PAGE FOUR
Published Tuesday through
lastarday mornings during
the University year. The
Dail, Collegian is a student,
imperatied newspaper.
SLIM per ressomter 3 5 . 011 Per year
Entered as secrind-Clam matter July G. 1134 at tha State College. Pa. Post Office under the Pet at March S. 1117 S.
MIKE MOYLE, Editor
Deanna 501 t... Asst. Business Manager: Arnold Hoffman. Local
Fuse Managing Editor; 1d Dobbs. City Editor; Fran Ad• Mgr.: Anita Lynch. Asst. Local Ad. Mgr.: Janice Ander-
Fasuwei. SPorts Editor: firt - kr Zahm. C. 07 Editor: Evie son. National Ad. Mgr.: Anne Caton and David Poses. Co-
Onssi. Assistant Copy Editor: Vince Carocci. Assistant Sports Circulation Mgrs.: Arthur Brener Promotion Mgr.: Jo Fulton.
Editor; Fat Hunter. Feature* Ed,(or: Dave Itavar, Photog- Personnel Mgr.: Barry Yaverbaum. Office Mgr.; Barbara
raph. Editor. Shipman Classified Adv. Mar.: Ruth Howland. Secretary;
Jane Groff. Research ■nd Records Mgr.
STAFF THIS ISSUE: Night Editor. Barb Martino; Copy Editors, Jim Kopp, Judy Harkison• Assist
ants, Jim Tuttle, Leh Powell. Dick Drayne, Barbara Hodge, Pam Chamberlain.
Are Athletes Being 'Coddled'
An issue which has been good for some
pretty big headlines nationally during the past
year has finally hit close to home. However, in
the case of Penn State it has hit with a some
what less-resounding crash.
lits continuous criticism (since 1952) of Uni
versity policy toward athletes has earned a
temporary suspension for a member of the
faculty. The man charged that athletes here
were "coddled" and that restrictions were defi
nitely slackened in their cases.
This is a perennial conflict at many colleges
and universities. Professors resent what they
think is unfair consideration given to athletes.
There is a kind of myth which has grown up
around the whole thing. It is that of the big,
beefy, dumb athlete who loafs his way to a
degree while reaching the heights of glory on
the athletic field.
No one can come out and say that this myth
is either completely false or completely true. It
is not a matter of black or white.
Few are naive enough to believe that no "cod
dling" or favoritism toward athletes goes on.
It certainly does go on. It is difficult to give this
treatment a name, though. The athletes aren't
exactly being coddled: they are just given a
little more rope than the average student who
doesn't have to study under the same conditions.
Apparently there have been some naive ath
letic directors, though. Those at Maryland,
UCLA, North Carolina State. Texas A&M and
a few other schools were either naive or ex
tremely over-confident.
However, those National Collegiate Athletic
Association suspensions involved giving too
much financial aid and recruiting. The local pro
test is concerned with classroom treatment and
academic standards.
As the well-known myth goes, the athletic
star is entirely too stupid in high school to ever
get into any college. However, coaches and other
athletic officials have been scouting the lad
since his sophomore year and are sure he can't
miss being an All-American. So they get in a
huddle with the dean of admissions and bypass
entrance examinations and all other incon
veniences of this sort.
So when the star is finally in school he has
two jobs: to give a creditable performance on
the athletic field and to pass all his courses
and gain some sort of education. Many times
the athletes are physical education majors. This
is natural since many of them want to follow up
their athletic interests in the coaching profes-
Sion.
This situation means that many times the
coaches themselves will be teaching the star
and thus his passing these courses is almost in
sured.
There still remains getting by the courses
outside of his major. Those horrible liberal arts
and education courses which, as everyone knows,
are the dumb athlete's worst menace. It's a tough
problem. but most of the myths solve it by
having the coaches bribe the professors into
passing the boy just so he can play in the
"big game."
With all this done for him the athlete has it
made. All he has to do is exercise his athletic
Children in the Movies
TO THE EDITOR: This happens to be one of
my gripes as a freshman at Penn State: Why
is it that any time I go to any sort of public
place, namely the movies, I come up against
so many little children? On a Sunday night
before vacation a few of my friends and I
were at the movie at the Hetzel Union Building.
During the showing of the film there were
countless hissing interruptions and comments
from the children present. I go to those movies
Contest Scheduled Rabbi to Deliver
By Camera Club ' New Year's Talk
The Camera Club will hold a• Rabbi Benjamin M. Kahn will
print competition at 7:30 p .m. sneak on "Thoughts .as '57 Be-
Tuesday in 203 Hetzel Union. i -.
The prints must be black and glns.,
at the Hillel Foundation
white and mounted on a 16x20 Sabbath Eve services at a to
board. There is a limit of four night.
prints a person. I The freshman council will act
The prizes for first, second and
third places will be gift certifi- as hosts, and awards will be pre
cates of $5. S 3 and $2 respectively., sented to graduating seniors.
First to fifth place winners will The Inter-Varsity Christian Fel
receive ribbons. / ilowship will meet at 7:30 tonight
.
There is no entry fee f or the; in 405 Old Main. The speaker will
contest. be Charles C. Burdan, a Univer
sity graduate and former member
of the group.
The Newman Club will hold an
!open house tonight at the Student
Center.
Engineer Circulation Staff
The coed circulation staff of the
Engineer will meet at 7 pin. Sun
day in 217 Hetzel Union.
Oini Bang Coltrigiatt
SMICCtiNIM t. THE FREE LANCE. est. 11167
..iSZk,. DAVE RICHARDS, Business Manager
Safety Valve
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA
talents for the glory of the alma mater and at
tend classes. Between doing these things he has
himself a ball at the expense of the school and
alumni.
This is the "athlete in college" myth.
This is the general sort of thing against which
this faculty member has been crusading since
1952. Does this actually go on at Penn State?
A case which immediately comes to minds of
many people here is that of football star Lenny
Moore. Moore was called the best running back
to ever play for Penn State. He "rewrote the
record books."
Apparently the coaches or nobody else could
bribe the professors who weren't satisfied with
Moore's scholastic record. After his junior year
Moore was bounced out on his ear. Only sum
mer session work got him back into play an
other season.
Persons who swear by the myth really think
college campuses are loaded with these shift
lesse oafs whose only purpose in being in col
lege is to play football or basketball or some
other sport.
There are some athletes of this style. We have
no doubt of this. Myths don't get started from
thin air. There have to be some examples which
will back up the myth. But these certainly are
not in the majority. Not here or at any other
university.
In fact, records will show that there are quite
a few athletes who have gained national fame
and have still maintained B averages or higher.
These men never get headlines for this accom
plishment. These facts are hardly ever shown to
the public.
An athlete should not be expected to have
sterling grades. The average sports fan will see
the athlete only on the day of the game. Then
he gives a smooth, polished performance for a
couple of hours and it seems as if that's all he
has to do.
The fan does not, however, see -him dragging
himself off the practice field after dark and
eating his meal' a couple of hours late and then
trying to study while dog tired.
Athletes naturally need more sleep than the
average student. The physical beating they sub
ject themselves to in many cases demands this.
It is only natural that studies will suffer. Also
the athlete is on the road a great part of the
time and this means missing class.
A professor who relaxes the regulations for
athletes in cases like these doesn't need to think
he is committing a sin.
However, for some 'reason a professor has seen
fit to try to knock the University's athletic
policy. Going to the governor about it, however,
proved to be carrying the thing a bit too far.
Athletic officials, as we have said, all over the
country always expect criticism from other
faculty members whose outlook seldom carries
past the book in front of their noses. However,
to make anyone think that athletes were turn
ing the University's academic standards into a
farce was just a bit far-fetched.
Ask an athlete how much favor his instruc
tors give him? You'll find that when it is time
to give cut the grades the athlete is. by and
large, just another student.
and the ones downtown for some good enter
tainment and relaxation. When something hap
pens in the show that some don't like the chil
dren begin to hiss and carry on.
I thought Penn State people were college
people, not little children. I can remember in ,
my hometown at the local theatre and even in
high school there was no hissing and babylike
noises during a film Showing. Up here this was
one of the first things that caught my attention
—the child-like people who are supposed to be •
mature college people. Come on, children,
GROW UP.
Leonides to Hold
Disc Hop Sunday -
Leonides will sponsor an old
fashioned record hop from 2 to
5 p.m. Sunday in the Hetzel Union
ballroom.
Porky Chedwick, Pittsburgh
disc jockey from station WAMO,
will spin the records.
Admission will be 65 cents.
Proceeds will be given to the
Leonides scholarship fund. Leoni
des offers a $75 scholarship to an
independent woman each year.
The scholarship is based on need.
Entertainment will be provided
by the Premiers, an instrumental
ensemble from Pittsburgh, and
the Continentals, a campus singing
• up.,
F,ditoriats represe•t as
•iewpointa of the writers,
not necessarily the policy
of the paper. the student
timely. or the Ilnieersita
—The Editor
'Little Man on Campus
From Here By Ed Dubbs
Predictions for 1957
Predictions for 1957 From Here:
President Eric A. Walker will win the Old Main Tennis
Tournament by defeating Ossian R. MacKenzie, his new
assistant in charge of business matters and dean of the Col
lege of Business Administration . . .
Jayne Mansfield will marry Charles Laughton . . .
Froth will finally give up, but
continue to publish . . .
Lassie will sign a $lO million
contract with
the Gaines Dog
Food Company
to do television
commercials . . .
The University
will amend its
Senate Regula
tions for Under
graduate St
udents to make it
rougher to stay
in school. This
is part of Old
NI ain 's "get-t ou g h-get-better
policy
Elvis Presley will join the
Marines . . .
All-University Cabinet will
again get bogged down with the
advisability of student leaders re
ceiving pay (sorry, that's a dirty
word around here; I mean "com
pensation.") . . -
President Dwight D. Eisen
hower will win' the National
Open
A headline in the Dec. 31 issue
of • The Washington Post and
Times-Herald read: - Stone Hurled
by Tourist Damages Priceless
Mona Lisa in the Louvre."
Accompanying the story was
a photograph of Mona Lisa's
face. The caption for the photo
graph read simply: - Mona Lisa
. . . stoned."
Why I didn't even know she
drank!
With the holiday highway car
nage fresh in my mind and ex
pecting terrible road conditions at
any minute, lwas greeted by the
following billboard message on
my way back here:
"Are You Prepared to Meet
Your God?"
It scoria shook me up .
• SOMETHING TO THINK
ABOUT DEPT.— The following is
from an issue of Cosmopolitan
magazine:
"Coeds are much more 'class
conscious' about their necking or
premarital-sex partners than are
college men, acording to findings
of Dr. Winston W. Ehrmann (Uni
versity of Florida).
"His analysis of sex histories
shows that among 265 college
girls, the degree of sex intimacy
was greatest with males of their
own social class or higher, and
least with males of a lower class.
But among 575 college men, sex
intimacy was greatest with fe
males of a lower social class.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 4, 1957
P AN'ALEI
"HAPPY NEW YEAR.-
intermediate with those of thbir
own class, and least with girls
of a higher class."
Interesting? It's from the April,
1956 issue in case you're interested
in reading more. I found a copy
lying in the Collegian office the
other day.
It is being reprinted in this
column for the advancement of
sociology.
Grant Will Aid
Tree Research
The Pennsylvania Christmas
Tree Growers' Association has
given a $4OO grant to the School
of Forestry to support research
on Christmas tree production in
Pennsylvania.
According to Dr. William C.
Bramble, head of the School of
Forestry, the grant is being used
to finance a research project on
imported Scotch pine trees. The
seedlings, now three years old,
are raised at the University from
!seeds imported from Spain.
The grant also will support the
publication of findings on control
of the Pales Weevil, a pest that
attacks evergreen trees. The wee
vil was identified by William
Holt, of the U.S. Forestry Service,
while working for his master of
forestry degree last year at the
University. Control consists of
spraying the trees and eliminat
ing fresh stumps where the wee-
Ivils breed.
'Mad Woman'
Tryouts Open
Tryouts_for "The Mad Woman
of Chaillot" by Jean Giradoux
will be held at 7 p.m. Sunday and
Monday in Schwab Auditorium.
Scripts are now available for
reading in the Greenroom of
Schwab Auditorium.
A casting problem is presented
to the director, Warren Smith, as
sociate professor of theatre arts,
by the need of a male fire juggler.
Other unusual persons in the
large cast include four distin
guished mad women, a street
singer, and a deaf-mute.
The production will be ' pre
sented Feb. 15, 16 and 17 in
Schwab Auditorium in place of
the previously announced "Idiot's
Delight"
by Bible
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