The daily collegian. (University Park, Pa.) 1940-current, December 20, 1956, Image 4

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    PAGE FOUR
Published ?woodsy through
Saturday mornings daring
the University yea r. The
flatly Collegian is a student
operated nelrwpaper.
S3.of yet semester 55.00 per rear
/Entered sa second-claw matter July 5. 1934 at the State College. Pa. Peat Office tinder the act of March 3. 1873
MIKE MOYLE, Editor
Deanna Solt's. Asst. Business Manager: Arnold Hoffman. Loral
Bee Conklin. Managing Irlitor: Ed Dobbs. Crty Editor; Fran Ad• Mgr.: Anita Lynch. Asst. Local Ad• Mgr.: Janice Ander
ralliUrtl. Sport.. I.ditt.r: Rrf 1.• Zahn,. Copy Editor; E•te von. National Ads Mgr.: Anne Caton and David Posta. Co-
Onva. Awriiwlsnit Editor; into. eararci. Abaibtant Sport. Circulation Mgrs.: Arthur Brener Promotion Mgr.: Jo Fulton.
EdeLor: Pat If unt.r, reatu,., }Ali or: Dave flavor. Photos- Personnel Mgr.: Harry Yaverbaum. Office Mgr.: Barbara
trophy Editor. Shipman. Classified Adv. Mgr.: Ruth Howland. Secretary:
Jane Groff. R h and Records Mar.
STAFF THIS ISSUE: Night Editor, Judy Barkison; Copy Editors, Bill Kling, Pat Evans; Assistants,
Anne Friedberg. Pam Chamberlain, Sheila Miller, Ken Ishler, Dave Fineman, Sherry Kennel, Barb
Stone, Rocky Epstt:in. Ruth Grossman.
Culture Takes a Back Seat
In view of the tffork- of Dr. Albert Christ-
Saner. director of the School of the Arts, the
obvious question it,: Has culture really come to
Penn State? After all these years?
We think not.
It seems the more lei-ure time people have,
the less use they make of it, and the less they
use their time the more ru=hed they feel.
"I never have enough time" is the frequent
observation of the end resurt. For many slu
m:lents it is a truthful statement, for others it
is not.
One author, Paul F. Lazarsfeld, points out
that it took our ancestors a long time to pain
fully acquire the "free lime" we now have. So
now their descendants have more leisure time.
They have, so one would think, greater access to
their cultural heritage. which has also been
painfully gained. And what use is made of this
unmortgaged time we have been so long in
acquiring?
Some students will excede the speed limit to
save time getting back. Upon arrival they join
the nearest bull session. the topics of which are
hardly cultural.
To many students the "sack" or the movies
are the most important uses of their spare time,
and in some cases, takes precedence over studies.
For others radio and television take up the slack.
These spectacular inventions seem somehow
to have cheated social reformers of the fruits
of their victories. The accumulated time which
people are still trying to save. they consume in
useless "entertainment." This, according to
Lazarsfeld, is a "social narcotic" in as much as it
is a method by which many people avoid action,
or even thinking about it.
So this is the cultural atmosphere Christ-Janer
has to work in. Culture at Penn State is giving
ground. Slowly perhaps, but giving ground.
To some people Picas , :o seems to be some
sort of foreign food: Bill Haley and Fats Domino
have buried Beethoven on "Blueberry Hill."
What's in a Life or
So what if you wreck a car: so what if you
kill a few of your passengers: so what if you
kill yourself. There are a great number of peo
ple waiting to take your place at the University.
Your family and others very close to you will
find someone to take.your place in their hearts.
Most likely you have insurance to cover wreck
age or burial. If not the state will bury you.
By all means, don't worry: the world will keep
turning without you.
What are you waiting for; really, why should
you drive carefully?
There are a great many reasons why you
should drive carefully. However. according to
statistics released by the National Safety Coun
cil, a great many Americans must have the
negative approach cited above. The council
says that 660 people will be killed in highway
accidents between midnight Friday and mid
night Tuesday.
Supposedly a college education gives you
maturity, added knowledge, and self-control.
We hope Penn State students will use their
education to advantage in their vacation driv
ing. It is neither mature nor wise to drive fast,
drive carelessly, or to be in a hurry. As the
adage says "an ounce of prevention is worth a
pound of cure."
Furthermore, the good driver cannot afford
to just drive carefully himself—he must con
sider every other driver on the road as an idiot
who is incapable of driving. A good driver does
not just handle a car well: he does not just keep
from causing accidents. He realizes that the
Dissatisfied Commuter
TO THE EDITOR: I am a "displaced parker."
That is. a commuter who has been assigned to
a parking area which is so far from my main
interests on campus that I do not intend to park
there, but rather seek out a better place in town.
As a result. I have come to wonder how far
from optimum pal king assignments the present
Campus Patrol system of "first come, first
served" really is. In other words, how many stu
dents presently assigned to parking lot A would
rather be in parking lot B and vice versa. It is
my guess that most commuters would rather
have a definite preference for particular park-
- Today PERSHING RIFLES COMPANY. 7 p.m.. Armory
figvritAN CLUB DISCUSSION, 7 p.m.. 101 Chapel University fleapits!
NEWS AND VIEWS STAFF CHRISTMAS PARTY. 6:411 James Borden. Sylvia Kelm Catherine King. Jerome
p.m.. Living Center Eleisatb., Williasa Sabatine.
Mg* Elailli Caltrgiatt
Succeotolt to THE FREE LANCE. est. 1867
DAVE RICHARDS, Business Manager
Safety Valve
Gazette
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA
"Captain Video" has just about shoved Edgar
Allen Poe "out of the picture," and Herman
Melville is now "way out in left field."
Mozart and Brahms suffer because they have
nothing in common with Elvis Presley. Whist
ler. Mother & Co. are equally "out of it." Every
one wants to know what's behind the Green
Door, and Playboy never fails to outsell the
New York Times. Students who can't afford a
Newsweek find it easier to come up with the
correct change for Confidential.
The social narcotic works in many ways. The
"doped" student. upon coming aware that per
haps he should find out about certain things,
does look at the paper. After reading the comics,
he takes in the sports page and perhaps the
headlines to make sure he is well-versed.
..This done, he breathes a sigh of relief. His
social conscience remains spotlessly clean. He
is concerned. He is informed; and has all sorts
of ideas as to what should be done. But, dinner,
followed by a bull session or "Rack Duty" takes
his immediate interest. For lack of money to go
to the movies he studies till 12. So . . . it's
been a hard day, and it's really time for bed.
Our hero now turns out the light, confident
that if anyone has taken full advantage of his
time, he has.
This is not to say, though, that movies are to
be avoided and popular music should be banned.
On the contrary. However, they should not be
indulged in to the exclusicn of everything else.
As students we have access to the things that
many of our relatives never dared hope for.
As students we are expected to be more aware
of such things than those who never went to
college.
We are glad to see such a person as Dr. Christ-
Janer bring to this University a portion of the
arts, whether they be artists, lecturers, or musi
cians. We wish him lots of luck and urge him
to "get outta' that kitchen and rattle them pots
and pans!" .
Two ?
other driver is also capable of causing accidents,
and that he must avoid them with good judge
ment.
It is generally typical of students to think in
the short range. They are interested only in
reaching their destination in the fastest way
possible.
This short range thinking causes some of
them to take chances. Many develop the atti
tude that "it can't happen to me." We hope
students will have the wisdom to feel that they
would rather reach their destination 15 minutes
late than not at all. This will lead to careful
and safe driving.
In a purely economic sense, the college stu
dent owes . it to society to be a careful driver.
A great deal of individual and state money has
been poured into his upbringing and education.
College students are the future leaders of the
nation. In this sense the country suffers a real
loss each time a college student is killed.
Part of education is realizing responsibilities.
We hope students will face this particular re
sponsibility and drive carefully.
This vacation will involve worse driving con
ditions than former vacations. The University
evidently did not consider that the driving con
ditions would warrant a change in the dates
of the vacation. We disagree: we feel that driv
ing conditions for Penn State students will be
worse than they have been before. However,
we hope that students will not prove the Uni
versity wrong by driving carelessly and getting
killed.
ing areas based on their major academic interest.
To explore this idea would probably require
a survey conducted by means of a simple ques
tionnaire directed to those who commute. It
doesn't appear that it would be a great task to
analyze the answers and relate them to available
spaces at the various areas. Once done, it would
be possible to draw up a master plan of area
assignments which would require only small
changes from semester to semester.
I submit this suggestion in the hope that it
may contain enough merit for study, and that
there may result a saving of time and a lessen
ing of inconvenience.
Editorials . represent the
viewpoints of the writers,
not necessarily the policy
of the paper. the student
body. or the Unieersits.
—Thom Shiels
—Sue Conklin
—Thomas Jones
Little Man on Campus
"Why yes—l have your application here someplace,"
'Round the Rim
With Tinsel and Trim
With Santas, singing and shining decorations all over
campus Penn Staters are wrapping things up for the final
stage of the campus holiday celebration—the trek home.
Studying has taken a back seat to shopping and Christ
mas parties—for the past two weeks at least. And it appears
that a lot of the real spirit of
Christmas has gotten lost in the
shuffle, too.
For example the little angel
who brusquely charged through
the door of a campus fraternity
to attend its annual Christmas
party. One of the fraternity men
walked up to the child and
genially asked, "Whats your
name?"
"Just skip the name and take
the coat," the cherub muttered.
It finally emerged that his name
was Mike after the others at the
party called him Skip for a while.
It seemed that the same house
had troubles in another depart
ment. They chose the owner of
their oversized canine mascot to
play Santa for the party. Un
fortunately, every time Santa bel-,
lowed for one of the youngsters,
attending the party to come to seel
him and sit on his lap he was at
tacked by one huge boxer. In the
future Santa would be wiser to
sticls to raising reindeer.
While on the subject of Santa
there's a story told about Boots
Bahrenburg, daughter of All-
University President Bob Bah
renburg.
It seems that Boots has a pro
clivity for talking on the phone—
whether somebody's on the other
end of the line or not.
Last week her Mother entered
the room to find her giving a run
ning description of Santa Claus
over the phone. Thinking nobody
was on the other end she ordered
Boots to hang up the phone. Boots
did, promptly.
A few minutes later the tele
phone rang and Mrs. Bahrenburg
answered. The voice on the other
end of the line admonished her
for interrupting one of the most
interesting conversations he had
ever had.
The speaker Ross Lehman.
assistant executive secretary of
the Alumni Association.
Christmas is the time of tra
ditional songs, but one of the old
tunes "0 Tannenbaum" under
went a change of lyrics. The new
version below is confined to the
University and is being sung by
rival fraternities.
"Oh SAE. Oh SAE
Where Did You Get Your
Christmas Tree?"
On the constructive side—the
Nittany Christmas decorations
were well-worth the cold jaunt
down to see them. Their presen
tations of Santa's Workshop, The
Nativity and others exhibited
weeks of work and careful plan
ning. Seems funny that the eye
sore of campus living contributed
the most lovely decorations while
THURSDAY. DECEMBER 20. 1956
by Bibler
e 0
Itiae YOUR.
64CNOLAKillf
cAtioN
HERE/
- -
ALM T a
N 6 OS A -r YONE
GA
y BECKY ZAHM
some of those living at magnifi
cent quarters at the University
could only put forth effort to
swipe their decorations.
At least the Yule season has
cleared up one question that's
been bothering many people. It's
that song which constantly asks
"What's Behind The Green Door?"
A recent TV show provided the
answer when after the song the
door opened and jolly old St.
Nick bounded out.
. Thought for the holidays--
Too many of us get over
enthused with presents being
wrapped and not enough are
rapt with the presence of Christ
mas.
Criminologist
,To Be Speaker
Dr. Mary L. Willard, professor
of chemistry, will speak on the
subject of crime detection at - the
meeting of the Block and Bridle
Club at 8 tonight in 206 Armsby.
Dr. Willard has worked with
civil authorities and the state
police in crime detection for .a
number of years.. She has also
come to the aid of those held by
the police by helping them find
evidence to prove themselves in
nocent.
Dr. Willard plans to illustrate
her speech with one or more case
histories.
She may also say something
about the use of dope and detec
tion of dope addiction as she has
devoted much time to studies in
this area.
Advent Services
Will End Today
The last in- a series of Advent
vesper services sponsored by the
University Christian Association
will be held at 4:30 p.m. today
in the Helen Eakin 'Eisenhower
Meditation Chapel.
The service will be conducted
in the style of the Kings' College
Chapel by George Buckhout,
chairman of UCA Cabinet.
The drama of the coming
_of
Christ will be repeated through
the annunciation, prophecy and
birth of the Savior.
The congregation will sing
carols between scripture readings.
Froth Still on Sale
The December exchange issue
of Froth will be on sale today at
the Carnegie bulletin board and
the Hetzel Union desk.