PAGE FOUR
Editorial Opinion
IFC Hazing Policy
Needs Enforcement Plan
The Interfraternity Council recently adopted its sec
ond pledge hazing policy in seven years.
The first one, passed in 1956, proved almost meaning
less. Designed to modify Hell Week practices by calling
for adequate sleep and study periods, elimination of hu
miliating games and the confinement of pre-initiation
practices to the individual fraternity houses, the code did
none of these.
Hell Weeks continued. They continued to consist of
rigorous hazing of pledges: little, If any, allowance for
sleep during the period; and "games" in which the pledges
were made the victim of sadistic jokes.
The new code, adopted three weeks ago, is stronger
and more specific than the former oqe and brings hope
of a more sensible approach to pledge training. IFC Board
of Control Chairman Gary Stiles has defined four'areas
of the code to which the board will pay particular at
tention. These stipulate: at least six hours of continuous
sleep per 24-hour period for pledges; no physical contact
of any type with pledges, no pledge activities outside the
fraternity house, and no “bad food” which could upset
the digestive system.
We comrpend the IFC for its adoption of this code.
But we question whether its plan for enforcing the code
will make it as effective as possible'.
IFC has announced that it will investigate possible
violations only when reports are received from the dean
of men's office. Campus Patrol, State College police or
pledges.
The board has reserved the right to check houses
has set up no formal system for doing so.
This method of enforcement may moderate some of
the ridiculous practices which still occur in fraternities,
but it will probably not eliminate them. It is a relatively
rare occurrence when the dean of men’s office or the
police can obtain concrete proof that a violation of the
hazing code has taken place. If a pledge wishes to become
a brother, he will, under pressure from his fraternity,
probably refuse to admit that any violation has occurred'.
IFC takes action after a violation is committed. If
its true intention Is to eliminate hazing rather than to
punish it, IFC's policies should be more preventive than
punitive.
We feel that some concrete method of enforcement
must be set up if the code is to be made effective. One
possible method would be to establish a checker system,
similar to the one used to curb freshman drinking at
fraternities.
This system would require much time and work on
the part of the IFC. But if it is to live up to its code and
eliminate these remnants of an uncivilized .fraternity
pledging program, vigilant enforcement is necessary. •
A Student-Gpvrated Netospaper .
' 58 Years of Editorial Freedom
Stye
Imly QtaUtnian
Successor to The Free Lance, est. 1887
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ANN PALMER
Editor
City Editors, Joan Melt an and David Bolbach; News and World Affairs Editor,
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Sporti Editor, Jim llukata; Photography Editor, Den Coleman; Assistant Pho
tography Editor, Bill Goodman: Personnel Director, Saralee Orton; News and
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i A TERRIBLE )
jj ~ - VgANfflgß .J
THE DAILY COLLEGIAN, UNIVERSITY PARK, PENNSYLVANIA
' HERBERT WITMER
Business Manager
WVENGVWEVENSEENA-OM
THE GNtf ANIMAL VM/E EVER"
BEEN AfWIPIS SNOOFV HERS
snowed
Many Pennsylvanians may not
believe it, but this Commonwealth
has had a relatively mild winter
compared to many other sections
of the nation.
True, the mercury has touched
some of the lowest readings ever
seen in parts of the state and the
snowfall has averaged well above
normal, But, compared to the un
usual persistence of the record
cold in the Mid
west, residents of
the state have had
it relatively easy.
In parts of lowa
and Minnesota, for
instance, the mer
cury has been be
low zero each, of
the past 20 days,
-which is an all
time record for
long-lasting cold.
The really in
tense cold didn't myers
begin affecting Pennsylvania un
til early last week. Since then,
of course, many records have
been broken.
Last Thursday in State College
the mercury dipped to 16 degrees
below zero and managed io reach
Letters
Food Serv
TO THE EDITOR! According to
University Food Service policies
in the residence hall dining areas,
for most meals students are en
titled to seconds of certain items
on the menu—as long as the sup
ply lasts or until the service line
closes. It should follow, then, that
every student ’ has the right to
seconds of whatever is being
served.
The 'other day in one of the
residence dining halls, a student
arrived about one minute after
his assigned dining hall service
line had been, shut down and was
'told by the 'food service em
ployees that he was “too late for
lunch.” Hungry and tired (as
Penn State students usually are)
after a long dash across the cam
pus—he had been kept much
later than usual in a class —he
was offered a plate by one of his
friends to go to another section
of the dining hall where seconds
were still being served. He re
turned with a full plate, happy
because the people had been good
enough to serve him, and also
because he considered himself
lucky.
His luck, however, was short
lived. The dining hall supervisor
had noticed his, action and was
quick to demand that he give
the full plate back to her.. His
attempt to appeal to her sym
pathy was met only with indig
nation and the supervisor's threat
to lake his meal ticket.
He had asked her what would
have been done- with the food if
it had not'-been given him as a
“second portion," and she had
replied that “it would -be saved
for use, at another meal.” .
Being, well-mannered and ra
tional—typical of .some Penn State
students—the latecomer meekly
but i-egretfully relinquished his
plate, whereupon the supervisor
placed .the full plate on a tray
and sent it to the-refuse line to
be thrown: away! The •> latecomer
was called to her office.
Other students, friends, of. the
latecomer, . who were sitting at
the same table were less than
satisfied with the treatment the
supervisor had given the student.
Four -.of them, along with four
others who expressed concern in
the matter, went to see the super
visor to ask why she had been
so apparently unreasonable with
their friend. ’
The supervisor said she wanted
to make an example of the stu-
Awone isharowwhaT;
yoo could call represent
ative OF THE ANIMAL KIN6OOM!
'A Mild Winter
zero only during the warmest part
of the day. That was the,coldest
reading ever recorded on the roof
of Mineral Industries, where Of
ficial observations have been
made since 1934. Temperatures
average considerably warmer on
the room at night because of the
heat emitted by the'building.
Tuesday’s official- low of six
below zero, for example, was not
representative of the actual read
ings around the area. Two reliable
thermometers one on campus
and one in town recorded a low
of 21 below zero at dawn.
Last Thursday’s low of 18 below
zero in Pittsburgh was the lowest
ever recorded there, - and Tues
day’s minimum of 5 below zero
in' Philadelphia was the coldest
temperature in that, city since
1934.
The parade of cold waves began
in early December. ■ The pattern
of the upper winds, which deter
mines the path of arctic air masses
much the same as railroad tracks
determine the, course of a train,
have been very persistent for the
past two months.
They have dragged one frigid
air mass after another off the
Policy Hit
ice
dent, so others would be dis
couraged from attempting the
same thing he had done. She
pointed out that seconds were
supposed to be available only to
those students who had had first
servings and that those who came
back for seconds were not al
lowed to give their food to any
one else. Her reasoning was that
"if everyone came back for sec
onds, we’d- have to serve them
all—and this would mean more
cost to the student eventually.”
She then pointed out that “stu
dents don’t pay for all their food
anyway—nor do we expect to
feed every student at every meal.”
The protesting students asked
If every student did not have the
right io eat every meal. The su
pervisor answered yes, but , re
stated that “we don't expect
them to." The ~ discussion con
tinued rather pointlessly around
the meaning of this issue, and
finally the protesting students de
parted even more bewildered, but
less spirited, than before.
I feel that such action as the
supervisor took in this case was
unreasonable because it served
only to incur the disapproval and
resentment of the students. Leni
ency, perhaps just a suggestion
to "be on time next meal,” would
have been much more effective,
whereas the action the supervi
sor took actually discouraged the
student from viewing the circum
stance in a rational frame of
mind.
If this is the sort of rationality
that Penn State wants-'its Stu
dents to accept and emulate—
then more power to the people
behind the scenes of all the tight,
little bureaucracies in the Uni
versity, because the students are
going to learn to react with the
same., pertinacity as has been
shown them by their “molders of
men.”
—Robin Blakeslee '64
_ —Paul Giltinan '65
" —Jim Simpkins '64
—Paul Jennings,,'66
—David Schmauk '64
Campus Beat
The new president, of the Board
of Trustees is listed on the offi
cial mailing list of the Board as
Captain Roger W. Rowland. -T
wonder if this rank had anything
to do with the board’s decision
to table the motion to eliminate
compulsory ROTC.
THURSDAY. JANUARY 31, 1963
polar ice cap and out of north
western-Canada into the north
central United States.
There have been differences in
the movement of these arctic ait
masses once they invaded the na
tion. In December, many of them
drove -southward across Florida,
bringing killing frost to the citrus
crops of the Sunshine state.
In the first half of this month,
the. tendency was for bitter cold
waves to move southward across
the plains into Texas.. The pattern
for the past ten days has been
for the arctic air masses to fol
low one another across the central
states into the East.,
The bifter cold wave in Europe
is related to the persistent upper
air regime in North, America.
When this pattern breaks down,
the cold waye will probably end
on both continents.
There is some chance that the
pattern will weather-the winter,
however. The upper air regime is
very stable and a great input of
energy in the right, part of the
atmosphere is necessary to change
it.
Letters
Berns Points Out
Collegian Errors
TO THE EDITOR: I have written
your paper twice within the last
week and a half but each, time I
read the letter in print a “funny
thing” happened. It has changed.
Typographical errors in both
letters made both of them am
biguous 1 enough to change the
exact meanings of both letters. If
someone makes an. error in re
typing my letters, so that the
meaning is changed, please sign
their name to it —. not mine.
The error in the first letter
caused another person to reply
which in turn caused the second
letter from me. The second letter
not only had a few typographical
omissions, but to me it looked.like
a literary miscarriage. I am afraid
someone is going to answer this
one also, and we will be off on
a real comedy of errors.
Please stop making enemies for
me, I have enough already.
I don’t think I’ll write you any
more.
'Bowl' Attitude Hit
TO THE EDITOR; The spirit of
your team on Gator Bowl Day was
depressing: The offensive coaching
was strictly that—offensive. As
the fourth quarter progressed, and
your deficit increased, you con
tinued to_run, run, run.
It was pretty much that way at
West Point, too. I’m sorry but
you do not deserve the title of
Best in the East. You let us all
down. ,
LETTER POLICY
Letters to the editor must
carry the full- name of- the
author and identification of
-the author will be verified be
fore any letter is published. In
most cases, letters over 400
words will hot be published.
_ The. Daily. C'o 11 egi a n re
serves the right to edit any
letter if it is deemed necessary.
The decision to publish or- re
ject a ldtler lies solely with
the editor; letters containing
obvious misstatements or lack- ,
ing in good taste or'fair play
will be rejected.
7
< WDFM Schedule ~
THURSDAY,. JAN. SI, 1861
■4 :35 “The Philadelphia" < ,
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. %
Borodin: Nocturn for Strings
5:00 Dinner Date
\ 6:00 News Analysis: summary of day's
news
6:16 Weatherscope
-- 6:20 Concert Hall: classical' music
T ;30 Highlight: .\JSG .Morris Baker re*
r - - • ports on meetings-. 1 . 1
7:40 Radio Moscow: tapes from this -
7 Russian radio station
8:00 This is the Subject: Stephen Spender
- Speech t " *
.6:00 Harlequin: Humorous ’readings
6:15. Mostly”,music:. stress on • jazz..
.10:00- Symphonic Notebook: Featuring to
. night: French composer Darius
Milhaud: "Suite "Provencale" &
—Prof Wayne
by /oef myers
—H. L. Berns, '63
—E. J. Keady, '39
, New York City