Pres, hopefuls
test campaigns
at state rallies
By DONALD M. ROTHBERG
AP Political Writer
Presidential rivals George Bush
and Michael Dukakis campaigned on
opposite sides of the country on Labor
Day, with Bush linking his Democrat
ic opponent to Jane Fonda and “the
liberal left,” and Dukakis asking,
“Can we afford four more years” of
Republican economic policies.
Vice presidential nominees Lloyd
Bentsen and Dan Quayle also were on
the road yesterday for the symbolic
kickoff of the fall campaign, using the
opportunity to find fault with the
heads of the opposition tickets.
With little more than two months
remaining before Election Day, the
rival candidates tested campaign
themes at rallies in key states.
Republican nominee Bush was in
California, where he said the cam
paign is “foremost about jobs and
peace. R’s about protecting the gains
we’ve made in jobs and peace and it’s
about how to make new break
throughs in both areas.”
Dukakis told a holiday rally in
Detroit “the time has come to bring
prosperity home to every home in
every neighborhood in America. The
time has come to stop ignoring for
eign competition and start beating
it.”
The Massachusetts governor cited
Census Bureau statistics he said
showed “the rich have become rich
er, the poor have gotten poorer”
during the Reagan presidency.
“High paying jobs being replaced
by low paying jobs, average weekly
wages down over the past eight
years, benefits down over the past
eight years,” he went on.
Campaigning in California, Bush
said Dukakis opposes the MX and
Midgetman missiles, the Star Wars
missile defense program and two new
aircraft carrier task forces.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he
thinks that a naval exercise is some
thing you find in Jane Fonda’s work
out book,” said the vice president.
Talks crumble; district teachers go on strike
By DAVE HOWLAND
and SHERYLYN VENEY
Collegian Staff Writers
Four hundred and fifteen State
College Area School District teachers
are on strike today after intense
negotiations over teachers’ salaries
broke down yesterday afternoon.
The strike, which school district
officials say is the first in the dis
trict’s history, will keep 5,780 stu
dents from attending class
indefinitely. Negotiations will resume
Wednesday, union and school district
officials said.
Talks over the three-year contract
broke down at 3:50 yesterday af
ternoon after the school board reject
ed a counter proposal from the
teachers’ union that was $580,000 less
than the teacher’s previous proposal,
Randall Bitner, president of the State
College Area Education Association,
said yesterday.
Teachers are striking because they
believe the administration is not of
fering them enough money, Bitner
said.
The union rejected a proposed 33
Student trustee plans attack to inform students
By SHARON L. LYNCH
Collegian Staff Writer
Getting to know typical students in an infor
mal way, opening the University’s budget and
limiting her attendance to University Student
Executive Council meetings are some goals
Student Trustee Christina Henke will strive
toward this year, she said in a recent interview.
In October, Henke will complete her . first
year as a trustee. With two years of her term
remaining, she said she considers herself fortu
nate to have time left to accomplish more on
the University Board of Trustees.
“It takes a year to understand how this place
is run.. .now I think I’ll put out the same
amount of time and energy, but I think it will go
about ten times farther,” she said.
In an .effort to make students more aware of
the board’s role in University affairs, Henke
has planned a three-pronged attack to inform
them:
■ She plans to install a suggestion box in the
HUB this semester, avowing students to voice
Scarf in'
This ravenous rodent eats his nut with gusto at a Labor Day feast beside Old Main. He’d better eat while the eating’s
good, as autumn fast approaches in Happy Valley.
percent salary increase over a three
year period Sunday, and then pre
sented the counter proposal that the
board rejected yesterday.
State College area taxpayers will
have to pay for the increased sala
ries, said School Board Director
George McMurtry. Funding for the
teachers’ salaries comes largely
from local property taxes, but some
federal and state programs also con
tribute.
School District Spokeswoman Pat
ricia Best said the strike will hurt
both the students and the community.
“You always worry about a strike
dividing a community,” she sai
d.“ Our primary interest at this time
is to have the students in school.”
Bitner said although he regrets the
strike, it is necessary for the teachers
to get a reasonable contract.
“I’m very unhappy we had to do
it,” he said. “It’s unfortunate we had
to go on strike in an educational
community to receive a career sala
ry.”
Bitner cited a statewide study con
ducted by the union that shows State
College teachers’ salaries are below
their ideas and concerns regarding the Univer
sity and the Board of Trustees. Although stu
dent leaders will be free to utilize the box for
communication, it is geared toward students
who ordinarily would not have contact with
board members.
The box will function as a substitute office,
Henke said.
Last year, Henke visited various student
groups in an effort to promote interaction with
the board, but later realized that the students
who belong to those organizations already have
a forum to communicate their concerns.
“Input from students who are not involved
... is vital to my role,” she said.
■ Henke also plans to write a semesterly
newsletter titled “Focus on the Facts,” which
is scheduled to appear this spring. The publica
tion will concentrate on identifying and ex
plaining current board topics, Henke said.
Informative rather than persuasive, the publi
cation will be funded by the University Alumni
Association.
■ Henke is also working on an orientation
the state average while State College
school adminstrators’ salaries are
above the state average.
According to the study, State Col
lege Area teachers earned an aver
age of $26,473 for the 1987-88 school
year about $3,500 below the state
average of $29,065. The School Dis
trict Superintendent receives $17,000
above the state average of $55,715,
and the assistant superintendent
earns $10,323 above the state average
of $47,759, Bitner said.
Although Best acknowledged ad
ministrators’ salaries are higher than
teachers’, she emphasized that teach
ers’ salaries have come to what they
are today through the negotiation
process.
“We have had a history of success
ful salary negotiations and it’s very
disappointing that we haven’t been
able to reach a settlement,” Best
said. “The board has been using the
input from members of the commu
nity and has kept that in mind as they
develop the proposals."
Nate Cattell, a sixth-grade school
teacher, is the union’s chief negotia-
Please see STRIKE, Page 20
seminar to be presented to incoming students
each semester, a seminar she wants to begin
next year. The half-hour presentation would
teach students about the Board of Trustees,
and examine issues such as the relationship
between the board and the student body, and
when student intervention is appropriate in
board matters.
One common misunderstanding Henke hopes
the workshop will dispel is the notion that a
student trustee should “jump up and down” to
get a point across. Trustees cannot scream at
each other and expect others to listen, Henke
said.
“I’ve made sure that I don’t alienate half the
board,” she said.
Henke also said the upcoming year promises
some potentially interesting topics and some
changes in her own role as trustee. During the
July board meeting, Trustee President J. L
loyd Huck announced plans for a November
presentation about the possibility of opening
the University’s budget to the public, for exam
ple.
Colkrgian Photo I
Collegian Photo I Chari Stalmann
Patrica Best (left),' spokeswoman for the school district, and Randy Bitner
(right), president of the State College Area Educators Assoc., are two of the
principals in the techers’ strike.
Henke: USG's
budget ideas
need realism
By MARC HARKNESS
Collegian Staff Writer
Calling Undergraduate Student
Government current proposals for an
open budget and tuition freeze “un
realistic” and potentially impracti
cal, members of the University Board
of Trustees said the proposals war
rant further consideration and possi
ble modification before they could be
put to use.
“We need to put a dose of reality
into the open budget issue,” Student
Trustee Christina Henke said yester
day. “Even if the budget was opened
all the way, it would not solve the
rising tuition problem.”
USG officials have said an open
budget could prevent another tuition
increase when state appropriations
time comes around by allowing legis
lators to see how much money is
needed and where it is going.
Henke said she supported an open
budget, but for different reasons than
those cited by USG.
