1987_05 The Daily Collegian May 1987

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La Voz de Aztlan
Founded in 1968
California State University, Fresno
The Daily Collegian
Monday,   May 4,1987
Minority Editor Removed By Council
By Daniel Chacon
La Voz Co Editor
I
At an emergency meeting of the Media
Council April 8. acting Freedom and Unity
editor Anthony Shollars, was removed by a
unanimous vote.
The charges brought against Shollars were
fiscal irresponsibility and unprofessionalism,
according to Media Council chair. Patricia
Foley.
Sholars, who applied for editor last
semester, was only approved by the council as
acting editor because he did not turn in his
required letters of recommendation.
Sholars said Foley had pressured him to
turn them in so it could be official. "She told
me just to give them any three letters,"
Sholars said
However, when he did submit the letters to
the council, the council ruled they were
unacceptable because they did not meet their
standards. Foley said that she might have been
responsible for the quality of the letters, "I
should have been more specific." she told La
Voz.
Sholars was also removed because of his
alleged inability to handle funds. According to
Daily Collegian business manager John Fry.
the amount of money Sholars planned to pay
his staff-far exceeded his budget Sholars
offered $60 a month to writers, $70 a month
for a copy editor. SI 21 a month to his
managing editor, plus dental benifits for his
entire staff.
After publication of the first issue, Sholars
spent the entire budget allocated for the
semester. "I was going to hold fund raisers,
and offer my staff the A.S. dental plan,"
Sholars said.
Some have raised questions about the Media
Council's proceedings. In a letter to the
Collegian. Robert Castorena stated that
although he did not know if Sholars was
guilty of the accusations brought against him
by the Collegian staff and the Media Council,
he questioned as to how someone could be
accused, tried and removed in one meeting. He
stated that the process by which the council
proceeded was unethical and bias.
Sholars claims that the Media Council
informed him that he would be formally
appointed at the meeting and did not expect his
removal. "If I would have known what they
were going to do. I would have brought some
supporters.
Sholars removal was compared to last year's
incident involving former Daily Collegian
editor Erik Pappa. Pappa was charged with
fiscal irresponsibihy and insensitivity toward
the minority editions when he threatened to cut
their budgets to $100 per semester and refered
to those that protested as "caged animals.".
After nearly four weeks and several meetings
of Media Council proceedings, it was agreed
that Pappa was guilty. However. The Media
Council arguing that a government body
should not interfere with the press, would not
remove Pappa from his position as editor, he
was docked two week's pay.
Thefe was a lot of tension and "personality
conflicts" between Sholars and Williams and
the Collegian staff, Sholars said
At the meeting, a memo submitted by
Williams, Fry. Managing Editor Rudy
Murrieta,   and   former  Freedom and  Unity
Managing Editor Darius Crosby charged
Sholars with mismanagement and poor
behavior.
It was stated in the memo that Sholars said
to Williams" ..J'm going to come after- your
business manager..., and then Tm going to
cowe after you Sarah, and I'm going to get
you."
Sholars claims that this statement is false.
"It was a complete fabrication."
Members of the council claim that the
memo had nothing to do with their decision.
WUson who made the motion to remove
Sholars told La Voz   that he was not even
See Sholars
Page 4
Liberation Theology:
Latin America's Catholic movement
By Robert Castorena
Contributing Writer
Latin America is a continent which has
for centuries been under the oppressive hand
of the ruling class. In recent years, an
influence within the Roman Catholic
Church has emerged known as liberation
theology. Presently leading liberation
theologians and scholars are in the
limelight, since the Vatican is greatly
critical of the Marxist concepts borrowed by
liberation theologians.
Liberation theology is of great
importance as an effort is being made to
awaken the social and political
consciousness of the masses. If/he effort
succeeds, then a transformation of the Latin
American continent will result When this
transformation occurs, the'Catholic Church
will have been a significant participant.
The ruling class and the developed nations,
particularly the United Stales, resist any
change.
In a legend Central and South American
Indians recounted a prophecy warning of a
foreign people who would return to conquer
them. For centuries the legend conditioned
the indigenous fatalistic attitude:
" then he (Quetzalcoalil) having preached •
on pertinent matters...and seeing the little
fruit that Ms doctrine had, returned to the
same place from where he had come, which
was from the east..and at the time he was
saying farewell to the people he told them
that in a time to come he would return and
then his sons would be lords and possess the
earth; but they and their descendenu would
go through much calamity and rjersecution."
This fatalistic attitude prevailed for
centuries and was. until recently, perpetuated
by the Roman Catholic Church. The
Church in Latin America clung for centuries
to the traditional colonial order and resisted
the change occurring in the modem world.
It is the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II)
which is primarily responsible for the
changes occurring worldwide in the Roman
Catholic Church. Thus, slowly the Roman
Cathohc Church is in the process of
adapting to the values of the modem world.
Although the Roman Catholic Church has
been going through the adaptation, the
influence of the Church in Latin American
continues to dominate all aspects of life.
And while the industrial nations' yielded to'
materialism in Latin America-Catholicism
deeply influences ninety percent of the
population. The influence is evident in
Latin American religious folklore which
permeates society, and is reflected in the
farming tradition, health, health, education,
social mores and politics.
The Second General Conference of the
Latin American Bishops held in Medellin,
Colombia (the Medellin Conference-1968)
had a great impact not only within the Latin
American Roman Catholic Church, but also
in the social, economic, and political
structures of the Latin American continent
One important characteristics of the
Medellin. Drxunentt is the urgency of its
call for action.
The documents mention die principle of
conscicntization (meaning the awakening of
the masses to social and political
consciousness). The process of making the
masses conscious would enable them to
assume responsibility in civic and political
life. An important word mentioned
frequently in the Medellin document is
liberation. It indicates the process of
helping man free himself from the
oppressiveness under which the Latin
Americans find themselves. The Medellin
Conferences revitalized the Latin American
Roman Cathohc Church. It legitimized
many Christian groups who advocated
structural changes. The changes of the
decade (1960s) were thought to have
emanated solely from Marxist groups. In its
revitalization, the Church renewed its
commitment to fight injustice. Division
resulted in {the Church concerning the pace
of change and what was to be the most
effective strategy in achieving justice. An
element within the Church surfaced which
intensified debate and disagreement This
element raised the issue of using subversive
violence as a means to ending
institutionalized violence.
The Medellin documents explicitly
condemned subversive violence but some
impatient groups within the Latin American
Catholic Church argued that the
condemnation of institutionalized violence
expressed by the* Medellin documents
justified the use of subversive violence. In
the groups' advocacy of violence, the
liberation mentioned in the Medellin
documents was reduced to a purely economic
and political dimension. Economically it
desired to break from dependence, while
politically it desired to abolish all
oppressive political power.
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