Penn State University - La Vie Yearbook (University Park, PA)

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The worlds population was calcu- lated as 4,721,887,000-the largest in history. t 276 37,000 students returned for classes in the beginning of the semester system at Penn State. 250,000 people renacted Martin Luther Kingls March of 20 years ago. 2. lca. Basically, the committees goal was to reach a higher perspective on the ongOing battles in this area and to gain Congressional support for an increase In US. aid to friendly governments. Things were looking bleak in the South. Hurricane Alicia came swoop- lng down the coastline of Texas, and for the first time in three years, that wild lady slammed onto the mainland at 1 15 m-P-h., causing millions of dollars in damage, even inland. n a much more innocent note, re- turning home was Samantha Smith, the young lady who wrote a letter to Andro- POV inquiring about his stand on a war. .He-assured her he wanted peace, and mvrted her to the Soviet Union. STATE In Philadelphia, July 3 marked the restoration of service to the commu- ntty by the transit system after a 108 day strike. The strike affected 45,000 c0mmuters daily. The workers settled for a 69:3 wage increase over 47 months. In Pittsburgh, Louis Bodura was sen- tenced to ten years in prison. Bodura, CINCINNATI REDS JOHNNY BENCH tips hIs hat to the fans after playing his Final game. He played over 20 years for the Reds. an unemployed resident, had threat- ened to poison the products of the HJ. Heinz Company of Pittsburgh if not given $88,000. He pleaded guilty to sending the extortion letters through the mail. The House Education Committee and the State Board of Education gave preliminary approval to new regulations requiring that two more years of both math and science, and a computer course be added to the current requi- sites for high school graduation, and that 21 credits instead of 13 be the minimum. LOCAL People flocked to the Penn StatelState College community in July. Once again the Central Pennsylvania Festival for the Arts was held here. From July 6-10 thousands gathered for this 17th annual event. By air, more and more people visited via the University Park airport, making it the ninth bu- siest airport in the state. The airport authority approved plans for a new ter- minal. The terminal now in use was a converted mobile home. The plans had to be approved by the FAA and Pen- DOT. FORMER SECRETARY of State Henry Kis- singer, now the head of the Central America Commission. tries to help the US. get a higher perspective on the battles occurring in Nicaragua and El Salvador. S umm er is 51221110 g Sales Floating across the summer breezes, the new re- leases of both old and new artists were heard on the radio and now even could be seen-on MTV. Thanks to the nation's revived interest in pop music, the re- cord industry had the best season after four years of stagnant business. The new zeal for music was big business; the beat continued all summer long. Michael Jackson1s No. 1 Thriller was predicted to sell over 16 million due its to overwhelming popularity. David Bowiels Lefs Dance moved one million in just three months, and Synch- ronicity-the latest Police album-sold over two mil- lion in less than a month. MTV beamed rock videos into 14 million homes across the nation. No wonder groups gained new identity after TV exposure. As PolyGramls Jack Kieman said llYou can feel the sales right away.', Averaging about $35,000 to produce, the videos were originally just clips of lip-synched concerts. Now they accompanied every album and contained plots- ltminimovies. Michael Jackson's uBeat Itll was a $150,000 mini West Side Story. It included gang dances and a showdown. Albums, tapes, now videos, what new gimmick could pop up in the music industry? People will even- tually want something new, something different. Retrospect 25

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24 etrospect Bryce J ordan became the 14th president of Penn State University. a Hot. July was a hot month as tem- peratures and tempers in Washington grew more heated every day. A heat wave spread across the nation causing drought, death, and blazing scandals concerning Presidential notes and sexual misconduct in our nations capitol. Abroad, the turmoil was on another key-terrorists were striking in France and Peru as Great Britain pondered what actions to take against such terrorist acts. There was some good news in July headlines, however. Martial law was lifted from Poland and the youngest U.S. ifambassadorii Samantha Smith returned home from the Soviet Union. July was just as eventful in Happy Valley. People flocked to the annual Arts Festival and Penn State was as crowded as if fall semester classes were in session. And also on campus in July was the fourth annual Penn State Conference for Minority Journal- ists. July brought many changes in positions of leader- ship. The University Alumni Association elected a new president-Donald M. Cook of Cherry Hill, N.J., an RCA division vice-president. I-Ie succeeded Rich- ard A. Zimmerman. The newly elected vice-president of the Alumni Association is William C. Forrey of Camp Hill, Pa. William Asbury, the Universityls af- firmative action officer and assistant to the provost, was promoted to executive assistant to the president for Administration. And the most important change-Bryce Jordan became the 14th president of Penn State, succeeding John Oswald. -Bernadette Czekaj Firsts. From the first hurri- cane of the season to the first commission for Central America, August was a month of firsts. August also brought the first gathering of international Christians in a celebration of praying for peace, and August was the first month of the summer to bring disaster- hurricane Alicia. Alicia gave quite a scare to Texas, and she did not help the severely landparched areas of the mid-west left by Julyls hot dryness. Overseas, while a congregation of 3500 Christians prayed for peace, Israells Prime Minister Begin could not foresee any peace ahead for his country , so he revealed his plans of resignation. Peace was also on President Rea- ganis mind when he chose Henry Kissinger to head his new Central America Commission. As the summer sped by, August saw many other firsts. In Happy Valley, some 37,000 students took their first steps toward Willard Building, ate their first cafeteria meal, and opened their first textbook since spring term 83. August was the beginning of the new school year, and it was the first chance most students had to witness the new President Bryce Jordan, in action since his induction in July. August also marked the beginning of the semester system at Penn State. Classes were cut from 75 minutes to 50 minutes, which made students jump for joy, although they couldnit rejoice for long, since they only had 15 min- utes to get to their next class. -Diane DiPiero Restrospcct INTERNATIONAL Throughout these months, attempts were made worldwide to protect human life and to destroy it. In Great Britain, the House of Com- mons rejected a campaign to once again use the death penalty as a punishment for terrorist actions and other serious crimes. Although Margaret Thatcher herself supported the action, the death penalty was rejected. In F rance, howev- er, some lives were not saved. Six peo- ple were killed and 50 injured when a bomb exploded at a Turkish Airlines counter at Orly Airlines outside of Par- is. And in Peru, terrorists forced their way into the Lima headquarters of the frulingl Popular Action Party with bombs and machine guns, killing two and injuring 30. Later, the government ordered 15,000 police to fight the ter- rorists. After 19 months of military rule, martial law was formally lifted from Poland and partial amnesty was de- clared for the nations political prison- ers. A number of temporary restric- tions, dealing with politics and econo- my, valid until 1985 were placed on Poland on that same day, however. Unfortunately for the Israeli people, Prime Minister Begin saw no signs of peace ahead for his country, and an- nounced his plan for resignation. Offi- cials were able to detain him for awhile, but his decision was inevitable. 01 can- LEAD SINGER for the Police, Sting is also the premier song writer. During their US. concert tour. the Police sold out at all locations. not go on any longer,n said the highly distraught Begin. NATIONAL The month of July began with the Supreme Court placing a stay on the decision to bar the federal gov- ernment from linking registration for the draft to financial aid for college. The implication of this stay was, that at least temporarily, male students had to be registered to receive federal aid. As July progressed, the US. found itself in a hot scandalous mid-summer. A heat wave spread across the US. all summer, and by July 24, the death toll, due to heat, was 140 people. A Water- gate investigator was hired by the gov- ernment to try to discover how Reagan supporters, during his campaign, got President Carterls notes for the presi- dential debate held on October 28, 80. Also in Washington, Henry Kissinger accepted the chairmanship of President Reaganis newly formed National Bi- partisan Commission on Central Amer- TAKE ME OUT to the ball game . . l-Ameri- cans had been enjoying Boston Red Sox' Carl Yastrzemskils playing for 20 years. He retired this summer.

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26 Rimmed Pennsylvania got its first test tube baby-Jillian Johnston was born. Unexpected. Sep- tember was full of unexpected surprises, some devas- tating, others pleasant. Septemberfs news kept people crying tears of sorrow or tears ofjoy. The tears of the friends and relatives of the 269 passengers of the Korean Air Lines flight 007 were joined by the tears and outrage of all Americans and several countries for the barbaric act of the Soviets. Tears of grief were also shed for Benigno Aquino, the Philippine opposi- tion leader who was murdered in Manila and for the smiling Jim ftJimboii OiBrien, the popular newscaster of Philadelphia who died during a parachute jump. In Israel, a sorrowful Prime Minister Begin resigned while an equally sorrowful country watched him leave. But, there were tears of joy. A tearful Vanessa Williams became the new Miss America, the first black woman to ever win the prestigious contest. Things were just as unexpected in Happy Valley where students were beginning to adjust to classes under the semester system. The most shocking event of the month was the possible loss of charter for Alpha Tau Omega fraternity until 1986. The IFC reported that the fraternity had violated written University policy and local, state, or federal law. This was due to a complaint a woman filed August 29, alleging that she was a victim of gang rape at ATO. The University only hoped that, if it was true, it would not cast a bad name over the entire organization. Penn State rose to new heights in September. Among others aboard the space shuttle Challenger was Penn State alumnus Paul Weitz. The 54 graduate of an aeronautical engi- neering degree, also piloted the first manned Skylab in 73. Weitz remembered his alma mater by present- ing President Jordan with the Penn State tee shirt he wore while in space. -Diane DiPiero Confiicts. Along with the colors and chills of autumn, October brought many conflictsafrom bombings to earthquakes, inva- sions to protests. From the shake-ups on the interna- tional level down to the conflicts and pressures in Happy Valley, October covered everything. The Bei- rut bombing, the Grenada invasion, Wattls resigna- tion, ATOls dilemma, the pressures of adjusting to semesters-all were dealt with by students at Penn State. By the 12th, statistics released by the Universi- ty showed that the student drop-out rate increased by 4M: fall semester of 83 over last fall term. Although semesters were not directly blamed, students included excessive stress and being overwhelmed as the rea- sons. And, the National High Council of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity unanimously voted to liinvoluntarily surrender the charter of the fraternityls Penn State chapter. The reasons cited for the action included several incidents involving alcohol. The woman who claimed she was raped at ATO filed a formal com- plaint with State College Police. But, later if the circumstances were right, the fraternity may someday return to Penn State. -Sue Sturgis Retrospect INTERNATIONAL If the international scene had to be summarized by one word, turmoil would be the definitive answer. Due to the depression and sad- ness he had faced from the death of his wife and the dismal situation between Israel and Lebanon, Israel's Prime Minister Begin resigned. President Hurzog reluctantly replaced Begin with Foreign Minister Yitzhah Shamir. In the early morning hours of Octo- ber 23, a pick-up truck loaded with ex- plosives crashed through the lobby of an airport building in Beirut, where American Marines and Navy men, part of a multinational peace-keeping force stationed in the city, were still asleep. The blast levelled the four-story build- ing, killing over 225 men. Moments later, one mile away, a similar attack destroyed the building housing French troops, killing 58 men. In another early morning surprise at- tack, 2000 US. Marines and Army paratroopers, along with forces from Caribbean islands, invaded Grenada. The invasion was met with resistance from Grenadian troops and armed Cu- bans. Two weeks prior to the invasion, THE AUSTRALIAN Australia If beat the US. Liberty in the 25th American Cup to become the first foreign victorr Grenada had been overtaken by a Marxist regime. President Reagan or- dered the invasion to protect some 1000 Americans on the island, and to restore order and democracy to the nation. NATIONAL There was also a number of shake-ups on the national scene. US. Secretary of the Interior James Watt announced his resignation. Controver- sial since assuming his post, Watt had already succeeded in offending many groups with his remarks. But with his statement about appointing 0a black, a woman, two Jews, and a cripple'l to his coal advisory commission, he lost his core of GOP support and chose resigna- tion over a no-confidence vote in the Senate. There was an inspiring note for blacks in America. The space shuttle Challenger not only enacted the first US. night space launch, but also car- ried the first black astronaut to travel in space, Guion S. Bluford, Jr. Also, it was RESCUERS PREPARED to lower a US Ma- rine on a stretcher to safety after being trapped in the wreckage of the US. Command Post in Bei- rut after the terrorist bomb blast which killed hundreds.