l'he Daily Collegian Editorial Page and columns appearing he rho Daily Collegian represent the anima., ot the writer. rho, awake no aisle to rollout student or University tanasoners Unsigned editorials are writ'u by ilis editor. 1.\(:p• rwo Cheating Is Stupid Cheating is about the most stupid thing that College students do. The cheater suffers in many ways. He deprives himself of some of the knowledge for which he is paying, and for which he is supposedly attending Penn State. He fools nobody but himself—in the long run. Most cheating is completely devoid of imagination or skill, and is remarkably obvious to the trained professorial eye. Eventually, the cheater trips himself up. This is inevitable, since the facade of his high grade point average, or of his eventual degree, are but shell-thin coatings over a hollow center of ignor ance of essential fundamentals. He fails to prepare himself for life. The outside world, cruel and cold as it is often half-facetiously pictured by college students, rewards honesty but shows no mercy to chiselers. The risk of apprehension, and consequent pun ishment, disgrace and termination of cherished ambitions, must be a frightful specter to the habitual cheater. Two recent cases of students apprehended after copying lab reports may serve as a warning to others who may be inconsiderate of the rights of their fellows. Both were suspended for the remainder of the semester by their respective deans, consequently all their work to date was lost. Explanations to their parents must also have been very difficult. To a prospective scientist, the very thought of cheating is as inconceivable as it is repugnant. Strict honesty is an absolute requirement to a suc cessful professional career in science, as it should be in all other fields. The old maxim has not lost its potency. Honesty is the best policy. 'College' ... Obsolete One of the items that the Congress may take up this year which President Truman forgot to men tion in his State of the Union Message yesterday is the proposal, long voiced, but up till now un acted upon, of abolishing the anachronism of the electoral college. Mr. Truman lost the state by a small margin of some 150,000 votes. It is of record that 1,749,955 Pennsylvanians preferred him for President. De spite all this Mr. Truman didn't get a single one of those 35 votes. That's the ancient and obsolete Electoral Col lege system still operating in a modern-day United States. It is true that a change of fewer than 4000 pop ular votes in Ohio; 17,000 in California and 19,000 in Illinois could have reversed the election in favor of Governor Dewey. If all this were to be carried out and Mr. Dewey declared winner the overall result would be unfor tunate since Mr. Truman's popular vote throughout the nation was 2 million above the New York governor's. Both the House and Senate would still have Democratic majorities and bedlam would result with a Republican in the White House. Under the system we still have, Mr. Dewey needed only to have carried Pennsylvania by one vote and still would have received the entire 35 votes of the Electoral College. All this makes it possible for a candidate to win by popular vote and still lose. This points to one thing. The Electoral College system of electing presidents is obsolete and should he abolished before the next man is elected to the highest office in the United States. Edit Briefs On Sunday and Monday nights, Borough police tagged 191 cars for overnight parking on State College streets. Tuesday night only four tickets were issued. The question arises: What did own ers do with those 187 cars? Crossley can he parked in the kitchen, but what have the Beta Sigs done with their Buicks? Tllt Elailg Collegian Successor to THE FREE LANCE. est. 1887 Published Tuesday through Saturday mornings inclusive dur ing the College year by the staff of The Daily Collegian of The Pennsylvania State College. Entered as second class matter July 5, 1934 at the State College, Pa.. Poet Office under the Vet of March 1. 1879. Subseriy ions —s2 a semester. $4 the school year. Represented for national advertising by National Advents. Ong Service, Madison Ave., New York. N.Y Chicago. Boston Los Angeles Sun Francisco. Editor Lew Stone Managing Ed., Elliot Shapiro; News Ed.. Malcolm White. Sports Ed.. Tom Morgan; Edit. Dir. Arai Cello's; Feature Ed. Jo Fox; Society Ed.. Frances Keeney; Asst. Soc. Ed.. ssiretts Needle; Photo Ed., [Jetty Gibbons; Promotion Mgr.. Selma Zaisotsky; Senior Hoard. Claire Lee. Asst. Bus. Mgr.. Margaret Bieece; Adv. Director, Barbaro Keefer; Local Adv. Mgr.. Selma Lampert Smith; Circulation Mgr., Brett Kranich; Class. Adv. Mgr., Wilma Brehm; Per sonnel Mgr., Kosti Barges: Wire Mgr., George !Astro; Secre tary, Mimi Pomerene; Promotion Mgr., Marlin A. Weaver. STAFF THIS ISSUE Managing Editor New■ Editor Copy Editor - _ Assistants _ 'vert ibing Manager i4tant - —George Vadasz. Business Manager Vance C. Klepper Sylvia Ockner Isabel Grebe Dirk Brossman _ . Marian Hawkins Marie Kostal, Dean (Attacker B. J. Hower Sas Stern Chop Suey kl'2 . 7.:e , ?;.':',':::'`.'%''"; rf . ). Intercollegiate Opinion When Thomas Gibbs, 19-year-old Dartmouth College sopho more, cross-country numeral-winner, freshman council and student council member, dance committeeman, was pledged and initiated into Phi Kappa Psi fraternity last November, he made national headlines. Why? Because he is a Negro Because the national executive council suspended its Dartmouth chapter for "unfraternal conduct," as a consequence of its insistence on initiating Gibbs in violation of an unwritten law. Taking place about the same time was the National Interfra ternity Conference, which released an official statement stating, "The wisdom or desirability of social considerations affecting mem bership, including religious, racial or national qualifications, are thus the concern of the fraternity itself. . . . 'The conference, however, believes that the fraternity system will flourish better if the character and personality of the indi vidual are regarded as paramount, rather than his race, color, religion or nationality." In an informal vote, however, some of the delegates unofficially favored the ban on Negroes maintained by most fraternities. These events precipitated reams of interesting news and edi torial comment in the nation's university press. Typical reactions are presented below for the information of Collegian readers. The Daily Californian. University of California.' "It is silly to speak of fraternities or sororities as though they were the end product of some instinctive process by which like-minded indi viduals are sorted into special categories. "After four years in prep school and four years in college, the average fraternity or sorority student has been thoroughly in structed in the function of prejudice."—Jim Goodwin. Michigan State News, Michigan State College. "State's Inter fraternity council went on record last night as being opposed to racial and religious discriminatory clauses in the constitution of national fraternities, but upheld the right of selective membership. "'The council believes in the right of selective membership but maintains that the prerogative of selecting members should be left to the local charters.' " Yale Daily News, Yale University. "An example of 'going off half-cocked' was in our opinion provided yesterday by a few indi viduals who suggested a petition to the President of Yale demand ing that he dictate a 'non-discriminatory line' to the nine fraterni ties on campus. "Such a step would probably do more to retard the fight against discrimination than almost anything else. For it has become clear in recent years that this type of didactic, 'strong-arm' action accom plishes little or nothing toward counteracting prejudice, which is, after all, something to be accepted or rejected by the individual and not the mass."—Sam Walker. Syracuse Daily Orange, Syracuse University. "The case of Tom Gibbs is unusual now. This year it has twist, punch, human interest. "The New York Times captioned their editorial about this 'Victory at Amherst,' which is as good a title as you'll find. "Someday 'FRAT WILL INITIATE NEGRO' won't be a freakish thing to happen in our democracy. "Someday Americans reading that in their newspapers are going to turn to each other and say 'So what?' "I want to be there when that day comes around."—Art Kranish., CM!!M:1 THURSDAY, JANUARY 6 1949 34e Salely ?late Letters to the editor moot be signed for inclusion In the safety Valve, although names will be withheld on request. Tele ohone numbers and addressee must be included to facilitate verification of authenticity of signatures. Letters exceeding 200 words in length may be cat when required by • spate !imitations. Legislation Before anyone bombards the state legislature about racial discrimination laws, and to Mr. John A. Erickson, in particular, may I suggest the read ing of Act 72 of the Pennsylvania Legislature, dated May 19, 1887, P.L. 130. entitled "An Act to provide civil rights for all people, regardless of race or color." Also please read Act No. 132, 1935, P.L. 297, An amendment to Act. 72 of 1887, which makes it un lawful to discriminate on account of race or color. This law specifically includes hotels, restaurants, saloons, roof gardens, ice cream parlors, drug stores, hospitals, theaters, bowling alleys, schools, colleges, and universities. The law provides for punishment by payment of a fine or imprisonment or both. Too, please read the remarks of Governor James H. Duff urging the enactment of a Fair Employr ment Practices Act, both in 1947 and 1949. Poor State TO THE EDITOR: As a cross-country runner and a former Druid, I hate to see the state to which the tapping of Druid members has fallen. I no ticed two tappees on campus who are labeled "cross country" and I hardly think their efforts in that field are worthy of an athletic honorary society. One of these prospective Druids has not been seen at workout since the first week of practice, and the other, while a very capable runner, did not finish the season. The shame of the situation lies in the fact that sophomore captain-elect and two other sophomore lettermen were passed up. Then, too, there are probably 15 other men who would be more likely prospects for cross-country honors than these two tappees. I have nothing against these men wanting to loin Druids, but if they do, they certainly won't be members of an honorary by the very reason of their own membership. Life at Penn State TO THE EDITOR: Life at my college is just like this: A time of great troubles—a time of sweet bliss Cheering my home team until I am hoarse Six hours a week for a three credit course. Afternoon classes and evening "larks" Fast running from Ag hill to Tern, then to Sparks Most of my textbooks just scarcely begun Except for my Psych. 17, alivost done. Corner Room milkshakes at any odd time Fraternity dances that make life sublime Time to remind him to "Please call again" Before we're cut off on the striking of ten! Forcing myself before seven to wake; Eating baked sausage and yearning for steak Bluebook announcement, and off to my room To, cram and prevent an impending doom! Dolores Drucker Edit Briefs There is a literary trick known as the overstate ment, but The Daily Californian went too far and was embarrassed in type by The Michigan Daily. The Daily Californian had this with its newspaper title: "Monarch of the College Dailies." The Michi gan newspaper in an understatement quoted Web ster's dictionary with this: "A 'Monarch' is a large butterfly having orange-brown wings with black veins and borders, whose larva feeds on milk weed." Collegian Gazette Thursday, January 6 ARTISTS' Course, auditorium, 8 p.m. HOME Economics Club, 10 Sparks, 7 p.m. FORESTRY Society, 109 Ag., 7 p.m. PENN STATE Rec. Soc., 415 Old Main, 7 p.m. 1.A.5., 110 EE, 7:30 p.m. POULTRY Club, 100 Hort., 6:45 p.m. P.S.C.A. Dancing Class, Armory, 7 p.m. BLUE Key, 418 Old Main, 7 p.m. CHRISTIAN Science Organization, 200 CH, 6:45 2.m. ALPHA PHI OMEGA, 3 Sparks, 7 p.m. THESPIANS, 418 Old Main, 7:30 p.m., Sunday. WRA Swimming Club, all members, 7:15 p.m. NSA, 8 Sparks, 7 p.m. College Placement - Burroughs Adding Machine Co., January 1 , 1, January graduates, C&F, LA. Kroger Co., January 11 and 12, January grad uates, C&F, A&L, HA. Johnson Service Co., January 14, January grad uates, EE, lE, ME. College Hospital Admitted Tuesday: John Machun, Eli Povich, Frank Corliss, Robert Eby. Admitted Wednesday: Anthony Dinardo. Discharged Wednesday: George Heise. At the Movies CATHAUM—EagIe Squadron. STATE—BIood on the Moon. NITTANY--/ Wake Up Screaming —Gforge W. Smith. —"A Harrier.'
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers