Bryn Mawr College Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College Bryn Mawr College Publications, Special Bryn Mawr College News Collections, Digitized Books 1989 The olC lege News 1989-11-4 Vol.11 No. 4 Students of Bryn Mawr College Let us know how access to this document benefits ouy . Follow this and additional works at: http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews Custom Citation Students of Bryn Mawr College, The College News 1989-11-4 Vol.11 No. 4 (Bryn Mawr, PA: Bryn Mawr College, 1989). This paper is posted at Scholarship, Research, and Creative Work at Bryn Mawr College. http://repository.brynmawr.edu/bmc_collegenews/1415 For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE COLLEGE NEWS VOLUME XII NUMBER^H FOUNDED Tl914 BRYN MAWR COLLEGE NOVEMBER 8,1989 Abortion rights erased BY JESSICA BASS physician must report the basis for the age estimate to the Department of Health. Since the Webster decision last July, Late Abortions Criminated: After 24 we have seen an increase in legislative weeks of pregnancy abortion becomes activity both here in Pennsylvania and illegal, punishable up to 20 years in jail on the national level. and $25,000 fine. The only exception: The It was a sad day in early October when life of the mother must be endangered Pennsylvania Representative Stephen and two additional physicians must Freind introduced the 1989 Abortion concur that her life is indeed threatened. Control Act. It was even sadder two No exceptions. weeks ago when it passed in the House Informed Consent: Patients will be con- by a 2-1 /2 to 1 margin. Governor Casey fronted with pictures of 'developing fe- has already announced he will sign the tuses' which the medical community has bill if it reaches his desk. The Senate is denounced as inaccurate. Women would expected to vote on it by mid-November. then be required to wait 24 hours, during These are the provisions of the 1989 which time she will be discouraged from Abortion Control Act: choosing abortion. This constitutes har- Hospitals may refuse to provide abor- assment, especially for women who have tions: A direct application of the Webster to travel a great distance to a clinic. decision. In the 1988 Abortion Control Parental Consent: A minor woman must Recycling: Back to stay Act there existed a provision which said obtain permission from her parents be- hospitals could refuse to perform abor- fore having an abortion. BY LISA DURBECK must be sorted according to color (white tions as long as there was another facility This law will trap young women in an or non-white), and thus its recycling re- within 20 miles. This act removes that impossible situation. If a young woman Bryn Mawr College has kicked off its quires the commitment of all students, provision communicates well enough with her recycling program. What was formerly a staff, and faculty. It also requires a large- Physician must obtain a determination parent(s), she will consult them on her student-run, volunteer operation is now scale recycling program to collect and of gestation age: This measure is de- own; if she doesn't, she probably has a being phased in as a permanent part of haul the mountain of paper the college signed to discourage physicians from good reason not to. Child abuse, incest, the college, administered by the recy- discards. performing abortions at all. This goes alcoholism and drug abuse are major cling committee. Despite thesedifficulties, however,the way beyond the limit set in Roe v. Wade. problems which many more teenagers The committee has started small. Last recycling program should be well Physicians are required to make an are suffering from than we would like to weekend a student crew of recyclers equipped to handle the recycling of paper "accurate diagnosis" of gestational age admit. Young women are harassed and converted the dorms' old canvas trash by next September. no matter what stage of pregnancy. The continued on page 6 containers into waste bins.for aluminum. These bins are labelled "Al" and are sparsely distributed throughout dormi- Legal case delays harassment policy tories and in Thomas, Taylor, and tfw^ science building The student crew will collect the alu- BY ELIZABETH JONES According to Maggie Holley, Assis- as an example of a situation in which a minum every week, and Eastern Waste tant to the President, Bryn Mawr has conflict might arise, a classroom situ- Industries will haul it monthly to a recy- Last spring, President McPherson received copies of similar harassment ation in which a student was offended by cling center where it will be sold. The presented an initial draft of the Affirma- policies from many comparable colleges a quotation from a text, such as the Bible. committee hopes to balance hauling costs tive Action Advisory Board's compre- and universities. Administration and She stresses that academic institutions with the return the college will receive hensive harassment policy. She requested College Counsel are studying these docu- such as Bryn Mawr take their strength on the aluminum, which is currently constructive input from members of the ments now to determine in what ways large from their commitment to freedom valued at 35 cents a pound. community in order that the policy could our policy might be legally flawed and of speech and thought and that intellec- Aluminum was chosen as the recy- be appropriately revised and submitted how it can be changed so that it will not tual freedom must be protected. Thus cling program's first project because it is to the Association for final approval early infringe on the right to free speech. First reexamination of our policy to assure expected to be the easiest material to this semester. Over the summer, how- Amendment experts at Stanford have ourselves that we "have not inappropri- recycle: it's easy to identify (aluminum ever, a lawsuit was brought against the been consulted, as has Judge Edmund B. ately curtailed people's thoughts" is po- cans are seamless, easy to crush, and University of Michigan charging that the Spaeth, a College Trustee. tentially constructive. often labelled "100% aluminum"); it's University's harassment policy violated President McPherson; Phyllis Lachs, President McPherson does not seem to easy to collect (it's light, and not particu- the First Amendment's protection of free the College's legal counsel; Joyce Miller, suggest, however, broad changes in the larly sharp); and it's easy to sell (the speech. Head of the Office of Institutional Diver- policy. She seems to view problems in market is fairly steady). Federal district judge Avern Cohn sity (formerly Officeof Minority Affairs); our particular policy as stemming from Oncethealuminum recycling program ruled in favor of the plaintiff; Michigan and Judge Edmund B. Spaeth, Vice- lack of specificity which could lead to is in full swing it should not bedifficult to declined to appeal the decision, deciding Chairman of the Board of Trustees, will multiple interpretations; this can be add glass, which requires a similar setup. instead to amend the policy. This event meet this Tuesday to review the policy. countered by clarifying statements within The committee expects to begin glass may affect Bryn Mawr's contemplated Later in November, the Advisory Board the policy, such as definitions of harass- recycling spring semester. policy, as well as many other similarly will convene so that, in Ms. Holley's ment. They hope to add a full-scale paper worded policies at colleges and universi- words, it may determine "what the best She is confident that it will be possible recycling program shortly thereafter. ties across the nation. The Administra- path might be" in regard to the policy. to determine specifically "codes of con- Paper is the main component of the col- tion has chosen to delay the release of the President McPherson sees possible duct acceptable in any residential com- lege's waste stream and must be recycled Bryn Mawr policy until next semester, so conflicts between the need to protect in- munity" and insists that the policy will after September 26,1990. Unfortunately, that it may be reevaluated in view of the dividuals from harassment and the need be ready to be mailed to all students at paper is also more difficult to recycle. It recent judicial decision. to preserve freedom of speech. She gives the beginning of second semester. Media misrepresents non-violent coal miners' strike in Appalachia BY NATASHA SEAMAN 1500 retired miners, widows and pen- to reversing the trend of anti-union sen- worked by out-of-state scabs. sioners. timent that has pervaded the govern- The security force hired—the Vance Five years ago, Pittston Coal Com- On April 5,1989, two thousand miners ment since Reagan's brusque treatment Security Asset Protection Team—is re- pany, one of Appalachia's largest pro- laid down their tools and walked out. of the Air-Traffic Controllers strike in cruited from right-wing militaristsacross ducers of bituminous coal, started to The strike went essentially unnoticed 1981. the nation. These heavily armed guards transfer operations to non-union sub- in the rest of the United States. Several In this time when theeconomy is based are a not-so-distant echo of mercenary sidiaries. Pittston miners who belonged national newspapers did not even cover on big business conglomerates, it is no thugs hired by coal companies to kill to the United Mine Workers (UMW) the event. George Bush, busy congratu- surprise that union-busting activities by union organizers in the mine wars of the began to notice that their mines were lating solidarity workers in Poland and Pittston are overlooked, or even endorsed 1920"s.