GUESS WHAT ? If you name i t , you c a n h a v e it ! M»». Vol. XIII Autonomy Bill To Become Low It's officially known a s House Bill #999, but everyone seems to be calling it the s t a t e college autonomy bill. And it is only weeks away from becoming s t a t e law. Already approved by both h o u s e s of the s t a t e general assembly; the bill gives each of the commonwealth's 14 state-owned institutions more local control over their own financial and academic development, at the same time forming a coordinatingboard to aid the c o l l e g e s . T h e bill, which passed the House of R e p r e s e n t a t i v e s last summer by a vote of 126-64, was endorsed 32-8 by the Senate last Monday, Dec. 1. The autonomy bill has already received the endorsement of several figures and groups interested in education in the commonwealth — Gov. Raymond P . Shafer, leading house and senate l e g i s l a t o r s , education groups, and college personnel. Changes Must Be OK'd The only hold-up now is that, when the s e n a t e p a s s e d the bill last week, it included several relatively minor amendments to the original house bill. T h e s e must first be approved by either the house leaders or by a joint conference committee of both houses before the bill is forwarded to the governor for signing. The situation of the amendments is expected to be settled before the general a s s e m b l y r e c e s s e s for Christmas. Edward H. Young, LHS a s s i s t a n t to the president and a long-time supporter of the autonomy bill, said yesterday the senate amendments have reduced some of the local independence in purchasing educa- "lit will be a significant step forward for Pennsylvania education when House Bill 999 is delivered to me for my signature. I look forward to this event with anticip a t i o n " — Gov Raymond P . Shafer "iThis bill if enacted into while not perfect, will go a way to permit the colleges to ate as colleges should" ~ President Richard T. law, long operLHS Parsons tional supplies and equipment. The a p pointment of trustees is still " i n the hands of p o l i t i c s , " he s a i d . But " t h e r e is too much good stuff in this bill for knit-picking," he added, saying that the colleges would accept the bill with the senate amendments. T h e s e can be changed later, he pointed out. Parsons One of First Backers One of the original inovators of the bill, which was begun about six years ago, is LHS President Richard T . P a r s o n s , With two other s t a t e colb ge p r e s i dents — Andrus of Bloomsburg (now retired) and Heiges of Shippensburg — Dr. Parsons was instrumental in writing the original draft of the present bill. He has testified before every coinmittee in the general assembly which has studied the bill. Dr. Parsons has personally backed it since its beginning. Writing as president of the Board of State Colb ge Presidents recently in ASCO News (the quarterly publication of the Association of State College Organizations), the LHS president again voiced his support for the college autonomy bill. 'Will Benefit Colleges' " T h i s bill if enacted into law. while not perfect, will go a long way to permit the colleges to operate a s c o l l e g e s s h o u l d , " President Parsons wrote. He continued that " m a n y of us are quite familiar with both the w e a k n e s s e s and strengths of our local trustees; this new legislation would preserve some of the n e c e s s a r y local responsibility of trustees and yet establish a coordinating board which would help to strengthen the total State College system and assure that each college would get its rightful Tues, Dec. 9,1969 LOCK HAVEN STATE COLLEGE No. 59 share of State concern. " P e r h a p s the most desirable feature of the proposed legislation is the one which enables the college to have more control over the funds collected from the students as well as State al propriations. For many years it has been practically impossible to use the finances available for the best interests of the individual i n s t i t u t i o n s , " Dr. P a r s ens commented. Faced Several Problems In its six-year history, the autonomy bill h a s come up against several problems. Three of these have been d i s c u s s e d by Charles C. Keller, chairman of ASCO, in a recent column in the organization's publicati en. "We are always aware of certain fact o r s , " he wrote. T h e " great mystery of Perm S t a t e ' s identity clouds every effort at implementing the Master Plan (a fiveyear guideline for s t a t e college develof)ment). Its claim on the ' L i o n ' s Share' of public higher education dollars h a s traditionally left the s t a t e ' s own colleges grossly under-financed." The second problem which has faced the bill is " t h e regretable but inevitable tug-of-war between and among the Republicans and D e m o c r a t s , " Keller points out. lUP Slows Bill's Progress Indiana State University and its unique status has been another and perhaps the biggest problem which House Bill 999 has run up againsi. Indiana was granted university s t a t u s by the legislature several years a g o , and ever since then it has been adament in its refusal to support legislation which " F o r too long we have neglected the only truly state sector of higher education. House Bill 999 is a giant step in correcting the neglect of the p a s t " - Rep. Robert C. Wise, chairman of house higher education committee "House Bill No. 999 has my strongest endorsement as a bill that is greatly needed by the State Colleges and University, both individually and collectively" ~ Dr. F r e d e r i c K. Miller, c o m m i s s i o n e r for h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n it viewed as a threat lo its autonomy. II was only recently that lUP decided lo back the bill, after it had been rewritten to provide Indiana and any future state universities with s p e c i a l individual freedoms which s t a t e colleges do not have. Backed by ASCO Groups Every segment of the Association of State College Organizations — presidents, t r u s t e e s , faculty, students, and alumni — has endorsed the autonomy bill. Dr. P a r s o n s , president of the Board of State College Presidents, has officially committed his group to back the bill. Representing the Association of T r u s t e e s , Mervin G. Sneath, of West Chester State College, endorsed the bill. He said that the bill "fulfills oui' des i r e s , to be a policy-making board aiding the president in the administration of the college, and will be of great benefit in allowing the President to administer the institution." Students Endorse Bill Speaking for the student governments of the state-owned c o l l e g e s , j . Bracken Burns, of Indiana University, said the bill will give " t h e system of state-owned institutions of higher education the structural guidelines necessary t o carry out the complex and growing t a s k of providing the citizens of Permsylvania with the opportunity to receive a quality education at minimal c o s t . " Burns is president of the Associatioof Student Governments. " T h e legislation embodied in HB 9 9 9 . " noted Young, president of the Cotiicil of Alumni of the s t a t e c o l l e g e s , " r e p r e s e n t s the results of much study and the best thinking of all segments of the state college community." The Association of F a c u l t i e s , headed by Dr. Richard C. Keller ,of MiUersville State College, has a l s o backed the b i l l . LHS Student Tourist Considers Russia V e r y Drab Society' Editor's note: This is the first of a three-part series on Russia written by Paul Hendricks. A junior enrolled in the biology curriculum, he toured Russia along with John Bilski and several students this past summer. His impressions and conclusions about Russia and what he learned there are Hendricks'. " I consider Russia to be a very drab society and quite different from what I had expected. In this very short e s s a y , I will convey my personal thoughts and observations on a few of the main a s p e c t s of the tour that I feel are important. Transportation: Public transpoitation in the Soviet Union is very good. Very few people own a private car s i n c e the brand produced c o s t s 7-8,000 r u b l e s , the production is slow and there is a three year waiting list for them. The typical Soviet worker can not afford a private car bec a u s e the average income is only 90 rubles a month. There are six means of public transportation: b u s , trolly, metro (subway), taxi c a b , and airplane. The main s t r e e t s in Moscow, Leningrad, and Kiev are very wide to accomodate the trollies, b u s e s , and taxi c a b s . But. while many tfixi c a b s could be s e e n , it w a s / m possible to flag one of tnem down. The honor system is employed to pay the bus and trolly fare. But, from my experiences in Kiev, this system does not work. Most people are generally pushy and rude. They overcrowd the b u s e s and trollys to the extent that it is dangerous to even attempt to board one. The subways are ultra-modern and very c l e a n , s t a t u e s , paintings, and chandeliers adorn the subway s t a t i o n s to make them an impressive sight to the American tourist. The ride is fast and smooth, costing only five kop e c k s . B u s e s and trollys cost three kopecks to ride. The front coach of the subway and the front door of the b u s e s and the trollys are reserved for old ladies and women with children s o that they do not have to fight their way onto the b u s . ' P e o p l e Are R u d e ' The Aeroflot planes are the most modern means of travel in the Soviet Union but are no match for the American airlines. Here, again the people are very rude. They run to the plane, and shove to get a s e a t (or be the first one up the s t e p s into the plane). Hospitality on-board the craft is very poor and the non-pressurized j e t s certainly do hurt the e a r s . The airport terminals are imcomfortable to the American tourist and here is the only place that one will see modern trucks and service equipment. All other trucks are old and look like World War II models. In Leningrad, truck drivers hand crank their vehicles to start them. (I would presume this is true all through R u s s i a . ) The trains that I saw seem to be in worse condition than those in the United S t a t e s . But, the terminals are housed in fairly modern buildings. Drivers in R u s s i a could use a good course in defensive driving. On narrow, two lane r o a d s , drivers make three and four lanes out of them. They p a s s other vehicles at the wrong place and time, just making it back into the correct lane before being hit by an oncoming c a r . Consumer Goods: During my s t a y in Kiev I took my second, but most memorable, shopping excursion. I went to the largest department store that was five stories high and one block long. I priced many items here and all I could think a b o u t was that the average Russian only makes ninety rubles a month. All ItJXury items and some n e c e s s i t y items were quite expensive. 1 will list some of the items and their costs that I can remember. R u b l e Is A b o u t $1.11 Motorcycle - 1200 rubles Black and white television 400-700 rubles Portable washer (very small capacity) - 127 rubles Man's coat - 70-96 rubles Shoes - 50-60 rubles Pocketbooks - 53 rubles White shirt - 40-60 rubles Sox - 3 rubles Toiletries were very expensive. From the apparent cost of items such as these, it is easy to see that the average R u s s i a n can not afford many of the goods offered to him in the s t o r e . It is most evident on the s t r e e t s where people carry only food in their nylon or plastic net bag. The stores are only to look at, to see the Soviet progress, and to work hard and long hours so they may someday be able to buy these items that we Americans take for granted. There are no supermarkets in the Soviet Union. Little shops s p e c i a l i z e in certain food prod u c t s . T h i s presents a problem to the average shopper. To buy a bottle of wine, a pack of c h e e s e , and two loaves of bread, it took three of us one hour and one-half after shopping in three stores. I t takes time to shop and s i n c e refrigeration is still in the embryonic s t a g e s , most Russians must shop for perishable foods each dav. Milk is transported in flat-bed trucks. The wine that we bought had a very sour and vinegar t a s t e . So, from this I must conclude that they do not pasturize all of their w