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THE COLLEGE NEWS





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THE COLLEGE NEWS

(Founded in 1914)



Published weekly during the College Year (excepting during Thanks-
giving, Christmas and Easter Holidays, and during examination weeks)
n the interest of Bryn Mawr College at the Maguire Building, Wayne,
Pa., and Bryn Mawr College.

The College News is fully protected by copyright. Nothing that
appears in it may be reprinted either wholly or in part without written
permission of the Editor-in-Chief.



Editorial Board .
Nancy Evarts, ’43, Editor-in-Chief

ALICE ISEMAN, ’43, Copy ANNE DENNY, ’43
Mary BARBARA KAUFFMAN, ’438, News LENORE O’BOYLE, ’43
BARBARA HULL, ’44, News JESSIE STONE, ’44

Editorial Staff

ELIZABETH WATKINS, ’44
MARY VIRGINIA MORE, ’45
VIRGINIA BELLE REED, ’44



PATRICIA PLATT, ’45
ALISON MERRILL, 45
BARBARA GUMBEL, ’44

Cartoons

KATHRYN ANN
EDWARDS, ’45

Music
Posy KENT, ’45

Sports
JACQUIE BALLARD, 743
KEO ENGLAND, 745

Business Board

LovuIseE Horwoop, ’44—Manager

DIANA Lucas, ’44—Advertising
ANN FITZGIBBONS, ’45 ELIZABETH ANN MERCER, ’45
JEANNE-MARIE LEE, ’45 NINA MONTGOMERY, ’45

Subscription Board

NANCY ESCRIBNER, ’44, Manager AUDREY SIMs, ’44
CONSTANCE BRISTOL, ’43 Lois Post, ’45
EDITH DENT, 745 Ronny RAVITCH, ’44

CHARLOTTE ZIMMERMAN, 745

; SUBSCRIPTION, $2.50 MAILING PRICE, $3.00
SUBSCRIPTIONS MAY BEGIN AT ANY TIME





Entered as second-class matter at the Wayne, Pa., Post Office







Monitors Necessary?

Last year the News advocated the abolition of a monitoring
system which is often inefficient, unnecessarily expensive to the
Undergraduate Association and paradoxical in a college with liberal
institutions such as those of Bryn Mawr. Since the issue is not one
which should be disregarded, we again propose the establishment of
a system of unlimited cuts for all classes in all courses.

Such a program is the only one consistent with, Bryn Mawr’s
policy of responsibility for the individual student.

A system of unlimited cuts would mean that the’ responsibility

for attending class rested entirely with the student. I¢’mphasis would)

he placed, more heavily than it now is, on comprehension of mate-
rial in the course. Any student prepared to do advanced academic
work should, we think, be equal to the responsibility for regular at-
tendance of courses in which she is studying. If definite rules and
penalties are omitted in a system which abolishes monitors, the
penalties would impose themselves in the results obtained in the
work. The primary interest, and the only interest of a student in
class should be her work. The aim of the present cut system is ob-
viously to maintain the quality of work, but it does not place the
emphasis upon the courses themselves. The same end can be
achieved, without the establishment of a definite quota of cuts, by
dealing individually with the student whose work is unsatisfactory.

The proposed program would establish a more personal and
natural basis for attending class:>—Foer-the-professor, as well as for
the student, the new system would be an improvement, since he
could feel that the student’s relation to her work represented more
than sitting through a certain number of hours of class.

The inadequacy of the present system is shown by numerous
examples of mistakes made by the monitors. When a definite num-
ber of cuts is stated as “allowed,” the impulse to take as many cuts
as possible is fostered.

The system of unlimited cuts is successfully used in other col-
leges: It should be obvious that there would be no unnecessary
cutting by students who were taking a course seriously or in-
tended to pass it. Especially in advanced courses, reasonably regu-
lar attendance is essential; and if the courses arouse interest, as
they should, cutting will be at a minimum,

At a time when individual responsibility seems of particular
importance, and when Bryn Mawr’s whole policy emphasizes this
responsibility, it seems to us that it should be directed, not toward
an artificial standard set up by the administration, but toward the
real standards which we ourselves wish to maintain.





Sidelines



Fighting Finland

On Friday night I attended a meeting at the Academy of
Music, sponsored by the United Committee for.a Second Front of
the Philadelphia American Federation of Labor, Congress of’ In-
dustrial Organizations and Railroad Brotherhoods. The speeches,
of course, were concerned mainly with the question of a Second
Front and American Labor, and all implicitly had as their bases the
philosophy, of this war propounded by Vice President Wallace in his
“Century of the Common Man” speech. Many phases of the war
were discussed, but I would like to focus attention on one of them,
the role of Finland in the war now. 9

Joseph Curran, President of the National Maritime Union, was
one of the main speakers. The N. M. U. is one of the most -impor-
tant unions in the United States today. Its members.are the men

e

: Nuts'dind Bolts

| _ By Jessie Stone, °44



A new social and political con-
sciousness characterizes this year’s
college newspapers. A- forceful
editorial calling for the admission
of Negroes to its undergraduate
ibody places The Princetonian well
in the lead. The campaign prompt-
ly won the editorial applause and
encouragement of the Vassar Mis-
cellany News and The Daily Penn-
sylvanian.

Vassar’s paper in its editorials
and news items reflects intense war
activity on campus. Forums on
India, a_ service flag ceremony,
combined - war relief drives, : dis-
cussions on Negro morale, and vig-
orous editorials are some of the
high spots. Characteristic of the
prevailing spirit is this exhortation
for aid to Russia: “Anti-commu-
nists should be reminded that sup-
plies for suffering civilians are
not communist propaganda.”

The Wellesley College News re-
veals that “Shy Maidens Vent
Wrath on Axis by Salvaging Tin
Cans for Scrap” and vents its own
editorial wrath on the Saturday
Evening Post for its “surprising
dectrine that freedom from want
is a matter of benevolent charity
rather than human right.” Com-
ing from the Post this is perhaps
not so “surprising,” but the fact
remains that Wellesley has its pro-
tective eye on the Atlantic Charter.

The Radcliffe News notes that
“War Puts No Dim-Outs on Social
Whirl,” but its news stories re-
veal an equally true converse.

Temple University was slightly
discouraged as it entered the sec-
ond week of the campus scrap
drive. Its newspaper muttered |
.that undergraduates wouldn’t know
of the drive’s existence unless
they looked “at the eight paint
cans, two beer cans, the one-half
section of a gate, a fireplace grill,
two baking trays and several items,
including a trash can.” But the
Temple University News, in the
tradition of any collegiate press,
keeps plugging for higher scrap
piles and such.

Mount Holyoke merely laments:
“The smoking rooms look the same.
The Harry James records sound
the same. Girls still charge cokes
with Mrs. A. and conversation is
still about men, and date dresses
are still important. We noticed
outside our consciousness that
Vogue and Mademoiselle packaged
their ‘college crowd’ _ sensible
clothes in verbal admonitions about
‘the world conscious college girl.’
But where is she? Where is the
change? We’re back at the same



art print learning, P. O. rushing.”





















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CITY LIGHTS
By Jessie Stone, ’44

Philadelphia is very proud of its
ancient history. In fact, if you
want to find out interesting things |
about the city, about the only ma- |
terial available consists of pictures
of Independence and Carpenter’s
Halls, and _ stories about Ben,
Franklin and Betsy Ross. The
Chamber of Commerce might also |
tell you about Fairmount Park |
and the Philadelphia Orchestra
and how Broad Street is the long-
est straight street in the United
States. But the “Cradle of Lib-
erty” and the “City of Brotherly '
Love” are little more than histori- |
cal phrases. Things have really
reached a serious state when Phil-
adelphia becomes ashamed of its
great historical figures, too. This
happened last summer.

The Tom Paine Bi-Centennial ,
Committee wanted to donate a_
statue of Thomas Paine to Fair-
mount Park. The Park Commis-
sion thereupon held a meeting and
decided that it wasn’t a good idea’
because Tom Paine was alleged to!
be an atheist. Some people’s feel-
ings might be hurt. The news-
paper accounts of the story, if I
remember correctly, consisted
mainly of funny features. Then
everybody forgot about it, except
a few indignant people.

The week before last, thePhila-
delphia Record held its annual book
fair, at which writers of reputation
spoke about current topics. Howard
Fast, an historical novelist who is
now working on a book about Paine,
said that the Park Commission



who “deliver the goods” through

submarine-infested waters to our

Allies, losing more men proportionally than has any branch of our
armed forces, thus far. These men don’t hesitate to give their lives
for the victory of the United Nations because most of them under-
stand clearly the issues of this war. Their union is politically alive
and is mainly responsible for the strong antifascist spirit of its
membership.

But the men who ride the route to Murmansk and return have
described a hell of hourly bombings unequalled in their ferocity.
They are learning how to lick the submarine menace, but there’s
nothing they can do about the terrific punishment they have to take
from Finland-based bombers when they are a few days out of port.
Graphic descriptions of the horrors these men endure are not neces-
sary to enforce the truth that we are, in fact, at war with Finland.
Not only is Finland fighting against our strongest ally, but it is also
killing American seamen and sinking American bottoms.

Whatever one may have-thought of Finland in the past is en-
tirely irrelevant. We went to war with Japan within a few hours
because she did exactly what Finland is doing in a less spectacular
way, or so our press would have us believe. American men and
ships off Murmansk are every bit as precious as they are in Pearl
Harbor. Futhermore, by our indifference to this truth, we are
maintaining a Hitler listening post in Washington in the person of
‘Mr. Procope, the Finnish Ambassador.

Our seamen and millions of other Americans when they stop to
think about our attitude toward Finland must have very much the
same feeling that the Fighting French in London did when they
told Mr. Curran that they weren’t sure sometimes on whose side the
United States was fighting. |

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Jessie Stone, 744.

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Blood!

Attention, undergraduate
and faculty blood donors ! !
The Red Cross is sending a
mobile unit to Ardmore on
Wednesday, Thursday, and
Friday, the 11th, 12th and
13th of November, so that
those who are interested in
donating much needed blood
need not go into Philadel-
phia.. The college will ar-
range for a group to be taken
to Ardmore Thursday after-
noon. If you wish to go with
this group, please write
Thursday after your name
when you sign up on the lists
posted in the halls. If Thurs-
day is inconvenient, you may
go Wednesday or Friday af-
ternoon or Thursday morn-
ing without appointment.
Anyone over 18 is accepted;
anyone between 18-21 re-
quires the written consent of
her parents. The infirmary
will give you the necessary
medical exam and hemoglo-
bin test so that you won’t
take the trip for nothing.
All this information is posted
on the bulletin boards. For
further information about
blood donating see Jacquelin
Wilson, Rhoads South.







was all wrong. Said Mr, Fast:

“One of the handicaps that Paine

had to overcome was the fact that
he was a religious man, that he
believed in God and the hereafter
. . . Philadelphia at the time was
teeming with agnostics, and Paine
had to overcome his own ‘handicap’
to win their confidence.” This
quote and the fact that Mr. Fast
called the Park Commission’s ac-
tion “Unfortunate” is all I could
gather from the newspaper ac-
counts of the speech. Either the
Philadelphia Record did a very bad
job of reporting its own book fair
or Mr. Fast missed the whole point.

Tom Paine has been called to
date an atheist, a Deist and a
deeply religious man. And I sub-
mit that this is all irrelevant to
the correctness of the Park Com-
mission’s policy. Tom Paine’s role
in our War for Independence and
in the history of Pennsylvania had
nothing at all to do with his reli-
gious views. Tomr Paine, in fact,
could be called the “political. com-
missar” of Washington’s army. It
was Tom Paine, who, in large part,
made Valley Forge possible. Tom
Paine helped to draft Pennsylva-
nia’s first Constitution, one of the
most democratic in history.

Not only does the Fairmount
Park Commission by its action re-
veal its ignorance of our nation’s
history, but also its unawareness
of the meaning of Tom Paine to-
day. And the failure of the local
press to take up the issue is the
more shameful. At the risk of
sounding like a Fourth of July
orator, may I -say that we need
a few Tom Paines today and that
we could all learn much from read-

hing “The. Crisis” in the glare of

today’s rockets and bursting bombs.

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