The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, June 11, 1987, Image 1

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COLLEGIAN 100 YEARS VJWI ■ ¥
April 1887-April 1987
Reagan adviser blasts Soviet demands
By BARRY SCHWEIO
AP Diplomatic Writer
. VENICE, Italy President Reagan’s national
security adviser chastised Moscow yesterday for
introducing a last-minute demand that West Ger
man missiles be dismantled, while Secretary of
State George P. Shultz prepared to brief NATO on
U.S.-Soviet arms talks.
“There is no reason to introduce this kind of
proposal at the last minute,” Frank Carlucci said
at a news conference near the end of the economic
summit meeting here.
■ The Pershing 1A missiles, with a range of about
450 miles, were sold to West Germany by the
United States but the United States retains
control of their nuclear warheads.
“They should be kept off the table,” Carlucci
said. “They should not be part of the negotiating
process.”
Shultz, meanwhile, headed for Reykjavik, Ice
land, to seek the North Atlantic Council’s formal
approval at a meeting that opens today.
In an interview with ABC-TV’s “Good Morning
America” before departing Venice, Shultz said the
process of consultation with the allies was “just
Study time
A University student takes advantage of the warm weather during Summer Session to do some studying outside.
Computer teaches writing skills
By KIM ALISON DALINKA
Collegian Staff Writer
College students’ writing and communication skills
could be improved with a new textbook and computer
software combination developed by a professor at Carne
gie Mellon University.
David S. Kaufer, an associate professor of rhetoric,
said his research indicates that students need added
emphasis upon the development and formation of ideas
essential to complete a writing sample.
Kaufer’s book, The Architecture of Argument: A Cross-
Disciplinary Rhetoric, deals specifically with teaching
people how to write arguments.
Most English courses deal primarily with the grammat
ical and mechanical aspects of writing such as spelling,
usage, and syntax while this process concentrates on the
decisions involved in the writing process, Kaufer said.
Davida Charney, assistant professor of English at Penn
State, said he was familiar with Kaufer’s work and is very
optimistic about it.
“The purpose of the computer program is to guide
people through reading different articles and to locate
different, important points in the articles,” she said.
The idea of using software in correlation with a book to
teach students the writing process is very new, Charney
said, adding that a lot of testing is still under way.
A teacher is still needed to monitor a student’s pro
gress, Kaufer said.
about completed” and that he would report to
Regan following the Iceland session.
The secretary said the president would then
decide on his final instructions to the U.S. arms
control negotiating team. “He will decide, I pre
sume, this weekend or Monday and give his
decision. It’s an orderly, good process,” Shultz
said.
In an interview with ABC News, White House
Chief of Staff Howard H. Baker outlined a scenario
in which a NATO consensus on an arms control
position might lead to a U.S.-Soviet summit meet
ing on the issue later this year.
If a NATO agreement is achieved, Baker said,
“I would anticipate that a meeting between the
United States and the Soviet Union could occur in
Geneva before long, meaning this summer. And if
good progress is made there ... I think that
there’s a growing likelihood .. . there’s a height
ened possibility that there can be a Reagan-Gorba
chev summit on arms control yet this year. But
I’m not prepared to predict where that might go.”
At his news conference, Carlucci said the Soviets
had not raised the issue of the West German
missiles during Shultz’ visit to Moscow in April.
“And if they are sincere in wanting an INF
Charney said she is very hopeful that when the devel
opment is complete, the book and program will be used at
Penn State. The machines necessary to accommodate the
computer software are already on campus, she said.
The computer program stores texts in which students
can learn how to locate pertinent information by selecting
the important issues.
Kaufer formulated a four-phase process in which stu
dents can work thier ideas through to a final draft. He was
aware of his students’ inabilities to successfully criticize
and organize information while still contributing their
own ideas.
“We really weren’t communicating,” he said. “I could
talk until I was blue in the face and they didn’t know what
I was asking for.”
He said he sees an improvement in his students’ writing
and hopes to compare their progress with the progress of
students outside the program.
Marie Secor, associate professor of English, is the
author of A Rhetoric of Argument, which is widely used at
Penn State. Argumentative writing, she said, is “orga
nized to support a thesis of some kind that is in some
doubt.”
Secor was not familiar with Kaufer’s book and software
and could not comment on it, but she said “teaching
argumentative, writing is the most important way of
teaching students writing.”
Argumentative writing can be used for all types of
writing at all levels, she added.
Collegian
(Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces) agreement,
there’s no reason to introduce this kind of proposal
at the last minute.”
Shultz reached a near-agreement in Moscow
with General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev to
remove hundreds of medium-range missiles from
Europe and Asia.
The Soviet leader also offered to dismantle some
40 shorter-range launchers in Czechoslovakia and
East Germany and possibly about 100 others at
home. In exchange, the United States must agree
not to install its own missiles in the 300-to-600 mile
range in Western Europe.
Subsequently, the Soviets demanded at the nego
tiating table in Geneva that the Pershing 1A
rockets be eliminated as well.
West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl last week
gave his conditional approval to the impending
U.S.-Soviet deal. That lowered the last major
barrier to the Reagan administration’s first nucle
ar arms control accord.
U.S. sources, demanding anonymity, said Kohl
also urged Reagan during a dinner meeting Mon
day night to get a commitment from the Soviets to
negotiate over tactical missiles with a range of
less than 300 miles.
Mid-State renews lease,
on-campus banking stays
By GREGG BORTZ
Collegian Staff Writer
On-campus banking at the University was scheduled to
come to an end this summer, but Mid-State Bank has
decided to continue operations of their Penn State branch.
In a press release issued June 3, officials from Mid-
State and the University announced that the bank will
renew its lease in the lower lobby of the Penn State
Bookstore. The campus branch was scheduled to close
later this year due to declining profits.
Kevin W. Davis, Vice President and Director of Mar
keting for Mid-State, said strong student response forced
the bank to reconsider closing the branch.
“We were surprised with the amount of feedback we
received,” Davis said. “The primary concern we heard
from, students was that they would, lose their .check
cashing facility.”
David Branigan, Assistant Treasurer of the University,
was one of several University officials who reviewed the
necessity of the Mid-State campus branch.
“We had no bias one way or the other whether the
branch stayed on,” Branigan said. “The indication we got
from students was that (the bank’s) services are
needed.”
Branigan said he took the issue to the University
Student Executive Council in order to hear student
opinion.
Joe Scoboria, USG Senate President, said USEC com
piled a “subjective survey,” of the bank, which included
Hispanics
get grants
for efforts
For the first time at the Univer
sity, four students have received
grants from the National Hispan
ic Scholars Fund.
The fund, aimed at upper level
and graduate Hispanic students,
is based on academic achieve
ment, personal strength, lead
ership, and financial need, said
Maria Lucino-Hernandez, Uni
versity planning analyst.
Luis Miranda (junior-premedi
cine), Ray Robles (graduate-edu
cation), Wilfredo Hernandez
(graduate-molecular and cell bi
ology) and Sonia Sanchez (junior
art history and French language
and culture) received the finan
cial aid.
“It is very helpful to the His
panic community and the needs
of the Hispanics to feel support
and encouragement in a different
community,” Robles said. The
fund really helps. The funding
available to Hispanics is so lim
ited.” ,
Robles is now working on a
scientific experiment, the “Pia
get Project,” which is designed to
help kindergarten children with
limited language proficiency fo
cus on developing bilingual skills.
The Hispanic population often
faces problems filtering into the
mainstream of different societies
and young children in particular
have trouble learning a new lan
guage, Robles explained.
“Receiving this funding lets me
know that what I’m doing is
worth it,” Miranda said. “A lot of
Hispanic people wish to come to
the University but they don’t be
cause they can’t get any student
aid. Perhaps this fund will be an
incentive.”
The fund, giving special consid
eration to students excelling in
the sciences, is very competitive
and a regional board reviews the
applications, said Lucno-Hernan
dez.
