East Germany Parliament reconstitutes five original states after 38 years Page 3 Big Ten student leaders convene at PSU By MARC HARKNESS Collegian Stall Writer Student leaders from universities in the Big Ten cut ties to the Big Ten Student Association this weekend and started a new coalition, which they hope will encourage student activ ism throughout the conference Representatives from all Big Ten schools except North western University and the University of Michigan, attended a work session hosted by Penn State’s Undergraduate Student Government at the Atherton Hilton, 125 S. Atherton St. The session was originally intended as a BTSA meeting. But student leaders, expressing discomfort over how found ing member and chairman Pepe Rojas-Cardona was running the organization, bailed out and formed Net 10 —Network of Big 10 Student Governments. BTSA was incorporated in Delaware under Rojas-Cardo na’s name in January. He had formulated fund-raising plans that included corporate sponsorships and product marketing. But several student leaders were wary of committing themselves to BTSA. They were also unsure of the motives Trustees to vote on new president Board expected to vote approval of Thomas By MARC HARKNESS Collegian Staff Writer The Board of Trustees is expected to approve a new University president today during a special session called specifically for a vote on finalist Joab L. Thomas. Thomas, former president of the Uni versity of Alabama at Tuscaloosa, was announced last week as the leading can didate to replace Penn State President Bryce Jordan, who will retire Aug. 31. J. Lloyd Huck, president of the board and chairman of the Trustee Presi dential Selection Committee, said last week the board will probably approve Thomas as the University’s 15th presi dent. Thomas has a reputation for academ ic integrity and accessibility to students. As president at Alabama from 1981 to 1988, he was also highly regarded by faculty. “I think he really stressed the aca demic environment at this university and I think that’s something faculty appreciate, no matter who you are,” said Robert Barfield, dean of Alabam a’s College of Engineering. “When you’re putting emphasis on academics and emphasis on research and flowing money that way, that’s something fac ulty appreciate.” It is said Thomas has a talent for fund Bush warned not to base judge selection on one issue By NANCY BENAC Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON, D.C. - Republican and Democratic senators alike yester day warned President Bush not to apply an anti-abortion “litmus test” as he searches for a successor to retired Supreme Court Justice William J. Bren nan. “If you have to have someone who wants to overturn Roe vs. Wade, it’s going to be a blood bath getting the nomination confirmed, and the same is true on the other side,” predicted Senate Republican leader Bob Dole of Kansas. “There shouldn’t be a single litmus test in picking a Supreme Court jus tice,” Dole said on NBC-TV’s Meet the Press program. Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, agreed it would be a mistake for Bush to base his choice on how prospective nominees views the high court’s 1973 ruling in support of abortion rights. Bush met for 90 minutes with top lieu tenants at the White House yesterday evening for an update on the search for Brennan’s successor, but no decisions were made, White House spokeswoman Alixe Glen said. She said the meeting was attended by Vice President Dan Quayle, Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, presidential counsel C. Boy den Gray and White House chief of staff John Sununu. The brief session in the president’s residence was called to fill in Bush on the daily of Rojas-Cardona, a former president of the University of lowa student body. Rojas-Cardona graduated from lowa in the spring. “We must now start from step one,” said USG President J.P. Muir. “Pepe realized he was looking at the fiscal end when we really didn’t have a focus. He offered his services to us, and maybe somewhere down the line they’ll be called __ »» on. They spent the remainder of the weekend drafting a con stitution and a list of issues they intend to pursue when they meet in October at Michigan State University. Individual stu dent governments at the schools will have to ratify the con stitution in its present form. Northwestern University student government officials agreed to join Net 10 through a telephone conversation, but University of Michigan student leaders could not be reached this weekend, said Tarrus Richardson, newly-elected Net 10 raising, both at a state and private level. He managed to double Alabama’s state appropriation during his tenure and engineered that university’s first major private fund raising campaign, similar to the Campaign for Penn State begun by Jordan. Alabama raised more than $l6O mil lion in two campaigns started by Thom as. The Campaign for Penn State, which recently ended, raised about $250 mil lion. Huck first mentioned Thomas’ candi dacy to the full board at a closed session when it met in Reading two weeks ago. The chairman sent information on Thomas to trustees last week. “He does have the qualifications, and unless something is brought up, I think there is a very good chance that he will make it, ” trustee Roger Madigan said. The full board would be unlikely to turn down Thomas, who received a unanimous recommendation from the selection committee, Huck said. Candi dates for the presidency go through a screening process, which in this case took nine months to complete. The selection committee hit a snag in June when it had to ask for another short list of candidates from the Presi dential Search and Screen Committee. The board was originally scheduled to vote on the president earlier this month. what had been done since the president convened a 75-minute meeting Saturday morning with the same three officials to get the ball rolling on the search. Sen. Howard Metzenbaum, D-Ohio, said Bush should look for someone who has “a good judicial record, judicial temperament.” Bush has said he hopes to have a new justice seated on the court by October to succeed Brennan, who was a leading voice of liberalism on the Supreme Court for 33 years. Brennan, 84, announced his resignation Friday, cit ing his age and health. Most senators yesterday declined to identify their choices for the high court. But Sen. Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republi can who himself has been mentioned as a possible nominee, had a long list of possible contenders ready. “I don’t think I’m going to be selected, nor do I really want to be,” Hatch said on ABC. Possible candidates mentioned by Hatch or elsewhere include: Solicitor General Kenneth W. Starr; federal appellate judges Edith H. Jones and Patrick E. Higginbotham of the sth Cir cuit; William W. Wilkins Jr. of the 4th Circuit; and David Souter of the Ist Cir cuit. Other federal appellate judges men tioned are; Roger J. Miner and Ralph K. Winter Jr., both of the 2nd Circuit; J. Harvie Wilkinson 111 of the 4th Cir cuit; and Eamela-A.vßymer, a former federal district judge whom Bush recently put on the 9th Circuit. »jtetf LeMond . Tour de France f # f° r 2nd year victory Page 6 Collegian Leaders separate from student association Come sail away A lone sailboat on Lake Erie ploughs through the glistening waves as it passes Presque Isle State Park. The stately craft navigated the lake Saturday. Brennan was potent force on high court By LEE BYRD Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON, D.C. Nearly thirty years ago, Dwight David Eisenhower was asked by a television interviewer if he had made any serious mistakes dur ing his presidency. “Yes, two,” said Ike. “And they are both sitting on the Supreme Court.” Earl Warren is long gone. But until late Friday, Wil liam Joseph Brennan, 84, was still there, staving off the conservative tilt that Eisenhower and all Repub lican presidents since have envisioned for the court. What piqued Eisenhower was that Brennan, like Warren, turned out to be a powerful judicial activist, rather than a strict interpreter of the Constitution. Even toward the end, when he was outnumbered in the chairman and Purdue University’s student government pres ident. Although Net 10 did not discuss any issues in detail this weekend, the representatives resolved to address campus safety, environmental issues, minority recruitment and retention, and the status of ROTC programs in relation to the military’s discrimination against gay men and lesbians. “My whole idea of the association is sort of like a cooper ative,” Richardson said. “The BTSA should crawl first, not becoming a big networking association doing credit card pro grams.” Penn State’s USG Executive Assistant James Marino, who was elected vice-chairman and treasurer, said Net 10 should act as an information exchange among student bodies of the Big Ten Conference. Student governments at each school try ing to implement programs such as dorm safety or rape awareness could get valuable advice from other univer sities that have successful programs already. rJgMjP'feN* wake of Ronald Reagan’s three appointments to the court, he still held great sway with his colleagues. “No individual. . . has had a more profound and sustained impact upon public policy in the United States” over the past three decades, according to the grudging tribute of the National Review several years ago. “His footprints are everywhere,” said U.S. Appeals Judge Abner J. Mikva. “His influence can be felt in nearly every area of the law.” In his 34 years on the bench, Brennan wrote more than 1,200 opinions, second only to the late William O. Douglas. Among them are many landmark deci sions on civil liberties, including the one person one vote doctrine for apportioning state legislatures. Other Monday, July 23,1990 Vol. 91, No. 27 10 pages University Park, Pa. 16801 Published independently by students at Penn State ©1990 Collegian Inc. “We could be a very successful lobbying group or voice,” said Gail Stern, student body president of University of Illi nois at Urbana-Champaign. Net 10, however, will not necessarily represent students at Penn State’s Commonwealth campuses. The association was originally inteded to represent each university’s major campus, said Suzanne Denevan, president of the Minnesota Student Association. Also, while sue of the student body presidents at this week end’s meeting represent both graduate and undergraduate students, the others, including Penn State’s USG, represent only undergraduate students. Marino said USG will have to keep in touch with Penn State’s Graduate Student Association and the Council of Com monwealth Student Governments to make sure they also are represented. “I don’t think it would be fair for us to represent graduate and Commonwealth campus students, if we aren’t elected by them to represent them,” Marino said. “But I think it’s something we could agree on in the future.” Collegian Photo/Michael Kubel decisions ordered school desegregation, upheld affir mative action plans for minority groups, struck down state aid to religious schools, and established consti tutional protections for libel defendants. Brennan also wrote several of the court’s rulings on obscenity, including a 1966 decision involving the 18th century novel, Fanny Hill, in which he added a new test for obscenity: whether the material was “utterly without redeeming social value.” While Brennan’s service on the court has had a huge impact on American law, his sudden retirement Fri day could well have a bigger one. The court’s 5 to 4 conservative majority has moved tentatively until now, often tempering its decisions to win the swing votes of Sandra Day O’Connor in some cases, Byron R. White in others. Weather Mostly cloudy today, with an isolated shower or two, high 78. Becoming partly cloudy tonight, low 65. Partly sunny tomorrow, high 82. - Mike Hopkins Casey submits new student trustee name If the Senate does not act on the appointment within 25 legislative days, the Governor’s Office will have to either resubmit Shaffer’s name or choose another appointee. By MARC HARKNESS Collegian Staff Writer Gov. Robert P. Casey has nominated E. J. Shaffer, a junior from the Wilkes- Barre campus, to be the next student trustee. Shaffer’s name was submitted Thurs day for approval by the state Senate, said Andrea Quigley, an aide to the gov ernor. If the Senate approves his appointment, Shaffer will replace Christina Henke, who has served a three-year tenure as student trustee. It is unlikely, however, the Senate will approve Shaffer in time for the Septem ber meeting of the University Board of Trustees, since the legislature is not scheduled to go back into session until early that month. If the Senate does not act on the appointment within 25 legislative days, the Governor’s Office will have to either resubmit Shaffer’s name or choose another appointee. Shaffer said yesterday he anticipated that the governor would nominate him when he received a letter asking for his permission for a State Police back ground search a standard procedure for all state government appointments. Shaffer is not waiting for the Senate to approve him; he attended the board meeting two weeks ago and is planning to meet with Henke to become better acquainted with the position. “I still have a lot to learn,” Shaffer said. “I’m going to spend my first few (board) meetings just learning about the process.” Shaffer was a freshman representa tive of the Wilkes-Barre campus to the Council of Commonwealth Student Gov ernments, and was Wilkes-Barre’s stu dent body president last year. “I’m looking forward to meeting oth er student leaders and working out a way for turning this seat into an active and effective voice for students,” Shaf fer said. The student trustee position is one of five positions on the 32-member board to be appointed by the Governor.
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