TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 19Sb Conflicts Incite Strikes, Pranks Johnstown Flood Caused One Class Suspension Conflicts between students and faculty during the 100- year history of the University have incited both strikes and pranks. The first student strike was in 1802. C. H. "Calamity" 'Musser had gone home for a vacation but had failed to return to school on time using as his excuse the famous Johnstown Flood. The faculty, however, was not aware of the seriousness of the flood and refused to believe his story. The faculty then proceeded to suspend Musser. The class of '92, of which Musser was.a member, backed nation and playing a baseball him up by skipping an exam I game instead. For this act of insubordination the entire class was suspended, whereupon the class marched to the field near the University Inn an pitched tents. The encamp ment was called "Camp Suspen sion." The students remained there for several days, until thefaculty, realizing the truth of the flood story, reinstated the class. Out, of this situation dame the following poem by W. W. Taylor, Ode of 12 We are watching, we are waiting for the faculty to act. When the shingles, hickory shingles, on our backs will come "ger-whack." Chorus: Lo he comes! See, the Prex draws near. Freshmen, shout "your end is here. We are watching, we are waiting for that bright and glorious day, When the Freshman for suspen ecn to his home shall go away. We are watching ,we are waiting, for the mail bag to appear, When with Orders,'Money Orders, We will settle all bills here. During this time there were many other petty regulations Just whom were the three girls going to be in our Centennial ad? We had about ten different ones in mind and just couldn't narrow it down to "the" three. And then Donna came in for a sitting. Well, her beauty is obvious. But her natural captivating charm > -that's something else. So we decided to go whole hog and devote all three spaces to this lovely brunette from Elwood City. Some of you fellows might be interested in knowing that she wasn't sporting a fraternity pin. These are but three of the 18 proofs we . took. (I could have sworn I bill coleman's lion studio By DON BARLETT which caused unrest and led to student pranks. One night students carried un husked corn into a recitation room and brought in pigs. One can ima gine the state of things the follow ing morning. At 'this time students were re quired to attend chapel. One day during the service a skeleton slowly descended from the galley above and was brought to rest above the speaker's head. The laughter of the audience called it to the speaker's attention. Tooth Causes Trouble A more serious story is told as the result of strict regulations. A young man of fine character and who had no bad record, developed a severe toothache one day s He went to the nearest dentist, lo cated more than 12 miles away. The dentist kept him so long that he missed one or more recitations. When he returned he reported at once what had happened. He was, however, suspended for having broken a rule, the penalty for which was suspension. There Was a strike by the students when they heard of the incident. They sent a communication to the• fac ulty askin for the reinstatement of the stu dent and for modifica tions of some of the rules. The faculty obliged by chang ing some of the rules but it re fused to reinstate the student, The man in question was "mature, stu= dious and dependable and well regarded by all." Under the cir- THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA cumstances he refused to return to the University at the end of his suspension period. Ho went on to bedome a leading citizen of his county and was later elected to a responsible position. Thus, through the petty rules of the college, an "influential al umnus" and a man of "high ethi cal and intellectual attainments" was lost. Chemistry Causes Exp i losion In 1897, after students had re ceived their chemistry grades from Dr. Pond, most of which were failures, the cannon in front of Old Main was set off. Every window in Old Main from the third floor down was broken and all the windows in the chemistry building were broken. When the students had registered they were required to pay a damage fee— to cover farmer's claims for stolen cows, etc. Since the students wouldn't get any money back any how, the thought of destruction was stimulated. In the fall of 1905 the most serious disagreement between stu dents and faculty occurred. The cause of the strike was attributed directly to the feeling that the rules on cutting were too strict. Military Salute Required Other factors which contributed to the "great strike" were the claims by students that professors were so tied up in business in terests and speculation, that their classes suffered; and the fact that President Atherton desired a mili tary salute from all students. These two strikes in 1892 and 1905 have been the most serious disputes between students and faculty in the ,University's 100- year history. However, many pranks were in stigated because of students' feel ings toward professors and rules of the University._ __ MISS DONNA CARSON Prof Jokes: 801 l Rings One professor continually irri tated his students by joking in his lectures. One day when the pro fessor was giving a talk, every time he cracked a joke a b ell would ring. It was difficult to tell where the bell was but it was synchronized with the professor's jokes. Afterwards it was discov ered that two nails had been driv en into the floor and were con nected by wires to an electric bell. The nails were so placed that a student with an iron plate on his heel could ring the bell. The wir- didn't shoot more than ten.) And to top it off, these are intentionally un retouched. If you're a bug on really fine Hi-Fi background music, you'll be in for a• pleasant surprise. We're installing a setup which will make you swear there's a full symphony orchestra behind the curtain. Do you have 5 to 7 dollars burning a hole in your pocket? Why not invest it. And brother, a fine portrait will pay dividends like nothing else will. b.c. ing was done so cleverly that it was quite some time after the oc currence of the bell-ringing that it was discovered. Mock Funerals Another slur directed towards professors occurred when . a row of wooden plaques painted white were buried in the ground in front of Old Main to represent tombstones. Each plaque born the name of an unpopular professor. The implication being: "They were dead; now they are buried. As early as 188 b students were playing pranks. In a letter from Tellico Johnson, class of 1885. the following story was revealed: "`Our dining room was a broad ' shanty extending westerly from the south part of the Main Build ing (Old Main), and the students sat at long tables extending the length of the dining room, with a professor at the head of each table. The Butter Um:Mint "We had grace at each table and I sat at a table presided over by professor Wilson. During grace I peeked and saw professor Wil son with wide open eyes looking at me and saying grace as usual. I ducked down and after dinner I asked a student why he kept his eyes open. He told me pro fessor Wilson used to close them during grace but a rough fellow threw a pat of butter at him, hit ting him in the face and he never saidgrace after that with closed eyes." One student prank which has ,For continuous leadership in all fields of education and development of the youth . for the succeeding generations, we wish you perennial suc cess in the future. Ray's Ranch Okay 136 E. College Avenue PAGE SEVENTEEN gone down in history and which made the headlines of the news papers including the Police Ga zette, occurred when a group of students sent to Pine Grove Mills to attend a singing school and took along with them the ingre dients for making hydrogen sul fide. The chemical which started generating in the middle of the service broke up the meeting and Ithe boys made news. A recent student demonstra tion occurred in April, 1949. The demonstration was led by a group of Nittany-Pollock men who staged a food protest. The unor ganized demonstration followed the pattern of a similar demcin stration at East Stroudsburg State Teachers ' College the previous year. The 'Panty Raid' The demonstration which drew the most adverse publicity for the University was a "panty raid" which took place on April 7, 1952. Eietween 2000 and 3000 men par ticipated in the riot which started in Thompson Hall. After an un successful attempt to raid Thomp son, the students moved to Mc- Allister Hall. There the men poured into the dormitory through the open front doors and up the fire escapes. Tke men met no re sistance from the coeds. At one point in' the raid, coeds were chanting "go, go, go, go," as the men advanced on the dorm. However, only one great strike has marred the University's 100- year history: the strike of 1905.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers