PAGE FOUR
Stye
latltj Collegian
Swccmboi to THE FREE LANCE, nt. 188 1
Published Tuesday through Saturday mornings inclusive
during the College year by the staff of The Daily Collegian
of The Pennsylvania State College.
Entered as second-class matter July 6, 1934, at the State
College. Pa.. Post Office under the act of March 3, 1879.
Collegian editorials represent the viewpoints of the writ
ers, not necessarily the policy of the newspaper. Unsigned
editorials are by the editor.
Marr Krasnansky Edward Shanken
Editor Business Mgr.
Managing: Ed., Ron Bonn; City Ed.. George Glazer;
Sports Ed., Ernie Moore: Edit. Dir., Bob Fraser: Makeup
Ed., Moylan Mills: Wire Ed., Len Kolasinski; Society Ed.,
Carolyn Barrett; Feature Ed., Rosemary Delahanty: Asst.
City Ed., Lee Stern; Asst. Sports Eds., Dave' Colton, Bob
Vosburg; Asst. Society Ed., Greta Weaver; Librarian, Millie
Martin: Exchange Ed.. Paul Beighley: Senior Bd., Bud
Fenton.
STAFF THIS ISSUE
Night editor: Amie Bloom; Copy editors:
Chuck Henderson, Andy McNeillie; Assistants:
Sheldon Smoyer, Jack Mounts, June Reizes,
Louis Mueller, Nina Finkle.
Ad staff: Doris Groomes, Barby Potts, Alison
Morley.
Customs Failure
Result of Apathy
There has been an increasing amount of dis
cussion lately on the subject, “How can we make
customs work?” The suggestions have flown in
creasingly thick and fast as the campus finds
itself faced with the entrance in the near future
of an abridged February freshman class. But
the surprising thing about the commotion over
customs is the small number of people who are
doing all the worrying.
For the largest complaint among the worriers
is the nigh-complete apathy among all but a
handful of students involved in customs en
forcement. The worriers wonder how to perk up
upperclass participation in customs. They make
reproachful sounds at all upperclassmen, all
hatwomen, and most hatmen for failure to “do
their duty” in making customs stick.
And they completely overlook the possibi
lity that this failure, this "apathy," may not
be indifference at all, may in fact be a rea
sonable vote of no confidence in customs for
Penn Slate.
What about customs, the theory,’ the fact?
What relations do customs bear to the .College?
We submit that one of the basic functions, per
haps the most basic, of a college is the develop
ment of mature human beings. The recurring
miracle df an institution creating men and wo
men out of boys and girls in four brief years
often, is overlooked precisely because it is so
commonplace.
Unless tKis concept of college as a maturing
force is completely false, customs appear in an
extremely poor light. What contributions do
customs make to maturity,-how do they start the
high school graduate off on the most important,
most splendid four years of his life?
They place a “dink” on his head and a bow tie
about his neck. They cause him to doff his
strange little hat to a shapeless gray lump of
stone on the Mall, and to anyone whose right
to this tribute has been established by his having
been on the campus longer than the freshman.
They reward conformity, at the time when the
freshman should be entering on four years of
the most independent thought possible. They
punish non-conformity in a number of ways:
they may place the student in female clothes
for the evident enjoyment of all about him.
Good clean fun? Sure, but hardly conducive to
maturity.
They ban dating, for a variety of high-ldned
reasons, at a time when the most important
contacts with the opposite sex in the student's
entire life should be beginning.
They put him at the beck of upperclassmen,
for whom he may be required to sing, cheer, or
produce identification papers. The United States
has not yet become a country of identification
papers, but then the colleges are always at the
forefront of'new movements.
But the most important thing to note in this
second year of the return to customs at Penn
State is the very strange effect customs have
had on upperclass men and women, even the
“student leaders” of the hat societies. These
people have in the overwhelming majority
proved magnificently unexcited by their new
privileges. “Indifference,” cry the worriers,
“Apathy most reprehensible.”
We submit that neither indifference nor
apathy are more than the most trivial issues in
the strange case of Penn State’s woeful non
enforcement of customs. We submit that the
upperclassmen have attained or are 'attaining
the maturity that is the finest gift of the College.
We submit that they neither wish to involve
themselves in what they regard as the juvenile
practice of customs, not yet inflict this practice
on 1 a pliant, impressionable group of new young
students.
. And we, suggest that the worriers should stop
crying shame at the great body of non-enforcers,
should instead pause to reexamine their auto
matic assumption that they are enlightened and
their opponents unenlightened.
We even suggest that they study the possi
bility that customs have been turned down
quietly, overwhelmingly by the Penn Stale
student body.
And we offer them this one ray of hope.
Think, worriers. Mightn't it be better this
way?
What possible value can this last minute
cramming have for the students? Professors ex
hort .throughout the year that students should
not cram for tests, but rather that they should
do the work right along. Why then, do not these
same professors follow the advice they so glibly
hand out?
The last week of any course should be a time
when students could look back on the semester’s
work to find out the points oh which they are
not certain. It should be a time for firmly fixing
the facts in their minds. It/should never be a
time for cramming the last half of the book
down the students’ throats.
Professors who have been secure in their
positions for some time often develop these
lethargic habits. They refuse to • keep their
courses up to date and do not exert themselves
to aid the student in securing a knowledge of the
specific subject.
If enough students protested over these
abuses committed by the instructors, some
action would necessarily be taken by the ad
ministration.
Bartender Limited
PHILADELPHIA —(A*) — The Pennsylvania
Supreme Court ruled today that a bartender is
exceeding the scope of his job when he shoots
a customer in the neck to keep order.
A common pleas court jury had ruled that the
owner'of the Zaney Bar in Philadelphia should
. pay $380.0 to Eugene Howard, 22-year-old paper
hanger. Howard testified he was shot by barten
der Herbert Miles on Feb. 9, 1949.
The jury ruling was reversed later by Com
mon Pleas Judge Frank Smith and Howard ap
pealed to the Supreme Court.-
In his opinion, Justice Allen M. Stearne said:
“When the bartender, because the plaintiff
made advances to the girl sitting next to him,
pulled out a gun and shot the plaintiff, the bar
tender then departed from the scope of his em
ployment.”
—Bon Bona
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA
Ideals Must Be
Basis for Allies
In his recent address here at Penn State,
Arthur Schlesinger Jr., the noted historian, hit
upon several discordant notes in American
thinking.
Schlesinger cautioned the United States to
choose its allies not on the basis of their eco
nomic structures, but rather on the basis of
their belief in human rights. In addition, he
warned that socialism can go the way of the
totalitarian slate or the democratic stale.
We have been shocked -in the past to hear
members of the United States Congress com
plain against assisting socialist Britain on the
grounds that we as a capitalistic nation should
have no dealings with socialism. It is difficult
to understand this type‘of reasoning. The men
who are responsible for it are either knaves or
fools.
Our quarrel is not with socialism as an eco
nomic theory, our quarrel is with socialism in
the form of a communism—if indeed we can
say that communism is a kin of socialism—
where communism denies those basic human
rights which are the keystone of democracy.
On the political level socialism can take the
road toward communism or toward democracy.
If we are to forsake those countries now .eco
nomically socialist, they will turn to commu
nism as a political-theory. 1
As a corollary to Schlesinger’s theory, we
hold that we are at the same time making a
mistake if we choose our friends simply on the
basis of what, they can contribute as military
allies. We are, of course, referring to assisting
such nations as Argentina, the Chinese Nation
alists, and Spain.
We are now engaged, as President Milton
S. Eisenhower has said in the past, in a war
for men's minds. If we are to win that war,
we must choose allies whose ideologies are
consistent with our own aims. We cannot
preach democracy and human rights on the
one hand and court the favor of fascist dicta
torship on the other.
We made the mistake once—in selecting the
Soviets as our allies—and are paying for it now.
Are we not to learn from history and repeat
our error?
Profs Not on Ball
During Semester
The last minute rush—or as it could more
appropriately be called, stampede—is on at
Penn State again.
The stampede is a semi-annual affair occuring
during the last two weeks of both the fall and
spring semesters. That is the time when pro
fessors suddenly awaken and realize that not
even one half of the course has been covered in
the first fourteen weeks of the semester. In the
remaining two weeks the professors try to cram
the rest of the course into the students’ heads.
That is also fhe time when professors realize
they have given only one or two exams in
fourteen weeks of work. In order to have
grades on which to base a final mark, they
usually will schedule a number of tests' for
the final week before exams.
There's a moral fo this sfory. He's not the
only guy to catch it in the neck because of
a woman.
—Arnie Bloom
Little Man O
Interpreting the News
West Nears Stand
On Southeast Asia
By J. M. ROBERTS JR.
Associated Press News Analyst
The Western Allies are moving toward a united stand'regarding!
the possibility of communist aggression in Southeast Asia, and thus
seeking to avoid the. mistakes whiQh invited the long and costlyi
war in Korea.
A long, list of developments primarily affecting Indo-China hasi,
created a period of considerable tension, but hardly adds up yet
to a real crisis. That depends on Politburo plans.
The death of Gen. Jean De
De Tassigny, who only recently
had turned the tide against the
Vielminh rebels in Indo-China,
was a serious blow to France.
It Just happened to come when
France and Britain were con
ferring with the U.S. over in
creased American aid for their
anti-communist campaigns in
Southeast Asia, and when com
munist forces in China were
making new threatening move
ments.
The communists.were quick to
accuse the western conferees in
Washington of planning war in
the area. This was taken by
many to be another case of accu
sation parallel with Moscow’s own
intent. But for the moment it
seemed just moreJpropaganda.
Each side is trying to warn the
other of the dangers of a new
outbreak.
Anthony Eden, Britain's for
eign minister, said at Columbia
University Friday that "it
should be understood” that
cbmmunisi iniervention in
Southeast Asia would create a
new situation similar ’ to that
met and faced by the United
Nations in Korea. This was
taken by some to be a warning
to the communists. Bui its sur
rounding context and timing in
connection with the Anglo-
French-American discussions in
Gazette...
Tuesday, January 15
ACCOUNTING CLUB, Sim
mons study room, 6:45 p.m.
ALPHA NU, 107 Willard Hall,
7:30 p.m.
CHESS CLUB, 3 Sparks, 7 p.m.
COLLEGIAN business candi
dates, 1 Carnegie Hall, 7 p.m.
COLLEGIAN business staff, 9
Carnegie Hall, 7 p.m. •
COLLEGIAN sophomore, edito
rial board, 2 Carnegie Hall, 7 p.m.
•FROTH art and editorial candi
dates, sophomore, and junior
boards, 3 Carnegie, 8 p.m.
DUPLICATE BRIDGE CLUB,
TUB, 6:45 p.m.
PENN’S VALLEY SKI CLUB,
110 Electrical Engineering, 7:30
p.m.,
PSYCHOLOGY CLUB, 204 Bur
rows, 7 p.m.
COLLEGE HOSPITAL
Harvey Bolan,Lois Brown, Ron-J
TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 1952
Campus
TBST ■
*evievy
Washington seemed to make it .
just as much an appeal for ’
solidity of Western thinking
and preparation. >
The whole thing, however,
faced the United States with they
question of how far it was pre
pared to go in defense of South
east Asia in event.of communist 1
attack. France’s General Ju i n
had not yet asked for a commit-*
ment of ground strength, but did
seek air and naval promises and
increased shipments of material.’
But it was enough to remind of
the swift shifts from limited to*
all out action when the Korean :
War started. ■
Meanwhile, the United States'*
already was committed to. action
through the United Nations in
cases similar to that of Korea. v
In Paris the nations had voted
to have troops ready if that body*
should issue a new call as it did
in 1950. And that-seemed, in the
long run,' to be the way any newi
aggression would be met, even
though the greater part of the
preparation would be through *
the three-power talks in Wash
ington.' i
At any rale, endugh was tak
ing place to let Russia and the
Chinese communists know that «
France would not have to’ stand
alone in Indo-China, or Britain .
in Malaya. *
aid Cohen, Frances Katz, Wilma*
King, Harriet Kline, Elda Mor
gan, Barbara Newquist, Joseph
Saber,' Ronald Weaver, Ingetrawt >
Scheyer.
AT THE MOVIES
GATHAUM: Weekend With*
Father 2:13, 4:06, 5:59, 7:52, 9:45
STATE: I’ll See You in My;
Dreams 2:11, 4:03, 5:55, 7:47,-9:39 *
NITTANY: Titcta 6:25, 8:19,
10:15 " *
STUDENT EMPLOYMENT
Married, man for janitor work.
Women : for ' office work. Typing and*
dictation necessary. *
Seventh and eighth semester aeronautical
engineers and mechanical engineers for
part-time government work.
Man for * typewriter repair work.
Man for drafting; 15 to 20 hours per
week. - - ,
Man for office work; typing and die- *
tation.
Man for farm work in early morning.
Woman for store work; evenings until v
12 p.m.
COLLEGE PLACEMENT
. The Geological Survey of the U.S. I>e- <.
partmeht ‘Of The Interior will interview
January graduates in For., Geology, C.£>
land* M.E. Wednesday, January Id* '
By Bibler