Lynch sees trend toward no pledging ByAMYGRUZESKY Collegian Staff Writer After two national fraternities abo lished pledging last week and as their local chapters search for ways to inte grate new programs, the Interfratemity Council president said he foresees non pledging programs becoming a trend. The local chapter of Zeta Beta Tau fraternity made its official announce ment to discontinue pledging last spring and has already begun integrating a non-pledging system. But the local chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, unenthusiastic about terminating their pledging system, met the national chapter’s decision last week with strong opposition. Interfraternity Council President Tom Lynch said abolishing pledging will become more common in the next five years. “It’s a growing trend,” he said. Lynch said he believes the reasoning behind the two recent decisions to abol ish pledging lies in the issue of hazing. “I think pledging in itself can be a very constnictive experience,” Lynch said. “But there’s uncertainty in the national chapters about pledging and it’s a question many of them are wres tling with.” Lynch said the conflict of pledging arises when hazing overshadows the pledging process. Ten years ago hazing was much mere common than it is now, he said. “Today it’s still there, but (the amount of hazing) is going down,” he said. “And there are fraternities with no hazing in their programs. ’ ’ Zeta Beta Tau’s new recruiting pro gram is not at all similar to the usual pledging system, said Craig Fisher, the fraternity’s assistant membership development director. Rather, it is more of an inclusion process, he said. Normally, Fisher said, interested stu dents rush, get a bid, accept it if they wish, pledge for 10 weeks to a semester and then they are a fraternity member. Every fraternity has a different pledge requirements, he said. Michael Liebowitz, secretary at Zeta Beta Tau, said the pledging period has been eliminated. Within 48 hours, the pledges become full-fledged members, he said. Thai, during the next few weeks, new members undergo an educational pro gram, learning the history and values of both the fraternity’s national and local chapters, he said. Fisher said the new system will be one of equality, unlike the old one. All prior responsibilities of a pledge, such as scrubbing floors and washing dishes, will be shared among all members, he said. Fisher said he believes class distinc tions between members and pledges encourage hazing. Because pledges are considered a “lesser class,” they are Please see ZBT, Page 10. USG proposes 24-hour library service the library would be without personnel assistance from midnight to 8 a m., but staff would check iden tification and protect library material during the extra It’s four in the morning. Your 10-page English paper hours. By DINA ELLIS Collegian Staff Writer is due in five hours, and the amount of research you’ve “I think its worthwhile for the library to be open all done so far would embarrass a third grader. night. Students’ study habits are unpredictable,” What do you do? Althaus said. After Thanksgiving break, your problems may be Officials have been positive about lengthening the solved. The Undergraduate Student Government and library’s hours, she said. But University officials seem the University now are negotiating a proposal to open less positive about the proposal. Pollock Library around-the-clock. James Wagner, vice president of business and oper- In an effort to improve the academic atmosphere ations, said it is too early to tell if opening the library at the University, USG President Janyne Althaus has for 24 hours will be possible, been negotiating with University officials about open- “Funding is the main obstacle,” Wagner said. “It’s ing Pollock Library on a 24-hour basis. Under the plan, something that hasn’t been planned in budget. This is WEATHER Today and tonight increasing clouds and humidity, chance of showers, high 82. Low tonight 66. Saturday, decreasing cloudiness and becoming less humid in the afternoon, high 81. Outlook for Sunday and Labor Day: Sunny and cool, highs in the low to mid 70s. Please see Friday Travel Weather Mdp, page 2 Ross Dickmsn Delectable Stephanie Yeager, 2, eats a cup of bittersweet mint Ice cream. She sampled the ice cream yesterday afternoon at the University Creamery. University: Calendar photographer did not violate policies By HARRY PAGAN Collegian Staff Writer First Amendment rights protect a University adviser under fire for a calendar he photographed depicting women students, a University spokes man said yesterday. Bill Mahon, University director of public infor mation, said the University can take no action against Mike Miller or his work on the 1989 The Women of Lion Country Calendar because he did not use University time or resources. On Wednesday, the Undergraduate Student Government’s Department of Women’s Concerns requested the University join them in investigating Miller, an adviser in general arts and sciences. Miller has refused repeatedly to comment. Although Mahon said the calendar could be con- something we’d like to do and we’re positive about it, but we’re not sure if it’s feasible.” Althaus said she believes the extra hours would cost the University about $20,000. She said the staff funding might hamper the proposal. Even if the University provides the funds, personnel at the library must agree with the proposal before the extra hours are implemented, Althaus said. Pollock library employees may believe the facility would not be conducive to study during the additional hours, she added. The library meets USG and University criteria for an all-night study center, Althaus said. Pollock Library is well-lit, centrally located and handicap Please see LIBRARY, Page 10. sidered insensitive and offensive, demands for an investigation fail to take into account Miller’s con stitutional rights. “The U.S. Constitution permits him to express free speech. It permits people to buy such a cal endar. While Mr. Miller’s values are not the same values shared by the University, that in of itself is not a violation erf University policy or state law,” Mahon said. Mahon cited action taken last fall when Univer sity officials pulled the calendar from the Penn State Bookstore on Campus, citing its offensive ness to women. “There’s not much the University can do other than to make the decision not to sell the calendar on campus,” Mahon said. Mahon also responded to a statement made by USG’s Department of Women’s Concerns charac- Finally, the for bridge By MARK E. JONES Collegian Staff Writer Pennsylvania Department of Trans portation officials and state legislators yesterday dedicated the 12.3 mile-long Mount Nittany Expressway - a contro versial span of concrete that required $42.5 million and almost 30 years to complete. Completion of the $4.9 million bridge - the PennDOT’s seventh and final phase of the project - will facilitate smoother traffic flow to and from Bea ver Stadium, Centre Community Hospi tal and the University’s proposed research park, said Steve Garban, the University’s senior vice president for finance and operations. The new bridge, at the intersection of U.S. Route 322 and state Route 26, is expected to be operational this week, before the football season kicks off at Beaver Stadium on Sept. 9, said Thom as C. Idles, PennDOT district engineer. “Here at last. Thank God almighty, it’s here at last,” said state Sen. J. Doyle CormanJr. (R-Belle fonte) during an early morning ribbon cutting ceremony beneath the new Col lege Avenue Bridge.' PennDOT is awarding the project’s contractors $2,000 for each day the work is finished before the required Oct. 17 deadline, Ickes said. However, for every day the contractors lag behind, they will be penalized $2,000 per day. The Mount Nittany Expressway, extending from Scotia Road in Patton Township to Boalsburg, creates safe and speedy access from the Centre Region to Harrisburg and vice versa, state Rep. Lynnß. Herman (R-Centre) said. The completed expressway will encourage development along the high way as well as the in communities it skirts, many said. PSU officials mum on advocate position New undergraduate named to serve on search committee By SHARON L. LYNCH Collegian Staff Writer University officials yesterday contin ued to refuse comment on the national search for a top administrative advo cate for minority and women’s con cerns, despite professional recommendations that the process involve student input. A University spokesman said last night that Nicole Batts (senior-second ary education) will serve as the new undergraduate representative on the vice provost search committee. However, throughout yesterday sev eral committee members and adminis trators either were unaware of the student appointment or would not com ment on it. The former undergraduate committee representative, Courtney Pinkney, graduated last month. Batts, former president of the Penn State Chapter of the National Associa tion for the Advancement of Colored People, could not be reached for com ment. A team of social scientists who visited the University twice in 1988-89 to eval uate the racial climate here advised administrators to include students in the vice provost selection. terizing Miller’s conduct as “unprofessional.” He said the University would investigate only specific allegations of professional misconduct made on his part. “To say that Miller’s work on the calendar is offensive and is an example of unprofessional con duct is a generalization,” Mahon said. “As long as he’s doing that on his own hours and resources, and it can still offend people, it’s still protected.” But USG President Janyne Althaus disagreed. “What we are saying is that he is not doing this on his own time and we’re asking the University to investigate this,” Althaus said but could not to cite specific allegations. When asked to compare the PiKA (Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity) calendar with the Women of Lion Country Calendar, Althaus said the basic differ ence in the PiKA calendar is that a student adviser wait is over Work crews will install signs directing football traffic from the expressway to Beaver Stadium, said Dave Stormer, director of University safety. “We would hope a lot of people contin ue to use other routes,” he said. “If we don’t utilize those existing lanes, we will have atremendous back-up.” The expressway, which has a capac ity of 40,000 vehicles per day, diverts “undesirable” traffic such as tractor trailers east of the University and down town State College, said Mark Bigatel, president of the State College Area Chamber of Commerce. “We have strongly supported the completion of the bypass, even when it was not a popular view to take in this town,” Bigatel said. Discontent began in the early 1960 s in Oak Hall, a village that found itself in the path of progress. Oak Hall residents, who recognized that parts of their town were slated for removal, criticized the project. Later, they garnered the support of environmentalists concerned with the highway’s impact on water quality and noise levels. In the mid-1970s a debt-ridden Pen nDOT halted all work on the bypass. State officials turned to the federal gov ernment for support. Environmental impact reports, necessary to obtain fed eral funds, further delayed the project. A union strike in 1964 and the College Township Council’s decision to elimi nate night shifts in 1985 made many res idents wonder if the project would ever be completed. “The necessity, the location and the design (of the expressway) were vehe mently debated,” said Llovd Niemann, chairman of the College Township Council. The final product was worth that dis cussion, he said. “Since students are likely to reject any candidate if they have not had some input, final candidates should have an opportunity to talk with the Concerned African-Americans and other groups at Pennsylvania State (University) and there should be some way that groups can register their choices,” the scien tists stated in their report. The social scientists praised the cre ation of a vice provost to coordinate and oversee the University’s efforts on the behalf of women and minority faculty, staff and students. They cited the absence of a central ized monitoring or coordination of these affairs as a key reason for the persistent racial tension on campus. Administrators continually refered questions about the vice provost search to Chairwoman Vasundara Varadan, who would not say whether another stu dent had been picked to replace Pink ney. Yesterday morning Varadan said she could be contacted at her office in the afternoon, but at 4:30 p.m. an assistant said the chairwoman left town for two weeks. The search committee is back at work this week reviewing more applica- Please see VICE PROVOST, Page 10. did not take the photographs. “The PiKA calendar promotes the University and its people. The pictures are taken on the Uni versity campus and the models are fully clothed,” Althaus added. “The difference is the student-student interac tion,” she said. “In the Women of Lion Country, you have an adviser-student interaction and there you have an imbalance of power, and with that imbalance he’s using his influence to photograph these students.” Wendy Goldstein, director for public affairs for USG, said Wednesday the publicity concerning the calendar is a reflection of the current awareness of women’s issues. “... I don’t think there was this much concern last year. I think that the situation at Penn State is more sensitized,” she said.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers