College News, 1944-02-16, Vol. 30, No. 15

              The college News
VOL. XL, NO. 15
ARDMORE and BRYN MAWR, PA., WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1944
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Assembly Shows
Theory, Practice
Of Student Gov't
St. Lawrence, Cassidy, Kistler
And Merrill Discuss Two
Sample Cases
Goodhart, Wednesday, February
16�The general principles and
aims of Self-Government and a
reassertion of the necessity for
its function on the college campus
were presented by Patricia St.
Lawrence, in the Self-Government
assembly. The theories as prac-
tically interpretated in two actual
cases were discussed by Barbara
Kistler, speaking as the permis-
sion giver, Deborah Cassidy, as
a hall president, and by Alison
Merrill, representing the Execu-
tive Board   of  Self-Government.
Self-Government has too often
been reduced to mere identifica-
tion with the Executive Board,
which is generally considered as
a rule-enforcing body, Patricia
stated. Discussing and reaffirm-
ing justification for its existence,
she pointed out that nearly all the
alterations in campus rules have
been effected by the Executive
Board, which wishes the students
would express their opinion in pe-
titions more frequently, or agitate
for mass meetings to debate es-
tablished principles or new pro-
posals. She suggested a perma-
nent revision committee as a more
facile channel for student expres-
sion.
Continued on Page 3
IRC Reports Analyze
Education, Economics
Common    Room,    February   9�
The fourth joint meeting of the
Haverford, Rosemont, and Bryn
Mawr International Relation Clubs
dealt with education and domestic
economy now and in the post-war
period. Short papers by Betty
Byfield of Bryn Mawr, Delores
MoFeely and Patricia Kleveshal
of Rosemont, and John Libby of
Haverford were followed by a
lively discussion  period.
"The educational system", said
Betty Byfield, "is of utmost im-
portance in a democracy where
its purpose i� to be of maximum
value to the community." Trac-
ing the development of education
in the United States, she showed
how the emphasis has gradually
centered on the development of
the individual personality, with
more and more attention being
given at the high school level to
vocational training. Desirable as
this may have been, army and
navy statistics now show that
many high school graduates are
not able to read and to express
themselves well orally and in
writing. Thus a return to more
thorough grounding in funda-
mentals is to be advocated. After
the war new and greater strains
will be put on our educational sys-
tem as millions of service men will
want to return to college. We must
begin thinking now of some of the
various issues which will arise;
namely, what role the government
will play in education, what will
be the character of the institu-
tions and their students, and
more broadly, what possibilities
present themselves for.the devel-
opment of international education.
Continued on Page  i
Merrill, the Epicurean, Elected New Editor,
Begins to Learn Ropes on Merion Green
By Elizabeth Watkins, '44
"The best thing about the News
is that it is near the soda foun-
tain," declared the new editor-in-
chief, Alison Merrill. Alison is a
member of the "food is the cheap-
est substitute for sleep" school of
thought and an advocate of editor-
ial meetings at the Inn. Armed
with this philosophy she is pre-
pared to direct her new board and
staff with the aid of Mary Virginia
More as copy editor and Patricia
Platt and Susan Oulahan as news
editors.
A master of the art of exple-
tives, Alison, former copy editor,
has had the staff well under con-
trol for the past year. Action in
this capacity brought the realiza-
tion of her ignorance of grammar,
especially the use of commas. "The
position of copy editor had a pro-
found effect on my long papers,"
she commented�a statement which
the English department will be
glad to hear.
Editing the news will not be her
only concern in the coming weeks,
for Alison is also air raid warden
"extraordinaire", Junior member of
the Self-Government Association,
and chief fire captain. She is now
wondering what she will do if a
fire breaks out during an air raid
while Self-Gov. is having a meet-
ing on Monday night.
Undergrad Officers'
Elections Postponed
By Council's Decision
The elections of officers for the
chief undergraduate positions for
1944-1945 will begin one week lat-
er than formerly announced. The
postponement of the election of
the Common Treasurer was the
reason for the change.
The system of common treasury
is only being tried this year and
has not been adopted into the
constitutions of the undergradu-
ate organizations. The Under-
graduate Council decided that the
college can not elect the Common
Treasurer until the system has
been  adopted.
Voting on the plan of common
treasury will be held, followed
by the election of the Common
Treasurer. The Freshman Class
will present nominees for the pos-
ition of treasurer of the under-
Continued on Page  3
Calendar
Saturday, February 19
Freshman Show,   Alas,   Poor
Yorick,  8:30, Goodhart.
Pembroke,    Rockefeller,    and
Denbigh Hall Dances.
Sunday, February 20
Reverend   Howard   Thurman,
Music Room, 7:30.
Monday, Februay 21
Swimming meet, Non-varsity
interclass, 4:00.
Henri  Peyre, "Tradition   and
Experiment," Goodhart, 8:30.
Tuesday, February 22
Faculty     Vocational     Talks,
Deanery, 4:30.
Current Events, Henri Peyre.
Common Room, 7:15.
Wednesday, February 23
Robert Valeur,   "France   and
the   Democratic  Idea,"   Com-
mon Room, 12:30.
Science   Club, Dr.  Crenshaw,
Park Hall, 8:00.
ALISON  MERRILL
Alison rose to this situation,
multi-sided if not slow. She first
became conspicuous in the Fresh-
man show as a member of the
stage crew and the male chorus.
Press notices said she resembled
Tyrone Power in spite of her shirt
front's opening tendencies. Al-
though Alison joined the News
staff Jm.% same spring, her efforts
at first were not noticeable. She
took life-saving and air raid
courses on Monday and Tuesday
nights.
The only startling event in her
life that Alison can recall is the
perilous change in residence from
Rhoads to Spanish House this year.
Her bi-weekly jaunts across Mer-
ion Green at two o'clock in the
morning (returning from the
News) are spent mostly in dodging
the ropes, which she insists are
moved every day for her benefit.
Alison's editorial plans are very
radical, a result of her summer in
a steel mill. Labor will be organ-
ized and the night shift abolished,
a thing which all editors have at-
tempted but never achieved. "The
maximum of efficiency in the mini-
mum of time, is my slogan," she
stated.
Eclogues of Encina
Analyzed by Castro
Common   Room,   February    15:
Discussing the dramatic literature
of Spain in the time when the
theatre commenced to flourish,
Professor Americo Castro, of
Princeton University commented
upon three plays by Juan del En-
cina in a talk to the Spanish Club.
Professor Castro pointed out the
Renaissance characteristics in En-
cina's eclogues in contrast to the
ideas of the Middle Ages.
Juan del Encina, Professor Cas-
tro said, is the first important fig-
ure in the Spanish/ drama and is
known as "the father of the Span-
ish drama." With him, in the late
fifteenth century, a new literary
genre began. Spanish drama in
the Middle Ages had consisted of
comic farces and religious plays.
The drama of Encina, Professor
Castro said, has strong renaissance
characteristics, although it is a
transition between the primitive
religious theatre and the Renais-
sance theatre as it later existed.
Encina's plays were written in the
language of the lower classes and
concerned country people but were
presented before the nobility. They
depicted for the first time secular
and human people.
Love, Professor Castro said, was
a motivating force in the Renais-
Conttnued on Page i
Outstanding Traits
Of Gide and Mauriac
Examined by H. Peyre
Classifying Mauriac as "a less
interesting person than Gide, but
a greater novelist", Mr. Henri
Peyre, Flexner lecturer, discussed
these two authors in his second
lecture on the contemporary
French novel.
Andre Giu., the "finest and
subtlest prose writer" living to-
day, said Mr. Peyre, seldom
reaches that intensity of imagina-
tive experience and style which,
rather than sincerity, can be called
the criterion of art.
Partaking of the intellectual
boldness of Goethe, Gide's work
has been mostly experimental in
character, and in this sense, par-
ticularly worthwhile. His most
substantial contribution has been
"to drive sincerity as far as it
can go." The two important in-
fluences in Gide's life and work are
homosexuality and a protestant
background. The first of these is
responsible for the broadening of
the French novel, and the second
shows itself in Gide's relentless
passion  for self-aA&lysis.
Gide's Novel
In 1925 Gide wrote The Coun-
terfeiters, which he called "my
first novel." It is, said Mr. Peyre,
very far from faultless. It shows
an excessive self-awareness on
the part of the author, and also
that he is more interested in his
theory of the novel than in the
novel itself. The interest of the
reader is strained, as Gide leaves
almost all description of scenery
and of persons to the imagination.
In very direct contrast to Gide
is Francois Mauriac, whose work
is characterized by fierce pessi-
mism, Catholicism, and lack of
interest in social problems. Prais-
ing Mauriac's magnificent grasp
of the concrete, Mr. Peyre called
his novels "masterpieces of tech-
nique and of style". Using the
means of retrospection, he has
solved the problems of time
through a going backwards and
forwards between present and
past�like Proust, but more con-
densed.
Mauriac, with his continuous
progression of plot and characters,
has preserved the novel in its tra-
ditional or Racinian form. His
main theme is adolescence. If his
novels which are always situated
in the same provincial part of
south-western France, are lacking
in a certain type of universality,
they at times reveal great depths.
Valeur to Review
French Struggle,
Democratic Idea
Former Professor at Columbia
Heads Information Office
In New York
M. Robert Valeur, chairman of
the United Nations Information
Office in New York, will speak on
"French Resistance and the Demo-
cratic Idea" in Goodhart at 12:30
on February 23 in the sixth War
Alliance assembly of the year.
The United Nations Information
Office, of which M. Valeur is the
chairman, is a central information
agency for all the United Nations.
M. Valeur originally joined the or-
ganization in 1939, when he was
appointed representative for the
Fighting French, following the ar-
mistice. The agency issues the
United Nations Revue, which M.
Valeur formerly edited. The Revue
contains various types of informa-
tion pertaining to members of the
United Nations. Besides the Revue,
the Information Office presents
lectures, films, and exhibits of gen-
eral interest.
Career
M. Valeur was born In France
in 1903, and took his doctorate in
laws at the University of Lyons.
eH was a lecturer at the Univer-
sity of Lyons until 1926, when he
came to the United States on a
Rockefeller Scholarship. In 1930
he began his career of teaching at
Columbia University, becoming a
professor of economics and social
sciences, a post that he held until
1940. He is at present associated
with International Administration
at Columbia, while teaching at the
Ecole Libre des Hautes Etudes.
This latter school is a Franco.Bel-
gian organization in New York. M.
Valeur has been active in the af-
fairs of the French in this coun-
try since 1935, when he organized
the New York French Information
Center.
One of M. Valeur's most Import-
ant early publications in France
was on the subject of the teaching
of law in the United States and in
France. Among more recent pub-
lications are his article on "La re-
gression economique aux Etats
Unis", printed in "L'Europe Nou-
velle" in 1938, and bis essays en-
titled "French Government and
Politics" in the book on Demo-
cratic Governments written by
Chase, Veleur, and Buell in New
York in 1935.
Surrealistic Freshman Show Will Involve
Skyscrapers, Pink Clouds and Rockettes
By Susan Oulahan, '46
The freshmen are waxing sur-
realistic this year, at least that'3
our impression. Having dreamed
up a plot that revolves around the
heights of two skyscrapers, they
have transformed the Goodhart
stage into an angel's-eye view of
New York. Through a maze of
paint buckets and a blue-jeaned
stage crew, we could discern the
peppermint-striped dome of the
Chrysler building. The Empire
State, plunked in the middle of two
pink clouds surprised us for a min-
ute�we thought it was a Franklin
stove.
The usual bedlam held sway at
the first real rehearsal, but notice-
ably absent this year were the
sophomores. Maybe that's why we
could actually hear Director Nicole
Pleven's "louder, louder" screamed
at the choruses.
We're still in the dark about who
poor Yorick is and why he's being
mourned. That remains 47's sec-
ret as well as the significance of
the gremlinish figure poking his
head out of the pearly gates in the
upper right hand' corner of the
back-drop. But what we do know
is that the freshman show features
Rockettes, an amazing number of
good solos, and Frank Sinatra.
Communistic rallies and peanut
venders tend to keep the show-
away from the campus. But the
sad tale of a studious wench lock-
ed in the stacks, with no more
nourishment than a shelf of Latin
classics, reminds us that we're still
at Bryn Mawr. A love - sick couple
pitching woo, and a lively duel
promise to be the high spots of an
as yet unpredictable Freshman
show.