FRIDAY, SEPTMIBER 28, 1945 fetter To Editor Dear Editoi The report that Ralph Ventres co, an ex-serviceman, is ineligible for football, comes as •a rude shock to me. Ventresco, I am told, failed to check out when Uncle Sam put the finger on him way back in 1941.. He just walked out, like hundreds of others, and went to war. To me,' his grades •at that mo ment are unimportant. I believe, sincerely, that the last semester of every .man facing induction should be wiped right off the books. There should be no disciplinary action—four years later. Ventresco, I am also told, did a wonderful job of ' fighting in this war. He came back with five or more battle stars, and a host of strange experiences picked up at Sicily, Salerno, Anzio—all . "hot spots." 'Once, his friends tell me, he spent•some 100 hours without re lief in a water-logged, mud-filled foxhole. don't think he ever dreamed in those days of coming back to a history class or a chemistry lab; if anything, he hoped he'd live to play football again- r -and maybe, after he'd earned his degree, coach a football team of his own somewhere. And the College, consciously or otherwise, let him believe it would welcome him back, do ev erything it could to help him chart his, own future. That, however, was before V-J Day. When all was quiet and peaceful again, the eligibility committee or whatever they call it at this institution, dusted off all the old rules, brushed them up to - make them look like new, and pinned them on the first who came along.. It apparently doesn't matter that the guy was led to believe he would get a fair shake when he got back— a Chance to start over, and Make goOd. No, no, let's have none of that nonsense. Let's, the college, is now saying saying to him, get back to the good old days, forget the war and all those unpleasant things, and let's live by our rule book again. Frankly, I'm just a little bit ashamed. And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if this experience had embittered Ventresco more than all the horrible things he endur ed to insure a future for this and other so-called higher institu tions of learning. Very humbly yours, ANOTHER VETERAN No Rooms! Why? Alumni Do you know anyone who has been having trouble getting hotel accommodations in State College for October 5 and 6? For this is the date of Homecoming—the - first since the end of hostilities overseas—and many alumni are expected for the weekend. • Events planned for Friday in clude a meeting of the Executive Board of the Alumni Association, a student-alumni football rally and the presentation of •"Blithe Spirit" by the Penn State Players. Big feature of the following day will of course be the varsity foot ball game against Colgate, to be followed by the traditional cider party after the game in the Old Main SandWich Shop. Also on that day's program are an Alumni golf tournament, a meeting of the Alumni Council and again, "Blithe Spirit." Homecoming is an outgrowth of the old celebration • of "Pennsyl vania Day." It was Mike Sullivan., Alumni secretary, who after the First World War started the Homecoming traditions. Homecoming is . planned in or der to give alumni a chance to come back to their alma mater and see just what is •going on. Customarily it is held in the early fall, as the weathei• is pleasant at that season and a football game can be included in the prOgrani. It also gives alumni an oppor tunity, in addition to the class re 'unions held every live years, to come; back to school and recall old times. FC Presents Facts, Figures Fraternities Discuss Expenses, Membership (Editor's Note: This is the fourth of a series of articles on fraternities and their future.) By MERVIN WILF The purpose of this article is to present to the reader facts and fig ures concerning fraternities at the College. The information gathered was obtained at'the last meeting of the Interfraternity Council. Twen ty-one fraternities were repre sented at this meeting, and each representative answered questions which were used in the data. If there is a seeming discrep ancy in the computing of the }fig ures; i.e. 1(1 fraternities answering a question while 21 were repre sented, remember that all the fra ternities are not running on a full active basis and are not in a posi tion to answer all the inquiries. • Cosfs of Fraternities With 14 fraternities reporting, the average house bill, including room and board, came to '07.71& The highest figure was $65 and the lowest, $53110. One fraternity op erates on a basis of charging for room per month and for food per week. There are six houses that assess their members for room and social fees only as they do not operate their own kitchens. The average for this is $16.50: Initiation fees are of major im portance in figuring the cost of a fraternity, but it is well to remem ber that while the fee is paid in a lump sum, a person will live four years in the house_ to derive bene fits of it. Eighteen fraternities re ported this charge with a high of $9O and a low of $4O. The average initiation fee is $71.30. Only four fraternities reported that they have special assessment in addition to their regular house bills and social fees. This assess ment is for special occasions as houseparties or other social affairs. The amount per semester in any case is below $5. Membership Increasing The next group of questions pertained to the membership Of the fraternities. From the figures, it is clearly seen that membership in fraternities is increasing at a rapid rate. Twenty-one fraternities e .• vries 3 - I .10 :te. Exclusive Agency Arrow Shirts and THE COLLEGIAN combined have a membership of 157 and have 151 men pledged this semester. Only one house didn't report any pledges because it became active partway through the semester. If the forecasting of next semes ter's members is accurate, there will be 401 fraternity men in the 21 fraternities. The sum of the ac tives and pledges this semester is 308 which indicates that one fourth of the expected fraternity <~,~•i ~~ ~?: ~; FRANK SCHNEIDER strength is not present now. This sharp increase is accounted for by men returning after summer vaca tions and ex-servicemen who are brothers re-enrolling. The reasoning may be consider ed by some too radical and others too conservative, but if 157 men can pledge 1511, 408 can pledge at least twice that number. So the prospect is that there will be about 600 fraternity men, members and pledges, next semester as com pared to 308 now. Another factor which seems to indicate that this will happen is the large incoming freshman class, estimated at about 500, and the large number of ex- Gls, about 550, that are ex"- pected. More Houses Opening Other conditions affecting the total number •of fraternity mem- For Ties bers next semester are the re opening of a few additional houses and that some fraternities were not present when the figures were tab ulated. Also, many NIROTC stu dents may be pledged. Immediately the question arises "How many men can fraternities accommodate?" The 21 fraternities submitting data can hold a total of 898 men under present condi tions. When al] of these 21, frater nities will be living in their own houses, the number will increase to 960. One fraternity, which now accommodates 35, does not own a house, and this is taken into con sideration in computing the total capacity. Averaging the numbers, 20 fra ternities will take care of 48 men each. There were 48 fraternities on campus before the war, and, using 48 men as the mean, Penn State fraternities .have a grand capacity of 2204 students. As for next se mester, if 21 fraternities can ac commodate a9B, it will be relative ly easy to care for men who wish to join the Greek letter societies. The actual capacity will be higher as some chapters inactive now will open next semester and some ac, tive now didn't report their tfig, ures. • Of the 211 fraternities, 16 now occupy their own house, two are in another fraternity house, one shares a house, one has. an apart : merit, and one has its membership scattered. Dining Facilities Eating arrangements is another big question. Twelve fraternitie - s do not have kitchen. facilities this semester while nine do. Of those who don't, two eat with another fraternity, leaving actually ten houses with no regular dining place. However, four houses signi fied that they will open dining rooms next semester and the re maining six intend to do so as soon as possible. Ex-servicemen in fraternities, including pledges, .this semester (Continued on • page seven) ALWAYS The Coiner !hll uai PAGE THREE Calendar TODAY Lutheran ..Student association roller Flioling party, Luthetati. church, 6:30 p.m. TOMORROW Muhlenberg !game, New Beaver Field, 2 p.m. Dry Dock, Army Night, Sand wich Shop, Old Main, 9 to 12 p.m. SUNDAY Chapel, Schwab Auditorium, IA a.m. "Battle • of the Sexes", 121 Sparks, 3 p.m. Record Concert, Hillel Founda tion, 6:30 p.m. MONDAY Deadline for returning Defer-• ment of Fees blanks, Bursar's Of fice, Old Main, 8 to 11:30 a.m., 1:30 to 9:30 p.m. IJSCA First Semester Club meeting, 309 Old Main, 7 p..Tri. IWA meeting, 401 Old Main, '1 p:m. Engineer meeting, Armory, 7 p.m. WSGA meeting, WSGA room, White Hall, 7:30 p.m . .. Collegian Advertising eandl— dates, 8 Carnegie Hall, 7 p.m. TUESDAY PSCA Outdoor Club meeting, 304 Old 'Main, 8 p.m. Common Sense meeting, Hugh. Beaver room, Old Main, 7 p.m. Penn State Club meeting, 105 Old Main, 7:30 p.m.. First Semester Collegian can. didates, .8 Carnegie Hall, 7_ p.m. Second Semester Collegian can didates. sports assistants, repor ers. 8 Carnegie Hall, 7:30 p.m. WEDNESDAY Blue Band rehearsal, 117 Car negie Hall, 7 15.ni.. . THURSDAY PSCA Upper Class Club meet ing, 7:30 p.:m. IMA Meeting, 401 Old Main, 7 p.m. Ag, Student. Council meeting, election of officers, 109 Agricul-. ture, 7:30 p..m.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers