I?AGE .FOUR Satlg CnUcgtatt Successor to THE FREE LANCE, «t. 1887 Pnblished Tuesday through Saturday mornings inclusive during the College year by the staff of The Daily Collegian af The Pennsylvania State College. Entered as second-class matter July 5, 1934, at the State College* Pa., Post Office under the act of March 3, 1879. Collegian editorials represent the viewpoint of the writers, not necessarily the policy of the newspaper. Un signed editorials are by the editor. Dave Pellnitx Franklin Kelly Editor Business Mgr. Managing Ed*. Andy McNeillie; City Ed., Dave Jones; Sports Ed., Jake Highton; Copy Ed., Bettie Loux; Edit. Dir., Jim Gromiller; Wire Ed., Chuck Henderson; Soc. Ed., Ginger Opocrenski; Asst. Sports Ed., Ted Soens; Asst. Soc. Ed„ LaVonne Althouse; Feature Ed.. Julie Lbbotson: Librarian, Dot Bennett; Exchange Ed., Nancy Luctzel. STAFF THIS ISSUE Night editor: Chiz Mathias; Copy editors: Mary Lou Adams. Nancy Meyers; Assistants: Baylee Friedman, Bev Dickinson, Phil Austin, Diehl McKalip, Betty Allen. Advertising staff: Eleanor Ungetheum, Ethel Wilson, Barbara Bohrer. Joint Customs Day Can Be Fun for All In the interest of making customs enjoyable for all students, today has been designated by the Freshman Customs and Regulations Board as joint customs enforcement day. Last year, when a joint customs enforcement day was held for the first time, most freshmen considered it the most effective day of the customs period. It also provided for more cus toms enforcement by persons other than hatmen and. hatwomen. We hope that the joint customs enforce ment day will serve the same purposes this year—even to a greater degree. Today can provide fun and enjoyment for freshmen and upperclassmen alike if everyone puts his all into the spirit of customs. The purpose of customs, as it has been reiter ated many times, is to orient freshmen to the spirit of Penn State. Although customs haye been much more successful this year_ than in the past, there is still much room for improve ment. For the most part, with a few exceptions of course, freshmen have been complying with customs. However, the ultimate success of cus toms depends on the spirit that upperclassmen put into the enforcement. With this point in mind, we consider it a challenge to the men and women on campus to make today a truly successful day of customs. If some people abuse the privilege of enforcing customs on the opposite sex, today can also prove to be a complete failure in that the fun would be removed. We hope that all students will demonstrate maturity and good judgment so that there will he no doubt as to the success of joint customs enforcement. Thus far we have seen an increase in the coordination of the men and women working together on campus. We have a joint Fresh man Customs Board for the first time this year. If. as was demonstrated last year, the joint customs enforcement day proves to be a success, perhaps a customs plan based on a joint enforcement program for the entire per iod is not so far from reality as some may believe. It's up to us, the student body, to show that it can be done. Everyone can enjoy it, so why not contribute to the fun? —Mimi Ungar Guard the Shrine —y vis job was to prevent the shrine from being painted by Temple rooters. He had no trouble along this line, but we wonder if a duty such as this should be left up to the College. , Ever since the Lion Shrine was erected .in 1941 by the Class of 1940. it has been subjected to many paintings. In desperation, the shrine was at one time covered with a wax substance to keep the paint from seeping into the pores in the stone. Even this, however, could not stop the penetration of some maple house paint with which it was doused in the spring of 1951. It was almost a month before a means of remov ing the paint was found. Last year pledges at one of the fraternities took over the job of guarding the shrine. The pledges took shifts of three hours each, from 9 p.m. Friday to 8 a.m. Saturday. Since the shrine will always be open to these attacks, it would be a nice gesture on the part of the fraternities, or any group for that matter, to take over the guarding of the shrine as a sign of their devotion to Penn State. THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, STATE COLLEGE, PENNSYLVANIA Let’s Rid Ourselves Of Goal Post Habit Win, lose, or draw it appears the Penn State student body is set upon tearing down the goal posts every Saturday afternoon. All last year All-College Cabinet and the administra tion tried to agree upon a plausible method of slopping this dangerous and, to say the least, unbecoming practice. Each Saturday's game sees a few more of the student body involved, and the goal posts come down a little quicker now, even before the game ends. Let’s look at the problem objectively. It ap pears that Perm State students are set upon the downing of the posts every Saturday. The more publicity the dangerous custom gets—and it has grown into a custom —the more set upon it they become. There is a sensible solution. Construct goal posts that won’t come down. Six inch pipe, filled with concrete and sunk in concrete footers, would prove a match to any army of students. And the cost of the permanent installation would almost certainly be offset by the continued re placement costs. But of even greater import is that the dan ger of the mob action would be eliminated. If the College continues to permit the post game brawl to take place, someone is almost certain to be injured seriously, the really expensive way to end the brawls! —Jim Gromiller Alma Mater Time Should Be Half-Time At the request of All-College Cabinet, the Blue Band refrained.- from playing the Alma Mater at half-time Saturday and instead played it at the conclusion of the game. Never have we seen an alma mater played with such irreverent inattention on the part of the crowd. The lime for the Alma Mater is at half time. The end of a game, when goal posts are struggling to hold - their own, and 15,000 students and adults are shoving for the nearest exit, is no time to expect anyone to doff his hat and stand silently to the strains of "For the glory of old State." We hope cabinet and the Blue Band realize this and that this week’s game will see the Blue Band once again serenade with the Alma Mater at half-time. Safety Valve' Grow Up, Frosh! TO THE EDITOR: It’s high time the fresh men learned to grow up and learn that they’re in college now. Their destruction of school property at Saturday’s game has injured Penn State’s name and its reputation with other schools that it has taken years to develop. Their uncalled for celebration was both im mature and in direct opposition to Penn State tradition. It is hoped that those freshmen who par ticipated in the goal post destruction will soon learn that at Penn State, students intelligently channel their activities and do not resort to mob action. It just isn’t done! —Richard Kirschner Thomas Farrell Gazette.... Wednesday, September 24 AGRICULTURE STUDENT COUNCIL meet ing, 103 Agriculture, 7 p.m. FROTH AD STAFF and candidates, Froth office, 7 p.m. FROTH PROMOTION STAFF and candi dates, 215 Willard, 7 p.m. GERMAN CLUB, Grange Recreation room, 7 p.m. HAT SOCIETY COUNCIL, 204 Old Main, 7 p.m. INSURANCE CLUB, Sigma Nu, 7:30 p.m. NEWMAN CLUB, rectory basement, 7:15 p.m. PARMI NOUS, 410 Old Main, 8:30 p.m. PENN STATE GRANGE, 100 Horticulture, 7:30 p.m. , SOPHOMORE CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT BOARD, 202 Willard. 7:30 p.m. WRA BOWLING, White Hall, 7 p.m. WRA HOCKEY, Holmes field, 4 p.m. WRA MODERN DANCE, White Hall, 7 p.m. COLLEGE HOSPITAL Edward Baranski, Donald Bertram, Robert Boudreau, John Carpenter, John Harkins, Al bert Kerr, Roy Kylander, Catherine Meinig, John K. Miller, Michael Murphy, Paul Shep herd, Edith Spaulding, Ann Speise. COLLEGE PLACEMENT Continental Can Co. will interview January B.S. and M.S. candidates in M.E., 1.E., E.E., C.E., and Chem. Eng. and Wood Utilities Tuesday, Sept. 30. E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co. will interview January B.S. and M.S. candidates in M.E., 1.E., C.E., EE and Chem. Eng. and Chem. Wednesday, Oct. 1. E. I. DuPont de Nemours Co. will interview Ph.D candi dates in Chem., Biochem, Phys., Engineering Mechanic, M. 1., M.E., and Chem. Eng., Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, Oct. 1,2; and 3. General Motors Corp. 'will interview January graduates in in M.E., E.E., 1.E., C.E., Chem. Eng., Phys., Math., Metal., and Com. and Econ. Tuesday and Wednesday, Oct. 7 and S. Mass. Institute of Technology will interview January B.S. and '53 M.S. and Ph.D. candidates in E.E., Phys., and Applied Math. Socony-Vacuum Oil Co., Inc. will interview January B.S. and ’53 M.S. candidates *in M.E. and C.E. and January B.S. and *53 M.S. and .Ph. D.-candidates in Chem. Eng. STUDENT EMPLOYMENT Seeders for blind students. Little Man on Cam The latest announcements concerning the policy of the College toward class attendance have thrown jus into a mild state of con fusion, to say the least. It was reported in the Daily Collegian last week that instructors are authorized to excuse cuts when no official excuse'has been issued, acctording to a new excuse plan set up by the College Senate. —J.G. The Dean .of Women’s office, however, has stated, according to a hostess’ announcement at a dorm, house meeting Monday, that no' cuts other than those for medical or other official reasons are al lowed at the College, and if a prof says he allows several cuts in his class, the women are “not to believe him.” We have no doubts of our professors' integrity, and don't believe any are trying to snare us into cutting for the sake of handing out a few bar grades. We admire instructors who have a realistic attitude toward class attendance, and wish there were more of the same. But at the same time we wish that the. College would come forth with a definite well thought out pol icy toward the problem which would do away with confusion and misunderstanding once and for all—whether it be compul sory attendance or a more lib eral ruling. - According to the Regulations for Undergraduate Students, Section K-l, “A student should attend every class for which he is sched uled, and shall be held responsible for all work covered in the course taken. A student whose irregu larity in attendance causes him, in the judgment of the instructor, to become deficient in any course may, after due warning, be ex cluded from class by the instruc tor after consultation with the head of the department in charge of the course and the student’s dean.” This admonition, which uses the indefinite word “should” in a vague, -uncertain manner, says nothing, nor does any other rul ing under Section K, about an in structor’s right to drop a student’s grade solely because of classes missed. This practice, which may be suitable for phys ed classes be cause of the laboratory nature of the work, has also been carried over to other schools and depart ments. When a student voluntarily cuts a class he must expect to miss some material that may be cover ed in the bluebook. Consequently his test marks may not be as good, and he will suffer for his “mis deed.” Why, then, should he be punished doubly by having his total grade lowered one-half or even one notch for each un excused absence? "If the professor makes it known that this is his policy, no one should complain" is a "Oh, no one really learns much—But I sure teach a mighty -popular seminar." It’s A Loux-Lu By BETTIE LOUX WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1952 frequent answer. The trouble is, however, that some profs don't say anything about it until the marks come out. It's too late then. We know of a coed who had - a 2 average in a required course. She was flunked because she had overcul. Incidentally, she was eighth semester and the grade kept her from graduating. This semester, among. the six courses we have scheduled, only one prof has said anything defi nite regarding class attendance. Two courses are given in a school which is known for its strict policy against cutting, so we may draw our own conclusions there. Nothing has been said in the other three classes, all under the" School of Liberal Arts. The first three years we were here it was taken for granted that the number of cuts should not exceed the credits . . . that is, three cuts allowed for a three credit course, excluding medical and other official ex cuses. Now we’re not so sure. May be it was all just a rumor. Transfer students tell of sys tems used at other schools that seem- quite feasible. Among them are (1) Class attendance is op tional for students with a 2.5 All-College average or above, the theory being that these stu dents will attend class anyway. but are intelligent enough to make their own decisions should a pressing matter come up. (2) Compulsory class attend ance for freshmen, who might have trouble adjusting to a com pletely free system, but optional attendance for all' other stu dents. (3) A uniform policy, respect- ed throughout the school, of a limited number of cuts per-se mester in each course. • Any one of these systems, we feel, if put in operation, might create a healthier atmosphere at the College. The student would have more of a chance to weigh his goals, decide what is more important to him, and make his own decisions. It would be up to him which was more important— sleeping in to nurse a cold or going to class. Having stayed home, he might miss a pop quiz . . . but at least he would be giv en the chance to make up his own mind. And he would not be penal ized for using it. By Bibier
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