LehighWeek Volume 02, Issue 21

              INSIDE:
Minority Languages In Decline 2
Educators Honor Alumnus 3
Spanish Educators Visit STS 5
Dance Company To Perform 6
ii
MARIE C. BOLTZ
UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES
RM.306       „„.„*,
LINDERMAN LIBRARY
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Western nations must uphold the right to
freedom of expression within their boundaries
and must reject the dictates of a foreign
leader who orders the death of citizens in
other countries.' '
-Middle East scholar Elie Rekhess.
"Satanic Verses". Page
^■T" Lehigh University, "^j^       A       "^^   Bethlehem, Pennsylvania
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Volume Two,
Issue Twentyone
March 1,1989
An untitled photograph from "People That I Love," by Tom Short of
Danielsville, part of Area Artists-1989, coming to the Lehigh University
Art Galleries March 10. See Story on Page 6.
Shabazz: Heritage Holds Promise For Blacks
Campus, City Police Tip Off To Benefit Children
By Ron Ticho
Lt. Edward Shupp scored a career-high
35 points and Officer Michael Timmons
tallied 31 to lead the Lehigh University
Campus Police to a 117-76 victory over the
Bethlehem Police Department in a game
played at Lehigh's Grace Hall for the benefit
of the Jordan Children Trust Fund.
The fund was established in memory of
the Jordan children's parents, both Bethlehem police officers, who died in an automobile accident.
At halftime, Officer Scott Parry of the
Bethlehem Police Department and Sgt.
Rafael Perex of the Campus Police presented
a check for $3,000 on behalf of both
departments to the trust fund.
Lehigh never trailed in the contest as it
opened a 21-point lead early in the second
quarter, coasting in at the half ahead 52-33.
Sgt. Anthony Casciano led Lehigh with 15
points in the first hald. Bethlehem Officer
Daniel Woodard, who had a game-high 41
points, scored 21 in the first half.
Lehigh extended its lead to as many as
40 points in the second half, led by Shupp
who scored 24 points in the second stanza.
Perex added 18 points for Lehigh.
Bethlehem was led by Woodard and
Officer Stuart Bedics, who scored 14 points.
In the battle among the heads of the
departments, Lehigh's Chief Eugene Dax
scored nine points while Bethlehem Police
Commissioner Tom Murphy was shut out.
By Faith S. Rosenshein
Media Relations Intern
At the age of three, a little girl received an
important gift from her mother — "Color Me
Brown." With the aid of this coloring book,
the girl learned about 25 contributors to Black
American history even before learning about
Jack & Jill or Dick & Jane.
Early knowledge of figure such as Phillis
Wheatley (the first important black writer in
the United States) and Benjamin Banneker (an
almanac maker and man of science who
helped survey the District of Columbia) helped
shape Attallah Shabazz's life.
Shabazz, a producer, writer, lecturer and
daughter of the late founder of the Organization of Afro-American Unity, Malcolm X. expressed the importance of offering children
positive images from an early age.
Shabazz spoke to an audience in Lehigh
University's Packer Hall, the university center,
on February 20 in honor of Black History
Month.
By learning about these people at an early
age. she said from the beginning she knew she
could do anything.
"I was fed with good food before the ignorance and ills of society were put in my head,"
said Shabazz.
Shabazz said that as black Americans learn
during Black History Month to celebrate themselves they must also look at the larger picture,
at their role in the game being played.
By giving "cool, hip" images in popular,
constructive, expanding and uplifting forms,
Shabazz said you show children they don't
have to be a "druggie" to fit in.
"I've been given the gift of heritage, of
self-knowledge, of awareness," said Shabazz.
She noted that when you say the past is a
mirror image of the present, you can make up
that past, as those who have worked to get
what we have today have done.
Shabazz pointed out that people are complaining about the social ills in America but
should try to think about what the ride from
Africa was like to slaves, as those people lay
next to excretement and others crying in pain:
how it felt to be taken from their family: and
the degrading way they were treated in America.
Shabazz said she is not saying that social
injustices should be ignored, but that black
Americans are now complaining for the sim-
plist of things, like money. She explains 100
years ago our grandparents didn't have any
money. That was not the determining factor
Continued On Page 3>
NEH Fellowship Assists Chinese Scholar
By Brian Cooke
A National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) research fellowship for 1989-90
has been awarded to David Pankenier, assistant professor of modern foreign languages.
The fellowship, announced in December,
will allow Pankenier to write a book about his
research on Chinese history. The book, which
will be published by Princeton University Press,
will address the concept of
the Mandate of Heaven in
China—the ancient doctrine that kingship must
have divine approval. It
will be the first book on
this subject to be written
in a Western language.
Pankenier said the
book will be "about ancient Chinese notions of
legitimacy: who has a claim to be the ruler of
the people and how is the claim substantiated?"
NEH fellowships are intended to provide
the equivalent of a year's salary, he explained,
up to a maximum of $27,500.
"The idea is to release you from teaching
duties for a year," said Pankenier, who will
work at home for a year starting in July.
Pankenier's thesis relates the rise and fall
of early Chinese dynasties to astronomical
David Pankenier
phenomena. His focus is on planetary conjunctions, when the five planets visible to the
naked eye are clustered within three to seven
degrees of each other.
"When these spectacular planetary events
took place, they were thought to be a message
from heaven that a dynastic change was in the
offing," Pankenier said.
Pankenier compared the Chinese conception to Middle Eastern astrology. "For example, it has been theorized that the star of
Bethlehem which heralded the birth of Christ
was actually a planetary conjunction," he
added.
Such conjunctions of all five planets are
extremely rare. Only four such events have
taken place in the past 5.000 years. Of these,
the first three during the second   millennium
B.C. occurred within 20 years of the overthrow of a ruling Chinese dynasty.
"These events can be dated back to the
20th century B.C. through both popular traditions and historical records." he said.
The most recent coincidence was in the
mid-1 1 th century B.C. According to Chinese
legends, the rise of the Chou dynasty was heralded when a great red crow soared down from
the sky. clasping a jade scepter in its beak.
Astronomical records show that on May
28, in 1059 B.C.. the five planets gathered in
Continued On Page 2>