Page 6
Letters to the Editor
(continued)
...RIGHT
(continued from page 4)
reach, and it is not always my
fault.
It is not up to me to decide
whether Mr. Prindle's point of
view is right or wrong. Our
priorities are different and the
world is large enough for both of
us. Though, I would like to
suggest Mr. Prindle to stop
stroking his literary libido, turn
on the light in "the dimly lit
rooms," and lighten up.
Dr. Antonella Cupillari
Assistant Professor of
Mathematics
Answering NSBE
I read with interest the Letter
to the Editor from Christopher
Lewis, Vice President of the
National Society of Black
Engineers (NSBE). I would like
to provide a few clarifications
about the issues Mr. Lewis raised
in his letter.
Three years ago, Brett Banker
(who was then Coordinator of
Intramurals) and I reviewed every
intramural sport and activity
offered to students.
One of the intramural events
reviewed, and subsequently
eliminated was "dodgeball." Our
decision was reinforced at a
meeting of Penn State Student
Activities staff from all campus
early that fall, when we were
instructed to discontinue
"flagrantly violent sports that are
not governed by established rules
of play...such as dodgeball."
I was approached by the
president of NSBE late on a
Friday afternoon with a request to
conduct a "Balloon Bust" as a
fund-raiser that coming Sunday.
Individuals would pay a dollar to
break as many balloons as
possible in a given amount of
time. Some of the balloons
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would have prizes in them such
as candy or money. It was my
feeling that this event might be a
violation of University policy
regarding "games of chance."
To check my interpretation of
this policy I immediately called
my counterpart at University
Park. I was not successful in
confirming my interpretation of
the "games of chance" policy, and
that the NSBE should delay the
Balloon Bust.
I subsequently learned that
fund raisers are a violation of
University policy when there is a
consideration given (money) to
participate in the event, a prize is
awarded, and winning the event is
based on chance only - not a
skill. NSBE's event as planned
would have been a violation of
University policy. The events
sponsored at the Health Carnival
were not in violation of
University policy since winning
these events required only an act
of skill.
With regard to Mr. Lewis'
concern that home video cassettes
cannot be used for public
performance, these pre-recorded
video cassettes and video discs
available in stores throughout the
United States are for home use
only. Even "performances" in
semi-public places such as clubs
and schools are considered public
performances, and are in violation
of Federal law.
There was never any question
that the dance NSBE scheduled
for September 15 could take
place; in fact Student Activities
has encouraged weekend events.
The only remaining issue we
were dealing with was the
question of Police and Safety
coverage.
Since the dance was advertised
at other area colleges and there
was the potential for a large
crowd, I suggested that two
student auxiliary officers be hired
for the dance. When I made the
request to Police and Safety I was
informed that only one student
auxiliary would be at the dance,
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however there would be one full
time officer assigned to patrol the
Reed Union and its external areas.
I informed the president of
NSBE of the change in security
coverage, and said I had asked that
NSBE not be charged for the full
time officer. Subsequently,
NSBE was charged only for the
student auxiliary at a cost of
$24.00.
I share Mr. Lewis' frustration
with the student organization
budgeting process. NSBE and
several other student organization
became recognized after the
Student Government budget
allocation process for 1990-91
had concluded. SGA has always
been encouraged to keep some
monies in reserve to allocate to
new organizations formed or
reactivated after the budget
allocation process.
In spite of our advice, SGA
decided this past year not to
maintain a reserve account. Thus,
organizations like NSBE, and
organizations forming this
semester will have to rely
primarily on fund-raising to
support their programs. I
encourage NSBE and other
student organizations to bring
their funding concerns to SGA. It
is only through dialogue and
debate that the budgeting process
can be changed.
I met recently with the
president of NSBE to discuss
many of the issues raised in this
letter. At that meeting we
discussed how Student Activities
can better serve NSBE. I will
meet with all club members at
NSBE's next meeting to
specifically develop a plan of
action.
I would like to conclude by
thanking Mr. Lewis for
encouraging Student Activities to
take a critical look at the
programs and services we
provide. While I feel good about
the programs we are developing
and those we have in place, I am
ever mindful of our need to do
what we do better.
David P. Shields, Jr.
Assistant Dean of Student
Servias
The last straw
In last week's edition of The
Collegian, Professor Wolford
accused me of a cynical form of
doublespeak on the Huck Finn
issue, an obvious straw man
argument that's just about the
last straw here.
He'd have readers believe--and
he knows they include students
who will take him quite
seriously--that I prefer my white
males dead (that way they wriggle
less when I chew them up in my
ravaging feminist craw, yum
yum), my literature only
politically correct (written by
women, minorities, paraplegics,
or in braille), my censorship
sugar-coated, my orthodoxy
rigidly saluted by the classroom
victims of my misandry, who
probably cannot tell what I'm
doing, poor dears, but whom
Professor Wolford will undertake
to tutor so that they'll know
feminist fascism when they see
it.
It's almost Halloween, so Pm
reminded that last March in these
pages, Professor Wolford
responded to my hope that the
college curriculum would include
more works by women and
minorities by saying that I
offered readers "a candy bar laced
with arsenic and presented
smilingly to a toddler on
Halloween." He also compared to
a lawyer who cynically gets her
guilty client off--and,
significantly, masterfully, the
client he imagines I represent is a
rapist.
Claiming to speak for the
underdogs and victims, he calls
mine the "establishment" view,
the orthodoxy, the hard fist of
power coming down on the brow
of the little guy. And I mean guy
here, because, like another
colleague, Professor Wolford
thinks I'd like to put the white
male on the endangered species
list, and then contribute to his
extinction. (Right. That's why at
least three quarters of the
literature I have taught in the past
ten years is written by white
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males--dead, but very much alive
in my classrooms.)
Understand that all of this
isn't about me at all--nor, really,
about Professor Wolford. This is
a symbolic dialogue between the
conservative male and the liberal
feminist. If I'd hired Professor
Wolford to write these things, I
couldn't have asked for a more
classic textbook example of what
insecure (Omigod, she called him
insecure! Quick, everyone, cross
your legs!) men say when they
feel threatened by a small
contingent of people asking for
equal opportunity.
Chet represents here the white
male academics who, in actual
positions of comfort and
privilege, cry wolf (and witch)
when women and minorities
rattle their chains. This is the
same voice that says affirmative
action has gone too far, that the
world order will be overturned by
radicals, that all this fuss below
deck is really a thunderbolt from
the sky.
Nonsense--and Professor
Wolford knows it's nonsense.
When he calls mine the
establishment view, he is the one
doing doublespeak, and
deliberately. An examination of
his own rhetoric would reveal the
consummate use of every cynical
strategy of which he accuses me.
In a country where women and
minorities are underrepresented in
legislative, judicial, and executive
branches of government and of
society, white males are hardly in
danger of being taken over by us.
And many of them see things
quite differently from Professor
Wolford. If you want a
perspective on these matters that
makes my own look pale and
perhaps even conservative, take a
look at John Coleman's letter to
the Times-News last week. Male,
white, alive.
Come on over on Halloween,
Chet. I've got something for you.
Diana Htmie George
Professor of English and
Women's Studies
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899-8782