8 The Daily Collegian
Campaign must be full of action,
not USG's usual empty promises
Let the games begin
Today marks the start of official
campaigning for Undergraduate
Student Government president
and vice president. While the
name-calling, prop-waving and
sometimes unconventional candi
dates make life interesting for
Collegian reporters, maybe this
semester we can have more
method to this madness.
A little less show, a little more
substance. We're sick of promises
that dissolve into nothing and stu
dent leaders who suck up, rather
than speak up, to administrators.
University students need USG
to report their concerns to the
administration or to lobby the
state government for higher state
appropriations. More than enough
issues exist for the next USG
administration to tackle tuition
increases, computer lab prob
lems, general education changes,
housing shortages, diversity con
flicts, parking fines and student
activity fee questions, to name a
few.
But we have been too lenient,
letting our leaders promise us
quick fixes to our problems with
out asking them exactly how they
plan to accomplish their goals.
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Penn State community. Diverse viewpoints in columns, reader
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dzi;Collegian
Monday, March 11, 1996
©1996 Collegian Inc.
Editor in Chief
Courtney Cairns
Business Manager
Randy Abrams
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USG campaign season
After such a relaxing spring
break down South, one would
think that I had overcome
my fetish for controversy and
intrigue through a realization that
there are many, many, many more
important things than our Under
graduate Student Government and
the politics found therein.
Alas, too much has happened in
these past three weeks to let the
USG issue die, and as the cam
paigns for the positions of 1996-97
USG president and vice president
will officially begin today, I find
myself unable to avoid the topic.
In the hope of aiding any of our
potential candidates who might
need to find some focus for their
current campaigns, I've decided to
present to you my own ideal USG
platform. And in order to help our
concerned student voters separate
the good from the bad, I'll be hand
ing out some awards to a few peo
ple and organizations as well.
You got it I've decided to
leave behind my negativity and
instead become proactive and cre
ative in my quest to offer solutions
and suggestions for the mess that
we call USG. No more pointing fin
gers or naming names for this
Game on
Then, they get in office and claim
ignorance. They can't be expected
to fulfill their campaign promises
if the ideas aren't feasible!
So why are we electing them if
their ideas aren't workable?
USG sets up debates before
election night, and the people run
ning will be known to the public,
giving students several chances
to ask questions and force the
candidates to explain their plat
forms. We want maps of where
the candidates are going and
exactly how they are going to get
there.
With carefully thought-out goals
and a clear understanding of their
duties, the new administration
can prove they are student lead
ers not circus ringleaders.
USG debates will take place
from 7 to 10 p.m. Wednesday in
East Halls, 7 to 10 p.m. March
18 in the Wesley Student Center
and 7 to 10 p.m. March 25 in the
HUB Fishbowl.
Meet the Candidates events
are scheduled for 7 p.m. tomor
row in Findlay Commons, 4 p.m.
March 19 at the Student Book
Store and 1 p.m. March 26 in the
HUB Reading Room.
spaced and no longer than two pages. Forums must
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than three pages.
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columnist. Besides I'm tired of
being shunned or threatened by all
too-serious-wannabe-contenders-
for-the-USG-presidency or hearing
rumors that I'll be sued for slander
or libel, or whatever else. Some
people need to lighten up, or at
least go buy one of those 79-cent
home enema kits they sell at Giant
and put it to good use.
But I digress.
Here are the three things that I
want my student government to do
for me
■ (1) Abolish the tuition stipends
far our student government leaders.
Put the money (wherever it comes
from, Dr. Latta) into a scholarship
for students who demonstrate both
I Ci‘ CI
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' 11Yri
The answer is you
The last year has seen abundant tension
and turmoil for the "student leaders" who
compose our so-called student govern
ment. Hoping, perhaps all too foolishly,
that I might in some small way abate this
trend, I applied for a vacant USG town
senator seat at the end of Fall Semester.
Last week (after three months of
bureaucratic red tape and one moronic
interview) I was informed by the SARB
chair that I had been appointed to Senate
(while I was dancing in Dance Marathon,
no less). With the news, I was set for my
first Senate meeting.
At that first meeting, as I sat in my chair
around the long rectangular table where
Penn State's great "leaders" came to cori
gregate, and glanced at the assembled col
lection of self-important and pretentious
"colleagues," it became all-too-apparent
that any attempt to rock this boat would
come in vain.
Watching the meeting progress, with its
trademark lack of efficiency and all-too
familiar and immature verbal banter, only
affirmed what I already knew. USG is a
joke. Yes, it's true. It's not a rumor, it's
reality.
The real tragedy is many of the "lead
ers" of whom I speak are, indeed, some of
the best and brightest students at Penn
State. It truly saddens me that they have
chosen to use these gifts to further their
own interests or to degrade one another,
rather than to go about the business of giv
ing their peers a voice. My intention is not
to point any fingers. As a member of USG,
part of the blame is my own.
But the issue here is not blame. It's gov
ernment what it's supposed to be and
what it is. While the student body laughs at
the folly that USG has become (and right
fully so), they should also begin to see that
when the laughing stops, they're still left
without a voice.
What a crime it is that a student body of
our caliber has been left with a governing
body so impotent that the University pres
ident has had to call on the Lion Ambas
sadors to be our voice in Harrisburg, or
that has disqualified far and away the best
candidate to be the next USG president
because those in positions of power have
become hopelessly partisan or just out
right corrupt.
prompts proactive list of
extracurricular involvement and
financial need. This wouldn't pre
vent the USG president or vice
president from applying for the
scholarship, but it would assure that
the tuition assistance would go to a
student who has contributed some
thing to the University despite his
or her adverse monetary situation.
We don't need to be compensating
student leaders for "lost work
opportunities" when they wouldn't
have been working anyway.
■ (2) Refuse to send student rep
resentatives to those worthless
administrative committees. Com
mittees filled with administrators
and a token USG kid hurt more
than they help. The student on the
committee, in hoping to keep the
position and maybe ga a good let
ter of recommendation from the
bigwigs he or she sits next to, is
tempted to forgo making the bold
statements or taking the firm
stands that might rock the boat.
Our "leaders" become little yes
men and yes-women, mere rubber
stamps with office space in the
HUB. In the meantime, the Univer
sity can say that every decision is
made with student "input."
Stop this nonsense! Demand that
, '
administrators come to YOUR
meetings if they value your input,
and make sure you don't sell out
the students when you come to an
agreement.
■ (3) Revise the USG Constitu
tion (no, not to serve the purposes
of some pompous USG senators,
but to serve the student body). Did
you know that for an average stu
dent to put a question on the ballot
so that it can be voted on by his
fellow undergrads he or she must
first get a petition signed by 1,500
other students, then have the ques
tion approved as "valid" by the
USG Supreme Court, and then hope
that at least 25 percent of students
turn out to vote on the issue?
By these standards, none of the
USG elections held in the recent
past would have been valid.
Currently, candidates don't need
anywhere near the same number of
signatures to get their names on
the ballot for an election, and
nowhere near 25 percent of stu
dents EVER turnout to vote for
these candidates it's more like
10 or 11 percent. How is it that
someone can take over the student
government with a mere plurality
of whoever shows up, and average
The fine men and women of USG may
know all about parliamentary procedure,
forming committees, and feeling impor
tant. But they know nothing about govern
ment. They know nothing about what it
means to compromise. They know nothing
about the monumental responsibilities that
come with representing others.
The true University is a balance
between faculty, students, and administra
tors each distinctly different but always
equal. We've lost that balance, and because
we have, we are all silent.
The time has come for you, the students,
to take back what is yours. We deserve and
must demand leadership from outside the
current political arena.
The answer -isn't-a joke campaign by
someone and their pet lizard,The,answer
is you. I hope, above all else, that you will
remember this on election day.
Benjamin Sweet
USG senator
junior-public relations
Shallow explanation
The editorial of Feb. 23 title), "Fantasy
land," about efforts of faculty ,o have the
administration adopt a minimum salary
plan, is about as devoid of content as any I
have recently seen.
First, it starts with the premise that fac
ulty should accept what they are paid
because that's life, some get paid more
than other's; i.e., brain surgeons get paid
more than podiatrists. I guess that puts
those alluded to in the editorial from the
College of Arts and Architecture as the
podiatrists . . . while those in the Smeal
College of Business MUST be by infer
ence, the brain surgeons.
