PAGE FOUR
Published Tuesday through
Saturday mornings, during
the University year, the
Daily Collegian is a student.
operated neMaparier.
Entered as second-class anatent Jetty a. 1934 et the Setteo College, f'n. Peet Office oculter
DAVE JONES: Editor
Managing Ed., Marshall 0. Donley: City Ed., Chuck
Obertunce: Copy Ed.. Chia Mathias: Saporta Ed.. Sas Pro.
coition Edit. Dir.. Len Goodman: Wire-Badio Ed.. Bill Joat:
Photo Ed.. Brace Schroeder: Sec. Ed.. Lis Newell: Asst.
Sports Ed.. Dick McDowell: Asst. Soc. Ed., Gas Vollmer:
toes:tore Ed., Nancy Meyers: Exchange Ed.. Lorrain* Glades:
Librarian. Al Goodman: Senior Board. Jack Reid.
STAFF THIS ISSUE: Night editor, Bill Snyder; Copy editors, Joe Beau Seigneur, Ed Reiss; As
sistants, Lee Hyatt, Tom Smith, Al Klimcke, Gay Snodgrass. Ad Staff, Vince Tempone.
I. All-University Cabinet: A Crazy Setup
(First of two editorials on the organization
of All-Ilniversity Cabinet.)
The present organization of All-University
Cabinet is one of the most perplexing incon
gruities in Penn State student government.
Cabinet calls itself the highest student gov
erning body on campus. Yet some of those who
sit on cabinet are elected by no real segment
of the student body, and many represent groups
whose very presence on cabinet must be ques
tioned.
•
Penn State students often tell themselves they
have a well-organized student government. It
seems this feeling, somewhere along the line,
has blinded us to some important facts.
Cabinet is a strange mixture of representa
tives. Only three of 24 representatives on that
body are elected by the complete student body.
Others are seated by selection of special groups
or election by a large segment of the student
body. This 'would not be so bad if those elected
and selected by special groups were chosen
on a standard basis. They are not.
Students are represented on cabinet by living
unit, college council, class and sex. And two
groups represented on cabinet—the Boards of
Publications and Dramatics and Forensics—rep-
Freshman Hours: Behind the Times?
Action toward extension of weekend hours
for freshman women is being sought by a com
mittee composed of freshman and upperciass-
women.
The committee plans to ask the University
Senate that freshman women be permitted to
take an 11 o'clock and a 1 o'clock permission
on Friday and Saturday nights. Freshmen now
have a 10 o'clock and a 1 o'clock on weekends.
Upperclasswomen have 1 o'clock permissions
both nights.
There should be no hesitation on the part of
the administration in granting this one-hour
extension.
Freshman hours are more strict than those
of upperclasswomen because it is believed the
first year in a university is a crucial period, in
which great adjustments must be made. This
assumption is a valid one. It is true that good
study habits should be established during the
freshman year. The assumption that early dor
mitory closing hours promote studying is also
reasonable. However, it cannot be determined
how much knowledge is absorbed during this
one hour on a Friday or Saturday night.
An argument used by advocates of more
lenient weekend hours is that under the new
fraternity social code, which will go into effect
in September, freshman women will be per
mitted in fraternity houses and should have an
extension of hours.
It is questionable whether freshman hours
Monsoons Again
The Penn State monsoon season is again up
on us.
For those who are spending their first spring
at the University, it should be explained that
the rains that put in unscheduled appearances
during this time of year are merely seasonal.
They somehow occur about this time every
year, regardlss of what the weatherman pre
dicts.
It should be further explained that daylight
saving time and the monsoon season do not
appear at the same time each year. Opponents
of our weather claim that the monsoon season
is brought about by the people who are dis
satisfied with daylight saving time. This is not
true; it is merely a yearly coincidence.
Our monsoon season is a type of "now-you
see-it, now-you-don't situation." The spring
showers will be gone almost as quick as they
appeared. Mostly the showers appear between
classes. And occasionally they appear in the late
afternoon in time to temporarily postpone all
extra-curricular outdoor activity.
To condemn the showers or to come out in
favor of them would be pure folly. Perhaps
Mark Twain has come up with the best com
ment yet. About 50 years ago, Twain said:
"Everyone complains about the weather, but
no one does anything about it." Who are we to
go one better than Twain?
Let thy speech do better than silence, or be
silent.—Dionysius, the Elder.
Youth is a blunder; manhood a struggle; old
age a regret.—Benjamin Disraeli.
Good Will is the mightiest practical force in
the universe.—Charles Fletcher Dole.
TO Bang entirgiatt
Soccesair to tilE mem waking. Sit. 121111
—George Bairey
INE, DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE: PENNSYLVANIA
FRANK CHESSMAN, Business Mgr.
Asst. Bus Mgr., Benjamin Lowenstein; Local Adv. Mgr.,
Sondra Buckman; National Adv. Mgr., William Devers;
Circulation Co-Mgrs., 'Richard Gordon, Gail Framer: Pro
motion Mgr., Evelyn Riegel; Personnel Mgr., Carol Schwing;
Office Mgr., Peggy Troxell; Classified Adv. Mgr, Dorothea
Ebert; Sec., Gertrude Malpezzi; Research and Records Mgr.,
Virginia Coskery.
resent no one but extra-curricular groups. This
is a strange hodge-podge of student government.
A quick look at cabinet seats shows this:
Three seats filled . by general election, four by
class, four by living unit, nine by college coun
cil, two by all women, one by all men, and two
by extra-curricular group. There is little, if any,
logic behind this organization.
This type of setup results in some students
being represented by as many as seven or eight
cabinet members. No student may be repre
sented by less than five. Defenders of the pres
ent organization say this cross-representation
results in more of a voice for the student. This
is not true. In the first place, most representa
tives are too far from the represented to really
represent. Second, this cross-representation can
cancel itself out.
Such confusion about representation shows
need of correction. Not many have seriously
considered the illogical structure of • cabinet,
and until they do, it will remain a mixed-up
group. Some cabinet seats can clearly be elim
inated, and others can stand some stiff study.
What might be done in reorganizing All-
University Cabinet, to make it a more sensible
and truly representative body, will be outlined
tomorrow.
have been strict in order to keep the women
out of fraternity houses on weekends. If this
were the purpose of the 10 o'clock it would
have to be instituted both Friday and Saturday
nights to prove effective.
The problem, then, is whether 18-year-old
women can be given an extra hour per week
outside the dormitory and still fulfill their aca
demic obligations. Probably most of them could
and would.
Possibly the restrictions on freshman women
are a carry-over from the days when freshman
customs lasted for a year, and upperclassmen
lorded their privileges over "green" frosh.
It is easy to understand why such a situation
in regard to hours, if unjust, was never changed.
Women complain about "unfair discrimination"
when they are freshman, but by the time they
are in a position to „recommend a change they
are upperclasswomen, with later permissions,
and are not affected by freshman regulations.
The lack of concern- and possible wish of
upperclasswomen to preserve a status above the
frosh means they give little support to any
plan to obtain more lenient hours for fresh
man women.
A survey by the committee studying the prob
lem has shown freshman women on many other
campuses have later hours. There seems little
reason why Penn State should cling to the
present setup just because it has always been
that way in the past.
Gazette
Today
AD STAFF, 7 p.m., 102 Willard
BELLES-LETTRES, 7 p.m., NE Atherton Lounge \—
CHRISTIAN SCIENCE ORGANIZATION, 6:45
p.m., 304 Old Main
COLLEGIAN BUSINESS STAFF, 6:45 p.m.,
Collegian Business Office
COLLEGIAN CIRCULATION STAFF, 6:30 p.m.,
Collegian Office
COLLEGIAN EDITORIAL CANDIDATES, 7
p.m., 111 Carnegie
COLLEGIAN PROMOTION STAFF, 7 p.m., 104
Willard
EDUCATION STUDENT COUNCIL, 7:30 p.m.,
206 Burrowes
GERMAN CLUB, 7 p.m., 202 Willard
MINERAL INDUSTRIES STUDENT COUNCIL,
7:30 p.m., 208 Willard
NEWMAN CLUB SOCIAL COMMITTEE, 7
p.m., McElwain Recreation Room
PENN STATE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIA-
TION, 4 p.m., 110 EE
POLLOCK COUNCIL, 6:30 p.m., Nittany Dorm
20
SOCIETY OF AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERS, 7
p.m., 105 Mechanical Engineering
UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL
Lenore Babione, Richard Beegle, Thomas
Dolan, Robert Doxey, John Gatehouse, Louis
Grieco, Theodore Mortensen, Harry Nelson,
Harvey Nixon, Cecelia Podir, William Powdrell,
Elaine Rothstein, Jean Schnetzer, Joseph Shick,
Anthony Spinato, Sally Wainger.
STUDENT EMPLOYMENT
Philadelphia YMCA will interview men and
women for six camps in the Philadelphia
area April 29.
UNIVERSITY PLACEMENT'
WOMEN INTERESTED IN NURSING as a career may talk
with Miss Mary Florence Taylor of the University of
Pittsburgh this afternoon. Arrangements- for Azeterwkwa
may be made ia• 112 Old ,Maia.
Editorials represent
viewpoint of the writors,
not necessarily the policy of
the paper- Unsigned edi
torials are by the edifier.
set et Kura S. 1379.
—Ta=nie Bloom
ittle Man on. Campus
on't select dne of th' professors for th' commencement speaker
e're limited for time."
Excursion Last
Walden Sea
This series, which I called "Walden Sea," must end on a humble
note; for, I am afraid, much of the defiance and omniscience left with
the evening tide. I tried to sketch briefly a . philosophy, or, the bare
bones of a philosophy, in the essays, and though I promised there
Might be ranting but never raving, I now discover I neglected to ful
fill my promise—there was both.
Skimming through what was
written, I now find only germs of
ideas and none very fully devel
oped; some reflections of old ideas
in new garb; and many, too many,
items I- can now only classify as
miscellaneous , redundancies, or
downright foolishness.
It was Thoreau, America's
most sincere re b e 1, who first
helped me collate my ideas. As I
reread Thoreau, thoughts fell
into place as my mind seemed
to enter a room cluttered with
old books that I could now un
derstand.
I found there was truly much
that was worthwhile and ennob
ling in "Walden Pond" and "On
Civil Disobedience," and much
that might certainly jolt the com
placent American of today,' not
that I was especially interested in
"jolting" anything or anybody.
Most of the doctrine was not ap
plicable to present problems; but
the stimulus those doctrines af
forded was indeed very real.
The problem I attempted to con
front in "Walden Sea" was the at
tainment of an individualism in a
society that no longer stressed the
individual. It was an impossible
task, I now know, but the quest
was no less interesting, and cer
tainly gave me, if no one else, an
opportunity to allow thoughts to
gell. And, even though philosophy
is such an inexact science, still,
exasperation was not the outcome
of the quest.
For Thoreau, himself, "Walden
Pond" was really an escape from
society. His . concern was for
himself, his own development
arid expression, nothing more.
His doctrine of civil disobe
dience" was a mere rationaliza
tion for shirking responsibility,
and pursuing his own true love;
Nature. Even though the doc
trine did contain many fine
thoughts and sentiments, his
• motive is questionable.
Walden was a retreat, in the
sense of escaping from the fight,
and too, in the sense of that to
which he might escape. Actually
few would have had Thoreau's
pluck, thdugh most would not de
sire his goals. Does living in so
ciety-make cowards of us all? Or,
am I stretching "cowardice" to
illustrate • a point?
Still, I wanted no retreat, but
attempted in "Walden Sea" to
piece together a philosophy em
bracing both individualism and
responsibility. I may be accused of
wishing _both .to - have and. to . eat.
• COMPLETE
the proverbial cake; but I believe
the goal is still possible.
In the series, among -other
things, I discussed the necessity
for an abiding faith in the worth
and potential of the individual as
a basis for a social philosophy. .I
attempted to demonstrate the
subjective element present when
trying to explain anything, in
cluding history, and an idea of
"progress." One essay dealt with
the confusion that results when
ideals and goals are not differ
entiated enough; I drew upon the
play, "Death of a Salesman" to
illustrate that point.
In another essay, I empha
sized the need for an occasional
mental spring cleaning, a dust
ing of old ideas, in a demo
cratic society. Finally. I dis
cussed the need for what Ber
trand Russell termed a "cour
age - tempered with sensitive
ness" in the individual.
So much has been left unsaid;
and so many loose strings are ap
parent that I am afraid only a
hopeless knot has resulted, or at
best one that can be untied only
with the strongest intellectual
fingernails. My only hope is that
I have not—giving a twist to that
which was recently said of Hemin
way—"mistaken the Holy Grail
for a fish"—po,nd.
FFA Speaking Finals
To Be Held Tomorrow
Region 111 finals of the voca
tional agricultural speaking con
test of the Future Farmers of
America will be held tomorrow
on campus. The contest will in
clude both parliamentary proced
ure and-public speaking.
Eight districts will send final
ists
to compete for the district ti
tle, which will • qualify winners
for the statewide finals. Finals
will be held June 8 to 10 at the
University during spring week
activities of the Future Farmers.
Exhibit to Close Friday
An exhibit of books, poems, and
other writings by alumni, former
students, an d faculty _members
will continue until Friday at the
University Library. • ,
Tonight on WDFM
7:25 ..._
7:30 _____ _____ R ecord E:tenielr.
8:00
. UN St4,ry
8 :15 __------ Call 'Ca .
id
8:30 __-- --_ Tops in
. p o p s.
9:15 • _ News
9:30 .. • _ Music Hall
TUESDAY. .APRIL 2.7:1954
By Bibl
By LEN GOODMAN
91.1 'MEGACYCLES
_ Sign On
t a d
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