1980_01 The Daily Collegian January 1980

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Viewpoint
Athletes should boycott
Moscow Olympics
If Soviet troops are not withdrawn from Afghanistan by Feb. 20, then
United States athletes should comply with President Carter's recommenda¬
tion to boycott the 1980 Moscow summer Olympics.
Participation in the Olympics by the U. S. would only grant legitimacy to the
Soviet aggression displayed in Afghanistan.
The Soviet Union seriously threatened the peace of the world by intervening
in the internal affairs of an independent country and the U. S. should retaliate.
An Olympic boycott would be in order.
In a televised speech last Sunday on NBC's Meet the Press, Carter said that
if the Soviet troops are not removed within a month, the Moscow Games
should be boycotted or moved to an alternate site or multiple sites, or post¬
poned or canceled, to deter aggression and prevent war.
The world must realize the seriousness of Soviet intervention in
Afghanistan, "hesaid.
While the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has claimed that politics
should not interfere with the Olympics, it is impossible to separate the two.
The Soviets will use the Olympics as a propaganda tool. The U.S. should not
allow the Soviet propaganda machine the opportunity to make light of the
Afghanistan situation.
Politics and the Olympics have long been closely related In the 1956 Games
at Melbourne, some European countries pulled out as a protest against
Russian interference in Hungary.
In 1972 at Munich, black-African countries threatened to walk out if
Rhodesia competed The IOC finally gave in and Rhodesia was forced out of
the Olympics.
And in 1976 at Montreal, 26 African countries actually did walk out because
New Zealand had sent a rugby team to South Africa. The U.S. also threatened
a walk out because the Canadian government refused to admit the athletes of
the Republic of China (Taiwan.).
So the IOC cannot claim that the Olympics have been free of politics, nor
could they possibly be this year.
Although it is not fair to athletes who have trained for years to participate in
the Games to be denied this chance, the stability of a government and the im¬
pending threat of a war easily outweigh the grand sporting event.
However, alternate sites for the Games should be sought before a complete
withdrawal is made. Carter has proposed Greece as a permanent site for the
summer and winter Olympics. This would be an agreeable site since Greece
would not be seeking a political advantage in hosting the event.
Americans should back their government's decision to boycott the Moscow
Olympics. The U.S. Olympic Committee should vote to withdraw from the
Moscow Games and back Carter's recommendation. by Karen Kopecki
CSUF issues
Legislative calendar set
by Tom Brisson
There are .1 number of issues on the
state legislative calendar this Spring
which will directly affect the 300,000
students in the CSUC system, according
to Steve Glazer, CSUC Legislative
Director
Glazer said that these issues include
larvis   II,   which  would  cut  the   state
income tax  in  half,  resulting  in  tuition
for students if it is passed, according to
some analysts
-A8 224, Student Discrimination in
Housing, which will ccme up for a final
vote in the Senate, failed passage last
summer but was granted reconsidera¬
tion
-Title 9 Legislation, regarding equal
opportunity for women in athletics, will
be introduced by the California State
Students Association It was found
recently that not a single campus grant¬
ing scholarships is in compliance with
the 1972 federal law, making them sub¬
ject to the loss of all federal funding
-Students on faculty personnel commit-
tee--the trustees will decide on this
change of Title 5 at their January meet¬
ing  The United Professors of California,
affiliated with the AFL-CIO has vigor
ously opposed the amendment
General Education lncrease--this pro¬
posal would increase the minimum
general education requirements from
40 to 48 units
-the AS Fee Ceiling-the CSSA will
make an effort to remove the S20 fee
ceiling for Associated Students which
was set in 1954 The proposed legislation
would require a two-thirds student vote
before fees are raised
-AB 705, Unemployment Benefits for
Students, will be an attempt to safe¬
guard CSSA amendments to this bill
which would limit unemployment in¬
surance benef. s to students The bill is
expected to be voted on m j anuary.
The CSSA will also be testifying dur¬
ing the state budget session in an
attempt to gain additional support for
the CSUC and also has plans to review
its affiliation with certain national
student organizations.
A number of student presidents from
the CSUC will be going to Washington,
DC to participate in lobbying of federal
student legislation such as the Re¬
authorization Act, Truth in Testing, and
Housing Grants.
Letters to the Editor
Dear Editor,
It was indeed most interesting read¬
ing that article on security on campus.
especially the way it was placed side by
side on the front page with the article
on enforcement on bicycle rules and
regulations on campus. It really makes
you wonder whether our campus police
is really a traffic police or one that takes
care of the general security of the
campus, they seem to like to go after the
little guys, but always have some kind
of excuse when they are asked about
how to go after the big fish
Getting to the reason for this letter,
which I "Jo hope you can publish at least
in part; I, a moped rider, and a regular
one at that (with the price of gasoline
now at $1.20 a gallon), detest the use of
the word 'cumbersome* when describ¬
ing a moped by Lt. Cope of the campus
police.
What is a moped? It is a hybrid of a
bicycle and a motor-cycle. On the street,
t can use the motorized part, but on
campus, I always turn off the motor and
disengage it such that I can cycle U
around campus Also, in order to qualify
for the term moped to be used so that
registration by DM V is exempted,
the vehicle must be one horse-power or
less, and cannot go more than 30 m.p h
In fact, an ordinary bicycle can go faster
than a moped anytime As for the cycling
mode, it can only go up to 15 m.p h if
^Tne can cycle {and pant) as fast as our
Hanford hero who cycled across the
English Channel And I never park my
moped anywhere, except next to or near
a bicycle rack So what more can a
moped rider like me do to violate any
campus regulations.
Of course, Lt. Cope may reiterate that
he has seen a lot of moped riders riding
with their motor turned on riding on
the pathways meant for bicycles and
pedestrians. In reply, I would ask him
what about other bicycle riders who do
not heed the no bicycles signs in corri¬
dors.   There   will   always   be   people
who do not heed any signs (I would
presume that these people can read
since this is the UNIVERSITY) With
such elements, I would recommend that
Lt Cope should ticket them and not just
sit in his comfortable cruiser watching
As for suggesting that mopeds should
be parked on the streets, I suspect that
there is something within, and this I
believe is the want and need of the
campus police to increase the coffers by
the requirement of a parking sticker
Although the article did not say so, I can
read between the lines. If I am wrong, let
Lt. Cope correct me, and be on the
record!
On the other hand, if I am right, may
I ask why there are free parking racks for
the bicycles? After all, I am paying the
same campus fees, and income taxes to
the state, or is it because moped riders
are minorities that they can be ignored?
In fact, as I write this letter, I would
recommend that the campus police
should be on mopeds and not on those
cruisers. They may be gas economical
vehicles, but the best they can get is
35 miles per gallon However, a moped
can give up to 135 miles per gallon
Moreover, you can ride a moped any¬
where on campus, and there is added
height on the saddle too
I can give you more virtues of the
moped, however, I am already writing
too much
My last word to the campus police,
especially Lt Cope, is that the moped is
never "cumbersome," and if he or his
associates finds any moped "cumber¬
some," by all means ticket them, and I
would give the same advice to any bi¬
cycles that are found to be "cumber¬
some " Just because some are bad does
not mean that all are bad, otherwise the
general public would be right to brand
all police as corrupt just because there
are a few bad apples.
Thank you.for your patience in reading
this letter
Yours sincerely,
Joe Wong,
Physics Student