N ITT ANT CUB
Established October 26, 1948, as the official publication for the
student body of Pennsylvania State University, Behrend Center,
Erie, Pennsylvania.
Published by the Breeze Publishing Co., North East, Pennsyl
vania
Editor-in-chief
Assistant Editors Rita Anderson, Carole Lazarus
Feature Editor Sandy David
Sports Editor Dick Covatto
Photo Consultant Norman Patterson
Staff Writers
Terry Herrick, Sara Lewis, Janice Maclver, Lea Moses,
Ron Raymond, Suzanne Russell, Edith Tinsman, Jack
Randinelli, Jill Fritz, Wes Carter, Dave Thelin, Bill
Curtis, Forrest Campbell.
Straight From Cupid's Bow
Have you noticed how scented
and balmy the air is today? Do
your heartstrings quiver when you
approach a member of the op
posite sex? Do you suddenly want
to become a cupid? If you answer
“yes” to these questions, don’t
worry. Tomorrow is February 14,
St. Valentine’s Day when every
boy’s and girl’s thoughts turn to
cupids, hearts, and flowers.
Tomorrow is named in honor
of Valentine, an early Christian
who was later canonized for his
life of goodness. In the year 270,
according to church history, Val
entine was found preaching about
the importance of honor in mar
riage when he was seized by the
guards of Emperor Claudius EL
His teachings infuriated the em
peror, who enjoyed his paganistic
entertainment. To him, Valentine
was an annoyance, so he was be
headed on February 14.
It is probable that early Chris
tians upheld Valentine as an ex
ample of the Christian way of
life. During February and March
when the gods. Pan and Juno,
were honored/ by the Romans, the
young men gathered at the
temples where each received a
scroll with the name of a maiden
written on it. This girl then be
Back To The Old Grind
Well fellows (and girls—few and
far between) we’re back at it
again after two glorious weeks of
doing nothing and doing it slow
ly. Many of us after receiving a
letter from Mr. Kochel last week
were undecided whether the Navy
or the Army would make the bet
ter career. With a little bit of
thought though, most of us de
cided! that college was quite a bit
easier than the tasks the armed
forces would have for us. Most of
the veterans who are with us will
agree with this I think.
By now Mr. Lane has been driv
en into a state of mental collapse
by the students who can’t quite
arrange their schedules the way
they would like to, and at the
bookstore, which was once in a
state of chaos, silence now pre
vails.
In Erie Hall the ping pong ma
jors are now trying to get on the
dean’s list by winning ten games
in a row from Mr. Thurbon, and
at the pool table Arnie and Nick
are still chalking up. Elsewhere in
Ruth Angelotti, Fred Faulk.
came the young man’s favorite
for the year.
A similar situation existed in
England and Scotland, but with
interesting variation. Each young
bachelor and unmarried girl re
ceived a member of the opposite
sex, or “valentine” by drawing
lots. The proceeding was gaily
referred to as a betrothal.
Valentines were exchanged as
early as the middle of the fif
teenth century. Cards were decor
ated with lace and pictures of
flowers and engraved with such
sweet endearments as:
“Mine has been a life of love,
Thinking now and then of you.
Cupids watch, dear, from above
Shooting arrows to keep you
true.”
As times change, so do valen
tines. The picture material for
valentines includes not only the
“hearts and flowers” of yester
year, but such objects of interest
and romance as barnyard animals,
jalopies, and jitterbug adolescents.
Expressions such as “You’re a
real cool cat” have taken the
place of “To my own sweet Val
entine”. Although the words are
different, the thoughts are the
same and a valentine still remains
an expression of friendship and
affection.
the lounge Tudy is dealing a fast
game of pinochle between classes
and Judy is wistfully looking
through the large piece of glass
which forms a window on the
front on the jukebox. Upstairs in
the gym the “coach” is taking on
all comers in badminton and most
of the challengers after a couple
of games decide to play checkers
and leave badminton to someone
else.
The front hall in Turnbull is
once again filled with students
hurrying from class to class or
having a smoke between classes.
At the library a few more of us
have become serious minded (be
cause of our grades) and have be
gun cracking the books at the
beginning of the semester rather
than at the end when it is too
late to study. With each one of
us sweating one class or getting
snowed in another class, I guess
things are back to normal at
Behrend Center, and we’re all
“back at the old grind.”
Evelyn Bernhard
THE NITTANT
Around The
Campus
By SWoRD
The weather has Lit. Class
walking about repeating “If winter
comes, can spring be far behind?”
and the same sentiments apply to
JILL FRITZ and her party friends.
JOHN CIPRIANI and his “grey
ghost” plowed up to the Fritz
farmhold only to remain over
night in snow drifts . . . TOM sort
of went in for snow drifts, too,
after being dragged (?) from a
much needed room . . . DORIS
MIESEL’S mysterious phone calls
from a stranger have finally end
ed up at the Juvenile Dept, of the
police station . . . TERRY HER
RICK’S extra-curricular activities
included re-writing bulletin board
notices . . . New course offered at
Behrend this semester—MAßSH 2
. . . FRED MONACO is handing
out much delayed cigars . . .
KATHY and LEA will be Feb
ruary’s head-spinners . . . Things
we will try to comprehend more
fully as time goes by—Why VER
BANIC has been taking extra gym
classes to avoid some of COMFY’S
CUHES . . . Why BEN RUSIE
WICZ has moved his belongings,
airplane and all, to the dorm and
closer to the pool table . . . We
know a man who knows a girl
who is quite certain that MELVIN
ZARLETTA is planning a series
of lectures in the Memorial Room
on “How to Win Friends and In
fluence Teachers” . . . Congrats
to JIM . CAMPBELL, LEROY
STEINER, and SID BENSON for
being the proud owners of the
only A’s in Chem I last semester
. . . JOHN BEATTY was looking
for an afternoon job during
the week after he received
his schedule . . . FRED FAULK
is happy to be out of the
zoo—seems that monkeys were
bothering him . . . LUCILLE
GARDNER is one of the winners
of Cook’s Market lucky key hold
ers; she came out with a portable
T. V. . . . MR. LANE has given up
re-scheduling German classes and
has joined the Foreign Legion . . .
MR. PAT and his sneaky cam
era caught JILL at an undesirable
moment—Did someone say Hit
Parade, JILL? . . . Memo to
the ex-engineering students who
switched curriculums —Notes are
also taken in L. A. and Bus. Ad.
courses .. . COMFY is seen sport
ing a new coiffeur . . . FLASH!
TUDY actually missed a party!
. . . COACH GOODWIN writes an
advice-to-the-lovelom-column . . .
808 SCOTT couldn’t be respon
sible for the stalagmite growing
from the waste basket in the
library? . . . BILL LEONARD’S
bird cages are on display in the
library, too . . . Sorry to see JAN
WARREN leave us . . . Mystery
department—What happened to
the DO-EE, DO-EE Club? . . .
What’s so funny about mailboxes?
. . . Nice of JACK to send TED
LARSEN that Valentine . . . The
clicking sound now heard in
OLLIE’S car means that he has
officially become the Behrend
Center Taxi Service Co., Inc . . .
MISS FILER announces that no
card playing, dice rolling, ping
pong, or marshmellow roasts are
permitted in the library . . . Pre
dictions FRANK HURSEN’S
next book will be called “Behrend
Place” in which he reveals the
secret lives of his Stull Hall col-
Continued on Page 4
MEET YOUR
By Bill Curtis
Tim berrr .... this is the
sound heard every year around
“Sno-Ball” time at Robert Bakers
miniature Cooks Forest. At this
time, all of the amateur Paul
Bunyons of Mr. Baker’s engineer
ing class take on the delightful
chore of giving the axe to a num
ber of evergreens that are used
for this annual affair.
Mr. Baker, who has taught
here for the last four years, is
admired very much by the stu
dents on the Behrend campus. He
received his formal education at
Cornell University and was grad
uated from there in 1947 with a
Bachelor’s degree in Engineering.
Upon graduation he did his part
in the service of his country. He
served as radio operator with the
rank of sergeant in the Army-Air
Force, operating in Italy. During
the war his plane was downed in
Austria and he received various
awards and medals, which such a
person so richly deserved.
When asked about his interests,
he said, “I have a million ofthem,”
and that he surely does. His in
terests are varied; among them
are electronics, hunting, fishing,
camping, boating model railroad
ing and racing, the latter of which
occupies most of his time. He had
this to say about racing, “I have
won every race I ever entered” but
he adds jokingly, “I have only
entered one.” When asked whether
he had ever attained any prize
hunting specimens, he very proud
ly answered, “Nothing extraordi
nary, I just get a deer every year .”
Along with his hunting and fish
ing, he loves that adventure of
camping and he is looking forward
to a camping and fishing expedi-
Behrend Cent
By Evelyn Bernhard
If you happen to be in the
vicinity of Miss Filer’s office one
of these days, just step inside and
you will most probably find a
heated discussion taking place on
any subject from the Jupiter-2
“Explorer” to the merits of the
comic strip, “Peanuts.” Taking a
leading part in the discussion will
be 6’ 3”, brown haired, blue eyed,
broad shouldered, typically Irish,
Frank Hursen.
Frank can discuss any subject
with ease, but is particularly at
home when telling of his army
experiences. Even though he join
ed the army on a Friday 13 in
1954, Frank’s army career seems to
have turned out to be quite suc
cessful. He worked as a radar re
pairman on certain guided missiles
and, on the side, conducted sev
eral “research experiments” in
other fields. Also dining his three
years of service he toured many of
the European countries including
Germany, Italy, Austria, Denmark
and Switzerland, thus partially
satisfying one of his major in
terests, winch is traveling. When
asked which of the countries he
preferred, he replied, “Switzerland,
because of its friendly pople and
high standard of living.”-He said
that the European city in which
he’d most like to live would be
Heidelberg. Perhaps the pretty
“frauleins” have something to do
with his decision.
Frank, whose major is electrical
engineering, made his debute per
formance on the stage in the
play, “A Christmas Carol” here at
Behrend, and he was also see on
the television of the play where he
FACULTY
Robert C. Baker
tion in Canada with Herb Bair,
instructor of engineering, this
summer.
He is married and the father of
twofineyoungboys, Stephen, nine,
and Bruce, eight. His wife shares
most of his interests which pro
vides for a very happy home.
Mr. Baker’s pet peeve is lack of
space and facilities. This immedi
ately prompted me to ask him if
he had any plans for the funds
recently granted to the center. He
said, “I had plans for spending
that money before it was ever
granted to us.”
His future plans are to do grad
uate work in electronics, but he
hasn’t yet decided whore he
will further his studies. He
enjoys teaching here and has
plans of continuing, as long has
Penn. State remains “progressive
minded.” We all hope that he
stays for a long time. He has been
a definite service and an inspira
tion to all the Behrend students
working with him. If at any time
you have a spare moment, drop
into his office and have a talk
with him; I am sure your efforts
will be richly rewarded.
ir Presents...
Frank Hursen
played the party of the “headless”
young Srooge.
Although some people may con
sider Frank to be quiet and re
served just ask the boys in his
phys. ed. class and they’ll tell you
that not many of them will rirk
life and limb trying to stop this
Stull Hall man when he begins
his famous “Hursen drive” to sink
a basket.
There are others who are baf
fled by Frank’s peculiar type of
humor as demonstrated by one of
his favorite stories when he went
to his psychiatrist because he felt
that he had an inferiority com
plex. After the psychiatrist ex
amined him, he said, “Frank, you
don’t have an inferiority complex,
you’re really inferior.”
You could sum Frank up by
saying that he is a pleasant mix
ture of a good deal of intelligence,
exasperating sarcasm, a shot of
humor, and, the most important
ingredient—a sometimes provok
ing unpredictableness.