I thought editorials were supposed to
stand for something, take a new tact, brave
new ground. But what we have here is the
status quo . . which must mean by impli
cation that the way things are IS the way
they SHOULD be.
Your social conscience is staggering! I
guess that minority groups should be quiet
because, well ... because, well . . . life does
that to you sometimes.
Or, perhaps we should not worry about
railroad safety because accidents do hap
pen, and that's life.
And finally of course, students should
take each new computer fee in stride
students can't bring issues to a ref
erendum by the same standards?
That's bogus, if you ask me.
Change the Constitution to put
more power into the hands of aver
age students, or make the elections
requirements the same as those for
a referendum.
Now on to my awards
First, a hearty "bravo!" and "best
of luck!" to all of those students
who have decided to get involved
in the process by running for office
this year, especially those who
have never been involved in USG
before.
Extra-special love to the Mada
gascar Revolutionary Council and
their two candidates. Sick of our
tendency to conform to everything
and question nothing, this group
has embarked on a brave and
poignant campaign led by The
Cock and The Fish, hoping to dis
place what they call the "suckup,
resume-buildin',committee
formin', soap-opera-playin' weasel
boys who pretend to give a shit
about student needs." Refusing to
play by the rules of the institution
they so despise, they have
launched a truly populist cam
Monday, March 11, 1996
...AND
NOW
IF WE HAD
because the University does that, and
that's life. So, the motto of the Collegian
should be: Don't complain or try to better
things .. . leave well enough alone. Hmmm
... what a philosophy.
Second, the editorial writer seems to
assume that salaries and raises are THE
reason why student tuition goes up each
year. Get real! Anyone wonder why Penn
State's tuition is much higher than the
State System of Higher Education for
example?
Sure ... tuition is a large part of the cost
of our operation, and the fact that the state
only gives us about 17 percent of the total
budget is THE major reason why tuition is
as high as it is and keeps going up more
and more each year. Don't blame faculty
for a problem that the state has created.
Until the state provides a more sensible
level of funding for Penn State, tuition will
keep going up and up. If you are mad at
that, go yell at the governor and the Legis
lature, but don't expect the faculty to bear
the brunt of the inadequate funding of the
state. Better yet, quit complaining . . .
that's the way life is.
Third, and most important, the editorial
suggests that the professors' widely vary
ing salaries says nothing about their work
or commitment, but is that NOT the main
issue here? THAT is the issue that the Col
legian should take a stand on.
Should not one's compensation, at least
within the same organization, be PRIMAR
ILY based on work performance, experi
ence and service provided? Where is the
incentive to do better and produce more
when the institution fails to reward based
on merit?
I thought a basic principle of the free
market economy was that those who
worked hard and were productive . . . got
ahead and were rewarded for that effort.
But, no, not at a place like Penn State.
What counts is what you COULD EARN
OUTSIDE ... and not what you do INSIDE.
Perhaps the Collegian should re-evaluate
the credentials of the editorial writers
when such a shallow "explanation" of the
salary situation is provided, because they
clearly need some help in separating fact
from THEIR fantasyland.
Better luck next time.
■ ■ ■
Dennis Roberts
professor-educational psychology
demands
paign, relying on the write-in votes
of the disgruntled masses, and
even though I've garnered them
another campaign violation by
writing this, I wish them the best.
And two thumbs down to those
"weasels" themselves, the mem
bers of the USG Senate who before
spring break tried in every possi
ble way to manipulate the elections
code and the USG Constitution to
their own selfish ends. In their
drive for power and their refusal to
accept their own stupid mistakes,
they have sacrificed the integrity
of their organization and generated
well-deserved negative PR. They
know who they are, and if you
don't, and want to know, call me or
E-mail me and I'll tell you. Libel
suits be damned.
That's all, my friends . . . the
campaigns start today, so listen to
what these people tell you between
now and election day, March 27.
And if over the course of the next
two weeks you find yourself unable
to decide for whom to vote, don't
worry. Just stay armed, and keep
waiting for the signal.
Andrew Kreider is a senior major
ing in political science and a Colle
gian columnist.