Fire
FIREMEN MOUNT ladders as attempt to
fight the , blase caused by lightning Monday
night In' Graduate Hall. A large crowd gathered
to: watch the firs. which caused an as yet
Fire Draws Crowd;
Smoke Covers Area
BY DOROTHY DRASHER
(See Related Pictures and Story
on Page 3)
Hundreds of rain-soaked stu
dentsi watched firemen fight
flames which gutted the 'attic and
Much, of .the third floor of .Grad-
Date Hall Monday night.
Townspeople. too, many s of them
arriving after students had flocked
to the scene, clustered under other
people's umbrellas when a second
thunderstorm followed after the
fire had ,started. -
LIGHTNING FROM the firit
Storm caused the initial fire to
start. Before the flames were seen
leaping from the dormers minutes
later, a dense acrid smoke had
spread over much of the campus
and several blocks .of the down
town area.
- The smoke, fire sirens and' fire
enginei heading towards -campus
drew the early crowds and ddzens
of students, mostly men were seen
rushing up the mall minutes later.
Others . hurried from residence
halls and across campus to 'see
the fire.
' Rumors about the Ideation of
the fire were numerous and trav
eled rapidly. Some in the down
town area said ! a transformer wai
hit on 'one -of !the women's resi:-
dence halls in the Pollock area.
, i
. ,
Study Abivad Pkins Expansion
Efforts are now being made to
arrange five foreign ,study pio
grams in 1963, Dagobert de Levie,
director of the Study Abroad, said
Tuesday,
• Negotiations have been under
way since May with two leading
SpanAh •uliiirersities to establish
a program in Spain, de Levie said.
' Forty students have been tenta
tively accepted , for this term
abroad.
•
PROGRAMS WILL be con
tinued in Strasbourg. France, ind
'Cologne, Germany; 50 students
have , been tentatively accepted to
go to France and 25 to Germany.
"We are also attempng to,or
ganize a program in E ngland for
the spring -term 1963," de Levie
said. Under this plan; architec
• tune students would take courses
in architectural design and art
plus the liberal arts, he added.
The Study Abroad committee
Strikes Grad
mita _ amount of damages. Uninorsity
officials did say, howvrer. that replaciment
•alnetcf the property and span . lost was $1 mil
lion it today's construction costs.
'Others in the Pollock area specu
lated that the fire was; in West
Halls. I
I A report later came ,hack
that a radio station in Lewistown
had called shortly after the fire
'started to check a report that Old
Main had burned.
• The fire was confined to the
vast dormer of Grad, Hall for the
first few minutes. Powerful hoses
;were concentrated on the area,
but the flames roared 'up about
po feet in the air and enveloped
most of the third floor.
Dozens of fire hoses snaked
across the lawn in front of Grad
Hall. •
i Some students searching for a
better vantage point were warned
not to step on' the hoses. The
force of water from a break at any
point could cause a serious ac
cident,. a campus patrolman ex
plained.
• REACTION FROM the specta
tors ranged from sarcastic com
ments such as "bring on the
marshmallows" to those who ex
pressed anxiety over valuable
records 'and papers which - might
be destroyed.
Students, some of them barefoot
and In 'bermudas, volunteered their
services to help firemen with
(Continued on page six)
also hopes to - plan a term of
study in England preceding the
University Chapel Choir's tour
of Europe next summer, de Leyie
said. No agreement his.definite
ly been reached on:either English
Plan or a program :in Spain, he
added.
The choir members.would par
ticipate in an accelerated eight
week program, leaving three or
fpur Weeks for a tour. The archi
tecture program would be 10
weeks long.
)f
Ben Euwerna, deanf the Col
lege of the Liberal Arts under
vkhich the Study Abroad program
Frates, is scheduled to visit
rance, Germany and Spain this
fall to conclude agreements,
de - Levie said. Announcements of
the students-. participating will
then be made; pending the out
chme• of final applications and
iOterviews of those students ten
tittively acctipted.
#itittittrr
VOL-4;No. 10 UNIVERSITY PARK. PA.. THURSDAY MORNING, AUGUST 23. 1962 FIVE CENTS
Wharton Examines Costs
For Larger Auditorium
By NANCY McCORICLI
Dean Wharton, president of the
Undergraduate Student Govern
ment, said yesterday that he
checked the costs and facilities
of the Ohio State University's new
auditorium to uncover the prob
lems that Penn State would en
counter in constructing such a
building.
• ALLISON WOODALL. USG
Congressman, and Wharton at
tended the leadership conference
of the National Student Associa
tion last week at Ohio State Uni
versity in Columbust, Ohio.
This is th. last Inuit of The
Summer Collegian. The first
issue of The Daily Collegian
will be published on Orienta
tion Sunday. Sept. IS. -.
De Levie also said that the Uni
versity hopes to establish a Lib
eral Arts Study Abroad program
in England for the spring term
1984. This term would be open
to all students of the University
without foreign language facility
who possess an interest in the
liberal arts, he added.
IN OTHER STUDY Abroad de
velopments, de Levie said that in
September a representative from
the University of Cologne will
visit the campus to explore the
possibility of changing the cur
rent program into a genuine
two-way exchange program.
An overwhelming majority of
students who participated in the
first Study Abroad term this
spring consider it "the experience
of their lives," de Levie said. The
program not only aids linguistic
skill but, gives students a pro
found understanding of present
day .daveloPinent3,, fit, said- . .
Replacement Value
Seen as $1 Million
(See Related Pictures and Story on Page 3)
Lightning from a summer thunderstorm struck the . for
mer Graduate Hall building at 6:20 p.m. Monday and sparked
a blaze which area firemen fought for
. several hours.
The fire was considered) the worst blaze on - campus since
the destruction of the Chemistry Annex 25 years ago.
REPLACEMENT VALUE of the space lost through the
fire is approximately $1 million at today's construction costs,
University officials have been unable to place an exact. dol
lar figure on the loss until further study is completed by them
and insurance company officials.
The fire started during a severe storm when a bolt of
lightning struck the third floor of the building's east wing.
The building, which now houses the Division of Counseling,
the University Placement Service - and Teacher Placement,
Division of Academic Research and - Services and other Uni
versity agencies, was renovated during the past year frpm a
dormitory to office - space.
The structure was built in 1889 as a women's residence
hall and was occupied from 1958 to 1961 by 80 graduate stu
dents. On the basis of a preliminary examination, offiCiala
said that it Is probable that the entire structure, which has
about 33,000 square feet of floor space, may have to be re
placed.
University officials are currently studying whether to
repair or raze the building.
The roof structure and third floor of the building de
stroyed by the fire and walls and floors of the first and second
FM A BETTER PENN STATE
Ohio State's auditorium, which
seats 3,072 people, cost approxi
mately ;4.5 million. Wharton
said. The acoustics and lighting
are excellent, and these are two
problems that hazard entertain
ment programs held in Recrea
tion Hall-and Schwab, he added.
Recreation Hall has a seating
capacity of about 6,000, but the
bleachers.,are uncomfortable 'for
the audience and the backstage
facilities are lacking for gtiest
performers, he said. In Schwab
the sight line to the stage is poor
from many seats, and the audi
torium only holds 1,500 people,
he said.
WHARTON SAID that he was
sure that University administra
tors were concerned about the
lack of a larger auditorium.
so the main objective - of the USG
Auditorium Investigating Com
mittee would be to work with
them to accomplish its construc
tion as soon as possible.
Students can help in this pro
ject, Wharton said, by making
suggestions about what facilities
Hot Weather Likely to Return;
Showers Seen for Saturday
(See Related Story on Page I)
The relatively cool, dry air that
has dominated the local weather
scene during the past two days
should begin to give way to
warmer temperatures and j,in
creasing- humidities today.
Hot and humid tropical air is
advancing northeastward from the
central and southern states in , ad
vance of an energetic storm in
the Dakotas.
Sunny skies and increasing
southerly winds may boost the
rcury to 85 degrees this after
noon, and the arrival of I the
tropical , air in bulk tomorfrow
Hall
(Continued on
fie sir)
ToUrgian
'are needed in a new auditorium,
by using their personal contacts
and even by interesting business
men to form a corporation to do
nate money for its construction.
Wharton explained that this
corporation system has been used
by other universities, and that
the corporation gives the building
to the university to operate after
its completion.
Wharton said he also compared
judicial systems with other uni
versity representatives. He *aid
that Penn State actually has one
of the better court systems in th,
United States, but that investi
gation would continue to Improve
Ideas were also exchanged on
Ways to get students interested
in participating in activities', he
said. Incorporating the idea of
one of the "'Big 10" schools , Whar- _ ,
ton said that USG would like tO•
publish a booklet describing ell
the campus activities and c lub!.
It would be similar to the fresh
man handbook, he added.
should boost the temperature to
90 degrees.
The eastward movement of the
Dakotas' storm system will be as
sociated with increasing shower
and thunderstorm activity in
Pennsylvania late tomorrow and
Saturday.
Significant amounts of rainfall
could acompany this storm, which
togetiler with the heavy showers
of Monday evening could spell the
end of the worst and most pro
longed drought in the 78-year
history of local weather records.
Cooler and drier air should fol
low in the wake of - the storm latip
Sunday or Monday.