opinions
A sense of decency
Some things are better left unsaid- and
untelevised.
The same sense of decency that prevailed
in Texas when the state Board of Correc
tions refused to televise the execution of
convicted murderer James David Autry did
not prevail when it came to televising a rape
trial.
Not only was the victim humiliated when
the brutal details of the gang-rape were
described .on local e and national television,
but her priyacy was further invaded when
the woman's name was made known to
millions of people around the country
directly as a result of the televised trial.
The case was allowed to be televised in
this case nationally by the Cable News
Network because of a 1981 Supreme Court
decision' that upheld a Florida law permit
ting broadcast coverage of trials. Thirty
seven states have approved coverage.
At issue in this case are two problems.
First, the judge failed to require the broad
casters to edit out the woman's name.
On Feb. 23, the first day of the trial, both
prosecuting and defense attorneys men
tioned the victim's name, and the broad
casters, with no facility for editing any
remarks, telecast them.
It was technically possible to delay the
live broadcast 7 to 12 seconds so that the
broadcasters could edit the name, but Larry
LaMotte, the executive producer of CNN,
said the judge did not ask that the coverage
be edited. As a result, the woman received
national coverage and so did her name.
Beth Huber, from the Women's Resource
Center, said rape victims may not report
rapes if they fear being further humiliated
by having their identities made public.
"We think that this will have a detri
mental effect on othei people reporting
rapes," Huber said. "If women know their
reader opinion
The Chicago 'machine'
In his column on runoff primaries, John R. Nordell, Jr.
'distorted the facts regarding Chicago's 1983 mayoral
;election. Nordell made several false assumptions about
:Chicago demographics and politics which indicate he has
'an outdated view of the city.
• Nordell implied that Mayor Harold Washington has no
'.mandate to govern because he is black and Chicago is a
:`,'city of mostly white Democrats."
Sorry, Mr. Nordell, but white working class ethnics are
now in the minority in Chicago. While white ethnics moved
.to the suburbs in the post-World War II years, Blacks,
:Latinos, and Asian immigrants settled in Chicago neigh
•borhoods. Blacks now account for almost 40 percent of the
city's population, and Hispanics of Mexican, Puerto Ri
:Can, Cuban, and other descents compose another 14
:Percent. hi fact, Mexicans have replaced Chicagoans of
Polish ancestry as the city's largest ethnic group.
' • In the mayoral election, Harold Washington received
overwhelming support from the black community. How
ever, he could not have won the election without support
from two other groups: 1) 79 percent of the city's Hispanic
•voters chose Washington over Republican Bernard Epton;
:and 2) many "lakefront liberals," young white profession
als living in rennovated inner-city neighborhoods, pre
ferred Washington to his Republican rival.
• The present stalemate in Chicago politics is not caused
-by. a lack of mandate.
• Instead, the stalemate exists because politicians who
`leaped the benefits of a tightly controlled political ma
-chine in the past are not willing to give up the spoils
•
: w
ithout a fight..
[mann Hamilton, graduate-geography
April 3
El Salvador:
Left-wing death squads are as prevalent as right-wing variety
Roberto D'Aubuisson of El Salvador's
ARENA Party is seldom mentioned in the
press without an allusion to his alleged
involvement with the notorious right-wing
death squads. One of the more serious
charges leveled against him is complicity in
the 1980 assassination of Catholic Archbish
op Oscar Romero.
.
•
1•'•
A. • A
/J t•••
Former US Ambassador to El Salvador
Robert White has been quite persistent
trying to link D'Aubuisson to the Romero
murder. White claimed to have evidence
that was "100 percent conclusive that D'Au
buisson and his group are responsible for
the murder of Archbishop Romero." This
"evidence" is a set of documents seized
from D'Aubuisson in 1980 after a left-wing
junta seized power.
And what do these documents say about
'-1 / 7
67.4.-e.t..e,::z•l'''.e.,
name could be published, they are going to
be afraid to report the rape."
If rapes are not reported, police cannot
look for criminals.
It's obvious that the woman's name
should be withheld during future televised
rape trials. William C. Young, the judge
who presided over the New Bedford case,
said the publication of the woman's name
"was an abysmal error of judgment."
But the New Bedford case illustrates a
second, even larger problem should rape
trials appear on television at all?
During most rape trials, the victim's
reputation is subjected to close scrutiny.
Past history and sexual relationships are
disclosed throughout the trial, much of
which are merely humiliating allegations.
The defense often concentrates on defaming
the victim to prove the defendant innocent.
