NOVEMBER 19, 1974 SKIDMORE NEWS PAGE 3 Con’t. from p. 2 well, to the point that only six members of the entire student body were accepted. We only hope that any interested students in a future exchange will realize how limited the program actually is. the information given is misleading, and, as a result we are not only disappointed but equally disillusioned fresh women. Respectfully Brooks Hendrie Diane Aigler Dear Miss Myers, In your article entitled “Co-Education at Skidmore” you asked if the college was kept academically successful after the decision to admit males. Using your terms I would define an academically successful school as one which produces individuals that are capable of competing and succeeding in the ‘real’ world. Skidmore is still functioning in that way. The only difference is now they are producing competent males along with competent females. Skidmore is achieving this without neglecting any segment of our society. One thing I would like to know is who is letting the males dominate if it isn’t the school? I haven’t the foggiest idea, do you? But if you are still convinced that the males on this campus are out to push the lowly female back in to her place. Why don’t you escape persecution, I’m sure there are many Women’s Colleges where you could receive the sheltered education that all women deserve. Mark Haynes Dear Editor: We would like to take this opportunity to congratulate, rather than criticize Skidmore’s food service. After having read valid criticisms in the Skidmore News, we have found the food service to be improving. We hope this trend will continue, barring the need for further criticisms and satisfying our hungry tummies! Yours truly, Ex-sufferers of the 5:00 Blues Amy Dean; I am not writing about something that is wrong now, but of something which was wrong last year. Skidmore had its first real basketball team in some time and the home games were scheduled at the St. Peter’s school gym. This was a good team coached by a good coach. Its problem was that there were not enough reserves. This year I have watched the team in practice and it appears that it is much improved. I do not doubt that the coach would like to see more people try out for and make the team, but that is in the area of the individual who wants to see the team become something of value to the school. The wrong that I noticed as I attended most of the home games last year was that the student body did not even fill the bleacher space in the St. Peter’s gym, despite the fact that the team played some very interesting games. Having been more or less of an athlete in this area for many years, I am well aware of the value to the team in having the support of its community. Couldn’t we all get together, at all levels, and support this team in a manner which they certainly deserve? With the money problem evident here and everywhere else today, couldn’t we in attendance put a buck or two in the kitty and get some money in there to support the team now, and in the future? I am going to try and make all home games this year and also will volunteer to help the coach in any way I can to help Skidmore’s basketball team. Al Barney Chief Security Officer, Skidmore Dear Ms. Dean, Whenever a magazine like FOLIO is published, feelings are hurt. There are always more submissions than there are pages, and some works must be rejected. This is the unfortunate task of the editor. Being merely human, the editor must make these decisions of rejection and acceptance on the basis of value judgments. Publication is not always proof of quality, unfortunately, and vice versa. Editors can only choose as they think best from what they are given according to the space they have. To be an editor, one must hurt some feelings, and that is just the way it is. To your contention that FOLIO has been a ‘closed shop’ magazine in the past, this year’s staff pleads “nolo contendere”. If this situation existed, it might have been since the most active writers at Skidmore were also the people who put the most energy into publishing the magazine. It could also have been a case of personal egotisms, as you hint in your article. Whatever the reasons for this were, the FOLIO staff of 74-75 is indebted to you for pointing out this possible aspect of previous FOLIO’S, and will be on guard against it. However, as to your questioning of the FOLIO-PEGASUS merger, you are laboring under certain misconceptions. PEGA- SUS was never a publication; it was an English student organization responsible for poetry readings and the like at Skidmore. In other words, you condemn the merger in your last paragraph for reasons that simply not true, and inadvertently compliment us on the merger in the paragraph above the last. Perhaps you should have taken more time to research what FOLIO is and what PEGASUS was before you started something. Also, FOLIO is not receiving additional funding by merging. We are receiving the money already put aside by CGA for PEGASUS, but this money can only be used for the purpose of sponsoring poetry readings and related events. What we are getting from the merger is the additional responsibility of running these events. Although PEGASUS was supposedly a student organization, lack of student interest forced one faculty member to take over the duties. FOLIO has returned PEGASUS to a student organization status by means of the merger. Even if your last paragraph was, not made nonsensical by your misconceptions, how do you equate an attempt to receive additional money for the purposes of improvement (as an attempt we are undeniably making, although not through the FOLIO-PEGASUS merger, which does not bring the magazine any money but only additional responsibilities for the staff) with an acknowledgement of defeat? Is it defeat to recognize a real need for improvement and to then try and bring it about? We think not. Sincerely, The FOLIO Staff of 74-75 Dear Editor: I would like to commend Amy Dean on her last article on school. She has pointed out a drastic change that I think many at Skidmore have noticed. The school spirit has risen, at least 100% from what it was just last year when I was a freshman. The student body as a whole seems to be more actively involved in what is happening at Skidmore. I think much of the newly founded spirit can also be attributed to the incoming class of ’78. To cite some examples: Freshman Day -most of the freshmen participated and ended up having a really good time. Although many of the upperclassmen were Con’t. on p. 4 SWEET TOOTH IS HURTING by Jack Anderson WASHINGTON - Candy may still be dandy, but its cost may soon make it a luxury only the rich can afford. Sugar, the prime confectionary ingredient, is now rivaling oil as the fastest rising commodity on the world price index. A five-pound bag of sugar cost 88 cents last year. Today, it runs nearly $2.50 The reasons are complex, but a large share of the price rise tan be laid to unscrupulous brokers and greedy sugar refiners. The brokers set themselves up as middlemen, contracting desperate customers and offering them sugar. Once they get an offer, they get the sugar from a supplier they have worked a deal with. The increased costs go into the broker’s pocket. Many legitimate sugar refiners are also taking advantage of the short sugar supply to raise prices well above their costs. Sugar industry profits have ballooned by as much as 500 per cent. Of course, market pressures have played the most significant role in the price boost. Worldwide, sugar consumption has simply outpaced sugar production The oil-rich Arab nations have helped inflate demand, bidding up prices on the international market to satisfy a newly developed sweet tooth. And poor crops forecasts around the world mean further increases in the future. In America, sugar's outrageous price has consumers either boycotting or hoarding the product. Only dentists and nutritionists, it seems, are heralding the sugar pinch. The food experts have found that sugar is the only food without nutritional value. And the dentists, of course, hope that less sugar will mean fewer cavities. GETTING TO KNOW YOU: President Ford travels to the Soviet Union this week with a head full of advice from Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Kissinger gave Ford a favorable report on his secret 19-hour talks with Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. The Soviet leader was cordial but cautious, Kissinger reported. He clearly wants to continue the Russian-American detente. But Brezhnev made it clear that he wanted to get to know the new American President before substantive talks get underway. The first Ford-Brezhnev However, the two leaders will undoubtedly foray into some ticklish areas. Ford, for example, is concerned about the Soviet buildup of mobile missiles. These missiles can be moved by train, truck or plane. They can even be fired on the move. It would be almost impossible, then, to set up an advance defense system. The first dramatic test of the new Russian missile was conducted when Kissinger was in Moscow about a month ago. Now. Ford is prepared to warn the Soviets that they are risking a new round in the arms race unless the two superpowers agree on restraints. For once both countries start producing mobile missiles, even the most sophisticated surveillance couldn’t keep track of how many mobile missiles the other side had, or where they were developed. The Vladivostok summit, however, is unlikely to produce any major Soviet-American agreements. Rather, it will serve to reinforce the foundations of detente. SHEIKHS AND STARVATION: The oil price squeeze has brought fabulous wealth to a few Arab sheikhs. It has also brought starvation to millions of impoverished people. High oil prices increase the cost of fertilizers and insecticides, which have a petroleum base. This has reduced food production. Yet an estimated 400 million — twice the population of the United States — don’t have enough to eat. The United States is the world’s greatest food producer. Unlike the oil producers, the United States has been generous with its surplus food. For 30 years, the United States almost alone has kept the impoverished from starving. Half of the world’s bulk food exports still come from the United States. Of this, a whopping billion dollar’s worth of food is given away or is sold to poor countries at low cost. In contrast, the reckless greed of the oil sheikhs is costing lives. They have been showing up at the world’s pleasure spots scattering money like autumn leaves. Meanwhile, in places like Bangladesh and India, people are being turned away from the bread lines because they have no money for food. And in Africa, millions are starving because there isn’t enough food to go around. COMPACT CRUNCH: The four major auto manufacturers have spent $1 billion retooling factories to produce smaller cars. Yet transportation officials are having second thoughts about small cars. It is true that small cars consume less fuel and, therefore, are more economical to operate. But private studies show that small cars get involved in more accidents and are more costly to repair. The average damage claim after a collision, according to the studies, is $506 for a compact car compared to only $433 for a full-size car. A front fender, which cost $61 to repair in 1967, now costs $114. A rear fender, which cost $150 to repair in 1967, now costs $167. And a trunk lid, which cost $93 to repair in 1967, now costs $132. Costs like these have started a move in Congress to regulate the auto repair business. Pete Wagner Minnesota Daily 'HOLD EVERYTHING! I HAVE THE SOLUTION!!'