College News, 1934-10-10, Vol. 21, No. 01

              The College Wemj
VOL. XXI, No. 1
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10. 1934
ojvrlght   BHYX  M.wvi:
COLLEGE   NEWS,   1MI
PRICE M.'UiNiS
^
Class of 1938 Unanimously Confirms
Acclimatizing Value of Freshmen Week
Interviews,   Receptions,   Parties,   Teas   and   Wyridham   Picnic
Accustom Freshmen to Encountering Difficulties
of Beginning College
SUBTRACTION    OF   ONE   DAY   SPEEDS    WEEK    UP
The real and practical object of
Freshman Week is to give the new-
comers a chance to get settled, and,
at the same time, to keep them from
getting bored. Whether this object
is achieved or not is a matter of per-
sonal opinion. This year, however,
Freshman Week was a complete suc-
cess. That is to say, the upper-class-
men who were back had a glorious
time and lost their hearts to the class
of 1938. Now only this disturbing
question remains: did the freshmen
enjoy meeting the various members of
the mpper classes, the college authori-
ties, and attending the teas, and other
welcoming functions?
Already the new arrivals have been
accosted with such questions as, "How
did you like Freshman Week?" or
"Didn't the time drag dreadfully?"
The answers to these questions were
surprisingly enthusiastic and all in
favor of Freshman Week. It may
have been that the freshmen were too
polite to admit the dreadful truth, but
that seems improbable.
The most general opinion the fresh-
men expressed was that the week did
not drag. That they felt this way is
probably because the college decided
this year to shorten Freshman Week
by twenty-four hours and to begin it
on Thursday. This was done in re-
sponse to the criticisms of other
classes, particularly of the Sophomore
Class, who feel that their week of get-
ting settled seemed unnecessarily long.
Apparently the subtraction of one day
has solved the problem. Many of this
year's freshmen said they would not
have had the week one hour shorter.
The busiest place was Taylor Hall.
There, every day and all day, Dean
Manning and President Park received
the freshmen and sometimes their
parents. Since we do not know what
went on in these two sancta sanctorum,
we can only describe the happenings
on the outer side of the doors. To
begin witH, some member of the yel-
low-ribbon-committee, composed of the
heads of the Self-Government Associ-
Dean Manning Speaks
On  Changing Courses
"After President Park opens the
college, welcomes the students, and
gives the principles of the college
year, I follow with the dry details
of registration," said Dean Manning
in chapel on October third. But
these details, she explained, are nec-
, essary for the functioning of our
principles. The exceedingly short
J/ear at Bryn Mawr makes it impera-
tive that work begin at once with a
Jush which probably dismays the
rrreshmen. Classes cannot proceed,
however, until the number of students
enrolled in each has been definitely
settled. Because of the large num-
bers of Sophomores and Freshmen,
and of their tendency to get through
the required courses as quickly as
possible, these courses are greatly
overcrowded and enrollment is espec-
ially difficult this year. As it is now
too late to spend much time in dis-
cussing course changes, Mrs. Mann-
ing urged that only necessary altera-
tions be made, and that these be
made at once.
Some changes cannot be avoided, of
course, on account of changes in
schedules or in courses made by the
faculty during the summer. Thus,
Dr. Herben is giving a course in Old
English instead.of Literature of the
Middle Ages. Since Miss Glen has
not returned, Mrs. Kirk is giving
Miss Glen's course in Seventeenth
Century Literature, and abandoning
her own lectures on the modern novel
and on criticism. Such developments
must alter the plans of a few stu-
dents, but even these are requested
to come to a decision with all possi-
ble speed.
ation, the Undergraduate Association,
Athletics, and choir, was stationed at
all times outside each office to talk to
the freshmen and introduce them to
Miss Park or Mrs. Manning.' Though
this job involved a lot of waiting
around on benches, it seldom became
tedious because conversation always
flourished. After asking and forget-
ting each other's names several times,
the Upperclassman and the Freshman
would soon begin comparing notes on
anything from their reactions to music
to their most embarrassing moments.
Besides the numerous appointments,
each day contained some kind of enter-
tainment. The first night every hall
had a party for the freshmen. These
hall parties were rather sketchy af-
fairs, involving tepid ginger-ale and
pretzels. The freshmen stood up one
by one and rapidly said their names.
It was alj rather delightful, however,
because everyone was beginning to be-
come friends with everyone else. The
other teas given by Mrs. Manning,
Mrs. Collins, and Miss Park were on
a larger scale, both as to food and as
to people.
One of the pleasantest occasions
during Freshman Week was the picnic
at Wyndham, which came on Saturday
night.. After a delectable meal of
chickeVQbalad, coffee, and buttered
rolls, the freshmen assembled in the
sitting room to be taught the college
songs. As a reward for their efforts,
they had the privilege of hearing the
upper-classmen sing the Freshman
Lantern Hymn, cantabile con senti-
mento. After the music came a series
of speeches by. Dr. Leary,1 Mrs. Col-
lins, the President of the Undergrad-
uate Association, and the President of
the Athletic Association. The eve-
ning ended with everyone, Freshmen
included, singing "Thou Gracious
Inspiration."
Of all the days of Freshmen Week,
Sunday was most inclined to drag, but
that is mainly because all the fresh-
men were looking forward to Miss
Park's reception, which came late in
the afternoon. Here again there was
food. But also there were two
speeches, by Miss Park and Mrs. Man-
ning, which made this gathering dif-
feernt and apart from the others. A
little was explained about the history
of Bryn Mawr and the splendid Quak-
er traditions of self-sufficiency and
tolerance. Sunday ended with the
| Freshman Chapel Service, which was
conducted this year by Dr. Andrew
, Mutch.
When the upperclassmen returned
'on Monday, Freshman Week ended
with rather a bump. The smoking-
Contlnued  on  Page  Four

College Officers for 1934-35
Flexner Lecturer
Mr. John Livingstone Lowes,
who last spring accepted the in-
vitation of the college to deliver
the Mary Flexner lectures this
year, has been obliged to with-
draw his acceptance because of
illness. He has written the
president�"It is to me a bitter-
ly disappointing situation. . . .
I mean to go on with John
Keats; I couldn't drop him now.
And if, later on, you still wish
me to come and I can be ready,
I shall welcome the opportun-
ity."
The public lectures and con-
ferences are a demanding task
and for the lecturer of every
year an invitation well in ad-
vance of the actual dates has
been necessary in order to al-
low time both for preparation
and for the readjustments of
academic and other engage-
ments to fit a six weeks' resi-
dence at Bryn Mawr. For these
reasons it will probably be im-
possible for �he college to name
another lecturer this year.
50th Academic Year
of College Is Begun
Miss Park in Opening Address
Says Belief in Liberty Is
Basic  Policy
INTELLIGENCE RESPECTED
Reading from left to .right: Betty Faeth, '33', President of the
Athletic Association; Joan Ilopkinson, '3.'), President of the Bryn
�Mawr League; Susan Morse, '35, President of Self-Government;
and 1'eggy Little, '33, Presfdent of the Undergraduate Association.
Special Field Are Given
to Able Student
Honors Work Varied    Dr- �- LeTar> Becomes
.      _         .                                 New College Physician
in its Requirements                -----
�   '                ______   _                           Dr. Olga Cushing Leary, who suc-
-,,             ,      T  j-   -j     i w/    I         <'<tds Dr> Wae�ner as Acting, Physi-
; ,n, cian of Bryn Mawr College, gradu-
ated with honors from Smith College
in the class of 1926. Dr. Leary, whose
home was originally in Boston, then
Honors work as interpreted by the attend Tuft's College Medical School
different departments varies slightly in Boston, where she graduated mag-
in each case, but in general'this typ* �� cum laude. After taking her de-
of work may be defined as a means gree from that college in 1930, Dr.
of removing the more capable stu- Leary became an interne in the Phil-
dents out of routine work and giving adelphia General Hospital. In 1932,
them a chance to work individually she was made Assistant ChiefResi-
in a somewhat more specialized field, dent Physician in charge-^oT, the
The student in all cases gathers ma- Nurses' Infirmary at the Philadelphia
terial herself and is aided according General Hospital, and continued in
to her needs by conferences with her this capacity for one year. Taking
professor                                                care �* tne health of the 600 nurses
Honons work changes more or less at the hospital waff work very simi-
in each department from year to year lar to Dr. Leary's present job at Bryn
according to the desires and capabil- Mawr College, because the nurses
ities of the students. In Philosophy, were' for the most part, young. There
for instance, for the last few years V� m�re **��� amon* Jem, J�-
the custom in honors work has been . fver, than there is at the college. They
,           ,                     .    .         c ,j         had more reason to be sick because,
for  students  to  work  in  a  held  on      . ,                     .
_, .,       .      j.        .                .   ,   _uv'Baid Dr. Leary, they were much hard-
Philosophy   that   is   connected    with                 ,     /'       *    .     ,              ,
.,        ,        ...        �              cr worked.    After twelve hours a day
some  other  branch   of  learning,  as, i       ..  ,   -.        ..                               ,.
, ,, ..                      .    .7. .,      on their feet, they were not usually
Logic and Mathematics, or Aesthetics,                                                 ,  .  .     "~
,   ,         _,.             .J       ,    ,           I very anxious  to  go out and  take  a
and Art.    This year the only honors ^     c           ent,     th      had much
student in Philosophy is not workingU               tunit   to be b the fresh air
in  one of these border-hne subjects   than the averagc colIeffe student.
but in Metaphysics  in the very heart,    Lagt wfate     Dr               worke(, &t
of   philosophy   itself.     In   any   case,;(he University of Pennsylvania as a
this  work  offers  an   opportunity  tovo,unteer assistant in the  pathology
students   to   do   more   intensive   and iDepartmentf doing reSearch( on smooth
more specialized work m her field, ac-jmugcle tumors#    Pathology,  we have
cording to interests and abilities.        !djSCOvered with the aid of  Webster,
When the History department first :.g the science which t^ts 0f diseases,
started to give honors work, an at-|their nature) causeSi progress, and
tempt was made to have all the stit- svmptoms.
dents work in the same field. This Dr. Leary worked last spring in the
method was found unsatisfactory, and Philadelphia zoo, doing histological
was changed until now the choice of jWork on arterio-sclerosis. This entail-
period and professor is entirely up ed studying the aorta of monkeys and
to the student herself. She is ex-1 parrots under the microscope. Pa-
pected to make reports, and is exam- i thology, however, is Dr. Leary's chief
ined, not on the whole province of interest, and it is her ambition to re-
History, but on several specific per- tire from active practice some day in
iods, including her own.                       | order to study it at leisure.
Honors work in Economics offers
the student a chance to work indi-
vidually along the lines in which she
is interested and to escape from rou-
tine work. Some students take this
work as a preparation for their later
careers; others take' it as a hobby,
trying to get all they can from some-
thing that is of great interest to
them. The choice of the kind of hon-
or depends entirely upon the inclina-
tion of the student. Some have chosen
Finance, others, as has occurred this.
year, have chosen Russia for its con-
temporary interest.
The Latin department considers
honors work a means of taking stu-
dents who have been proved more ca-
pable out of the ordinary routine and
regular three-hour grind in order to
let them do more specialized and in-
dependent work according to their
abilitv. This is also the purpose of
the new comprehensive system. The
type of Latin honors varies with the
students' interests and talents: some
years the general trend is toward a
Continued on Page Thr��
"In its almost fifty years of exist-
ence, Bryn Mawr has consistently rest-'
ed its academic policies and its train-
ing of students as members of society
and as citizens on two things. The
first is a genuine confidence in and a
respect for the human intelligence.
The second is a belief in liberty and a
conviction that life carried on in an
atmosphere of liberty is fruitful and
equally that life carried on in an at-
mosphere of restraint is sterile," Pres-
ident Park stated in her opening ad-
dress on Tuesday, October 15, at the
beginning of the fiftieth academic
year of the College. Yet, neverthe-
less, outside our little world we see
those things for which we stand be-
ing seriously challenged by both con-
servatives and radicals alike.' A
strange similarity between the views
of these two groups is found in the
fact that both groups wish to draw
us "into their worlds of propaganda,
of deliberate violence, of the autocrat-
ic rule of the small group complement-
ed by the obedience of the majority."
Miss Park went on to say that the
traditions which we represent are
those of most American colleges, and
that for all of us there is the same
duty. We must show ourselves to be
active fighters for a practical creed,
not passive and academic believers in
a pretentious one. Political liberal-
ism, the political outgrowth of helief
in human intelligence and human free-
dom may well be dead, but certainly
they themselves are not. One cannot
keep opinion forcibly unified when
courage is dead. We may find no lead-
er for our own party, but we can
support everywhere men and policies
which bear the liberal stamp. We
must understand clearly that when
the use of intelligence and the right
to liberty in America is challenged,
we ourselves are attacked. No mat-
ter whether we can be of service of-
fensively or defensively, we must ap-
pear. For under a dictatorship an
endowed liberal arts college for wom-
en would be one of the first institu-
tions to be closed.
In order to thus defend ourselves
we must look to our curricula and SM
whether they are suited to the changed
conditions. As far as Bryn Mawr it-
self is concerned, the permanence of
the essentials of the college has been
implicit and the core of its character
Continued  on   Pagt   Four
Awful Truth Revealed
About Merion Roof
College Calendar
Thursday, Oct. 11. Dress
Show, sponsored by the Barclay
Shop. Common Room, 4.00 to
6.00 P. M.
Saturday, Oct. 13. French
Oral. 9.00 to 10.30 A. If., Tay-
lor Hall.
Varsity Hockey Game vs.
Germantown Cricket Club. 10.30
A. M.
Sunday, Oct. 14. Sunday
Evening Service, conducted by
Dr. John W. Suter. 7.30 P. M.,
Music Room.
Monday, Oct. 15. Memorial
Service for Dr. Marjorie Jef-
feries Wagoner. 5.00 P. M.,
Music Room.
Tuesday, Oct. 16. Current
Events lecture by Dr. Fenwick.
7.30 P. M., Common Room.
Thursday, Oct. 18. Dr. Velt-
man on "Materialism: Ancient
and Modern." 4.30 P. M.. Com-
mon Room.
The new roof on Merion may not
dazzle the eye of the cosmopolite who
comes to visit us, nor even astonish
the sightseer who comes to us on his
way from viewing the splendors of
Independence Hall and the Betsy BOSS
House. But it is a constant source of
wonder and delight to those of us who
dwelt in these halls when a roof on
Merion was not taken for granted at
all. There was a time, dating back
to the Great Flood, when Merion had
only a part of a roof to its credit.
Two years ago, to be more specific,
the wrath of God was vented upon the
building�and its inhabitants. With
no warning at all a storm broke such
as had never been seen before by Bryn
Mawr. Trees crashed and lamps on
the path to the hockey fields were
shattered and blown to bits. The col-
lege at large, which was caught sin-
fully sunning on the green, ran for
shelter. But for Meitcnites there was
no asylum. As they, cowered in their
rooms, one of the chimneys collapsed
and let water gush through the roof
in a great shower through the build-
ing. The fourth floor was filled with
chimney and water; the third floor
was deluged; the second floor was very
wet; the first floor was damp. All of
Merion rushed screaming from one
floor to another, moving pieces of fur-
niture, two by two, to dry spots. And
Continued on  P�*� Six