Huber• said the mere fact that the case
could appear on television could scare wom-
"It's hard enough for a woman to report a
rape under normal circumstances," she
said. "But when she sees how this woman
got raked over the coals how her past and
her sex life were brought out she is bound
not to report it."
Pennsylvania law does not allow for
broadcast coverage of trials. Maybe this
law is too absolute an education of our
justice system is to be gained from watch
ing that justice system in action.
But coverage of rape trials often become
exercises in unnecessary sensationalism
humiliating and slandering a victim. Tele
vising a rape trial does not help the public,
and certainly hurts the rape victim.
. State Supreme Courts should be urged to
make the law more specific by eliminating
broadcast coverage of rape trials.
Fooling the people
Our Democratic ship of state is really a raft, but happily
a raft is unsinkable.
The ongoing Presidential campaign and subsequent 1984
election will test the validity of Lincoln's statement: "You
can fool all the people some of the time; you can fool some
of the people all the time; but, you can't fool all the people
all the time."
It will also reveal the maturity of the American voter
Ben Franklin's statement: "Experience is a hard
school, but fools will learn in no other" has already been
amply proven.
Ken Tomkinson
Orlando, FL
April 3
The real
Concerning Reginald Arford's letter to the editor in
Thursday's The Daily Collegian dealing with West Halls
Radio, I feel a few facts should be made known.
After the Feb. 28 burglary of the station, the room the
station was located in was locked due to the impossibility
of running the station without operable turntables.
Mr. Arford came to West Halls Council as chief engi
neer, not as General Manager, requesting funds to restore
the operation of the radio station. The agreement was
made with the understanding that WHR was to remain
under the jurisdiction of WHRA, and with NO dissenting
votes West Halls Council granted Mr. Arford the funds
needed to put the station back in operation.
Mr. Arford also agreed to work closely with WHRA
the Romero assassination? Zilch. They
don't mention Romero or D'Aubuisson or
even allude to the murder. All they
,turned
out to be were preparations for a counter
coup should a Cuban-style government as
sume power. Strike one.
In another attempt to link D'Aubuisson to
the murder (among. other things), White
claimed that six wealthy Salvadoran exiles
living in Miami were directing and funding
D'Aubuisson and the death squads. Suppos
edly D'Aubuisson had Romero killed at their
behest. But again White ran into problems.
Three of the "Miami six" don't even live in
Miami and one has been dead for over two
years.
One of the accused, Arturo Muyshondt,
forced White to do an embarrassing about
face by threatening him with a $lO million
libel suit. Unable to back up his charges,
White meekly replied, "It has come to my
attention that there may have been some
confusion regarding the proper identifica
tion of one person. . .I take the first opportu
nity..'. .to point out that it appears the source
may have been in error by identifying the
Mr. Muyshondt involved in death squad
activity as Arturo Muyshondt." Strike two.
After being burned once or twice, you'd
think White would get the message: don't
accuse someone of fishy activities if all you
losers
have is fishy evidence. Unfortunately this
wasn't the case.
White also produced an anonymous infor
mant who was supposedly "in a position to
know about the matters he discussed"
those matters being D'Aubuisson's death
squad connections. He also claimed to be an
eyewitness to a meeting in which D'Aubuis
son plotted Romero's murder.
The New York Times ran a front-page
story on this informant who also was inter
viewed (concealed in the shadows, of
course) by Walter Cronkite on the CBS
Evening News. Hot stuff, right?
For a while, yes, until the Times later
reported that it couldn't" substantiate the
informant's claims, and worse, that the
informant was paid $50,000 to make them!
The funding came from a left-wing group
called the Center for Development Policy
which, by the way, sponsors White's Com
mission on U.S.-Central American Rela
tions. Strike three White's credibility is
out the wiridow.
Nevertheless, a lead on the parties re
sponsible for the Romero murder does exist.
It surfaced when a Costa Rican daily news
paper, "La Nacion," interviewed Pedro
Lobo, a former FMLN guerrilla leader.
According to Lobo, the Salvadoran rebels
g; Collegian
Friday, April 6, 1984
©1984 Collegian Inc
Susan M. Melle
Business Manager
Alecia Swasy
Editor
The Daily Collegian's editorial opin
ion is determined by its Board of
Opinion, with the editor holding final
responsibility. Opinions expressed
on the editorial pages are not nec
essarily those of The Daily Colle
gian, Collegian Inc. or The
Pennsylvania State University. Colle
gian "Inc., publishers of The Daily
Collegian and related publications,
is a separate corporate institution
from Penn. State.
Board of Editors Managing Edi
tor: Marcy Merrnel; Editorial Editor
Harry Weiss; Assistant Editorial Edi
executive vice president David L. Harvey to explore
future alternatives for the radio station (one of these being
a divestiture of the station from council). Less than a week
after the mutual decision to cooperate was made, Mr.
Arford took it into his own hands, without council's
approval or knowledge, to petition the USG Supreme
Court to grant him an organization to have sole broadcast
ing rights of radio programming in West Halls.
His attempted take-over was granted by the USG
Supreme Court and consequently the residents of West
Halls are the ones that lose. WHRA and I would very much
like to put WHR back on the air early next week when the
tor: Ron Yeany; News Editors: John
Schlander, M. Lee Schneider; Sports
Editor: Greg Loder; Assistant Sports
Editors: John Severance, Chris
Wightman, Matt Michael; Photo Edi
tors: Paul Chiland, Thomas Swarr;
Assistant Photo Editor: Bill Cramer;
Arts .Editor: Heidi Beeler; Assistant
Arts Editor: Diane DiPiero; Campus
Editor: Christine Murray; Assistant
Campus Editor: Lori Musser; Town
Editor: K.L. Kane; Assistant Town
Editor: Michael Newnam; Features
Editor: Jeanne Ann Curry; Assistant
Features Editor: Grace LoMonaco;
Graphics Editor: Tony Ciccarelli;
Copy Editors: Dina Defabo, John
Holt, Patricia Hungerford, Christine
Kay, Marcia McGrath, Lori• Marie
Vail, Rebecca Albert; Weekly Colle
gian Editor: Michele Jo Pupach;
Weekly Collegian Assistant Editor:
Laura Dunhoff.
Complaints: News and editorial
complaints should be presented to
the editor. Business and advertising
complaints should be presented to
had Romero killed "to create a new martyr
in El Salvador in order to further radicalize
the longstanding struggle there."
Lobo claims to have witnessed the plot,
identifying the brains of the operation as the
late rebel leader Cayetano Carpio and his
late assistant Melida Anaya Montes. (Both
were murdered in Managua. Montes died of
multiple stab wounds the Sandinistas
called it suicide.). Lobo said other brains of
the operation were Castro-ite Joaquin Villa
lobos and a female member of the ETA
Militar, , a violent Basque terrorist group
with proven KGB connections.
Hmm. Interesting. An identified eyewit
ness account. Did the media show any
interest? No, but then again what else is
new? Practically all we hear about in Cen
tral America are the atrocities committed
by the far right. Rarely, if ever, do we hear
of rebel atrocities, and there are many.
The Salvador Human Rights Commission
stated that the rebels killed 10 times as
many civilians in the first six months of 1983
as the death squads. The rebels assassinate
not only government officials (left-wing
death squads, anyone?) but often each other
in power struggles. In 'total, the rebels are
known to have killed over 5,000 non-combat
ants in this war, but the press treats all
The Daily Collegian
Friday, April 6, 1984
the business manager. If a com
plaint is not satisfactorily resolved,
grievances may be filed with the
Accuracy and Fair Play Committee
of Collegian Inc. Information on
filing grievances is available- from
Gerry Lynn Hamilton, executive sec
retary, Collegian Inc.
About the Collegian: The Daily Colle
gian and The Weekly Collegian are
published by Collegian Inc., an inde
pendent, non-profit corporation with
a board of directors composed of
students, faculty and professionals.
Students of The Pennsylvania State
University write and edit both papers
and solicit advertising' material for
them. The Daily Collegian is pub
lished Monday, Tuesday, Thursday
and Friday during the summer, and
distributed at the University Park
campus. The Weekly Collegian is
mailed to Commonwealth campus
students, parents of students, alum
ni and other subscribers who want
to keep abreast of University news.
replacement turntables arrive from the insurance compi
ny.
Because of Mr. Arford and his new organization
WHRO if WHRA would put West Halls Radio on the air,
WHRA could potentially lose its status as a student
organization and the residents of West Halls will really be
the losers.
By the way, Mr. Arford is not even a resident of West
Halls.
Steven S. Diano,WHRA President
April 5
casualties as if only government forces or
the death squads are responsible.
Once again we get this pattern in the
media and elsewhere of publicizing the
brutality of the regimes we support and
ignoring the brutality of their, and our,
Marxist enemies. The Vietcong occasionally
committed "excesses" (only we could mas
sacre peasants), the Sandinistas are "strug
gling to build socialism," Mao Zedong and
Fidel Castro received outright praise, and
now this.
I don't know whether D'Aubuisson is in
volved with the right-wing death squads or
not, and by the looks of the evidence neither
does anybody else. Some media analysts
have actually admitted this. But if we're
going to dig into the dirty or bloody linen of
the regimes we support, then I suggest we
dig into that of the enemy as well. It woald
be nice to get a true perspective on a
Marxist revolution for once. Who knows?
Rummaging through the rebels' dirty laun
dry may produce the killer(s) of Archbishop
Romero.
Kelly Fracassa is a graduate student in
business administration and a columnist for
The Daily Collegian. His column appears on
alternate Fridays.
1:11110:1
opinions
Noxious music
I wakened last Friday night sometime after 1 a.m. and
listened to a spraying of the neighborhood with noxious
music, supposedly from university dorms a block away.
Next morning, it was encouraging to read in the Centre
Daily Times that, of 18 fined offenses reported, half were
"making loud noise," all but one with music.
If this, is evidence of stringent enforcement of the noise
ordinance, it is worth commending. A publicized crack
down could, if not eradicate this and other such nuisances
(e.g., exhaust-open cars and motorcycles), at least,dis
courage them by advertising strong community opposi
tion.
To my mind, those fines were just fine
Harold E. Dickson, Class of 1922
March 24
The purpose of influence
In the March 30 issue of The Daily Collegian, Caria
Charters asked, "How can we as students expect to be
unbiased electors of the Levinson/Saylor ticket?" Since
, when are electors supposed to be unbiased? Voting is a
;right, and with that right comes a responsibility to develop
:bias. This means weighing the positive and negative
'aspects of each candidate in order to choose the best
• person for the position. After all, developing bias is not
. ..only part of voting, it is also part of everyday decision
making. It is an unavoidable and necessary process.
Ms. Charters' letter refers to an editorial that appeared
in the Collegian on March 28. She protested that it was
unfair because "although your article may be an opinion,
many people probably voted for the candidates which the
Collegian presented as more favorable because they were
influenced by the article." Well! Is it not the purpose of an
editorial to influence its readers and to convey a belief?
As far as objective presentation of the candidates goes,
the Collegian dedicated an entire page to a "USG Voters'
Guide" each day of the election. This listed the candidates
in alphabetical order and gave them each an opportunity
to portray his platform's ideas and proposals. If there was
any poor representation of the candidates, and I don't
think that there was, it would be the candidates them
selves who are at fault, not the Collegian.
I feel that the coverage was, fair, and I disagree with Ms.
'Charters' opinion that "the Collegian presented us with a
,'One-sided view of the candidates" causing an unfair
election.
Meryl Levenberg, freshman-general arts and sciences
April 3
Hazardous waste
Recently, there have been many efforts nationwide to
reduce environmental contamination due to toxic chemi
cals. Surveys requesting information from businesses
about the use of toxic substances, workshops covering all
aspects of hazardous wastes and news articles reporting
THANK YOU!
A.B.L.E.D. would like to
express appreciation to the
following for their assistance
during Capability Week:
Vicki Wilkins
The Rec Park 275 class
Health Care Rental Co.
and
all those who participated in
our activities
ROO2
The Association for Barrier-free Living, Environment, & Design
incidences of environmental concern are all working to
alert the public and stimulate action.
There are 16 businesses in the Centre County area
generating large quantities of hazardous waste. One
survey conducted by the Sierea Club of State College
received response from only two such firms about the
chemicals used in their facility, indicating that many
businesses do not feel that the citizens of our community
have a right to know which toxic chemicals are being
utilized.
Many workers associated with companies that are
generating hazardous wastes are unaware of their effects,
and many. communities of their existence.
As inhabitants of this mother earth we are committed to
her preservation. It is everyone's responsibility to protect
her from industrial and commercial exploitation, and to
realize the importance of knowing the issues and acting
when necessary.
Currently the Disclosure Act, which gives• employees
and communities the right to know what substances their
businesses use, is under consideration by the full House of
Representatives. This act, commonly known as the "Right
to Know" Act ( H 81236) if passed, would be a major
advance toward the reduction of environmental contami
nation through public awareness.
One way of contributing to the fight against toxic waste
contamination would be writing your representatives
encouraging them to support H 81236.
Another would be to get involved on National Day of
Action, May 5. This day has been designated as a national
campaign against toxic hazards, giving Americans the
opportunity to express in any creative manner their
concern about hazardous wastes. '
If you wish to get involved in this contact the Sierra Club
or Eco Action. Your participation is imperitive in the fight
for a better tomorrow.
Darlene Snow, sophomore-environmental resource man
agement
Mirch 30
Get it outta here!
