VOL. LVIII
TtRATUNDA c LONGWOOD COLLEGE, FARMVILLE, VIRGINIA,
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7,1982
NO. 12
Wegener Speaks At Wygal ByNANCY PASCHALL Longwood was honored by the presence of Ambassador Henning Wegener of the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) who spoke on "A European Perspective of Disarmament" December 1 at 8 p.m. in the Wygal recital hall. The ambassador, a distinguished looking man, who spoke fluently and clearly, opened with the European perspective on disarmament saying that it is a vital subject that must be dealt with, yet a vastly complicated one. A wellmade point was revealed when he said each country views the world differently. We in the United States see the world from an island point of view, and view Europe as separate from Asia, when in fact, it is not. This cannot help but influence the perspective each country has. As conscious as America is of the U.S.S.R., we here cannot feel the same intensity of threat as Eurasia does, simply due to the proximity of the Soviet bloc to the Eurasian countries. As a spokesman for the FRG, he feels that his country can no longer hide under the nuclear umbrella of protection provided by the United States and other NATOpact countries. Ambassador Wegener suggested a three-pronged view of a security relationship. The
first step is that of a credible defense system. We must have the means to defend ourselves and they must pose a realistic threat to any opposing nation. Secondly, we must continue to negotiate toward disarmament, and, thirdly, we must all cooperate. "Disarmament, what it is all about, is lowering the level of nuclear weapons with a balance between the two military blocs." Currently, embalance in the relationships is being perpetuated by both blocs. What is needed is a forceful arms policy with the aim of balance, both global and regional. Any disarmament policy must emenate from the most powerful country." • Wegener, a representative to ^ the Committee on Disarmament, a committee of the U.N., headquartered in Geneva, said that they had set as their goal world peace, which is, in fact, in their charter. Only through disarmament can world peace be attained. The United Nations is not the body in which treaties concerning the actual dismantling should take precedent; instead, agreements within the United Nations should only set a basis for further discussions between individual nations In Geneva at this time there are several proposals being worked on in an area comparable
to nuclear disarmament, that of chemical bans. There is work being done in the area of a total ban on chemical weapons. This is of particular concern now considering the Soviets' use of chemical warfare in Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos. A similar proposal is that of a ban on production and storage of chemical weapons and also a proposal banning those chemicals which have the potential to change the environment. He then left the topic of chemical warfare and began talking of the technical obstacles facing disarmament. The first problem lies in the validity and reliability of data collection. Even with the best approximations, we never know precisely which side has what or in what quantity. Wegener attributed this primarily to the U.S.S.R.'s refusal to provide information. This, in Wegener's eyes, is primarily due to their own fear and "because of the inborn secretive urges which dictatorships share." "Surveillance also provides a problem. How are we to know what has been reduced, and by how much if we don't know how many they had in the first place." How, in other words, do we determine when a balance has been reached? He then mentioned that the
No Fear and Loathing on The Campaign Trail By MIKE LYNCH What if there was an election and nobody won? (I've heard that somewhere before.) That was not the case at Longwood this year, but one thing is for certain. Nobody else won. Out of the 20 posts offered to candidates for last weeks JGA Major-Minor elections, only two (IAA Chairman and Campus Life Chairman) were not taken unopposed. Equally obysmal is the voter total of 234 or slightly less than ten percent of the student body. And out of those faithful, even fewer knew what was going on as some showed by making mistaken on their ballots. Election officials stated that some people, when voting for the two opposed offices, checked both names and even more ignored introduction on the Honor Board Senators positions allowing the person to check a space only if he is a member of the class of the candidate. Some people asked
what the difference was between a major and minor office. Many observed the candidates positions posted at the polling spot and merely walked away. The number one cause of both problems as usual, is general apathy. The students don't know about the S.G.A. and they do not really care to know. Apathy has been quite the vogue lately at Longwood but nowhere is it more apparent then in election results. Lisa Swackhammer, chairperson of this years election committee, said that "the last two majorminors, about the top four or five positions went unopposed, or there were just two people running." "It just seems like a waste of time" said one non-voter. "I don't see the results of what they do and I didn't really know any of them". This is not just an isolated example of student opinions. It is practically the norm. People
either don't know who the candidates are or they believe that they are all of the same types; brownnoses, people who snuggle up to the administration and ultimately refuse to go against them. But this year the accusations have become even uglier than that, to a situation in which three candidates were allowed to submit petitions for office after the November 23rd deadline. What ensued was typical 1 -ongwood. One ot the candidates, Derick Wolfe, originally wanted to run for president, but was informed that since his petition was turned in late, he could only run for an uncontested position. He chose Residence Hall Life Chairman and won it unopposed. Tom Cumber was content to run for an uncontested position from the start and chose Campus Life Chairman, the only uncontested
United States now has a proposal in front of the Geneva Conference calling for the reduction of warheads and launchers. Returning to technical obstacles, which he spoke extensivley on, he said we need on-site inspectors, in other words, inspectors to determine whether factories are or are not producing nuclear arms. He believes satellites to be effective only in some circumstances, and worthless in others, such as the detection of chemicals. "Without such inspectors, who knows?" Wegener seems to feel it would not be fair to the parties under the treaty for them to have to be inspected while others were not required to be so. rie men mentioned two prohibitors of peace: Dual ammunitions (those which can either be armed conventionally or nuclearly), and the domain of outer space. Another, similar, topic area he discussed was that of science
technology. A valid point was that science moves so fast that the international negotiations are always behind. Wegener also believes there is not enough to the international community as a whole. He says the outer space is of prime concern, a point he had mentioned earlier. "The international community may find a new domain beyond repair because of the time lag versus scientific progress." Wegener then branched out again and began to speak on the technicality of the whole disarmament process. He said, "The maze of technological information is highly complex and causes much confusion in the political mind. The most important problem is public opinion in the free countries concerning disarmament negotiations tend to separate themselves from the masses." (Continued on Page 6)
Installment Reading At Longwood By LAURIE MITCHELL Anyone who has passed through the Rotunda on his or her way to classes or to the dining hall may have noticed a glass case display. In Lancaster Library, directly across from the circulation desk on the main floor are two displays. In the former display are facsimiles of 19th century books written by Charles Dickens. In the latter displays are the original copies of books by Dickens and William Makepiece Thackeray. During the 19th century, books were written in parts called installments, usually with twenty installments making a complete book. Each installment was about thirty-two pages in length with two full page advertisements in the front of the book. The cover designs and illustrations were used to suggest the nature of the story printed within. By writing a book in this way, the reader's interest was held longer because he or she would want to find out what was to happen and the only way to find out was to wait until the next installment was published. This concept of reading has come to Longwood College through the work of Dr. Michael Lund, Assistant Professor of
English. The displayed books were obtained through the Longwood Foundation and the combined efforts of Dr. Don Lemish, Vice President for Institutional Advancement and Dr. Lund. About six years ago Dr. Lund began trying to recreate this 19th century way of reading books. "Every year that I've used this approach, the benefits have increased. The students really seem to enjoy reading more." He also commented that students often get turned off when they have an assignment to read an entire book by the next class period. The way this approach is used in the classroom is a certain number of pages in a novel are assigned and the students should not proceed past this point until they are instructed. At the next class meeting, the assigned portion is discussed and the next installment is given. Classics such as Dicken's Oliver Twist and Great (Continued on Page 2)
What is Midnite Madness? See page 4 and find out.