3/29/94 • Cardinal Points
Letters to the Editor! § / ^ p r
Jacon to blame
for poor staff
To the Editor
Your March 1 article on the
resignation of WPLT program
director John Jacon was very
misleading. In it John placed the
blame for WPLTs "inferior soundon the quality of the staff. He said
that he quit because of the "quality
of the DJs" and because he did not
want his name associated "with an
inferior product" The "inferior
product" he mentions is of his own
doing, the fault lies not with the
staff, but with John Jacon. Yes, he
did give his staff a large amount of
creative space, but in doing so he
also gave them free rein.
Creative freedom does not mean
a person is free to do as he pleases.
John, as program director, should
have been there to enforce basic
rules, and to instill in his staff a
sense of respect for their positions
and his. Instead he became a
traffic cop. setting up the DJ slots,
placing shows on the air. and
tilling in tor DJs who missed their
shows.
A sad problem with many people
who are In SA administrative
positions, such as John, is that
they are unwilling to actively take
control of the people under them.
If a staff member isn't doing a good
job. or is breaking rules, then the
administrator should reprimand
the person, or help them to do their
job better. But to reprimand a
person would mean, most likely,
that the administrator would also
have to reprimand a friend, setting
the administrator apart from his
or her friends. Because John
wanted toretainall his friends, he
chose not to fully use the authority
given to him when he was elected.
It's not the staffs fault If there is an
inferior product on the air. it Is the
program director's, John Jacon,
James Dunn
Promotions Director-WPLT
94PM
IRC article
way off base
To the Editor:
In response to your article
"International Relations cleans
house." Cardinal Points Issue of
March 1, 1984. I write to correct
some of the negative information
you put forward.
First you quoted Odege as
saying that it would "be a test of
my popularity." How you forged
that statement Is questionable
because you have never had any
discussion or interview with him.
N e i t h e r have read s u c h ,
from any of his writings.
Second, you quoted the
secretary saying that he usually
got information on Monday or
Tuesday.
You may wish to know that
throughout last semester,
beginningfromSept 15.1963. the
Executive Board of the IRC met
regularly every week. This was
possible because we tried to finish
wlthing the shortest time possible,
the reviewing of the new IRC
constitution. Most of the dates
and times of our general meetings
had been discussed and agreed
upon at our weekly executive
meetings two weeks in advance.
The executive members had also
always met before any general
T»r-««g Sometimes both the vicepresident and the treasurer had
complained to the secretary about
his method of sending circulars. It
is therefore a b sat ksw argument to
try to transfer blames of poor
performance to someone dese.
After several oral warnings, the
SA office wrote a warning letter
threatening to stop IRC privileges
from the SA for falling to submit
minutes of IRC meetings.
Third, the newsletterspeaks for
itself, for the two volumes already
published, the staff positions and
contributors appeared in black
and white. Please read them for
further information.
The very secretary you quoted
saying: "The board was upset that
no one had told them the
newsletter had already been done."
tailed to inform you that in his
minutes of December 2. 1983. he
stated Wednesday as the deadline
for the submission of articles, and
that the newsletter staff was to
meet on thefollowingSaturday.
To say that the problems of the
club are inherent because
everyone comes from different
backgrounds, is negative
thinking. Rather, the mark of a
poor coBectrve is officers not being
contented with their own offices,
but preferring to interfere with
another's duty which result in
trouble.
You should note that for a
reporter to be one-sided damages
the elthlcs of good journalism
when the truth comes out Good
reporters do not contribute to
favoritism because if affects the
popularity of the paper or
organization they represent A
good reporter takes part In
pertklpant-observation" rather
than hearsay. You did not even
attend the IRC meeting of
February 11. 1964 which you
purport to write about
Kaha Odege
on
P°
e s
J fa n f
wer
To the Editor
"Just can't wait to get on the
road again." from the Cardinal
Points. December 1. 1983.
"Lighting Up With Oyaas and Tech
Crew." This statement was not
accurate when it was published by
the Points back in December, but
today this is a different matter.
As Director of Technical
Services for the Student
Association, my employment will
end on 25 May 1984. To many this
will come as a surprise, but to a
few. it is a calculated move. I have
seen under the employment of the
Student Association for the past
two years. My Job description
states that I am under the direct
control of the Student Association
President with a State employee as
my supervisor. This Is supposed to
insure a certain amount of Job
security, but it doesn't My
5
"*P
position is at the mercy of whom
ever occupies the President's chair
in the S A office. In the case at
hand, this person does not wish
my employment to continue This
is my profession. I would hope that
a person that has the power to
terminate an employee without
the input of others, has enough
common sense to have good
reason for their action. At this
point in time. I have received no
reason. I wifl ask you. the readers
and students here, if youfeelthat
this is an appropriate situation for
the president to be in. Ifyou feel as
I do, that a student should not
have the power to terminate an
employee without the agreement
of several others on a review board,
write the president a letter.
Andrew C. Oyaas
Student Association
Director of Technical Services
ODK I • I * king
for soph leaders
To the Editor.
The Piattsburgh circle of
Omicron Delta Kappa, the national
leadership honor societyforJunior
and senior men and women,
recognizes each year several
sophomore students who have
exhibited outstanding qualities in
leadership and scholarship. These
students are presented in
Outstanding Sophomore Leader
Award during Student Recognition Week in early May. The
purpose of presenting these
awards is to encourage among
sophomore students those
attributes of scholarship,
leadership, and character that
membership in Omicron Delta
Kappa encourages among
students of Junior and senior
standing.
This letter is a request of you for
nominations of students of
sophomore standing (28 to 56
hours completed) whom you
believe are eligible for consideration for an ODK outstanding
Sophomore Leader Award.
Responsible and significant
leadership and service in campus
life, exemplary character, and an
academic record that places them
in the top 35 percent of their class
are qualifications for consideration. The names of nominees must
bereceivedin the Office of the Vice
President for Student Affairs, c/o
Theresa Siroky. by Friday. April 13.
1984.
Thank you for your consideration of this request and please feel
free to let us know if you have any
questions.
Theresa M. Siroky
President Omicron Delta Kappa
Exam cheating
professor's fault
™the Editor:
To
As a former student of PSUC I
would like to address the subject of
cheating. As an individual 1 fed
that it is morally unacceptable to
cheat on exams, be they mid-terms
or finals. However. I can recaD ai
certain Geology class last semester
where the Instructor said Dr.
Burke had caOed a meeting to alert
teachers to the possibility of
students who might cheat on final
exams. The professor then went
on to say that anyone who was
caught cheating in his dass
would be fully prosecuted
according to the college's policy on
cheating. Alter telling us this he
passed out the final asked if we
had any questions then left the
room. He came back about 5-10
minutes later with a cup of coffee
and a candybar. He probably
stayed 5 minutes and was gone
atovMi
mlmitMB
n d came
w a s fft
again. 5 This
time ahe
back
with a stack of papers to be graded,
which is Just what he proceeded to
do. While he was correcting his
papers the guy sitting in front of
me was cheating on his exam.
Your question. Why didn't I turn
him in? Why should I when it
seemed that the professor didn't
care. If hereallywanted to prevent
cheating he would not have left the
room. He would have monitored
the room, not graded papers.
Words of wisdom professors:
watch us during an exam so we
don't cheat but don't preach to us
about cheating and then leave the
room during an exam.
A Former student