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Editorial
PSU needs to
reprioritize
Governor Casey's recently announced $731 million cut in
this year's state budget means Penn State will be tightening its
financial belt.
This cut takes approximately $12.6 million, or five percent
of the University's state funding, away from Penn State this
year.
Penn State President Joab Thomas recently wrote an open
letter to the University community calling the the cuts "very
severe," adding, "we must do everything we can to meet the
Governor's directive."
To prove his sincerity in backing the Governor, Thomas
has placed a freeze on hiring system-wide, ordered
departments to lessen travel expenses and said the University
would defer maintenance costs.
At the same time, Governor Casey decided to free up $16.8
million for the design phase of a 16,000-seat arena at
University Park. Another $l7 million for construction has
been approved by the state legislature, and awaits only
Casey's nod. Additionally, the University plans to commit
between $l7 and $22 million to the project, bringing the total
cost for the arena to over $5O million.
The seating capacity in the new arena will bring the Penn
state facility on level with other Big 10 schools. Many Big 10
coaches have complained about having to play in the 6,846-
seat Recreation Hall, University Park's current arena.
According to Penn State treasurer Steve Garban, "It (the
new facility) is one that has been desperately needed for
years."
As desperately needed as, say, new books for Penn State
libraries? If the Big 10 is upset that their athletes may have to
compete in front of an unacceptably small crowd, it is a good
thing they don't send their students to study in PSU's
libraries.
Penn State's library system boasts only 45 volumes per
student, placing the University dead last in the Big 10 for that
category -- not to mention the fact that this campus still
doesn't even have a real library.
The University has definitely lost track of its priorities
when it deems that a $5O million sports arena should take
precedent over its educational mission and commitment to its
students.
The Collegian
Published week
Editor
Todd J. Irwin
Business Manager
Christie Redmond
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The Collegian
Opinion
lAilirk(4 l . l
Letters to the Editor
Editorial error
When I read the January 31
editorial (entitled "Secret war"), I
saw zero consideration of security
realities regarding war reporting
in the Gulf. I also noticed an
astonishing factual error. that this
war is the only one that has been
censored.
I do not believe that the
military has trashed the First
Amendment. They are justly
concerned with the security of the
troops and holding casualties to
an absolute minimum. I might
ask: is it ethical to photograph a
wounded soldier without his/her
consent? No, because that directly
violates privacy rights.
Also, many of the world's
leaders, including Iraq's demonic
Saddam Hussein, have access to
CNN and our network television
(or so I'm told). I have no reason
to doubt this, so I believe that
disclosing allied military
strategies in the Gulf on CNN
and the networks is unethical.
(Do we really want Saddam
Hussein to get his ideas for battle
plans by watching our television?
Of course not).
Erie, PA
I'll be blunt about this. I
would not be surprised if the
recent ground offensive by Iraq
into Saudi Arabia (in which more
than a dozen allied soldiers died)
may have been indirectly caused
by our television media. Saddam
Hussein might have gotten the
impression from our television
media that the coalition was not
about to conduct a ground
offensive just yet; this in all
likelihood probably would have
given him a major opportunity to
ruin allied plans.
This subversive reporting is a
betrayal of the public trust. I
believe that the media might be
inadvertently undermining the
safety of our troops with their
reporting of military strategy in
the Gulf.
Don't get me wrong. I
Thursday, February 7, 1991
Editorial
strongly support the First
Amendment. But there is a danger
that if we do not combine
constitutional logic with
common sense, the First
Amendment might be converted
into a suicide pact.
Daniel Yogman
Fourth semester
D U S
Poor support
Operation Desert Support was
shown on the 6:00 evening news
on Thursday. Jan. 31. We
watched the proceedings and felt
encouraged that so many people
showed up to express their
support for our peers serving our
country in the Persian Gulf.
We were also glad to see that
the event was advertised as a non
partisan activity; that is, not
promoting the war, nor
denouncing it. It should be
universally known that regardless
of the position one takes
concerning the war, we all
support the troops.
However, our mood darkened
considerably when we saw that
someone had set up a "BOMB
BAGHDAD" circle onto which
people were throwing paper
airplanes from the second floor of
the Wintergarden.
This act only shows a blatant
disregard for human life. Is an
innocent Iraqi citizen less
important than an American one?
We think not.
Upon viewing this ignorant
sideline activity, we became very
confused. Is this the way the
Behrend community wishes to
portray their support-by
provoking further aggression?
Sending letters in support of
our troops is a fine idea, but
under the guise of bombing
Baghdad, it was in very poor
taste. Didn't anyone think this
through?
Shame on you, Lion
Ambassadors. Next time we will
represent ourselves.
Robert Hardy
Eighth semester
MIS
Vail Weller
Eighth semester
English
Unfair bill
Can you answer this question?
Were we•here on campus during
the month long semester break?
The obvious answer is NO! We
were at home! Yet Penn State
must believe that we were here.
The reason we say this is due
to the phone bills awaiting us
when we returned from Christmas
break. We don't know about you,
but we certainly didn't use the
phones while we were gone. The
dorms were locked, so we
couldn't have used the phones
even if we wanted to. Basically,
we paid for a service that we were
unable to use.
So we decided to inquire as to
why Penn State is trying to soak
us for every last penny we have
(kind of like the $35.00 computer
fee we are all billed for and any
supposed damages to residence
halls). But the response we
received was very lame! In fact, if
a student responded this way to a
professor during class, the
professor would regard this
answer as an attempt to avoid
answering the question at hand.
We asked why we were billed
for a full month instead of being
billed for part of the month, like
we are in August and May. The
answer we received was: This is
how it is set up. Does that
answer the question for you? It
didn't for us!! Can anyone give us
a real explanation?
Mebane A. Baer
Fourth semester
Aerospace Engineering
Marcail Eightlinger
Fourth semester
Elementary Education