The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, September 03, 1986, Image 7

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    opinions
editorial opinion
Clearing the air
For the last several years, the University
administration has been working hard to
dispel the clouds of inequality that have
kept black students from coming to Penn
State.
The University has poured money into
new academic programs, fueled urban re
cruitment centers and initiated other cam
paigns aimed at convincing blacks that
Penn State is the place for them.
The administration's recruitment efforts
seem to be sincere. But the numbers prove
that its efforts just, aren't convincing
enough 25 percent fewer black freshmen
enrolled at the University•this fall.
University officials admit the actions of
the e ßlack Student Coalition Against Racism
and other student groups significantly af
fected black freshman enrollment. But
these groups cannot take all the credit.
Other factors, such as the scarcity of
financial aid and a declining number of
black students going to college, also con
tributed to the decreasing enrollment.
Whatever the reasons, it is not too early to
speculate that the University may not meet
its 1987 goal of 5 percent black enrollment,
which stood at 3.2 percent last spring. The
administration is well aware of the stakes in
its efforts to meet the federally-mandated
court order to increase black student enroll
•ment.
Clearly, this is a problem that is not going
to go away and that will not be solved by the
University's current game plan. • .
. In the coming year, the administration
plans to increase funding for recruitment
and retention programs and for an advertis
ing campaign of the Commonwealth cam
puses' academic offerings.
It appears as though everything almost
daily Collegian
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 1986
©1986 Collegian Inc.
Anita C. Huslin
Editor
William G. Landis Jr.
Business Manager
The Daily Collegian is looking for a few good column
" ists for Fall Semester 1986.
Columnists will be expected to write opinionated,
well-written and researched columns for the editorial
opinion page concerning controversial issues or topics
that are currently capturing the public's attention
either locally or nationally.
Applications are now available in 126 Carnegie
Building. All former columnists must reapply if they
want to retain their position.
Please pick up an application for further details.
The deadline for all applications is Wednesday,
September 3, 1986 at 5 p.m.
Homo Penn Status:
Whose
. Do you ever question what the
seemingly never-ending parleys be
tween the Undergraduate Student
Government and the administra
tion, the administration and The
Daily Collegian, and the Collegian
and USG accomplish?
Wait, let's not stop there. What
about University Student Executive
Council, the Black Caucus and the
USG Senate? The Graduate Student
Association? The Council of Com
monwealth Student Governments?
Oh, and let's not forget the student
trustee?
Sometimes the answers aren't ob
vious.
'We question what goes on to un
derstand.
And what's all this "understand
ing" for? •
Looking at it one way, tradition.
First, let me apologize for not
being able to cite all of the 413
student organizations at the Univer
sity. The groups above were men
tioned because of their familiarity,
not importance, to the student body.
Anyway, it is the involvement of
students in all of these organizations
that is the true lifeblood of Dear Old
State.
Students have passed down tradi
tions at this University from the
ashes of an all-male Farmer's High
School to today's 60,000-plus land-
The Daily Collegian's editorial opin
ion 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 publica
tions, is a separate corporate insti
tution from Penn State.
Help Wanted
it to safeguard University tradition for the future? Yours
job
~,:..- 4 .,-,-
.. v ., 1
.....;,,714.-1 .Seniors can tell you what things
have changed. Believe it or not, the
stories about the keg on the corner
Iv'''
. 7 of Pugh Street and Beaver Avenue .
N.
' :
:':: .7. . V
.... . during a Phi Psi weekend, football une
tailgates
i tes wherecitationsfod
r r
"1
age drinking were an alcohol-in
duced ' paranoid delusion and, for
&:= 1 you freshmen, dorm-floor parties
lag .. . ''fi - L.6..._ with two kegs and 300 pounds of
sand in the study lounge are or
were, once true. .
I'm not saying I disapprove of the
changes that have been made to the
above traditions '— indeed, making
these Penn State events a little more
sober may be some of the more
important consequences of the last
few years in keeping tradition, as
well' as students, healthy at the
University.
The point I want to make is that
such events, while now labeled as
things of the past, were not nec
essarily painted on a wall of Penn's
Cave by early Homo Penn Status.
In just three years, many things
have changed. Although it some
times seems that the administration
had everything and the students had
nothing to do with them, what has
affected these changes was in fact a
compromise between the two forts.
Manning one fort are the adminis
trators and trustees, balancing
Penn State regulations and respon-
grant University.
Some have gone the wayside, such
as green frosh dinks, prexies and
football bonfires. Others have fos
tered and remained a mainstay of
the Penn State experience: the Nit
tany Lion, climbing Mount Nittany
and the grand daddy of them all,
Penn State football now 100 years
old and stronger than ever.
(The best tradition we somehow
lost was the class scraps good
natured tussles between the fresh
men and sophomores that would end
only with members of both classes
beating the hell out of each other.
Well, at least we still have the World
Wrestling Federation.)
Certainly, a prime example of
how University tradition is being re
shaped can be found in the plethora
of arguments and regulations con
cerning alcohol, its abuse and liabil
ity associated with it.
everything is being done to increase
black enrollment at Penn State. But all the
Old Main crew has to do is look out their
office windows to see otherwise.
Officials must stop trying to cover up a
bad odor with perfume, because as long as
the source remains, it will always stink.
If administrators really want Penn State
to be an environment where blacks want to
come and stay, perhaps it is time they look
at the root of the problem the attitudes
and sterotypes that exist here.
University students, faculty and adminis
trators should examine their own attitudes
toward blacks and determine if and why the
environment at Penn State is hostile and
what can be done to change it.
In some ways, the highly publicized work
of groups like BSCAR has served to further
alienate blacks from the rest of the Univer
sity community by continually portrayin'g
them as troublemakers who are unsatisfied
with the University.
Prejudice and racism exist everywhere.
But the situation of having few minority
students at a University in a small town that
is isolated from large urban areas may only
perpetuate these attitudes.
The necessary changes which will en
hance the University atmosphere for blacks
and for the entire community will not
come quickly or easily. Only awareness,
better understanding and time will create
an environment free of the negative atti
tudes and stereotypes that plague this Uni
versity.
But the administration cannot expect to
beef up minority recruitment efforts and
see the climate here improve immediately.
The entire Penn State community must first
clear the air of racist attitudes.
Letters Policy: The Daily Collegian en
courages comments on news coverage,
editorial policy and University affairs.
Letters must be typewritten, double
spaced and no longer than one and one
half pages. Forums must also be type
written, double-spaced and no longer
than three pages. •
Students" letters should include se
mester standing, major and campus of
the writer. Letters from alumni should
include the major and year of graduation
of the writer.
Questions should be directed to Opinion Editor Jill
Graham or Assistant Opinion Editor Alan J. Craver in
the Collegian office or at 865-1828.
The Daily Collegian is also accepting applications for
an editorial cartoonist. You must demonstrate Profi
cient drawing ability along with a perceptive grasp of
current events and the ability to comment on them on a
regular basis. Applications are now available at the
Collegian in 126 Carnegie Building. The deadline for
applications and drawing samples is Friday, Sept. 5.
CWlE.crawsNa vr irtuc. saw
Universities must be more ethical than
other institutions regarding divestment
By Robert S. Corrington
Last year a great deal of atten
tion was focused on the issue of
divestment and the role of Penn
State in helping to alleviate the
brutal conditions of apartheid in
South Africa.
In the stuggle to define the prop
er response of our University to
these conditions, some forms of
domestic racism emerged provid
ing striking evidence of the link
between institutional apartheid
and racial discord here at home.
forum
Consequently, the push for di
vestment naturally evoked into an
analysis of divisive conditions
within our own institution. During
the student and faculty/staff pro
divestment actions of last year, the
charge was occasionally made that
such actions were in themselves
divisions and distorted the true
mission of the University.
Protestors were accused of poli
ticizing the academy and imposing
an alien social agenda on a commu
nity which was designed to pursue
something called "pure knowl
edge."
This charge, and those which
share a family resemblance with
it, should not go unchallenged.
Divisiveness is not a function of
social query, but the product of
perceived injustices. .
That such query is oft times
painful is evident. That it is inevi
table should be equally evident.
Probing into the traits of injus
tice is fundamental to the life of
reason.
sibility with financial solvency and
keeping the . University familiar
with its 290,429 potential alumni
donors. The other fort is occupied by
involved and• concerned students
this is where you fit in.
Remembering what you enjoy
_about your University experience
benefits you and is something you'll
always have. But once in a while,
think of how you'd feel as a fresh
man entering the University now
. . . or 10 years from now.
it is a special tradition to have
built a university such as Penn State
on the ideas of administrators, fac
ulty and students a tradition
based on the understanding that
new ideas have merit along with the
wisdom of old ways.
What involved students are fight
ing is the future potential of Penn
State. You must help forge Universi
ty history which will be passed on to
other students long after you grad
uate.
A future Penn State clinically
sterilized by student apathy and
administrative over-regulation is a
bleak-looking future indeed.
Someone has to question what's
going on to assure Penn State of
realizing its future potential. •
The task of tempering administra
tive action with concern for what the
University will be like in the future
... ... ~.. .. .•
•
-
This concern has now become
more pointed with the rapid growth
of Penn State and particularly with
the soon to be inaugurated Capital
Funds Campaign.
The relationship between our
University , and the larger, and
more powerful, corporate, world
should give all of us pause for
thought.
In our natural and understand
able drive to increase non-state
related revenues, we must be alert
to the possible social and ethical
costs that might be entailed bY
accepting such funds.
Is our attitude to divestment in
any way conditioned by our inti
mate relation to large corpora
tions, many of which practice in
South Africa?
Is our attitude toward large
grants, whatever be the source,
such as to blind us to the role of
some grant giving institutions or
corporations in furthering the con
ditions of injustice?
No one should be naive enough to
assume that we can long flourish
without external private support.
This has become a condition of
survival in the latter part of our
'century.
But it does not follow that we
must cease probing into the very
structures which enable us to pur
sue those enterprises fundamental
to the life of the University.
I have long assumed that univer=
sities should be more moral and
more ethically conscious than cor
porations or governments.
Consequently, it is an embar
rassment when our own U.S. Con
gress has passed strong sanctions
against the racist regime in South
Africa while we still cling to the
idea that the benevolence of U.S.
firms will somehow transform the
is up to students —involved stu
dents. It is a tradition that has
flourished here for some 132 years.
Why does USG question the ad
ministration and the Collegian?
Why does the Collegian question
USG and the administration? Why
does the administration question the
Collegian and USG?
Sometimes the answers aren't ob
vious.
The Daily Collegian
Wednesday, Sept. 3, 1986
° 0; s
• •••,
political and social reality of 24
million Blacks in South Africa.
Conditions have long gone be
yond such simplictic solutions.
Washing our hands of the Afrikan
er power structure does not entail,
as some would argue, washing our
hands of those millions struggling
for liberation.
Divestment is merely the first
step in a prolonged process of re
construction which will involve the
entire southern portion of Africa.
The goal in South Africa should
be majority rule with minority
rights.
• I believe that we can come closer
to bringing this about by following
Bishop Desmond Tutu's call for
economic sanctions.
Temple University recently di
vested its South African holdings
and received high praise from
Bishop Tutu during his commence
ment speech there.
I would like to see the day when
Penn State could be equally
praised for taking such action.
The challenge facing Penn State
is great. We must continue our
drive to become one of the leading
teaching and research institutions
in the country while letting the rest.
of the world know, in no uncertain
terms that we will not condone or
further those conditions which
make life intolerable for millions.
I would argue that we can be
successful in our capital campaign
without sacrificing our basic moral
principles.
No doubt, some of my colleagues
hold this belief to be naive. I ear
nestly hope that they can be proven
wrong.
Corrington is a University assis
tant professor of Philosophy;
We question what goes on to un
derstand.
And what's all this "understand
ing" for?
Looking at it one way, tradition.
Looking at it another way, the
future of tradition.
Doug Popovich is a senior majoring
in English and journalism and a
news editor for The Daily Collegian.
elf!
..'-9
Effects of journalist's detention continue to show
By LAWRENCE L KNUTSON
Associated Press Writer
Vice President George Bush and Defense correspondent for U.S. News and World Re-
Secretary Caspar W. Weinberger said yester- port magazine, on Saturday and accused him
day the Soviet Union falsely arrested an of engaging in espionage. A Soviet friend had
American journalist, while the head of the handed Daniloff an envelope that he said
Senate Foreign Relations Committee said contained newspaper clippings, but .Soviet
Nicholas Daniloff's detention dims prospects authorities say it contained top-secret maps.
for a superpower summit. Some Soviet officials have said Daniloff
Speaking to reporters in Akron as he cam- may be tried for espionage. The Soviets have
paigned for Ohio Republicans, Bush said compared his arrest ivith the Aug. 23 arrest in
Daniloff's arrest threatens U.S.-Soviet rela- New York City of a Soviet employee of the
tions, but stopped short of saying it would United Nations, Gennadi Zakharov, who is
jeopardize a planned superpower summit. charged with spying for allegedly paying an
"I can say that if the Soviets, persist in employee of a military subcontractor $l,OOO
going down this avenue, no question about it, to receive classified documents about a U.S.
it's making the chance for better relations 'Air Force jet engine.
much more difficult," he said. "The Soviet in New York was caught red-
Weinberger, in Cincinnati to address a handed. He's clearly guilty of espionage,"
convention of the American Legion, said, Weinberger told a news conference.
"It's a trumped-up charge. Anyone who Bush said that if it is true that Daniloff will
Reefs make smuggler ships hot items
By DONALD W. SWINTON
Associated Press Writer
MIAMI The growing practice
of sinking old ships off the coast to
build artificial reefs that attract
fish and divers is making derelict
and confiscated drug-smuggling
freighters a hot commodity and
driving up prices.
"It wasn't that long back that no
one wanted these ships. Now it's
just a matter of who comes up with
the money first," says Bob Parker
of the Jacksonville Offshore Sport
Fishing Club.
In July, Parker's club spent $25,-
000 to sink the drug-smuggling
freighter Anna off Jacksonville.
Five years ago the freighter might
have been donated to the group or
bought at auction for $2,000, Parker
said.
Old steel ships are ideal for in-
ATTENTION
THE STUDENT ADVISORY BOARD TO
UNIVERSITY HEALTH SERVICES
announces its mandatory organizational
meeting for Wednesday, Sept. 3rd. at 7:30
P.M. in the Ritenour lobby. Interested appli
cants are also welcome.
0270
4c
Attention: BAT Members
* m andatory Organizational and Planning Meeting
Elections Chairpersons all committees
Agenda: Planning, Pizza and Pop
* 4c
• Wed., Sept. 3rd 6:30-7:30 p.m. 121 Sparks 4c
* BAT: GIVING YOU THE EDGE • 4(
**************************************
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You can start planning your future in public ac
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If you're unable to meet with us, then pick up a
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knows Mr. Daniloff would know he would not
do that. I think it's a deplorable situation."
The Soviet KGB arrested Daniloff, Moscow
creasing fish populations for both
sport and commercial fishermen.
Like coral reefs, they provide a
'maze of shelters for marine plants
and the tiny fish that become the
basis of a food chain, marine biolog
ists say.
The best known of the scuttled
ships is the Mercedes I, a 190-foot
Venezuelan freighter which gained
notoriety when a storm drove it
aground next to socialite Mollie
Wilmot's Palm Beach mansion on
Thanksgiving Day 1984.
Broward County bought the ship
for $29,000, cleaned it and sank it in
97 feet of water, said Steve Somer
ville, a Broward County coastal
engineer.
"It was a great show," Somer
ville said. More than 1,000 boats
followed the Mercedes I as it was
towed to sea, traffic stopped on U.S.
1 along the coast and thousands of
be put on trial for espionage, "I think it's
outrageous. . . . This man is being set up, and
the whole world knows it. He is being set up
because of the spy that was apprehended in
New York."
In Washington, Sta,te Department deputy for improved U.S.-Soviet relations, the high
spokesman Charles Hedman declined to say visibility arrest and possible trial of Daniloff
how the United States intends to respond to leads to the question of "who is in charge" in
Daniloff's arrest. He said only that the U.S. the Soviet Union.
government will do all it can to ensure his
release
As for the possibility that the Soviets ar- and unconditional release" of Daniloff from a
rested Daniloff in retaliation for the FBl's KGB prison.
arrest of Zakharov, Redman said the United Lugar told a news conference he is "con-
States can't rule out that Moscow is trying to fused" as to why the Soviets chose to arrest
influence the Zakharov case by detaining the American correspondent at a time when
Daniloff,
But, he said, "the two cases are completely bet Ween Secretary of State George P. Shultz
different. The Zakaharov case will be pros- and Soviet Foreign . Minister Eduard She
ecuted on its merits in strict conformity with vardnadze, and subsequently between Presi-
U.S. law. With regard to Daniloff, his deten- dent Reagan and Gorbachev. •
tion on trumped up charges is unwarranted." "I think it's a very serious matter with
people crowded beaches to watch "Our interest is fish," said Ben
flames and smoke shoot from the Mostkoff of the Dade County Artifi
-34-year-old freighter. cial Reef Program, the nation's
"(They) used to just stack dyna- largest reef-building project.
mite on the deck and blow the ship "In the last five years alone, this
to smithereens, but now they use department has placed 20 ships,
pyrotechnics. . . . They use dyna- - over 100 feet in length, in offshore
mite to sink it and gasoline for waters off Dade County,". he said.
show," Somerville explained. "If you add up all the previous
The well-publicized spectacle has years of reef construction activity
paid off, in this area, there are about 45 steel
"What that single ship has allow- ships offshore."
ed us to do is intercept the dive But he said reef building is using
traveler," Somerville said. "Since up ships and "unfortunately supply
we sank it, in the first year more is down, demand is up and the
than 10,000 scuba divers have gone prices increase."
diving on it. This summer, Monroe County, in
"That's a lot of money. Where
they spend the big money is flying
down from Michigan, going out to
dinner and staying in a hotel."
Other marine conservationists
shun such big displays.
the Florida Keys, bought two ships,
one for $27,000 and one for $30,000.
"Most all the coastal states in the
United States are practicing some
kind of artificial reef building,"
said Mostkoff.
At a Capitol Hill news conference in Wash
ington, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., chair
man of the Foreign Relations Committee,
said that because of Soviet leader Mikhail
Gorbachev's previous apparent enthusiasm
Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole, R-Kan.,
appealed to Gorbachev for the "immediate
preparations were under way for a meeting
Rains dump on Dallas;
18 injured in bus slide
DALLAS (AP) A city bus slid
into a concrete abutment in heavy
rain yesterday, injuring 18 people and
briefly trapping them inside.
The rain set a record for the Dallas-
Fort Worth area for Sept. 1 of 1.87
inches and prompted a flash flood
watch across northern Texas.
The driver of the Dallas Area Rapid
Transit bus, Lester Moffett, 30, was
pinned for about an hour and 45
minutes, said DART spokesman
Richard Johnson.
Moffett underwent surgery at
Parkland Memorial Hospital and was
in serious condition, said hospital
spokeswoman Linda Riordan.
She said 11 other people admitted to
Parkland were in fair or good condi ,
tion. St. Paul Medical Center
spokeswoman Pam Reaves said six
people were treated for minor inju
ries.
Johnson said the bus was on an
The Daily Collegian Wednesday. Sept. 3, 1986-13
regard to the summit meeting and the min
isterial meeting," Lugar said.
"These things are not isolated, at least in
my judgment. It leads to the basic question of
whether the Soviets are preparing seriously
for a summit or for serious talks.
"I just find the situation as it stands to be
intolerable."
"Can you keep the Daniloff case going on
one track with a full-fledged trial and on the
other hand make substantial progress in the
forthcoming U.S.-Soviet talks?" he asked.
"I don't think you can do it," Lugar said.
He said he seriously doubts whether the
Soviets can bring Daniloff to trial and expect
at the same time to "make much headway"
in summit talks.
Consequently, he said, "I am confused as to
who is in charge."
In a telegram to Gorbachev, Dole said he
was "deeply disturbed by the wholly unjusti
fied detention" of Daniloff.
express run north of downtown. He
said he did not know how many pas
sengers were on the 46-seat bus when
it crashed.
Paramedics freed the trapped pas
sengers.
A flash flood warning was in effect
for most of the day in two West
Central Texas counties, and one high
way was washed out in several
places.
The downpours were blamed over
the weekend for the death of Mary
Sosa Gutierrez, 44, of Big Spring, who
was swept away by floodwaters.
The heaviest rainfall amounts re
ported Tuesday included 6 inches in
Burkett 4 inches in Brown County
near Panther Creek, 3:79 inches at
San Angelo, 2.02 inches at Cresson,
1.87 inches at Dallas-Fort Worth In
ternational Airport, 1.6 inches at Eu
less and 1.79 inches at North Richland
Hills.