—by Lisa MacDonald
Thursday June 11,1987
Vol. 88, No. 1 24 pages University Park, Pa. 16802
Published by students of The Pennsylvania State University
©1987 Collegian Inc.
President Reagan at the Venice economic summit yesterday.
frequent visits by council members in order to see if the
bank was being used.
“What we saw was that the check-cashing facilities
were almost always being used,” Scoboria said. “We
recommended that closing the branch would serve no real
good to the students.”
Scoboria said that USEC suggested the space be used
for the student credit union, which is still in its devel
opmental phase, but for now the bank serves student
need.
Davis said many students prefer cashing checks at the
bank to avoid the “hassles” of cashing them at local
businesses.
Davis said the number of student customers at the
campus branch decreased dramatically when additional
automatic teller machines were installed three years ago.
“Electronic banking is the preferred method for young
people,” Davis said.
“Business boomed when we opened in 1982,” he said.
Davis said the location is still profitable, although the
number of full-service transactions such as loans or new
savings accounts is very low at the campus branch.
Branigan said the University officials were not con
cerned with Mid-State’s profitability, but spoke to bank
officials to help them decide whether or not to renew their
lease.
Mid-State’s five-year lease was originally due to expire
July 31 of this year, but the University granted an
extension until September 30. The new lease is effective
through July 31, 1992.
House committee
drafts welfare reform
By The Associated Press
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A deeply
divided House Ways and Means Com
mittee, unable to reach a bipartisan
consensus on welfare reform, yester
day approved a major overhaul that
would require many welfare mothers
to work.
The five-year, $5.2 billion Family
Welfare Reform Act was approved on
a 23-13 party-line vote after minority
Republicans suffered a series of de
feats on amendments offered during
the closed session.
The bill sets up a a $l.l billion
National Education, Training and
Work program that requires partici
pation by mothers of children over
age 3 and gives them help with child
care, medical coverage and transpor
tation.
Another key provision requires all
states to include in the welfare sys
tem two-parent families in which
both spouses are unemployed. Only
about half the states do so now. GOP
amendments to strike and weaken
the requirement were defeated.
The bill also provides transition
benefits such as Medicaid and child
care assistance to welfare parents
moving into low-wage jobs and
strengthens state efforts to collect
child support from absent parents
including a state option for immedi
ate, automatic withholding from a
paycheck as soon as a court order is
issued.
The measure, sponsored by Re
p. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., is consid-
weather
This afternoon it won't be as pleasent as yesterday. There will be
increasing cloudiness throughout the day and the high will reach 76.
Tonight cloudy and warmer than last night low of 59. And for tomorrow,
not a good start for the weekend it will be cloudy with rain showers and
the high will be 73 Roberta DiPasquale
ered the first real shot at welfare
reform in two decades.
Backers are hoping to get it to the
House floor later this year after va
rious sections are examined by the
Education and Labor, Energy and
Commerce and Agriculture commit
tees.
Ways and Means Chairman Dan
Rostenkowski, D-111., said in a
statement that the bill “goes a long
way in assuring that assistance is
provided only after individuals have
done everything they can to help
themselves.
“This legislation matches the pro
work and pro-family rhetoric of the
president with action,” Rostenkowski
added. “If he believes what he has
been saying, he will wholeheartedly
support this bill.”
Republicans on the committee of
fered several unsuccessful amend
ments to remove what they called
barriers to work: a six-month limit on
assignments to public jobs, a require
ment that welfare clients receive the
current wage for a particular job and
a section saying people cannot be
required to accept jobs that pay less
than their welfare benefits.
“The bill imprisons people on wel
fare and it is a disgrace to this Con
gress,” Rep. Hank Brown of
Colorado, ranking Republican on the
public assistance subcommittee, said
after the meeting.
Rep. Thomas Downey, D-N.Y., act
ing chairman of the public assistance
panel, said GOP criticism was based
on “a tenuous grasp of the facts.”