P4p,E sINTEEN
Hazing Ended Campus Reign
When Frosh Waved Firearms
With a note of considerable
pride President George W.
Atherton announced to the
University (then College)
Board of Trustees in 1898 that
students by unanimous vote
had decided to abolish hazing.
In lauding the spirit and loyalty
of the student body, President
Atherton said the decision ex
ceded all other displays of spirit
in :the history of the school. He
said the pledge received "the per
sonal signature of every man in
every class in the College."
But what President Atherton's
report left untold was the series
of events that led up to the pledge.
For these events one must refer
to the 1900 LaVie.
There, in the form of a fable,
the story is told that a freshman
objected to hazing by a sopho
more—objected so strongly that
he resorted to firearms.
Sophomore Expelled
The offending sophomore was
expelled by faculty action, and to
secure his reinstatement the s‘n
tire student body signed the pact
pledging themselves not to take
part in any hazing.
Surprisingly, the agreement was
lived up to. Hazing did disappear
from the University campus. Ini
tiation rites for freshmen there
after were carried on under the
name of "customs," rules for first
year students being given this
heading for the first time in the
student handbok of 1904.
But the change in name and the
attempt to permanently control
hazing by publishing rules did lit
tle to end the bloody scraps ,be
tween freshmen and sophomores.
The death of a student and the
injury of several others in a me
lee in 1907 involving 500 had only
a temporary restraining effect.
Records Vague
President Atherton's report was
vague as to hazing practices be
fore the turn of the century as are
records in the University archives
and the works of the student writ
ers of that day. It was evident,
however, in the President's report
'
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When Men Were Men and Women Were Few!
1855
TO
1955
AT
PENN
STATE
U.
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NOT TAR, but molasses and feathers made a coat of dishonor for
luckless freshmen in the days of hazing at the University. Strict
hazing came to an end when a freshman pulled out a firearm and
threatened a sophomore. The sophomore was dispelled from the
University. but was later reinstated when the student body agreed
to end hazing. Its replacement: customs.
that the usual series of harmless
pranks had "been rarely carried ,
to excess by our students but often
sensational paragraphs had been
written about them."
Early graduates say little about
formal hazing but G. Alfred Smith
of the first graduating class of
1861 described the sport of chal
lenging a newcomer to ride one
When Ellen A. Cross registered at Penn State in 1871,
it started a new phase for the college. She was the first woman
to enter Penn State! However, more followed until there were,
in that first year, a total of SIX coeds.
While President Calder had welcomed women to the
campus a rule promptly went into effect which forbade stu
dents "to talk or ride with students of the opposite sex or
to meet such students in the parlor or any other place except
by special permission of the president and hostess!!
A decade went by and the female enrollment increased
as did the rules. One stated "that all requests by gentlemen
to call on or accompany young ladies and all requeits on
the part of young ladies to receive or accompany gentlemen
must be presented to the lady principal in the ladies' parlor
between 6:45 and 7 p.m." (The parlor closed at 9 p.m.). Gentle
men dP.3iring to accompany ladies outside the parlor had to
obtain written permission from the President. In 1890 these
rules were revised.
rME DAILY CCA.LEGVqI
of the school's farm mules, Lion.
Lion was trained to throw any
one who mounted to his back from
the left though he was perfectly
peaceable if mounted from the
right.
"It was great sport to see the
new and unsuspecting student
who knew he could ride any beast
(Continued on page 46)
Now
St! , trE co4PPP
Then
4?etivANlA
Human Nature
Never Changes!
Elaborate plots to swipe exami
nations are nothing new at the
University.
When William Freer was teach
ing chemistry courses during the
late 1800's, some students decided
to borrow copies of his exams.
Freer lived in the third floor
of the Main Building, so the stu
dents went to the fifth floor and
lowered a conspirator down by
rope to the window of the pro
fessor's room to swipe the ques
tions.
The plot failed.
Dean Osmond
Honored in Lab
Started in 1937
By MARGIE BLANK
Osmond Laboratory was named
in honor of I. Thornton Osmond,
a former dean of the School of
Mathematics and Physics and a
physics professor of the Univer
sity.
The building, formerly known
as the New Physics Building, was
one of the 10 major units con
structed on campuS in 1937-38.
Osmond was born near Phila
delphia in 1844. He_ received his
early education at home, attend
ed a private academy, and then
completed two years at the Na
tional Normal School at Lebanon,
Ohio. In 1868 Osmond entered Mt.
Union College, where he received
a bachelor of arts degree. Three
years later he received his master
of arts degree. •
After teaching for six years in
Philadelphia, and Clinton, N.Y.,
Osmond enrolled as a graduate
student at Cornell and earned his
master of science.
Osmond was a member of Phi
Kappa Phi, scholastic honorary so
ciety, board of examiners of the
International Electrical Exhibi
tion of 1884, and a fellow in the
American Association for the Ad
vancement of Science.
He joined the faculty in 1879
as a professor of physics and re
signed as dean in 1907. He wrote
extensively on the field of physics
and served as a meterologist for
the State Board of Agriculture.
Revisions came and went as did the years. With
our present enrollment the president would be ix, a
definite dilemma if permissions to date youiig ladies
still had to be obtained.
However, one rule does still stand. -It states
that "young ladies are absolutely forbidden to hold
any communication out of the windows or by means
of the steam pipes!! '
In the future, as the enrollment increases the
rules may again see a change. That we can not
predict. However, it is these present students and
future enrollees that Simon's is proud to serve.
109 S. Allen Street
TUOlllty Pelmutver 22. 19SS
Thompson
Helped Pick
School Site
By MIKE MOYLE
A man who had a direct hand
in the eornding of the Farmers'
High School, the original name
of, the University, wa s Moses
Thumpson, the man for whom
Thompson Hall was named.
When Governor Pollock and the
committee of trustees appointed
in 1865 to select a site for the
Farmers' High School came to
Centre County they Were tc in
spect the land of General James
Irvin, who along with Thompson,
was one of the county's leading
citizens.
No Town
However, they found no town
of any kind in the area, and had
no proper place to take up lodg
ing. This being the era of abund
ant hospitality and large manor
houses, it, was natural that the
group be entertained by Moses
and Mary Thompson at their man
sion at Centre Furnace, which
still stands at the Evergreens.
One-hundred fifty persons were
entertained by a sumptious din
ner prepared'by Mrs. Thompson—
a 'remarkable feat—and General
Irvin's offer was accepted.
First Hostess
Mary Thompson became the
first hostess for the University,
entertaining official guests in the
early days, including Moses' good
friend, Andrew Carnegie, to whom
he sold the Scotia, mine.
The Thompssms also entertained
the Board of Trustees in 1856
when plans were being made for
the building of Old Main.
Moses Thompson was born in
1810 in a humble cabin in Oak
Hall. His parents died early in
his life and he was forced to take
charge of the family. He took re
sponsibility easily, however, and
the oldsters called him "the old
man."
Equipped with scant education
but blessed with rare common
sense he had to learn to econo
mize. In 1842 he sold his Oak Hall
farm and moved to Centre Fur
.nace where he began his fabu
lously successful buisness career
with CiPneral Irvin. He eventually
became sole owner of the Centre
Furnace iron works, and largest
land Jwner in the county.