rods/f Math*- Coolf with Thundorstormt VOl. 55. No. 95 Transcript To Revise Semester and All-University averages will be changed tp the new grading system on freshmen, sophomore, and junior transcripts this summer, and as a result graces will be boosted one point, Robert bt. Koser, assistant registrar, said last night. The alphabetical grading scale from A to F will go into effect next semester, as result of action taken by University Senate Thurs day night, and will eliminate the -2 grade. The failing grade" of F will include the -1 and -2. Under this system only the stu dent who received a -2 grade will have his semester and university average raised. An example of this would be a student who took four 3 credit courses'and one 5 credit course. Under the present system he re ceived a one in each 3 credit course and a -2 in the 5 credit 1 course. His semester average is ,11. Si tries Says Latter Plan Before the University Senate passed the alphabetical grading system Thursday, careful con sideration was given to a grad ing system changes proposed by Rudolph Lutter, sixth semester sociology major, Frank J. Simes, dean or men ana member of sen ate, said yesterday. / Lutter’s plan would have eli minated the present grading sys tem in favor of one requiring more accurate recording of stu dent's grades. The newly adopted grading scale will range from A to F, A being equivilent to 90 to 100, and F being given a percentage Of zero through $9. Lutter's Plan Discussed Simes said the merits of Lut ter’s proposal Were discussed but the senators felt it could not be accepted for several reasons: 1. Instructors would find it al most impossible to grade students with the numerical precision that Lutter’s plan would require. Courses in which objective exam inations are given exclusively would have little difficulty in pin-pointing student grades, but i courses in which essay-type ex ?amB are given would be very difficult to mark numerically. 2. Some students feel that the S-2-1 grade system is too general and that it doesn’t give them the grade'they deserve. Simes said he thought the grades students re >■ ceive in courses over a period of eight semesters would balance each other out, whore any case of unfairness may seem evident For instance, he said, students probably get as many 2’s when they really deserve only l’s as they get l’s when they feel they deserve 2’s, System is Improvement Simes said he believed the new ly adopted alphabetical, grading system was an improvement over /the one now being used in that it will eliminate the two degrees of failure that a student may now be given. Under the system to be put into effect next semester no points will be subtracted from a student’s honor points. After the change is imple mented, Simes continued, many changes will have to be made. For example, honorary organiza tions will have to decide what frade will be necessary for mem ership, academic probation will have to be regulated to suit the tnew scale, and the grade required to enter the Division of Inter- mediate Registration will have to be determined. Phi Sigma Delta (To Apply to IFC Phi Sigma Delta will apply for readmissipn to Interfraternity Council when the council meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday in 219 Elec trical Engineering. The fraternity was dropped from IFC last week, after it had missed five meetings during the academic year. The council may also hear a report from the hell week practices committee, headed by John Mc- Meekin. The report will make rec ommendations concerning the conduct of hellweek in fraterni ties. Coolor Weather Today I Thunderstorms, which were Predicted for last night, will probably drop the temperatures A * owrCMt (Unit STATE COLLEGE. PA., SATURDAY MORNING, MARCH 5, T 955 Change Averages Under the new system, he re ceived a C in each 3 credit course and an F in the S credit course: His semester average is now/1.43. This is actually .32 points higher than what he would get under the old system, as a 1.43 would be equal to a D average. Hie .11 would have been equal to a zip average.. Students who have gotten zip and -1 grades, or no tailing grades, will have their semester and all university average raised one number. If a student’s university average is now 1.5 it will be raised to a 2.5. This is because the whole scale of values has been raised One number. An A in a course will be worth four honor points, a B three, and so forth. An F will not be worth any grade points, but none will be subtracted. No grades will be changed on the transcript, but just the semes ter and All-University averages, Koser said. In the lower right hand comer of the transcript a line will be drawn and new aver ages computed. In the upper right hand ■ comer the date when the new system was started will be marked. Senate is considering dropping the use of honor points as the graduation requirement, Koser said. If Senate approves the pro posed system at its meeting next month, ' freshmen entering the University next fall will be grad uated at the end of their senior year if they have a 2.0 (C) aver age or better. . Students presently enrolled will continue to be graduated by the honor point system. Thesis Production Schedules Tryouts Tryouts for the thesis produc tion of “Of Men and Mice” will be held at 7:15 p.m. Monday and Tuesday in the Little Theater, basement of Old Main. The play is being directed by Myron Cole, graduate student in dramatics, for his M.A. thesis pro duction, and will be presented at the Little Theater for three nights. Male Negro students are asked to try out for one of the major roles. Lava Rolls Toward Sea in Hawaii PAHOA, Hawaii, March 4 (tf 3 ) — Flaming streams of lava, spout ing from new fissures in the earth, rolled through the northern edge of abandoned Kapoho vil lage today and on toward the sea a mile away. Embers of five houses lay like bleached bones against the black sea of flowing lava this morning. Two hundred yards away the main section of town stood un touched op higher ground in sharp contrast to the devastation around it. . It looked as though most of the erppty village of 75 nomes, rebuilt after it was razed by earthquakes ip 1924, might survive this new FOR A BETTER PENN STATE 2 Parties to Elect, 1 Will Nominate Lion and Campus parties will wind up nominations and elections, and State party will continue preliminary nominations for the junior and senior class post offices and the All- University positions tomorrow night. State party will hold its final official clique meeting at 7:30 p.m. Monday in 121 Sparks for final nominations and elections of candidates. Lion party will meet at 7 p.m. in Schwab Auditorium, State party will meet at 7 p.m. in 121 Sparks, and Campus party will meet at 7:30 p.m. in 10 Sparks. Only students whose matriculation cards are stamped or perforated will be admitted to the meetings, Ellsworth Smith, a member of the All-University Elections Committee, said. TV Project May See Expansion Teaching by television at the University may expand to in clude other courses besides chem istry 2 and psychology 2 next se mester. Dr. Clarence R. Carpenter, head of the psychology department and director of the project, said yes terday that departments in the College of the Liberal Arts, Col lege of Chemistry and Physics, and College of Education, have been asked to suggest courses which might be taught by tele vision. Departments which have been asked to submit suggestions in clude history, music, economics, political science, speech, romance languages, English literature, phy sics, and chemistry. So far, three courses definitely have been nominated to be taught by television next semester. They are psychology 2, psychology 17, and chemistry 1. Students in the College of the Liberal Arts, College of Educa tion, and College of Chemistry and Physics, have also been asked to suggest courses which might be taught by television. Liberal Arts students may sub mit written suggestions to the dean’s office in 132 Sparks, edu cation students to the psychology department in 112 Burrows, and chemistry and physics students to the dean’s office in 210 Whit more Lab. The study in teaching by tele vision is being financed by a $43,- 845 grant from the Fund for the Advancement of Education of the Ford Foundation. The study is the first of its type to be under taken on such a large scale. Studies on the use of television for teaching have been conducted at other , institutions, but only on a limited scale. A tPI Jam Session The Jass Club will sponsor a jam session 2 p.m. Sunday at Alpha Epsilon Pi. Johnny Hill and his quartet will play. The session is open to the public. A second river of lava poured out of two newly opened half-mile long fissures in this old volcanic area near the eastern tip of the island of Hawaii. Flaming fountains erupted from the fissqres and combined in a molten stream that roared down the slopes half a mile south of Kapoho, .pointing away from the town toward the ocean. One eye-witness, looking at the erupting eastern tip of Hawaii, said, “It looks like the whole place has gone mad.” New fissures burst open in ex plosions 6f the earth early this morning. “It just blew up,” said Curtis K. Kaihai, territorial road inspec tor who watched the ?gUtn He said that doors will be locked at 7:30 to prevent students from going from one meeting to an other to vote. Voting will not be gin until after the doors are locked, Smith said. Junior Class President According 'to action taken by the elections committee Thursday night, fraternity men nominated for the junior class president po sition will be ineligible as it was decided that independent men should run for that post. Frater nity men will run for the junior class vice presidency and the sen ior class president and vice presi dent posts. The Lion party will hold final nominations and elections for all candidates, David Scott, vice clique chairman, said. He said that students may enter only through the front 'entrances on Schwab Auditorium in order to be officially registered for the meeting. Scott stated that students must present matric cards at the regis tration desks in the lobby and will receive a party membership card and a file card. After filling out the file and' membership cards students should have their mem bership card stamped and receive ballots, Scott said. Woman Vice-Clique Chairman In addition to final election of candidates, final nominations and elections for senior class vice clique chairmen for women will be held. Suggestions for the party platform will also be accepted. The State party will hold pre liminary nominations for candi dates tomorrow night and final nominations and elections Mon day night. Students who have not previously attended State party meetings can do so tomorrow night and will be eligible to vote Monday, night. They must bring their matric cards. Matric Cards Needed Final nominations and elections for four posts on the Student Rep resentative Council will be held tomorrow night. The positions in clude representatives from the Colleges of Chemistry and Phy sics, Mineral Industries, Educa tion, and Physical Education. Four clique offices will also be filled. Final nominations and elections for vice-clique chairman of the senior class, secretary and secre tariat of the senior class, and clique secretariat will be held. The Campus party will hold final nominations and elections for candidates tomorrow night. with volcanologist George A. Mac- Donald and Asst. Police Chief George Martin. Flying over the area at night pilot Raymond Bush saw the vil lage "encircled by orange lava fountains.” "Dozens of large fountains start ed from three miles back of Kapo ho and scattered over about five miles square. About 200 yards above Kapoho to the north, a lava flow that looked like a bloody glove hand seemed to reach out for Kapoho.” Today from the air the pattern of destruction was stark and sim ple. It spread four miles from Monday’s original eruption five miles east of Pahoa, to beyond Kapobo in the east. SHvartom S— Pag* 4 600 to Test HUB Food Next Week Food services of the new Hetzel Union Building will be tested by students, faculty, staff members, and other employees of the Uni versity next week. To aid the department of food service to gain experience in the operation of the new facilities, 600 students, faculty, and staff members will have lunch in the Terrace Room (cafeteria), Monday through Friday. The charge will be low. The Lion's Den (snack bar) will be used by 300 additional students from 1 to 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. Persons selected for the experi ment have been issued special ad mittance passes which must be presented to be admitted to the building and to be served. Mildred A. Baker, director of food service, explained that the students were chosen from names in the Student Directory and the staff personnel were selected from more than 1000 volunteers to rep resent a cross-section of the cam pus. Miss Baker expressed her ap preciation for the cooperation of many persons who agreed to par ticipate in the experiment' and said she regretted that all of the volunteers could not be used. Miss Baker explained that the opinions of those selected will be used in an effort to have the food service operating as efficiently as possible When the HUB is opened for general use on March 15. Rt. 322 Traffic Halted by Fire The Atlantic service station on Route 322 in Boalsburg was im periled by fire early last night. Because of the fire, traffic on Route 322 had to be re-routed from 7:30 to 8:40 p.m. Edward Homan, an employee of the station, was on duty when the fire broke out in the base ment. G. W. Houtz, owner of the station, said he could not esti mate extent of the damage until he got more information. The Alpha Fire Company of State College extinguished the fire within an hour after it ar rived on the scene. 'Media' Closes Tonight in Schwab Auditorium Penn Stale Players will pre sent Robinson Jeffers' adapta tion of Euripedes' "Medea" for the last time st 8 tonight in Schwab Auditorium. The dra ma of jealousy and revenge in ancient Greece has Deborah Peek and John Anislon in the leading roles. Reserved seat tickets are available for $1 at the Student Union desk in Old Main. FIVE CENTS
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