OF TWELVE Editorial Opinion Past Lessons Can Teach Students of the Future From the moment they stepped off railroad trains in Spruce Creek or Lewistown, higher education was a de manding task for the 69 students who on Feb. 17, 1859, began the educational program of the Farmer’s High School. They jounced ovei rough roads in springless wagons; they were forced to live in one half-completed building; they were required to perform three hours of farm labor eveiy weekday, often in unfavorable weather; they lived without social life under a multitude of restrictions which dictated their smallest daily habits. A century later, the more than 15.(100 undergraduate students at the main campus of the Pennsylvania State University are accustomed to almost every comfort read ily available to modern man. Students now can study any of 60 cumculums taught iu nine colleges using the facilities of more than 150 buildings and a plant valued at approximately $95 million. But the tremendous changes which dedicated indi viduals have wrought in the University over the last century only serve to emphasize the almost unbelievable advances it can make in the next few years. For the University will come close to doubling its scope in less than a quarter of the time it took to accumu late its existing facilities. The lessons learned by students over the past century can instruct future student bodies in ihe ways of progress. Opportunities for a liberal education, students' rela tions with others and the Penn State spirit are the three areas which should be of most interest to University stu dent bodies in the future. These are the areas which have become the most lacking over the last century and so offer the most opportunity for advancement. The University has developed a myriad of opportuni ties for more liberal education ever since it was char tered “to promote liberal and practical education in the several pursuits and professions of life.” The student body, using its own student government as an instrument, has been influential in this develop ment. It must continue to exert its influence to insure that the University bypasses no opportunity to enrich in knowledge and culture the minds of its students; that the University does not succumb to the universal tempta tion to mass-produce educationally narrow minds instead of the broad thinkers needed to solve this world's prob lems in human relations. Human relations already are of vital importance to the students. Perhaps at college as nowhere else do they learn to live with one another. Students learn to live with their fellow man only so well as they are taught by their fellows and by the members of the community surrounding them. It is signi ficant that the 100th anniversary of the student body should fall in Brotherhood Week. Perhaps no characteristic of the student body has de clined over the past century so much as the Penn State spirit. This decline is partly natural, considering the pre sent size of the University. Students are more refined, less boisterous. But the University's history leaches that one of a college's most valuable assets is her spirit—to seek her advancement in every way as an undergraduate; to remember her help as an alumnus. These are the lessons offered by a century of student history. They offer guidance to students for Penn State’s next stormy century, which begins today. ‘ Fifty-four Years of Student Editorial Freedom Uatly (Mrgian Successor to The Free Lance, est. 1887 Published Tuesday through Saturday morning during the University year. Tha Daily Collegian S« a student-operated newspaper. Entered aa eecond-cUaa matter duty S, 1921 at the State College, Pa. Post Office under the act of March S, 1871* Mall Subscription Prices $3.01 per semester $5.00 per year. ROBERT FRANKLIN Editor City Editor, David Fintman: Managing Editor, Richard Draynet SporU Editor, Lou Prato; Associate Sports Editor. Matt Mathewa; Personnel and Public Relatione Director, Patricio Evans: Copy Editor, Lynn Ward; Assistant Copy Editor. Dick Fisher; Photography Editor. Robert Thompson. STAFF THIS ISSUE: Copy Editor, Sandy Padwe; Wire Editor, Lianne Cordero; • Assistant*. Jeff Pollack, Susie- P.Uerly,' So* Pohland, (iretchea ItiVrisoa^.Nancg * -Elios,'Olive HtmevMaxyhe Lundy, Mat git'Coif**. * THE DAILY COLLEGIAN. STATE COLLEGE. PENNSYLVANIA ROBERT PICCONE Business Manager Cooperation Town-Gown By Dr. Eric A. Walker President of the University There wasn’t any town of State College when tha first students arrived for classes at the Farmers’ High School one hundred years ago. The newcomers—they numbered but 119 before the first term ended 10 eled alone, first by train and then by their bags and trunks across a hazardous catwalk and then up four flights of stairs to their new living quarters on the fifth floor of the still unfinished old Old Main. On hand to greet them was the entire faculty of four pro fessors. After the students had met the faculty and each other, they were herded into-shack like buildings, left by the con tractor at the rear of Old Main, for their evening meal, facilities of the community, over flowing hotels, motels and res- The economy of the Borough Today, the arrival of new students on a Sunday in Sep tember is an __ ixercise : town-gown ci operation. No< they come ’ automobile, ten accompa ied by fathe’ mothers, si ters and brot ers. They nui ber in t h thousands; ar on hand, e a gl and willing to help, are rep- walker resentatives of the University, the State College Junior Cham ber of Commerce, the Campus Patrol nnd the student govern ment. They go not only to Old Main but to the Hetzel Union Building, the Pattee Library, Beaver Field and. sooner or la ter, to hotel dining rooms and restaurants throughout the town. Not many years ago this in flux of new students taxed the facilities of the community, ov erflowing hotels, mtels and res taurants and creating a traffic snarl even worse than that on the day of a football game. But that was before the State and Borough Police joined hands with town and gown agencies well in advance of the event to work out the format for an un believably smooth and efficient operation. Happily* there has come over the years the recognition that the University is a joint respon sibility of town and gown—a partnership, in other words, to Which -each side ©!- the street- Courlesf Mo. Springfield Newspapers Marks Story 69 on that first day, months later—trav stage. They dragged owes its firm loyalty ami sup* port. Taka housing, for example. The community now accommo dates (and always has accom modated) more students than are accommodated on the cam pus. The fraternity section alona represents “a community with in a community" of some 2000 residents who pay taxes, buy food and services and make all the contributions expected of a member of the community. The ecenomy of the Borough depends, to a surprising degree, on the patronage of these stu dents and their teachers. But the end is not yet in sight. If the long range plans now on paper materialize in the next 10 years, the number of students will climb from 15,000 to some 25,000, wages and salaries will increase significantly and tha educational offerings of the Uni versity will match the best there are in the country. ..It’s a large order, of course, and will call for the best effort of everybody involved, including students, faculty, alumni and friends. Perhaps most important of all, it will call for a growing understanding and co-operation on the part of the people on both sides of the street. PI AM IS | r IT'S DISGUSTING JHATS ujhat IT IS' TUESDAY. fEBRUARY 17. 1959 Looking Ahead Students, Town Can Get Along As Neighbors “Neighbors across the street” is perhaps the most a ecu rata term which could be used to describe relations between tha Borough of State College and the University’s student body ■ —relations which began 100 years ago yesterday. A few houses composed tha town when the first 69 students arrived on Feb. 16, 1959. The beginnings of the town owed their existence to the estab lishment of the Farmer's High School. But the town ha 3 long sinca outgrown its original function as ■mgmgg tow J n * it°i l s eg l thriving business fflw • And - by and « large, we feel ‘f that it has been a good neighbor t '' s t u d e n t i jMrafeiSw The st u dents •; >, and the town l fi * meet each other “ on the common franklin grounds of com munity projects, housing, indi vidual business transactions and governmental operations. Tha student-town record of co operation in community project* has been outstanding. Of particu lar benefit has been work per formed by fraternities during Greek Week, when fraternity men pitch in and do manual labor to benefit a host of public-spirited undertakings. The record on housing is for the most part only fair, partly because for most of the last cen tury the town has housed mora students than has the University. But much of the town housing can be improved. Students have a tendency t« complain about “downtown mer chants” taking unfair advantage of them. We feel that a careful examination of the fapts will show that while this undoubtedly happens in isolated instances, it it not the predominant situation. Perhaps governmental regula tions have been the biggest snaa in student-town "neighborliness, particularly in the area of tha automobile. State College has been rela tively lenient toward routine po lice offenders, often preferring a lesser charge where student* might he more severely penalized. But the parking problem, which has caused untold hardship on both the University and the town, remains a major unsolved prob lem to the student body. A greater knowledge and un derstanding of each other’s view* on this and all aspects of neigh borly living can only be beneficial to both the students and the town. 1 >-&»■■■*: DID YOU EVER STOP TO CONSIDER All .THE 6CPMS KXJ ) WHAT’S OfSSUSTINS? MfAiu By 808 FRANKLIN St&toa. “ jENRANDW
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers