PAGE FOUR Published Tuesday through Saturday mornings during the University year, the Dally Collegian is a student operated newspaper. Entered as ieeond-elasa aiatter July ft, 1984 at tha State College, Pa. Poet Office under the act of March ft, 187 ft. MIKE FEINSILBER, Editor M.nagin, Editor. Mike Miller: Clt, Editor. Do. Shoo- Ad^Hur.fj^ maker; Copy Editor, Dotty Stpne: Sports Editor, Roy WU- Fried: Co-Circulation Mgrs., Milt Llnlal, Christine Kauffman: Hams; Editorial Director, Jackie Hudgins: Society Editor, Promotion Mgr., Dellte Hoopes; Co-Personnel Mgrs., AletU ln« Althoosei A.si.tant Sport. Editor. Roser B.idl.r: Photo,- M«ba«k. Mgr. raphr Editor Eon Walker. and Reeorda Mgr., Virginia Latshaw. STAFF THIS ISSUE: Night Editor, Judy Harkison; Copy Editors: Mike Moyle, Fran Fanucci; As sistants: Ned Frear, Cynthia Bell, Becky Zahm, Pat Tomlinson, Harry Kitzinger, Jane Hartzell. The Hangman’s Noose: It’s Out of Date How do you punish the student who cheats? Is all cheating equally wrong? Should Eli cheaters be dealt with equally? Or is there a degree oi wrongness? Should cheaters be penalized according to the serious* ness of the offense? The questions concerned the many commit tees and groups whose efforts restulted in the University’s new academic honesty policy. The solution classifies cheating into three types and establishes three graded penalties for each type of cheating. Spur of the moment un premeditated cheating draws a penalty of send ing probationary memorandum to the office of the dean of the student’s college, the dean of men or women, the student’s advisor, and noti fying the student’s parents. Planned, premeditated cheating, such as using crib notes, results in disciplinary probation for a year and notification of parents. Disciplinary probation goes on the student’s records and bars him from holding office in activities and from representing the University in any offi cial capacity, such as on a team. The most severe type of cheating, cooperative premeditated cheating involving collusion, such as stealing or buying a final, draws the most severe penalty: suspension for the rest of the semester or for the next semester. Outside of removing a student from the cam pus, there are few measures the University is able to take to discipline students who break its rules. It cannot fine them or jail them as civil authorities can—and it is obvious that it should not even if it could. The University’s disciplinary actions are both warnings to violators and humiliating experi ences for them. By informing parents and Uni versity officials of probationary actions, and by putting these on the student’s permanent rec ords, the University is making the student feel discomfort. How great this discomfort is de pends, of course, on the individual. Far more important than merely punishing Scholastic Difficulty? Every year the registrar releases figures on the number of students who have flunked out, and every year students complain about the unsympathetic administration. But we feel this accusation is unfounded. Since 1949, when the Division of Intermediate Registration was set up, the administration has been campaigning actively to help solve the students' academic problems. In the nearly six years DIR has been in existence, hundreds of students who might otherwise have left school have been graduated because of their work in DIR. When a sttrdent applies for help at the DIR office in Old Main, he is given counseling by a trained personnel worker. If he is not sure just what he wants to • study he is given tests to determine his interests and abilities. The student is placed in DIR as his official curriculum until he decides what he wants to major in or until his average is sufficiently high for him to be accepted in another cur riculum. Seventeen per cent of the students who were enrolled for the fall semester were accorded some sort of disciplinary action. Most of them were placed on scholastic probation, a few were entered into DIR, and some were dropped from the University enrollment. If these seventeen per cent had gotten help early in the semester, fewer of them would have been given scholastic probation and the number leaving school would have been cut considerably. One big problem confronting workers in DIR is that students put off seeking counseling until they have ‘wasted’ a semester, so to speak. It is a mistake to think of DIR as the last chance to avoid being tossed out of school. If students would seek guidance when they first recognize their scholastic difficulties, more effective programs of rehabilitation could be carried out. , The administration is willing to help, but the students must first be able to recognize their need for help Gazette •.. Today NEWMAN CLUIL Daily Hot*ary, 4:30 p.m., Church; party, 8 p.m., stmU-nt center UNIVERSITY SU*vi-n Hwman, Francis Markltmd, llonry Krause, Henry Wm*!ma:i. Comhl Ferro, llenjnmin Woiu. Fhilip Smith. Kdna l> ut <j , ; ~; - e-r 'r' }*at.v*i s i Kratz, Marilyn Ward, Marsha '• y ' in. Kh da Hcwor, Suuanne Spencer, Joyce Vox, hutii iiahlemuiif Joau Aelcerman, Carol Jamiaoo. Qttp lailg Collegian Saeeeeeor ta THE ERE! LANCE, eat. 188 T —Jackie Hudgins HOSPITAL THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA JACK ALBRECHT. Business Manager students is the University's attempt to rehabili tate them—to show them their errors and to aid them to correct their mistakes. It is unfortunate that to get individual coun seling and attention a student at Penn State must first do wrong. Academic advisers are generally seen for a few minutes once a semes ter. The University lacks a sound counseling program. Steps to alleviate this situation are being taken. A counseling program, aimed particu larly at freshmen, is under study. The Student who is accused of cheating will be given a hearing under a system that promis es to be fair to the student. 1 First offenses of unpremeditated cheating and premeditated cheating—but not premeditated cheating involv ing collusion —will be heard by boards in each college composed of three faculty members and two students. We assume that in all cases the burden, of proof will be the responsibility of the accuser— in this case, the professor—and not the ac cused, the student. The student must be held innocent until proven guilty, as in any fair judicial system. Second offenses and first offenses of the most severe type of cases will go directly to the Sen ate Committee on Student Affairs subcommit tee on discipline. This body will also function as an appeal board for students found guilty by the Committees on Academic Honesty in the colleges. . , , Considered against the haphazardness of the former system, the University's new program is fairer to students because it is consistent, be cause it recognises that students subject to stresses greater than they can bear sometimes ' cheat against their better judgment or original intentions,' and because'it attempts^not merely to punish the cheater but to help him. Given the Support of the faculty and the stu dents, the new system will work in their best interests. Safety What Is TO THE EDITOR: As of late, several have either been suspended from the University or placed on office probation for “conduct detri mental to the good name of the University.” This blanket indictment for all unapproved acts of conduct whether within or without the confines of the University’s immediate juris diction, could have some very serious overtones. . . . Before we fry to determine whether those persons who have been punished for seemingly acting in a manner "detrimental to the good name of the University" were guilty of such a nebulous charge, let us ask ourselves just what does constitute the statement "good name of the University." Universities are judged by their academic standards and the maturity of their students as a whole, not by a random misdemeanor on the part of individual students . . . When every minor incident is treated as if it were a crime directed at society, how are students to learn to act for themselves? Moreover, who could believe lhal these strong penalties are going to "make those young snips behave?" Getting drunk now and then, or caus ing some property damage are common to all universities, but other schools have been able to keep these incidents to a minimum without using such severe punishments and condoning their disciplinary actions with such abstract phrases. Lastly, suppose someone should ever attempt to analyze “conduct detrimental to the good name of the University” and carry it to its logical conclusion. Wielding such a catch-all phrase for a weapon, a less sympathetic ad ministration could strangle any student criti cism in your paper and lampooning in Froth and possibly muzzle some members of the fac ulty. It is very doubtful that this would come to pass in the near future, but disciplinary action condoned by purely arbitrary judgments imply much more serious consequences. If we are to further the good name of the University, let us quit throwing it around when ever we cannot tnink of any other reason for punishing a student who has already paid his penalty to the civil authorities. If the persons who are so concerned with the good name of the University would stop and think about it, they would find some better excuse that would apply to each individual case instead of using a blanket to cover their own failures. • Letter Cut Editorials represent the viewpoint* of the writers, not necessarily the policy of the psper, the student body, or the University. —The Editor Valve — Detrimental? —Byro« FUding Little Man on Campus "Oh, it's your desk—th' former teacher didn't lake time to empty his desk." look Who's Talking .. i About Singing It won’t be long ; about a month ’till graduation—: and so much to do . . . deposits to ' jet back . . . keys to turn ,in . , , jills to pay . . . finals to take . . . and words to learn, ' I Seniors are notoriously “famous for fumbling through the three j verses of the “Alma Mater” on 1 graduation day. “For the glory of old State’ usually comes out fine, “For “her da-da strong and great” is less audible. And then “For the da-da da we wait” could' be almost any thing. "... “Raise the song, Raise the song’, rings out loud and clear—because everyone knows it’s ‘the end.,of the verse. * But “Dear old State, Dear 'old State” is also a verse ending. .Ask anybody. Some of them even think it’s the ending of all three verses. After they mumble two or three lines they feel pretty safe to bellow “Dear old State, Dear old State.” The second verse, admittedly a bit sentimental, will' probably evoke tears. “When we stood at boyhood’s gate (like Farmef’S/ High School days—without women) “Shape less in the hands of fate” en courages smirks. “Thou didst mould us, Dear old State” (the old English accent). .. “Into men, Into men,.(again in- Center Elects 5 Professors Five faculty members have been elected to three-year terms on the governing board of the So cial Science Research Center. They are Dr. William _T. Butz, assistant professor of agricultural economics; Dr. Ernest H. Freund, associate professor and acting head of the department of philos ophy; Dr. James W. Markham, as sociate professor of journalism; Dr. Harold E. Nelson, associate professor of speech; and Dr. John H. Reedy Jr., assistant professor of economics. Retiring from the board are Dr. George E. Brandow, professor of agricultural economics; Dr. M. Nelson McGeary, professor of pol itical sciencfe; Dr. E. William Mil ler, professor and head of the de partment of geography; Dr. Maur ice A. Mook, professor of anthro pology; and Dr. Roger B. Saylor, associate professor of business statistics. Correction » The Freshman Class Mixer will be held from 2 to 5 p.m. tomor row in the Hetzel Union Building instead of today as was incor rectly reported ia yesterdays Daily Collegian. FRIDAY. MAY 13, 1955 Bv Bibl' 7 By JACKIE HUDGINS * | justice to tiie home ec majors and other woiheti).; Everyone, knows the third verse is to be sung softly. Sometimes they, forget—but so there-will be that desired contrast the last verse is started with a blasting i“May no act of ours bring shame.' 'Arid after a pause for breath To ione da-da loves thy name. Da-da-da-da-da-da (the least ■known' of all the lines). And then With another bellow of confi dence, “Dear old State, Dear old ■State. . Wliy don’t we know the words tp „ the., “Abna Mater”? Is it be cause, we’ve never learned them or because we have forgotten them? / It coudn’t be either — We should all have been in doctrinated by hat men and wom en at . one time or another. We should all have risen to sing the “Alma Mater” at football games ! during one season or another. There is just no excuse. | If you can’t fight ’em, join ’em. If you can’t learn ,the words, jchange them, I ... a suggestion— -1 “For the words that we dont i know. , I For the profs who’ve got to go For the school of liberal woe. Here’s the song. Here’s the song.” Only a suggestioh. Van Duyne Elected Head of Ag Club Daniel Van Duyne, junior m agricultural engineering,, from Towaco, N.J., has been* elected president of the Ag Eng club. Other officers elected are Don ald Daum, vice president; George Ridge, secretary-treasurer; Wil liam 1 Fecke, scribe; Kenneth Sacks, Ag Student Council Rep resentative; and James Greiner, Engineering and Architecture Stu dent Council representative. The elected class representa tives for Engineering and Archi tecture Student Council are Wil-r liam Straub, senior; Roland Geh man, junior; and Paul Knowbel, sophomore. AIM, Leonides Picnit Tickets for the Association of Independent Men-Leonides-West Halls Council picnic to be held at 2 p.m. tomorrow at Holmes-Fos ter Park are available at the Het zel Union desk. Pricojs 50 cents. Tonight on WDFM •1.1 HBGACTCLBS 7:W Sign 0» T:M Starlight Serenade 81 00 Weekly New* Houndoß 8 ISO gcenerta l«iM Theughi ler the 0«g
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers