opinions editorial opinion A stand for fairness Governors and university presidents should know that even the most insignifi cant and innocent actions can haunt them. Bryce Jordan should have been attuned to what may set off another confrontation with students after a long list of controversies. But he wasn’t. Mary Greeley- ( Beahm thought she was about to begin a three-year term as the University’s student trustee. She isn’t. Instead, she’ll be serving a one-year term, while William Schreyer, head of Mer rill Lynch, gets the three-year seat held by the last student trustee. It might be easier to swallow if someone had told Greeley-Beahm she wasn’t getting the thhee-year seat. Instead, she was led along to believe otherwise, facing the em barrassing shock of a premature expira tion. Thornburgh’s office said the appointment was made so Greeley-Beahm wouldn’t serve beyond her graduation. But Greeley- Beahm says she told Thornburgh officials she intended to continue her studies here the entire three years. Meanwhile, Schreyer knew since last spring he would serve a three-year term on the board. Something doesn’t seem right. In fact, several things don’t seem right. Why wasn’t Greeley-Beahm told she would have just a one-year term on the daily Collegian Thursday, Oct. 23,1986 ©1986 Collegian Inc. Anita C. Huslin Editor William G. Landis Jr. Business Manager 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. Board of Editors Managing Editor Jeanette Krebs Opinion Editor Jill Graham Assistant Opinion Editor Alan J. Craver - Editorial Writers Pete Baratta Damon Chappie, Donna Saber News Editors Bob King, Doug Popovich Copy/Wire Editors Sonya Baum, Rich Douma, Donna Higgins, Sheldon Jones, Terry Mutchler, Megan O’Matz Town Editor Phil Galewitz Assistant Town Editor Thompson Holland Campus Editor Celeste McCauley Assistant Campus Editor Nancy Funk Sports Editor Mark Ashenfelter Assistant Sports Editors Rob Biertempfel, Matt Herb Magazine Editor Chris Raymond Assistant Magazine Editor Mark Brennan Arts Editor Pat Grandj'ean Assistant Arts Editor Jill Kosko Science Editor Kathi Dodson Knife-dancing: Why do people see one danger so clearly, while habit and emotion blind them to others? I have this friend I’d like to tell you about She’s from another country, a strange little place you’ve probably never heard of. She’s wanted by the law in her country which is why I won’t give her real name or the name of the country. I’ll just call her Valerie. Valerie thinks nothing like what happened to her could happen in this country. She thinks not enough Americans appreciate what an enlightened country they live in, so she wants me to tell her story. I’m not so sure I agree with her, but I’m going to tell you about this anyway. Valerie, however, has a penchant for speed It appears the laws in her country are a It’s an addiction I think many Americans little warped. The public gets very incensed can understand. I know I can. So, whenever about something which is dangerous so all she got the chance, she would speed down sorts of laws and police measures are taken the highway, taking her car up to 95 mph, against it, simply to protect the people of which is the fastest it goes, the country: This of course seems quite Valerie is not the only person in her reasonable. And yet other practices that are country with this addiction. In fact, there far more dangerous are encouraged, seem- are many people w h o break this law regu ingly for no reason at all. larlyi most 0 f t h e m young, looking for As you will see, however, Valerie is a little drills. Of course, it is dangerous, especially naive and if she had looked closely, she. everyone else is driving so slow, so a would have seen there are some very con- g o od number of accidents occur, crete reasons these things are: tolerated ■ and in Va ierie’s country fight this sometimes encouraged But enough of my crime aU they , re worth _ they have editorializing, let s get to Valerie s story- f un d- ra isers to get money to launch educa- Driving over 45 miles per hour campaigns ° n the issuean d a great deal ly illegal in Valerie s country 0 f public and government attention is fo ceived as a life-threatening, very dange o cuse( j on stopping this dangerous activity, activity. It is also viewed by many people as Luieuu “ w B a grave sin. She would have left the country, except board? Why did Schreyer get the three-year seat? Did Jordan advance that notion be cause Schreyer is chairman of the five-year Campaign for Penn State? Did Jordan real ly not know, as he claims, that Schreyer, whom he has worked with closely this past year, was getting the three-year seat? Did Thornburgh and Jordan favor the financial interests of Schreyer over the student inter ests of Greeley-Beahm? We may never know the answers to these and other questions. However, there is one solution to ease this situation. In the wake of another incident that underscores this University’s insensitivity to student opinion, the trustees should make the student position a permanent fixture on the board. Such a move would demonstrate a commitment that this sort of odious action won’t and can’t happen again. It’s not enough to speculate that the student trustee position will be there be cause of tradition. We may seem insecure and paranoid, but the trust this administra tion has garnered with its deaf ear toward students leaves everything to be desired. Much more, students could rest assured that their voice can’t be easily erased at the whim of incoming politicians and financial magnates. If, as the divestment issue shows, this University doesn’t stand for morality, at least the trustees could at long last take a stand for fairness. Graphics Editor Tony Ciccarelli Photo Editor Cristy Rickard Assistant Photo Editor Dan Oleski Board of Managers Assistant Business Manager Amy R. Norris Accounting Manager Lori A. Spossey Assistant Accounting Manager K. C. McClure Office Manager Laura Karp Assistant Office Manager Curt Sayers Sales Manager David M. Profozich Assistant Sales Manager Glenn B. Rougier National Sales Manager Kathleen J.Heilman Layout Coordinator Nancy George Marketing Coordinator Kristy M. Burgess Complaints: News and editorial com plaints should be presented to the editor. Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. If a complaint is not satisfacto rily resolved, grievances may be filed with the Accuracy and Fair Play Commit tee of Collegian Inc. Information on filing grievances is available from Gerry Lynn Hamilton, executive secretary, Collegian Inc. Letters Policy: The Dally 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. All writers should provide their address and phone number for verification of the letter. Letters should be signed by no more than two people. Names may be withheld on request. The Collegian reserves the right to edit letters for length and to reject letters if they are libelous or do not conform to standards of good taste. Because of the number of letters received, the Collegian cannot guarantee publication of all the letters it receives. ■■ reader opinion Porn response In response to Sue Eichorn’s letter of Oct. 20, “Pornography,” it is inac curate to assume that the Penn State Cinemas deliberately refrained from showing pornographic films on Par ents’ Weekend. Let me first point out that PSC, a department of the Association of Res idence Hall Students, has only been in existence for the past six months. Thank you for pointing out that porn has not been shown for the past three Parents’ Weekends. We were unaware of this fact; however, we are not the same Board of Directors which approved the pre vious movie schedules. Up until April, the organization of which you speak was the Penn State Movie Cooperative, a joint venture between the Undergraduate Student Govern ment and ARHS. I must also point out that Universi ty guidelines give PSC total control over which movies are shown. We voted to show pornography this se mester. It was done because it is a service students obviously want (as shown by the box office receipts) and will continue to use. We don’t assume parents are so naive as to not know what is happen ing, and the fact that porn was not shown on Parents’ Weekend has a quite plausible explanation. Th.e fact of the matter is, we decid ed to show Disney flicks for a week end to see how they would fare. Since the two movies we wanted were only available the weekend of Oct. 10, we had to schedule them then. she could not bear to leave her favorite brother, Igor, who had an addiction of a different nature. This was something which is seen as comparatively harmless well, although everyone knows it’s dangerous, it certainly isn’t looked upon as sinful, it isn’t illegal and the people who practice it are usually part of the basic establishment. This practice is knife-dancing. Let me describe knife-dancing to you briefly. First, the dancer balances himself with each foot on a small animal native to that country (Valerie said they look a lot like squirrels). Then he takes six or seven knives and throws them all into the air and tries to catch them as they fall. Most of the knife-dancers in that country are middle-aged, because the younger peo ple are beginning to realize how dangerous it is even for a skilled dancer. Indeed, just looking at the body of a knife-dancer, which is often lacking arms, legs or fingers, is enough to convince you of that. And their death rate is staggering. Although knife-dancing is legal, there are many people in the country who do not knife-dance and are quite frightened of being killed by a stray knife. They would like to see knife-dancing confined by law and kept out of public places. However, they are virtually the only peo- ADMINISTRATION! PuTriNlG- lIS OION SPIN! ONI SUMMIT FSMLUJ2E Also, the Office of Student Activ ities only gave us two rooms in which to show movies. Had we been given the third room like we frequently are, Wanda would have continued to Whip Wall Street. If special interest groups are going to continue attacking us, we ask that they please get their facts straight instead of basing their arguments on assumptions and emotional appeal. We realize that porn is a sensitive issue, and we are willing to discuss all aspects of the PSC with anyone who is concerned enough to take the time to come in and ask. John Dalryinple chairman, PSC Board of Directors, executive vice president, ARMS Freedoms Why doesn’t Debbie do Dallas on Parents’ Weekend? For the same reason you don’t take parents to frat parties. And for the same reason your boyfriend or girlfriend abstains from sleeping over on Parents’ Weekend. Be honest parents can be cool, but they are still our parents. Without getting into a debate over the legality and morality of pornogra phy, I would like to say that I myself find pornographic films distasteful. However, my personal likes or dis likes should not govern any Universi ty policy; and neither should Sue Eichorn’s, who recently had a letter published in The Daily Collegian. Until the Supreme Court rules otherwise, pornography is a freedom of expression, just as important as any other freedom mentioned in the Bill of Rights. It is not a religious issue, and assertions as to the ethicality of por nography should be made on a socie tal level and not an ecumenical one. Not everyone on campus is a devout Christian; people who watch porno graphic films do not feel as if they are dishonoring God and Jesus. Christ. If Eichorn would have argued that pornography downgrades society, that might have given her argument a more universal persuasion, al though I would disagree on the grounds that many things tend to downgrade society (such as alcohol) are still full-fledged American free doms. I respect Eichorn’s religious va lues, but I do not think she should attempt to impose them on such a variegated and liberal institution as Penn State. Good job Congratulations to The Daily Colle gian sports staff for their remarkable Homecoming issue of The Collegian Magazine. Being an avid Penn state football fan, I find your publications informa tive as well as entertaining. Although your hard work and long hours fre quently go unrecognized, there are some of us here at the University who appreciate your dedication to quality. Thanks for making Penn State’s “Century of Excellence” year one to remember. ple who are working for this cause and they are often characterized as annoying and overly cautious. There is even an express ion to describe someone as paranoid: “He looks for knives falling from the sky.” Valerie told me she could not understand %vhy this practice was legal, especially since it seemed far more dangerous than speed ing. I thought at first that I understood why, but I only had half the reason. I thought it must have a lot to do with the fact that the people who speed are mostly young and rebellious, and the people who knife-dance are mostly middle-aged and part of the establishment and would raise a fuss if they were legislated against. But later, Valerie mentioned in passing that one of the biggest industries in their country is knife-making. I think I get the picture, don’t you? Well, whatever the reasons behind all this, Valerie’s brother Igor died as a result of knife-dancing. One afternoon, when he was relaxing with a little dance, something startled the animal underneath his left foot. He lost his balance and didn’t manage to catch a single knife as they fell. Valerie says she did not even recognize her brother when she found him. After that, there was no reason for her to remain in a country where, any day, she could be arrested for a habit and addiction The Daily Collegian Thursday, Oct. 23, 1986 Paul Kleidermacher sophoniore-prc mcd which she could not break, so she immi grated to the United States. Everytime she tells anyone this story, Valerie can’t help saying how happy she is that knife-dancing is illegal in the United States. She can not imagine the enlightened Unit ed States making such a poor decision to permit something as dangerous as knife dancing while hunting down with zeal and fervor everyone who commits another crime which is certainly does not directly kill more people per year. Unfortunately, I can imagine it. Why, it was only this week that I read Carl Sagan, quoted in USA Today, mention this statistic: 400 deaths per year in the United States are directly related to drug use, while 4,000 deaths per year are directly related to cigarette smoking. So when is Nancy Reagan going to jump on the anti-smoking bandwagon? And when will people stop adopting causes franticly just because they are the “in” causes? Not that taking drugs is great or should be legalized, but why is it we can see one danger so clearly, while habit and emotion can blind us to another? Angela Vietto is a sophomore majoring in Englishand a column for The Daily Colle gian. Her column appears every other Thrusday. Overall performance; “A-plus.” Rhonda A. Critchfield scnior-telccomiminieations Candidates The Oct. 16 issue of The Daily Colle gian reported on a congressional can didate’s press conference where four of my colleagues appeared and pub licly endorsed the candidate. I would like to address two points. • The candidate’s statement that he was “trying to take it (child abuse) out of the political arena and turn it over to people who deal with it day in and day out,” could be viewed as misleading since my colleagues do not deal with child abuse every day. • The statement that members of the department discussed the adver tisement privately and were pre pared to write letters against it. The discussions must have been very pri vate since not all members were involved. Perhaps, only those who are anti-Clinger were involved. Not all administration of justice faculty agree with the statements in support of the candidate who held the press conference. Indeed, it may even be unethical for professors to hide behind their academic robes in support of political candidates. As citizens, of course, they have the right to support anyone. To use their academic affiliation in endorsing candidates is deceptive to say the least. Edwin J. Donavan assistant professor administration of justice opinions Please write The Daily Collegian welcomes letters from students, faculty, staff and area residents concern ing issues and topics of interest to the Collegian's readership. With the semester at the half-way point, many important issues confront the University. Authors must present letters to-the-editor (no more than 1 pages, double-spaced) or forums (up to three typed pages, double spaced) to the Collegian in 126 Carnegie Building during office hours, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Students’ letters should include the semester and major of each writer. Letters from alumni should include the author’s major and year of graduation. All writers should provide their address, phone number and so cial security number for verifica tion of the letter. Letters should be signed by no more than two people. Names may be withheld on request. The opinion editors reserves the right to edit letters for length and to reject letters if they are libelous or do not conform to standards of good taste. Due to the number of letters receive, the Collegian cannot guarantee that all letters will be published. All letters become the property of Collegian Inc. jtickorTteat Hems. Kids Eat Free. , 1L || 1 i j \ S s§lirj l ponderosa i o Tthfirton st. I i"“" a l 6 a ° University Drive) I Growing old: People shouldn't be so concerned with the future that they blur through life So it’s Monday, and a God-awful one at that. And there I am, walking down the Mall, too early in the morning and for some absurd reason I don’t even remember now. Oh yeah, and it was pouring down rain, the kind of rain where an umbrella doesn’t work for squat because it’s not just raining down, but side ways, too, if you know what I mean. Well, anyway, I’m squishing down the side walk and one of my shoelaces decides I don’t have quite enough misery going for me. So the little bugger mutinies, unties and works his way out of the first couple of eyelets. “Great,” I thought to myself. I realize this isn’t a very profound thought to have shared with myself, but like I said it was early and it was a dung heap of a day. Besides, I’m sure most of you geniuses wouldn’t have done any better. So I sit down on one of those benches to lace it back up and that damn little plastic thing on the end of the lace is gone. Great. So I start licking the end of the lace and twisting it to a point, feeling pretty stupid the whole time. “Having some trouble there, pal?” This threw me off because I knew none of my “pals” were around at the time. It turns out there was this old guy sitting on thebench, but I didn’t even notice him, he blended in so well with the grayness of the day. Old guys are pretty nondescript if you think about it. “Yeah,” I said. Wonderful. My world is falling apart and this Geritol junky wants to strike up a conversation. Now I notice this guy’s sitting on the bench, under an umbrella, feeding squirrels from abagful of nuts. What could I do but conclude e 1986 Ponderosa. Inc. he’d gone senile, sitting out in the rain feeding an occasional brave or stupid squirrel? “You look like something’s really bothering you, son.” Oh boy, I’d had enough. I was feeling especially crabby and this guy walked into the combat zone. “Yeah,” I said, “I’m afraid that one day I’ll end up being like you.” Now that was evil. The poor old fart didn’t deserve that. But, he’d started it. He turned to me and looked at me with these really deep eyes, just a little bloodshot around the edges. I felt a little twinge of guilt inside. He looked like a wise old saint or a crazed old pervert with those eyes, I couldn’t be sure which. “Being like me?” he said. “And just what does being like me mean to you?” He spoke so sincerely and intelligently I was taken off guard. The least he deserved was an honest answer to his question. “Well, I guess it means having pruny skin, prostrate trouble, contending with Polydent §% fiinVTioN nation s Where’s The Action? Look No Further! We’ve Got It Here ... Weekly Specials Oct. 20*26 10% OFF Any Woolrich item (Already reduced items excluded.) 120 E. College Ave., State College, PA 16801 (814)237-1685 M-W 9-5:30; Th, F, Sat. ’tll-9:00; Sun. 10-4 n nation worn A nation vpottn A nation tenon § i! icM 5. Texas Instruments Job Fair Tuesday, October 28, 1986 Penn State HUB Ballroom lnterviews Scheduled TALK TO TTs MAJOR SIGN UP FOR I Computer Science PRODUCT & SERVICE INTERVIEWS IF YOU .. UTwkh technicai un der- GROUPS. ARE GRADUATING graduate degree Tl’s technical managers want to WITH THESE DEGREES: Brlcfln> , s and sign-ups for see you. They want to tell you Bachelor’s, Master’s or PhD interviews: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., about the job opportunities in the degrees in: October 28, HUB Ballroom, many technologies which make . Electrical Engineering Interviews (by appointment): Texas Instruments a leader in elec- . Mechanical Engineering October 29 and 30. tronics. • Industrial Engineering That’s why TI is having a Job . Materials Technology Fair on the Penn State campus, October 28 through 30. It gives the company three days to bring in key engineers and managers to meet you. They'll come from TI _ labs and sites to describe pro grams, answer questions, and g R I schedule interviews. 1 ;r —~C § I ’ . If you’re a top student, par- 1 —rr SUI \ » —-I ticularly in EE or Computer Sci- 1 § HI ' \ 1 ence, this is an event you won’t l -t £ o H 1 want to miss. 1 1 , 7 ft 910 _ 112 13 * l5 fjtiA | Please bring your resume and a copy of your transcript or a list of courses. An Equal Opportunity Employer M/F gi , Texas Instruments For more information, Creating useful products please contact the and services for you. Penn State Placement Service. and doing senile things like sitting in the rain feeding squirrels.” “Sounds like you’re just afraid of getting old, the way I see it.” Amazing. The man does not get angry. “Shouldn’t I be? I don’t relish the thought of getting up in the morning and spending 10 minutes coughing up lung.” “Seems to me you sure know a lot about being old for someone one-third my age. I guess it never occurs to you young, beautiful people that you could actually be wrong about something. Does it?” “Well, 1.. “So I thought. You all think once you’re over the hill, you pick up speed and a weak ened body means a weakened mind. Quite frankly, given the chance to be like you again or remain as I am, I wouldn’t change.” “Are you kidding?” I exclaimed. “Why not?” “Well, pretty much because you’re a pack of insensitive jerks with no sense of anything really important.” I tried feebly to defend the undergraduate population of Penn State against that remark, but the old codger was on a roll. “Thirty-five thousand of you all racing dowh a road leading nowhere.” He paused and spat. “You don’t appreciate anything, that’s your trouble.” “Wait a minute, what do you mean we don’t appreciate anything?” “Just what I said. You are all so busy, so concerned with the future that you blur through life not even stopping to take any of it ★★★★*★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★****************** J PIZZA poq n { * Call 238-3112 Open4pm-lam No checks please * £ 418 Clay Lane Free Delivery J * ★ ★ ★ DRIVERS NEEDED NOW ★ ★ ★ * ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★•A' Special! WITH THIS COUPON GET A LG. CHEESE PIZZA FOR $4.99 *Regular price $5.50 The Daily Collegian Thursday, Oct. 23, 1986—9 in and appreciate it. You do, do, do; I stop, watch and think.” "Hold on, you can’t be implying none of us think.” “No, just too few of you. When was the last time you actually created something, some thing besides a puddle of gakk on Beaver Avenue?” Okay, so he had a point. “Well, let me tell you,” he began, and I knew this was gonna be good. “There’s still hope for most of you, so don’t worry. You see, right now all of you are here to get a good job, maybe drive a nice car, be successful. But that passes. I hope when you’re near the end of your life you can look back on everything and be happy, like me.” “Why wouldn’t I?” I asked. “Because right now you all think only in terms of success of getting what you want; I think in terms of happiness of wanting what I get.” , Wow, that floored me. The rain had stopped and numerous squirrels were now crawling up to him and taking nuts from his hand. He gave each a kind word and a pat on the head. Unbelieveable. “You look like something’s really bothering you, son.” “Yeah,” I said, “I’m afraid that when that day comes, I won’t be like you.” Todd S. Christopher is a sophomore major ing in English and a columnist for The Daily Collegian. His column appears every other Thursday.
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