% *
The USG resolution states: “With
the question in undergraduates’
heads as to how much of their tuition
goes to their own education and how
much to graduate support, it has
become imperative that the Universi
ty open its budget to clear up these
concerns.”
Henke said taxpayers should be
able to see where public money is
going. But she noted that making the
University’s budget available to state
legislators would not necessarily
yield a larger state appropriation or
prevent another tuition increase.
The USG open budget proposal,
which was previously presented to
trustees in July, is based on open
budget formats at other universities,
said USG Town Senator Kendall
Houk.
The open budget became a major issue
during the Undergraduate Student Govern
ment election campaigns in March, when cur
rent USG President Seth Williams and Vice
President Amy Manderino ran for their posi
tions. Since then, Williams has taken the issue
to members of the board, the administration
and the state legislature.
Henke will also limit her attendance to USEC
meetings this year, because she believes in
volving herself with the daily activities of
student leaders may conflict with her trustee
role, she said.
Since last spring, USEC has devoted a major
portion of several meetings to re-evaluating its
membership requirements in the face of pres
sure from groups such as the Lesbian and Gay
Student Alliance.
But Henke said it is not a trustee’s place to
decide membership criteria for student organi
zations.
“I’m beginning to value membership on
USEC a lot less,” she added.
Requested disclosures in the 12-
page document include:
■ Individual administrators’ sala
ries.
■ Income from library fines.
■ Office of Physical Plant ex
penses.
■ Individual head coaches’ sala
ries.
Trustee President J. Lloyd Huck
appointed an ad hoc committee of
trustees after July’s board meeting to
look into the possibility of opening the
University budget. But Vice Presi
dent Mimi Coppersmith, a member of
that committee, said it would be
consulting with administrators to de
cide if the budget should be opened
and what items to disclose.
“The representatives of the student
government have made their point
previously and we are attempting to
look at, on the advice of the adminis
tration, how we can have a more open
budget,” Coppersmith said.
However, she added, the University
cannot be considered a wholly public
institution, and that fact should be
taken into consideration before open
ing the budget.
“I’m not in favor of revealing indi
vidual people’s salaries,” she said. “I
don’t know that that accomplishes a
thing.”
USG would like to see the salaries
of top administrators disclosed in
order to see which programs have
priority, said USG Executive Assis
tant Travis Parchman, adding that
the salaries of head coaches are
wanted in order to determine racial
and gender differences in pay.
“It’s not because anybody’s saying
that Joepa doesn’t deserve what he’s
getting,” Parchman said.
University Budget Officer Richard
Please see RESPONSE, Page 20
Radiation stays
put during fire
at power plant
MOSCOW (AP) A nuclear power
plant caught fire in Lithuania yester
day, but automatic safety systems
extinguished the flames before radia
tion could be released, the official
Tass news agency reported.
Tass said no one was injured by the
blaze which began at 12:50 a.m. in a
control cable of the second reactor of
the Ignalina power plant in Lithua
nia, a Soviet republic on the Baltic
Sea.
The chief dispatcher of the Soviet
Atomic Power Ministry, Erik
Pozdyshev, told Tass the reactor’s
safety systems automatically kicked
in and the fire had already been put
out by the time firefighters arrived.
He said no radiation escaped the
plant, and there were no injuries
among the public or plant employees.
The reactor, one of two at the plant,
was shut down after.
The news agency’s prompt report
ing of the fire reflected the new
official policy under Soviet leader
Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s drive for
more openness.
“Considering the heightened public
interest in nuclear reactor opera
tions, which is quite understandable
after the Chernobyl accident, we de
cided to inform the public about what
has happened at the Ignalina station
at once,” Pozdyshev said.
The Soviet Union waited days be
fore informing the world of the April
26, 1986, explosion and fire at the
Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
WEATHER
Today, sun mixed with occa
sional clouds, high just 65. To
night, clear and cold, low near
40, but colder in outlying areas.
Tomorrow, mostly sunny, high
69 Ross Dickman