After trudging through the snow on campus for the third
day in a row (last week,) I realized that the University's
snow removal policies are terrible.
I know that this most recent snowfall was a freak spring
storm, and that there are many roads, parking lots, and
sidewalks on campus. However, a university of this size
should be equipped to handle such situations.
Parking Lot 80 was not plowed until late Friday morning
and even then it was only partially cleared. Lot 83 and
other student parking areas will probably never' be
plowed. Many times this past winter, the student parking
areas were never plowed after a significant snowfall.
University officials are causing many unnecessary
headaches for students by refusing to provide adequate
snow removal. Just what are we paying $l5 per semester
for anyway? •
Kevin G. •Stepinski,
March 31
senior-mechanical engineering
Teaching assistants:
Overall problem
Editor's Note: This forum was originally submitted for
the op-ed page on the subject of international teaching
assistants last week.
By BRIAN HOWLAND and
BRIAN KEARNEY
There seems to be an ongoing problem here at Penn
State with foreign Teaching Assistants. There IS a
problem, however, foreign TAs are merely one facet.
The whole problem is one of communication. The
people at fault include faculty, TAs, students and
departments.
Faculty are not necessarily gifted with communica
tion skills. The faculty from overseas has the additional
obstacle of a language barrier: their English is not our
English. (Actually, I've found that foreign professors
know our grammar better than Americans do.) Some
professors do not realize when they are not commu
nicating the material well.
Most do not
,know whether their assistant(s) are
communicating the material well. Note that this last
remark can apply to both native and foreign assistants.
The professor must be concerned with communicating
a course's content in such a manner that the students
can undeistand. This includes ensuring that the TA is
an extention of this professor.
Teaching Assistants are in a no-win situation. On one
hand, they are students and must study to get their
degree. On the other hand, they are instructors and
must meet the demands of their assistantship. Walking
the tightrope is not easy. '
Most TAs have not had any formal education on
teaching techniques. They may know how to hold a
conversation, but standing before a class and waxing
philosophical about a particular subject is an entirely
different matter. Coupled with eight-plus credits of
graduate-level courses, the extra preparation required
to teach due to a lack of formal training creates time
pressure.
The pressure increases for those with problems
speaking English. All TAs should try to see that they
meet the course objectives, that they communicate the
subject as clearly as they are able,,that they alert the
professor and/or department to any problems encoun
tered along the way, and that they properly balance
their assistant and student roles.
Students are the priMary victims and perpetrators of
this problem. They attempt to learn the material but
poor communication makes understanding difficult; so
forum
The Daily Collegian Friday, April 6, 1984-1
is communication
they blame the TA or professor for their problems. Few
students realize the difficulty in effectively teaching
inattentive, passive students.
Even fewer understand that the assistant is also a
student. If students would sit closer to the front of the
classroom and would be quiet during lectures and
recitations, they would be able to hear the TA or
professor better. Also, if they would ask pertinent
questions, they would gain a richer understanding of
the material. By sitting closer and paying better
attention, the communication gap would be dimin
ished.
The department responsible for a course has the
most power to effect change in that course. It is at the
department level that instructor and TA assignments
are made. However, sometimes there are not enough
assistants who have the qualities to be superlative.
Sometimes an assistant shortage in the department
results in lecturing by TAs who do not speak fluent
English. What is a department to do when there are too
few excellent people to fill the open positions? Train
new assistants. Have the faculty prepare their assis
tants as fully as possible. This may include sitting in on
a few recitations during the first weeks of the semester.
Require proficiency or qualifying exams in English,
communication skills, and the subject to be assisted.
Demote or require further training in weak. areas for
those who don't make the cut. Allow students to rate
TAs and professors on a regulai basis to keep problems
from snowballing.
The department should also ensure that professors
who have not had formal education courses are ad
equately trained for the classroom environment. The
role of the department is (1) to make sure that the
students are getting the best possible education they
can, and (2) the faculty and assistants are commu
nicating their subjects so that objective (1) can be
attained.
The foreign TA is not the only problem in today's
classroom, but is one aspect of the communication
problem. Part of the solution is understanding roles:
the role of the students is to comprehend the material,
pass the course, and eventually graduate; the role of
the professor is to communicate the subject to the
students in a effective manner; the role of the assistant
is to supplement that of the professor, to communicate
the course material; and the role of the department is
to make sure that students, professors and assistants
are all fulfilling their roles.
Prejudice against accents is the main reason foreign
TAs are blamed for the communication problem. Let's
improve communication, and see if the foreign TA
problem won't fix itself.
The authors are both graduate students in computer
science and teaching assistants for Computer Science
203.