PAGE FOUR Published Tuesday through Saturday mornings. during the University year, the Daily Collegian is a student operated newspaper. Entered as second-tines matter July b, 1934 at the State College, Pa. Part Office ander DAVE JONES, Editor STAFF THIS ISSUE: Night editor, Mary Lee Lauffer; Copy editors, Don Shoemaker, Paddy Beahan; Assistants, Stan Frolic, Inez Althouse, Nancy Showalter, Mickey McMillan, Harry Davis. Ad Staff, Vince Tempone, Fez Senrab. Social Code Changes: Both the University Senate committee on student affairs and Interfraternity Council of ficers have been reticent to discuss, beyond generalities, what changes have been asked in the newly released fraternity dating code. As a result of this mutual silence, none but a chosen few really know what IFC is asking. This silence is not justified. There seems to be but two defenses of keep ing the controversy silent, neither of which are adequate. The Senate committee might favor silence to prevent the situation from being exploited by students. And IFC perhaps favors silence to avoid disturbing the committee and antagonizing it to a point where it might re fuse any requests. If these are the only defenses—as it appears they are—it is a sad situation. Revealing details of requested changes in the social code would not be exploiting. It would be informing. There is a world of difference. It seems both the com mittee and IFC feel the request must be a big secret. They should not have that attitude on a matter of such importance to all students. Certainly, both the committee and IFC rea lize their responsibility to the student body. That responsibility in this case is to reveal at least what changes axe being asked. The new fraternity dating code is no private affair between the University and fraternity officers. It directly effects not only all frater nity men, but a much larger segment of the Bermuda Shorts: Alterations Needed The decision of Senate of Women's Student Government Association to allow coeds - to wear Bermuda shorts to recreational activities is a wise compromise on an issue which drew di verse opinions. However, the reason given by the Senate committee on student affairs in asking that women be prohibited from wearing Bermuda shorts in dining halls seems weak. The committee, according to Nancy White, retiring WSGA president, felt more strict en forcement of men's dining hall dress rules made allowance for shorts in women's dining halls a "step backwards." However, men's dress rules apply only to evening meals and Sunday noon dinners. Women have always been prohibited from wearing shorts or slacks to these meals. Women are, however, permitted to wear slacks to_h_r_e_akias_ta h. Provision for wearing Bermuda shl orts to breakfast and lunch wou not have caused women to appear at these meals in less neat or attractive garb. In fact, it seems women generally dress more neatly in Bermuda shorts than they do in slacks. Provisions for women wearing Bermuda shorts at breakfast and lunch might entail an added provision that women may wear the shorts in main dormitory lobbies until noon so they would not be forced to take a circuitous route• to the dining halls. , Men visitors are not permitted in the lobbies before noon and few other visitors are. present. It is difficult to see how this added provision could change greatly the essence of the present ruling. If the Senate committee and WSGA feel this extension of the ruling is too broad, it would seem at least feasible to allow coeds to wear Bermuda shorts to Saturday lunch and break fast in the spring when picnics and sports fre- Gazette .. ALL-UNIVERSITY ELECTIONS COMMITTEE, 6:45 p.m., 204 Old Main CHRISTIAN SCIENCE ORGANIZATION, 6:45 p.m., 304 Old Main COLLEGIAN AD STAFF, 7 p.m., 102 Willard COLLEGIAN BUSINESS STAFF, 6:45 p.m., Business Office COLLEGIAN CIRCULATION STAFF, 6:30 p.m., Business Office COLLEGIAN CLASSIFIED STAFF, 6:30 p.m., Collegian Office COLLEGIAN EDITORIAL CANDIDATES MEETING, 7 p.m., 111 Carnegie COLLEGIAN PROMOTION STAFF, 7 p.m., 104 Willard DELTA SIGMA PI BUSINESS MEETING AND TALK, 7 p.m., Sigma Alpha Mu EDUCATION STUDENT COUNCIL, 7:30 p.m., 204 Burrowes FROTH AD STAFF, 6:30 p.m., Froth Office GERMAN CLUB, 7:30 p.m., Atherton Lounge HOME ECONOMICS CLUB BUSINESS MEET ING, 6:30 p.m., 105 White Hall STUDENT HANDBOOK BUSINESS STAFF, 8 p.m., 2 Carnegie Sociology Club to Hear !Steel Executive to Talk Journalism Professors Richard 0. Byers, assistant pro fessor of journalism, and Roland L. Hicks, instructor in journal ism, will speak on "Advertising— Determining and Reflecting So cial Trends" before the Sociology Club at 7:30 tonight in 215 Wil lard. A discussion period will fol low the lecture. Tip 13atly evitrytatt Sneceeser to THE FREE LANCE, eat. 18617 Tonight To Society of Metals R. B. Mears. manager of the Research and Development" Lab oratory of United States Steel, will discuss "T h e Generalized Theory of Stress-Corrosion Crack ing" before the American Society of Metals at 8 tonight in 219 Elec trical Engineering. THE DAILY. COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSNIVAI49A VINCE DRAYNE, Business Mgr. 4M*. Unnecessary Silence student body including independents and coeds. Because of the broad scope of the new code, student sentiment should be considered. Also because of this broad scope, students have a right to know exactly what their representa tives are asking. If the requests - are kept silent and general, students may never know what those requests were. Students will probably know only what changes the committee felt feasible. As a re sult, the committee could strike down perfectly legitimate requests without any opposition, knowing full well the student body will never be aware of the requests made. The committee cannot hide behind a fear of exploitation. And IFC should not have to avoid a disgruntled committee that might re fuse requests if they were made public. If this is the case—if the committee would act in such a manner—the best interests of everyone will be overlooked. There is no real reason to be lieve the committee would act thus, and there fore little reason upon which IFC may base its silence. The mistaken premise seems to be this is a private affair. The new code, and changes in it, are not a private affair. And the far-reaching effect of any such code 'should have been con sidered when the committee and IFC decided to remain silent. This silence has little, if any, justification. quently are the order of the afternoon. Pro hibiting wearing of Bermuda shorts at Satur day lunch makes it necessary for the shorts for-sports minded coed to make another change after lunch. This change seems unnecessary. —Nancy Ward National Champs The Penn State gymnastics squad and its coach, Gene Wettstone, are deserving of hearty applause from the student body this week. The men arrived in State College at 2 a.m. yesterday after winning the National Collegiate Athletic Association title for the second year and for the third time in the University's history. - - The past season has been all any fan could hope for—the gymnasts came out ahead in -.- ception of the meet with the Swedish National squad. In that meet Penn State was defeated by a small margin. Students should avoid the tendency to take for granted the winning ways of the gym team. They should appreciate the hard work and sac rifice involved in keeping Penn State's name at the top of the national athletic picture. —Tammie Bloom Safety Valve On the University Chapel TO THE EDITOR: The Collegian of March 30 gave the first clue as to the appearance of the proposed University Chapel—"plans feature Georgian style." What does 18th century formalism mean to a 20th century university campus? What does the Georgian mean to •you the students on this campus? ... (The) early churches in America expressed one phase of the many religions in the world both at (the time they were built) and today. The University Chapel is to be a non-denomin ational chapel. What could better express re ligion in the universal spiritual meaning than a building that would not refer to a past. Use of Georgian today cannot honestly be called Georgian but must be labeled "pseudo- Georgian," mainly because we are not an 18th century people . . . Are we to express our spiritual needs with a false front? We must consider this university as being what the wo r d states—"universal" and not Georgian. And by an laonest acceptance of our contemporary living erect a building which will stand for the religious and spiritual needs of the university today. STUDENT EMPLOYMENT The following camps will interview at the Stu dent Employment Service, 112 Old Main: Camp Skycrest on April 12; Camp Conrad Weiser on April 7. Sign up for interviews in advance. Editorials represent Um viewpoint of the writers, not necessarily the policy of the paper. Unsigned edi torials are by the editor. act of tflarch 3. 1.879. —Betty L. Perna 'Pick Up Sticks' Tickets Are Available at SU Tickets fo r Players' original revue "Pick Up Sticks" are on sale for $1 at the Student Union desk in Old Main. The revue will open at 8 p.m. Friday for a run of six weekends. The show is directed by Robert D. Reifsneider, associate profes sor of dramatics. line Man on Campus "1 calljt my 'trouble blouse'—l wear it when I need a Mule ext personal attention from my professors." Excursion 8: Demagoguer W • Men Sea Charles I of England had, a fervent desire to obtain absolute supremacy in England. He believed that this would only be ac complished through a Catholic England, somewhat on the order of the existing French government. His designs, however, were thwarted, and he turned to the Anglican ChUrch to seek hiS ends. Vague rumors arose, then, of a Catholic plot to overthrow the government and murder Charles. The rumors were not acted upon. One Titus Oates got wind of the plot for which there was some evidence. However, he startled the world by revelations of a vast conspiracy by means of which Catholics were to seize the gov ernment of England after murder -h•!Lg-al-1-prom-ii,ken-P-rete-st9.-nts—The Protestant party, led by Shafts bury, saw its opportunity and en couraged the outbreak of mad hysteria which swept the country. Oates himself appeared before Parliament indiscriminately ac cusing men in high places of sub version, including the queen her self. Panic seized the people; and murder and pillaging of Catholic orders ran rampant. Many were brought to trial, one who had cor responded with a Frenchman al luding to. a plot. When reaction set in, Oates was conderrined to be pilloried, flog ged and imprisoned for life. He was later liberated when the Protestants regained ascendancy, and was given a pension. The incident is called "The Pop ish Plot." The year is 1678. In more recent times, the story has an equally lurid parallel: It was a time of national emer gency. The party in power had changed after the 20-year reign of the opposition. Reports of the "federal police" were discovered which impugned the existence of a number of subversives within the government. The reports had not been acted upon. The result was that demagogue's arose cloaked in the banner of.na tional security. One demagogue in particular openly used fraudu lent charges at one time, threats and character assassination at an other; a personal brand of "reign of terror." Panic, terror, and sus picion seized the people—to the extent that many were even will ing to see their basic freedoms undermined so that the "sub:- versives" might be unmasked. Soon, both he and the fellOw travelers of our professional pa triot were calling the party out of power disloyal for having made mistakes in the line of duty, or at worse traitorous for harboring sympathizers of the enemy. Over 2000 government employees were dismissed as "security risks" to sustain the hoax; and a new spe cies of "egg head" arose to ration alize our "patriot's" views. The issue is called McCarthy ism; the man is called McCarthy. The time is the present. And, one wonders if there must TUESDAY. APRIL 6,1954 azlza By LEN GOODMAN be a static element of hysteria latent in every national group. The thought is at once both frightening and sobering. The rise of demagogues—espec ially among a people who are prone to speak their- own minds— is difficult to prevent; but, among people who do speak their own minds, the likelihood of being winked b these demagogues is inverse y propor iol'ia.to -the amount of clear-headed thinking present in the opposition. In re cent months a measure of sanity has been reintroduced in the dis cussion of the issues involved and the power wielded by the senator involved. Order may yet be re stored on Capitol Hill. The ironic facet of the entire fiasco is certainly the opportunity for controversy which has, been afforded. Not that I nor any one else should clap his hands in glee over the chance for an-argu ment, not at all. But, rather, there is a real need in a democ racy for intellectual soul-search ing in the realm of our liberties and freedoms. It is ironic that the liberal the senator wished to silence should in the end be his undoing. But, again, we hear the old refrain, "you can fool some of the people some of the time, but . • . Cooly Society Initiates' 23 Twenty-three students were ini tiated into the Coaly Society at an initiation banquet Wednesday night in the Allencrest Tearoom. Guest of honor was Lyman E. Jackson, dean of the College of Agriculture: Master of . ceremon ies was Robert Dahle, eighth se mester economics major and his torian of the society.. Speaker for the evening was Maurice K. Goddard, head of the Department of Forestry, who dis cussed "The Importance of For ests and Waters." Earlier, the initiates had taken the skeleton of Coaly mule to Old Main and each stood a two hour watch over it. Tonight on WDFM 91.1 MEGACYCLES 7:25 7:30 8:00 __-_-- 8:15 ---7- ----- 8:30 _- 7 9:15 9:30 /0:30 --____ -------____ Call Card Tops in Pops NeWs ____ Music Hall Sign Off By Bibler Sign On Record Review UN Story
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