of
what the .University's center is
trying to do. Perhaps then it will
respond favorably with more fund
ing.
Pennsylvanians need jobs now,
but they must also look ahead to
ensure that jobs will exist for them
in the future. The partnership was
created, for economic development
as well as for job creation and
that goal should riot be forgotten.
The research that results in im
provements takes time. So the de
velopments that will make the
state's economy grow tomorrow
deserve the patience and support of
citizens, business leaders and gov
ernment officials today.
not expected lunch, for example. It could alter
whatever impression you have.
One of the more popular misconceptions about fra
ternities is that "pledging" and "slavery" are nearly
synonomous terms. Wrong. Granted, pledging is no
picnic but if approached with a positive attitude and
a dash of optimism, it can be rewarding. Most pledge
programs I've heard about (God forbid) are twofold in
nature: 1. Learning the pledges get to know the
brothers, some facts about the house's history, and
perhaps a few trivialities, secrets as it were; and 2.
House maintenance this is the tough part. Pledges
are responsible for the menial labor and that goes for
maintaining the house's physical plant. Sweeping car
pets, cleaning toilets, washing windows, changing
lightbulbs, raking leaves, you name it. (They have
been known to move an occasional keg or two as well.)
Depending on the number of pledges at any given
house, daily "duties" can usually be completed some
where between 20 and 45 minutes.
When you hear that house A's pledge program is
tougher than house B's, what are you to think? Chances
are, the difference in the programs lies,in the "learn
ing" aspect of the program.
From what I can guess, it's not what the pledges are
being taught, but how the pledges are being taught.
House A's brothers, for example, think that their
pledges should learn the finer points of socializing ---
they lock them in a room' with a keg of beer and
instructions to finish it before coming out. "That's -
buffalo chips," you say. "I'd never put up with that.
Typical fraternity nonsense." Well, have you ever been
locked in a room with five or six of your buddies and
enough beer to last the night?
House B has a reputation for yelling and screaming
at their pledges when the duties haven't been done.
When house B's bathroom hadn't been cleaned in two
days, leaving just enough slime on the floor for a good
game of flip-flop hockey, the brothers decided it was
time for a chat with the pledges. When I left a pair pf
underwear in my father's bathroom this past 'summer,
you'd have thought Armageddon had arrived. Same
thing.
A note about public buffoonery: Streaking, rain
dancing, and wearing suits for a week can be fun for
some (God save them), hell for others. It's a shame
that some traditions cannot be easily lost, but that's the
way it is. If you've ever waited in the rain a day and a
half for a dorm contract, you know what I mean.
Of course, temptations do exist in fraternity houses.
You may need to train yourself to study outside the
house. You may decide that Wednesday-nighters aren't
worth Thursday-morningers. You may find out that all
sorority girls are not the same; you may find out that
they are. You'll definintely make some adjustments in
the way you present yourself, which may be good or
bad. And you'll probably find out that the secrets aren't
so great, the people aren't so different, and the food
still doesn't rate next to Mom's.
You'll learn that living in a fraternity holds no
mystique it's just a bunch of guys in• a big, old house
and you may wonder why so many people view them
with contempt. If and when you reach that point, you'll
know why I wrote this piece.
da% Collegian
Thursday, September 1, 1983
0) . 1983 Collegian Inc.
Suzanne M. Cassidy Judith Smith
Editor Business Manager
The Daily Collegian's editorial opinion is
determined by its Board of Opinion, with
the editor holding final responsibility. Opin
ions expressed on the editorial pages are
not necessarily those of The Daily Colle
gian, Collegian Inc. or The Pennsylvania
State University. Collegian Inc., publishers
of The Daily Collegian and related publica
tions, is a separate corporate institution
from Penn State.
Board of Editors Managing Editor: Wil
liam Scott; Editorial Editor: Marcy Mermel;
Assistant Editorial Editor: Maria Martino;
News Editors: John Schlander, M. Lee
Schneider; Sports Editor: Greg Loder; As-
'Bastions of ignorance'
By KARL HOKE
1983 graduate-labor,studies
and MARK STEVENSON
1983 graduate•prelaw
Reflecting upon , our four years spent at Penn State
and more particularly those spent in the Penn State
fraternity system, we feel compelled to convey our
abhorrence with the Greek system in general and its
many and varied manifestations.
We made a mistake as freshman when we associated
ourselves with organizations we erroneously perceived
to represent true camaraderie, academic excellence,
and a culture of which emotional and intellectual'
growth are a part. Fraternities and sororities, we've
discovered, are the complete antithesis of these three
and many other qualities.
Indulgence in material objects (houses and the latest
fashion, for example), their simple and easily under
stood designs and uses, preclude an appropriate under
standing of the nature and purpose of higher education.
Getting drunk, getting laid and - partaking in intramu
rals are held to be sacrosanct by the Greeks. However,
this preoccupation with sports, genitals and intoxica
tion retards the achievement of the human intellectual
potential. The phrase "bastions of ignorance" is all too
appropriate.
The values exalted in Greek society here at Penn
State should be subordinated to more intellectually and
emotionally. mature ideals. Greeks are so cohesive and
conspicuous that students perceive them as trendset
ters and cultivators of accepted social norms. This is
tragic. The values and norms seen as acceptable by so
many students are, in fact, a collection of sophomoric,
ostentatious displays. A smattering of these are: 1.
their simplistic, two-'dimensional perceptions of the
world; 2. their equation of Greeks with what is com
mendable and non-Greeks with what is not; 3. the
dehumanizing aspects of pledging and initiation rites
(which are for the i most part meaningless and child-
ish); and lastly, the exploitation and degradation of
women, manifested in the interest in tales of explicit
escapades. This brief listing only suggests the immatu
rity-that pervades Greek life.
For one Greek to call another brother or sister, there
must first exist a period of debasement heavily laden
with, notoriously traditional hazing. We term this
"brotherhood by initial subordination." They contend
the end justifies the means.
Brotherhood, as we understand it, is a bond emanat
ing from a necessary precondition of equality and
mutual respect, not . one of inequity and• humil
iation. Friendship and brotherhood must be marked by
simultaneity; they must be co-extensive. To suggest,
as the Greeks do, that true brotherhood exists as a
precursor to friendship is not only ludicrous and
unfounded, but is consistent with their simplistic per-
sistant. Sports Editors: Liz Kahn, John
Severance, Chris Wightman; Photo Editor:
Eric Hegedus; Assistant Photo Editors:
Paul Chiland, Thomas Swarr; Arts Editor:
Shawn Israel; Assistant Arts Editor: 'Ron
Yeany; Campus Editor: Alecia Swasy; As
sistant.CampusEditor: Ann Matturo; Town
Editor: Mike Netherland; Assistant Town
Editor: Rebecca Albert; Features Editor:
Pete Waldron; Assistant Features Editor:
Jeanne Ann Curry; Graphics Eclitor: Gary
Feiss; Copy Editors: Dina Defabo, Sheila
McCormick, Marcia McGrath, Stella Tsai;
Weekly. Collegian Editor: Brian Bowers;
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Pupach.
Board of Managers Assistaht Business
Manager: Mary T. McCaffrey; Office Man
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Smulski.
forum ,
The Daily Collegian
Thursday Sept. 1, 1983
- I‘ort \ )i„j'k)MS!
Letters Polici: The Daily Collegian encour
ages comments on news coverage, editori
al policy and University affairs. Letters
should • be typewritten, double-spaced,
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The Collegian reserves the right to edit
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Mail letters to: The Daily Collegian; 126
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ceptions of the world. How can brotherhood defined by
these standards be viewed as anything but hypocrisy?
Another flag of of deficiency flown by Greek organi
zations is their exclusionary membership practices. Of
1,220 fraternity members pictured in the 1983 edition of
La Vie, only four are black. This is one-third of 1
percent, or less than one-§ixth of the current UniverSi
ty-wide ratio. If blacks want to partake in the Greek
experience, (why they would want to escapes us), they
are limited to joining all black fraternities. Although no
purposeful segregation is ever admitted to, the dis
crimination result of exclusionary membership prac
tices serve as sufficient evidence that fraternities are,
in fact, racist. This same prevalent racism extends to
sororities.
To establish and maintain a position in their social
hierarchy, or "pecking order,", Greeks, by consensus,
judge their prospective initiates on superficial criteria.
This amounts to a process that subordinates individual
ity to the procurement of clones.
Exclusionary criteria employed as tools of appraisal,
combined with the relentless, voluntary submission to
this shallow scrutinizatiori, is a perversion of man's
supposed ability to objectively and independently eval
uate himself and his peers. This inevitably leads to
conformity ( through less than sublime) coerSion.
Should one of the Greeks develop any inclination to
venture from the narrow, preordained paths of
materialism, ignorance, immaturity, 'arrogance and
such, he or...she is immediately mocked, chastised,
labeled weird, and either pressured into conforming or
is summarily ostracized from the order.
It is bewildering even shocking that organiza
tions such as these not only exist, but flourish at
institutions of higher learning. Any rational, educated,
empathetic human being must hold fraternities and
sororities as anathema. Pulling through our time of
involvement in fraternal organizations cursed by pre
tentiousness, over-indulgence in useless luxury, post
ponement of the maturation process, and dogmatic
conformity to regressive ideals, we cannot help but feel
angry, bitter, ashamed and offended. In fact, the only
solace we can find in our experience with the Penn
State Greeks, is that to fully appreciate the light, one
must first ,be submerged in total darkness. We've
discovered that when one matures and realizes that
values held dear by so many are preposterous and
repulsive, one is forced to sever any semblence of
identification with them.
We welcome responses to our commentary,. for
Aristotle spoke the truth when he said, "Merl are
competent judges only of that which they understand."
The Daily Collegian invites all readers to submit
forums for this page on any current topic concerning
the University, the nation or the. world.
All, forums should be three to five double-spaced
typed pages long and should include the writer's name,
semester and major, if applicable, and phone number.
They should be mailed, or brought to The Daily
Collegian, 126 Carnegie Building, University Park, P,a.,
16802.
worgemoexe,,Aoszrm
reader opinion
Vietnam vet
I read with sorrow in the Au
gust 30th edition in The Daily Colle
gian of yet another tragic death of
another Vietnam veteran. This 30-
year-old man, who baptized people in
the Ohio River while he was dressed
only in his fatigues, was killed by
police as he was shooting at them
while trying to fire-bomb the-police
station.
As the police had said about
this man, "We all realized sooner or
later we were•going to have a prob-
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BECOME A 4-LETTER MAK
% . 3) . q 1, 1% Ci.:CV• s n:Cl,)
'
'l\ lire
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I •
Why arc a lot of college men and women
becoming buddies in Army ROTC!
Probably because Army ROTC is full of
the kind of people other people go out of their
way to meet.
ROTC students tend to be high achievers
‘vho are interested in more than their studies.
They're popular students with a serious side.
hut who like to have a good time, too.
Ijj •
In other words, when people joirrArmy
ROTC they often meet people a lot like them
selves.
• For more information. contact your Professor
of Military Science.
ARMY ROTC.
BE AJLLYOU CAN BE.
Call or See
Maj. Perry F. Denniston
212 Wagner 863-0368
Tern with him." So, another "prob
lem" out of the way. My guess is that
at least 50,000 "problems" have been
eliminated from society, whether in
some such similar manner, or by
even more directlY self-inflicted
wounds. Add to this the number of
men finding their way into prisons
around the country who could not
"readjust" upon their return home
from the war, and the number of
"problems" removed from society
soars!
The fact is the problems of
Vietnam remain quite clearly im- .
planted in our society today, and for
many, the Vietnam War has not gone
away so easily. The Vietnam veteran
with residual "readjustment" prob
lems is much like the alcoholic
, he
affects at least 10 others around him,
from his family, neighbor, employer,
to the unknown "other guy" he meets
on the street corner. The Vietnam
War was 10 years long long enough
to include nearly three million teen
age men. Think of it this way:, the
combatant in World War II was, on
the average, 25 years old; the Viet
nam veteran was 19 years old. In
Allenwa - p 6:arber
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other words, he was like most fresh
men or sophomores in college today
who are in the midst of their identity
revolution. Some identity! Survival
instinct, anger and depression.
The problems, from the war
itself to the unwelcome homecoming,
are too numerous to explore in a
single, short letter. Because Marines
have recently been killed in Lebanon,
and American troops are inland in
South America, perhaps America's
like the individual Americans' —ex
periences in Vietnam wuld be enlight
ening to us all. I would suggest to
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315 S. Allen St.
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126 W. College Ave.
anyone interested in a refined explo
ration of "The 10-year War," now 10
years old, to consider watching the
Penn State PBS-TV series special
beginning Oct. 4, which presents a 10-
part series examining aspects of the
war, from various personal, social,
political, and historical perspectives.
Some of the stories and some of the
forgotten aspects of Vietnam need to
be remembered.
James E. Pendorf, ACSW, graduate
individual and family studies
Sept. 1.
*********
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8:00 P.M. Wilk
PENN STATE OUTING CLUB
5,-
•
olf STUDENT INTRAMURAL BUILDING
THE PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY • UNIVERSITY PARK, PA 16802
MAIN CLUB SLIDE PRESENTATION
Thurs. 7:00 Schwab Aud.
Topics to be discussed:
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Routes, rides
Bike shop
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Racing, river trips
Boatbuilding
• Equestrian Division
Trallrides
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-- Backpacking
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• Mountaineering Division
Climbing trips
Repelling
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Term break trips
Local passes
• Cross-Country Division
Local trails '
Membership opportunities include equipment rentals
and instruction. Share the fun, get involved . . .
0153
Trip a joyrnalist today.
Collegian Thursday, Sept. 1, 1983-9
The Daily
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