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Locker room: Athletes only
Ever since Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson had a problem
with some of the New England Patriots in their locker room, the
question of whether female reporters should be allowed in men' s
locker moms has been debated back and forth.
The answer is simple. No.
No female reporters in mal locker rooms. No male reporters in
male locker rooms. No reporter of any kind in locker rooms; that
goes for locker rooms of both genders.
Create a press room where both male and female reporters can
conduct interviews with the players. All reporters have an equal
chance to get the stories and the players have more privacy.
The media is always striving for better access to stories, but in
this case it is just not worth it. Equal access to the players, outside
the locker room, is the only answer. ,
Improve pooi voting record
/As election day draws near, students will hear the usual spiel
'about how they should vote. And rightly so.
Not only is voting a sign of good citizenship, but the officials
we elect change our lives in many ways. State legislators, for
instance, decide on appropriations for the University, so student
;nput is important.
Though each vote carries far reaching consequences, apathy
pervades our society. Among the worlds 23 democratic nations, the
United States is 22nd in the proportion of registered voters who
actually cast their ballots.
And all students are a large part of this problem. Recent
statistics indicate that voter turnout among young voters has been
low.
According to the Vote America Foundation, only 36.2 percent
of 18-to-24-year-olds voted in the 1988 presidential election.
Students must exercise their rights.
Although the words sound hollow, your vote can make a
difference.
The preceding is an excerpt taken from the Oct. 2 editorial by The
Daily Collegian, University Park.
The Collegian
Published weekly by the students of Behrend College, Erie, PA
Edlbx
Todd J. kwki
Business Manager
Christie Redmond
The Collegian's editorial opinion
is determined by the editorial
staff, with the editor holding
final responsibility. Opinions
expressed in The Collegian are
not necessarily those of The
Collegian or the Pennsylvania
State University.
Mums;lry Eclibx
Mark Owens
Names Editor
Loa Gotch
Features Edlkir
Jen Flanagan
Entertainment Ma
Robb Frederick
Sports EdSox
John Musser
Layout Editor
Chris Kocott
Photo CkNmftthx
Jim Pierdomenico
Phob Coordinator
Michael B. Schell
Editorials
Letter Policy: The Collegian
encourages letters •on news
coverage, editorial content and
university affairs. Letters should
be typewritten, double-spaced
and signed by no more than two
persons. Letters should be no
longer than 400 words. Letters
should include the semester and
major of the writer. All letters
should provide the address and
phone number of the writer for
verification of the letter. The
Collegian reserves the right to
edit letters for length and to
reject letters if they are libelous
or do not conform to standards
of good taste. Letters should be
submitted to The Collegian
office no latter than noon on
Tuesday prior to the desired
publication date.
Postal Information: Th e
Collegian (814 898-6488) is
published weekly by the students
of the Behrend College; Reed
Union Building. Station Road.
Eric, Pa 16563.
Offkm Manager
David Mahoney
Dktributbn Mnqm'
Leigh Stanesic
AsMoor
Dr. Mice Simmons
The Collegian
O p inion
Letters to the Editor
Article fair
I thought that Sue Cepicka's
article was fair. I didn't, however,
think that the two Letters to the
Editor that followed were. I think
that since Behrend is starting to
cast a county-wide shadow that
students attending classes at that
school downtown (Gannon
University) are growing more
sensitive about their school's
flaws.
If those two editors spent
more time improving their own
paper (The Gannon Knight) and
less time making personal attacks
on your editors (The Collegian),
they might develop a paper that
could compete with Behrend's.
Thinking alike
I was one of the members of
the English Department who
signed the letter to the editor
about Professor Eva Tucker's
stance on "Huckleberry Finn". I
had read the coverage of this
matter in the "Times-News", and
Eva's approach, at least as it was
reported in the paper, was to
close to censorship for me.
Those of us who drafted and
signed the letter were acting in
good faith, and taking legitimate
public issue with our colleague
on a matter that's important to all
of us.
What we didn't know at the
time we sent the letter that Eva
Tucker had modified his stance;
our letter came out in Th e
Collegian after Mr. Tucker's
partial retraction and clarification
of what he means.
And I agree with everything
Eva says in The Collegian's
recent article. He doesn't want to
take "Huck Finn" off the
supplemental reading list for high
school students in Erie. He
wants, instead, to add minority
authors, which is something that
I've been arguing for years,
sometimes right here in these
pages. He rightly points out that
curriculum committees have been
engaged in their own form of
censorship by underrepresenting
minority writers.
Regarding Mr. Tucker's point
that "Huck Finn" should be
taught in its full historical
context, his suggestion would, I
hope, address some of Monica
Irwin's concerns expressed in a
letter upbraiding her colleagues in
the English Department for our
letter. (Woof! When Monica
Irwin has something to say, by
God, she says it. And yes,
Monica, some of your good
friends were among the signers.)
Although I can speak only for
myself in a formal sense, I think
I'm safe in saying that all the
people who signed the ter are
happy to know that our stance
and Eva Tucker's are now much
closer together, and that we're all
working toward the same thing.
Jeremy Sutch
3rd semostox
Mathematics
Yet another one
Can you stand yet another
comment about "Huckleberry
Finn"? I was not one of the nine
English faculty who signed the
letter Monica Irwin attacks in the
last issue, so I haven't really said
my piece.
First, I find it interesting that
in both the Erie Times-News and
elsewhere the primary defense for
teaching Twain's novel is
sociological and historical: that
is, it will help up understand
racial brutality.
But this is not why
Thursday, October 11, 1990
Editorial
Dr. Diana Hume Gorge
Prolemor ol' English
"Huckleberry Finn" is a great
novel. "Uncle Tom's Cabin" is
far more important historically
and sociologically, but is a
greatly inferior work of art.
"Huckleberry Finn" must be
taught if one is to have a full
understanding of American
literatm.
It was Hemingway who said
that all modern novels derive
from "Huckleberry Finn" and he
was far from the only novelist
who learned the modem voice
from it. If it were a racist book,
as "Birth of a Nation" is a
repugnantly racist fantasy, it
would still be necessary to study
"Birth of a Nation" and the pro-
Nazi "Triumph of the Will" to
understand the development of the
film.
It is not racist, however. What
makes "Huckleberry Finn" so
important, so modem, is Twain's
use of irony, the major weapon
of modem literature from James
and Faulkner to Eudora Welty and
Ralph Ellison. In that way,
"Finn" occupies roughly the
same niche that Flaubert's
"Madame Bovary" occupies in
French literature.
In the novel, Huck is
constantly struggling with what
he is told is right and what he
feels is right. Gradually you
come to recognize how his
feelings are so much more "right"
than the values of a "civilized"
society that supports slavery and
the degradation of a man as good
as Jim.
The book constantly batters
that society from beginning to
end. That is why Huck lights out
for the West at the end. We are
meant to be embarrassed by Tom
Sawyer's elaborate plan for Jim's
escape, because Sawyer is
depersonalizing Jim for the sake
of his fantasies. Huck doesn't
understand this, but like many
things he doesn't understand, he
goes along because that's what
he's supposed to do.
When he heads West--after
Jim receives his freedom--he
rejects all of that. It is utterly
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