opinions The lost art of thinking In the not too distant future, a university professor might make a reference to Huck leberry Finn and students in the class might not know what he or she is talking about. Professors might get the same reaction if they mention The Diary of Anne Frank, Darwin’s theory of evolution, or any other controversial literary or scientific work. This is the goal of certain feminists, minority groups and fundamental Chris tians who are out to censor library materi als and textbooks that foster sexism, racism or secular humanism the doctrine which centers on human interests, rather than God. According to the American Library Asso ciation, efforts to censor classroom materi al have risen dramatically in the past two decades. The most recent case involves a Mobile, Ala., group of about 600 parents who are challenging textbooks they say promote atheistic humanism and exclude the Judeo- Christian faith. It will be a sad day for the children of Mobile or any other town, for that matter, if the censors’ efforts succeed. The intellectual exercise that comes from the discussion of new and controversial ideas is what stimulates learning and cre ativity in our educational system. An American Association of University .Professors report states that censorship threatens academic freedom which can deny students information that will help , them advance in college. the same report shows that watered down textbooks may be driving down test scores. daily Collegian Friday, Oct. 24,1986 ©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 CopyfWire Editors What do you think of politicians who focus, more on mudslinging than issues to defeat their opponents? Beth Skelly freshman English “Basically, I don’t think poli ticians who are into mudslinging should be in politics in the first place.” The effect of censorship at the elemen tary and secondary levels will later surface at the university level. Colleges and univer sities will be forced to offer remedial classes to make students aware of contro versial ideas and literary works. Religious revival groups and other inter est groups claim they have the right to say what should and should not be in textbooks. But if these groups get their way, they will force other people’s children to read text books filled with evangelical Christian ideas. Such textbooks would only be the extreme opposite of books biased toward secular humanism. These books would tell young creative minds what to think, with no op tions offered. By neutrally presenting controversial ideas or religions, textbooks are not dis criminating against anyone. If the students are taught to be open-minded and mature, they will not in any way be hindered in practicing their religion just by reading a textbook. Students are made aware of different ideas by reading textbooks containing con troversial issues they are not forced to believe or practice the ideas. Instead of being told whether a book is moral or not, students should be taught to decide for themselves. Thinking is a skill that must be practiced. If the move to censor textbooks becomes more commonplace in the United States, thinking will' become a lost art among American students. Sonya Baum, Rich Douma, Donna Higgins, Sheldon Jones, Terry Mutchler, Megan O'Matz Town Editor Phil Galewitz Assistant Toftn 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 Grandjean Assistant Arts Editor Jill Kosko Science Editor Kathi Dodson Graphics Editor Tony Ciccarelll 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 Olflce 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. Tsutomu Takahashi professor Japanese “In Japan, we don’t use that kind of thing. But I think that, in a way, it’s kind of good. It’s bad to condemn each other, but it’s kind of good to attack the weak point of the opponents.” Business and advertising complaints should be presented to the business manager. If a complaint is not satisfacto rlly 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 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. 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 Qf good taste. About the Collegian: The Daily Collegian and The Weekly Collegian are published by Collegian Inc., an Independent, non profit corporation with a board of direc tors composed of students, faculty and professionals. Students of The Pennsyl vania State University write and edit both papers and solicit advertising material for them. Tom Mangan senior telecommunications “It’s.getting ridiculous; totally out of hand. They just keep say ing the same things over again. Like Casey and Scranton keep saying, ‘you didn’t go to this meeting, you didn’t go to that meeting’ and they’re not talking about unemployment just all the bad points and not what they should be talking about.” ggr Q*lhat does H>l* Stand for? SHOO! DOWN |CBMs reader opinion Human failure While the Human Rights Day in the HUB Ballroom on Oct. 22 had as its inspiration “to increase the level of awareness on the urgency of human rights issues,” according to its chair man, the program dismisses human rights of some groups by not involv ing them. This is the case with lesbian women and gay men. Lesbians and gays make up about 10 percent of the population world wide or more than half of a billion people. In only a handful of countries do we enjoy protection and equal rights, mostly in Western Europe. Only Wis consin protects us from discimina tion. However, nowhere in the world are gays free from harassment. Accord ing to a recent study, 63 percent of gays.have been the subject of some form of violence because they are gay; this corresponds to about 15 million Americans. Most violence goes unreported, while cases which are brought to trial, including outright confessed murderers, are dropped by the courts because the victims are gays. This is a disgrace, but in a world in which many enjoy less freedom than Americans, the situation tends to be worse. This has prompted Amnesty Inter national to list gay activist prisoners as prisoners of conscience. As the largest minority group at the University and one of the most dis criminated against, the participation of the Lesbian and Gay Student Alli ance in the program would have lent it greater credibility as a positive force for change. The organizers have decided to make students aware of only certain Grace Powell senior general arts and sciences “Well, I think that’s really petty. First off, they should keep them selves addressed to the issues and only bring up relevant things and not that they’re not attending meetings. Personal things should not be brought up.” Sum KEIH© human rights issues. Therefore, the event failed in its efforts. Sim David Abcrson co-dircctor Lesbian and Gay Student Alliance Disgrace Dinner on Sunday, Oct 19 at Find lay Dining Hall was a disaster that calls for action. If you happened to be a student who came to dinner toward the end of the 4:30 to 6 p.m. period, you were in for a big disappointment You had to wait in a 40 minute line or longer. Your meal, supposed to be sausage or plain pizza, was a sorry excuse. If you wanted to get a salad, you were out of luck. You also would have found yourself eating to the stench of vinegar be cause tables were being cleaned while you were eating. What act of mismanagement can explain why these students were treated as second-class dining hall goers while paying in full? If Sunday’s meal was the first of such events it could be forgiven, but it’s not. This kind of abuse is usually delt to customers who eat closer to 6 p.m. Something must be done. Housing and Food Services should research the number of student’s eating at specific meals and plan ahead. If research doesn’t help, the stu dent’s arriving for dinner after 5:30 p.m. should receive a discount. Nothing will be done unless Hous ing and Food Services hears from customers who are fed up with the sorry state of late dinners. Together, we can get something done. Tony Rybak senior non-degree student “I think it’s kind of funny. My dad’s in politics and he doesn’t do that. I think it adds some fun to the campaign and gives the can didates more than just the issues to focus on.” The Daily Collegian Scmct DOOM Imminent Ken Snodgrass sophomore-engineering Steye Slater frcshmen-enginecring Compiled by Collegian stall writer Marly Irvin and pholographer Alan Klein Friday, Oct. 24, 1986 SHOVEL Dis information Speed limit Here I am again, your friendly neighborhood speed freak, crusading against the law I love to hate, the 55 mph speed limit. I did research and discovered some interesting facts. I was wrong in my last letter that the death rate is going up. In fact, it has been steadily decreasing since 1974. This fact admittedly puzzles the Department of Transportation. They say in Newsweek that if there is a correlation between speed and death rate, “it is simply impossible to isolate. While there are no clear indi cators the law saves lives, it does cost Americans time. Jim Baxter, president of the Citi zens Coalition for national Traffic Laws, is quoted in U.S. News and World Report as saying, “55 mph speed limit increases travel time 21 percent This equates to an extra month on the road for a salesman who travels 45,000-50,000 miles per year.” The argument many supporters of 55 mph give is that the government is trying to protect us. However, if this is so why are cigarettes still on sale in this coun try? Speeding may perhaps kill some one under certain conditions. Smoking will kill a person sooner or later. Why doesn’t the government protect us and ban cigarettes? The hypocrasy goes on. People do not want to drive 55 mph. Although polls show that most people don’t want the law repealed, support drops when the stipulation is added that tickets would be given for speeds as low as 60 mph. I’ve come to the end of another letter trying to inform the public of the ignorance of this law and find I have a lot more information. Michael J. Gehman junior-microbiology Jody Dively sophomore finance “They should concentrate more on the issues. When they go back, and forth on the radio, it seems like they concentrate more on what the other person is saying than what they believe in them selves. They should elaborate more on what their goals are for their campaigns.” Spend Dooms IPONTHWE 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 Vi pages, double-spaced) or forums (up to three typed pages, double spaced) to the Collegian in 126 Carnegie Building - 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. 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. ■* \1 i Racism: Prejudice continues to block Penn State's way to further progress "The night is black without a moon the air is thick and still. The vigilantes gather on the lonely, torch-lit hill." from “Witch Hunt” by Rush Today marks six weeks since six students were asked the question, “How do you think the climate for black students has changed since you came to campus?” The comments were written up in a “Quote/Unquote” section on these pages To please Lucifer by rounding out this hellish mathematical series, I decided to ask another six students for their answers to the same question. “The righteous rise with bruning eyes of hatred and ill-will.” “Witch Hunt” by Rush ‘"'You mean, how has the situation changed for them people? I think it’s improved drasti cally. Why, I’ve even let myself be seen associating with one or two of them people. I think all of Penn State is learning to deal with them. I’ve learned they’re people, almost like us.” “I don’t see any tension between blacks and whites. I don’t see any bitter feelings toward