2

‘Page Two COLLEGE NEWS

December 11, 1964



- THE COLLEGE NEWS
Subscription $3.75 — Mailing price $5.00—Subscriptions may begin at any time,

the bry yt ch 3, uA matter gh roph aged 45 ng ee —
ct of March 3, plication for re-entry a e Bryn Mawr, Pa Pos
Office filed October 151.1963, ‘ ,

a; based Class Postage paid at Bryn Mawr, Pa.

FOUNDED IN 1914
Published weckly during the College Year (except during Thank:
fiving. Christ avitays; and-during examination weeks’
the interest of Bryn | Mawr College at the Regional Printing Com.
pany, Inc, Bryn Mawr. Pa., and Bryn Mawr Collcge.
. The be repr News is fully. protected by copyright. Nothing that appears in
ee may be reprinted wholly..or in part without per. nussion of the Editor-in-Chief.

By Robin Johnson

The required all-College meet-
ing en the library situation stimu-

EDITORIAL BOARD lated a number of ideas about the.







Editor-in-Chiet Pe ,
savor Editor cic Atma. Leeret. n, = library problem and ‘about the way
Managing Editor Lynne Lackenbach, 766 "66 the student organizations are liand-







Pam Barald, P| _ ding it, according to Undergrad /

Karén Durbin, 66 "Vice-President Gill Bunshaft. {
"65 and Peggy, Wilber, ‘S : ‘

Jean Howarth, ‘65 and stephie Wenk Opinions seemed. to range, into

ary Wolfe, 168

“three categories: unfavorable,

characterizing the meeting as a

‘ridiculous w':sie of time,’’ ex-

* plaining nothing new and aimed at



ears, seilixeiensinieads
Contributing GOP ......0nsss sce, Margery Aronson,

Business ManagePs ................cccccecceee.
Subscription-Circulation Manager

At AeeneOE Peewee een enereseeeneseees SAbeneeeeeeseneeteresapes

EDITQRIAL STAPF

Charlotte Huntley, °66, Edna Perkins, '64, }:ilar Richardsn, °66, Jane
Walton, °66, Sally Carson, °67, Suzanne Fedunok, '67, Kren Kobler, °67,
» Susan Klaus, '67, Leura Krugman, '67, Marilyn Williams, '67, Jane Wolman,
’ Kit Bakke, '68, Laurie Deutsch, '68, Ginny Gerhart, '68, Erica Hahn, ’68,
Nanette Holben, °68, Robin Johnson, *68, Jeanne La Sala, '68, Mary. Little, 68,
Andrea Lurie, '68, Barbara Mann, 68, Darl qnePreisaler, °68,.Marion Scoon, ’68,
Roberta Smith, °68, Peggy Thomas, '68, Jacqueline einen °68, Stone!
Winsby, ’68, Carol Garten. 68, Marcia Younm, "68 :

_A Dearth

idea.of the meeting but pessimstic
about its results; and completely



meeting as the only thing the stu-

* under the circumstances,
Obviously. the meeting has had
some impact in making more
» people aware of misuse. of. the

Gonsider these facts:

1, Last year the Review published term papers in order to represent

the best writing of Bryn Mawr students and also to fill its pages. Al-
. though the situation is.slightly better this year, the editors have no more
than an ‘‘adequate” supply of material from which to compite their in recent years, aad those .who
magazine. ~ attended the meeting-or were fined

2, The incipient student art show is having a hard time getting started $1.00-must have been aware of the
because of a dearth of contributions. importance of the library problem.

3. It is a frequent complaint here that students don’t talk ‘enough in
class, even in small discussion groups,

~ Mawr students has. pdt been held

Probably the most frequent com-
plaint about the. meeting, however,

was that it was. not: conducted
forcefiflly eno, 50 as to present
a much stronger picture of the ex-

tent of the problem and to com-
municate its seriousness to the
actual offenders. Also it did not
seem to be decisive: no action
was taken, and many abuses of

The implication is obvious and disturbing: there is a lack of original
contribution on the part of Bryn Mawr students, Explaining the jlack is
not: so easy -- it would be convenient: to call it ohio but not really
very accurate.

The problem appears, rather, to be rooted in two misconceptions
common to a fair majority of Bryn Mawr students, The first places too
great a premium on assimilating knowledge, the rfght knowledge, the

the wrong people; favorable to the

favorable, seeing the -all-College.

dent organizations could have done .

Hbrary. Such a meeting of all Bryn”

and then scattering books all over
the reading rooms:so that librar-
ians can hardly find time to shelve
_them all-were not mentioned.

) In other years the Reserve Room.
Nas been locked up to make stu-
dents change their inconsiderate
attitudes;‘ the meeting seems to
have been an attempt at changing

‘ attitudes less drastically and‘more

seriously.

People with different opinions of
the meeting itself emphasize that
only, the individual students acting
on, their own responsibilities can
‘improve conditions in the library.
An obvious point is the fact that
an academic institution like Bryn
Mawr cannot survive without some
kind of System whereby books can

Complaints About Library eee
‘Not Forceful Enough,’ ‘Indecisive’

a the dibrary-like eating over abook, “be made available to those who

_. need them. Gill Bunshaft said that

abusing this system is in effect
*tdenying the whole point of your
being here.’’ She also mentioned
that Bryn Mawr’s open-stack
system is a rare privilege which
might be taken away. Arts Council
President Diana Hamilton called
the present library rules ‘‘perfect-
ly adequate, It is the students
‘who are inadequate’’ in following
them. The library meeting’ was
aimed at-changing these. attitudes;
and when enough respect is de-
veloped toward the library and
enough interest in its mainte-
nance so that freshmen on library
tours will see something other than
a disorganized, sloppy place popu=
lated by carless people, the meet-
ing will have fulfilled its purpose.

_ BMC Visitor Registers Plaint
~ For Library Peace and Quiet

*. By H. Richard Howland

We entered the main reading
room of the library by subterfuge.
I became, for the occasion, an

: instructor from. Haverford;.. the
. guard, who until

identity was announced, had re-
garded me with a cocked eye, said
*¢Sir’? upon our departure,

Having soothed Cerebus, we
passed through the portals to the
Hades that might havé been at one



important concepts -- all at the expense of original thought. Many
students seem to feel that most class discussion is a waste of time,
since the professor knows more about the subject anyway and can say
it faster. The second, and perhaps more important, assumption is
that if you can’t be great, or deep, or brilliant, don’t bother. This is a.
stifling and pretentious idea, and fosters silence, A student is reluctant pear Editor: :

to offer original ideas in class; for fear that they may be inaccurate and Miss Penny Milbouer, °67, has
. @xpose some ignorance or lack of perception, Inthe same way, a student. commented on the poor acoustics
may-be reluctant to contribute original work toan art’show or a literary jn Goodhart Hall, She is entirely.
magazine. justified.

Does it really matter if such work is not brilliant or deep or great? My husband and I came to visit,
Aftet all, it just might be interesting, or enjoyable, or rather good, Like Our Bryh Mawr daughter, and. saw
the independent, original idea in. the classroom, it has a value in its ° ‘Antony and Cleopatra.” I had not
existence as the product of true mental activity and the only possible Seen a college production since my
beginning of the development toward ‘‘greatness.’’ It’s time that more OWn days at Smith, and I had

of us put aside pretension and diffidence. We ourselves are not “‘finished forgotten how good they can be.
products;’’ why then should we expect our creative efforts to be? In this one, the enthusiasm and
o ai

>

was combined with a large
The Exam Schedule ; doy *



Hear Here?

measure of professional skill. It
should have been an unusually
satisfying evening, It wasn’t.

How can you enjoy Shakespeare
when you cannot understand the ,

No, Virginia, it doesn’t come after the turkey any more. We know it~ lines? ‘The acters’ words seemed

used to. But many things once were that are no more, May Day used to



come with oxen, for instance,’and now comes with fewer and fewer may-
poles. Don’t you even believe in progress?

No, we don’t know what happened to it. Blank bulletin boards are singu-
larly uncommunicative; we don’t know computerese and won’t until
_there’s some decent poetry in it--and it seems, even to us, in poor -
taste to ask, exam period after exam period, “where is the.exam sche-
dule? ' How can we study efficiently over Christmas vacation without an
exam schedule? We ‘mean, if we have exams in Twentieth Century history.
and Medieval Art on the first Tuesday of exams and three papers due on
the last day of classes ... granted it doesn’t seem at all traumatic on.
paper, but it’s different when you somehow have to get all that done. ae
and end, as usual with a plea for a posted exam: ‘schedule. Pleas and.
arguments grow tedious, perhaps humorous, with repetition. What after
' all is ‘this exam schedule that six hundred of us (a conservative esti-
mate allowing for our celebrated individualism) wait so eagerly and
‘curse if it comies too late or if the almost seca ara lists of words secrets bound.in silent hearts.

are a ada order? . at the end of his lecture he .

writing the paper and stasis for the: exam ‘are e often the two passed the harp to the ‘inner circle
_ ‘most valuable -- and difficult -- parts of a course. Atightexam schedule of his- curious but.reluctant au-
and five or more papers. in a semester require organization of time
from the beginning of December until the last exam. This organization
is difficult without the exam schedule, and we ‘plead, once again, for

early posting.

Freedom For and Against -

Freedom of expression has had a bad time of it this month, First it
was the University of California’s curtailing of student political activity,
definitely a bad thing. This limitation of speech and action has drawn

~ eries of protest from most national student organizations and press:
agencies, To their protests THE NEWS, along with Undergrad and Social
‘Action Club, adds its endorsement: of student academic and political "ments of being one with it, hina

. freedom. to say, ‘‘oh, yes, i held a copy
And now it’s poor Mr. Rudnytsky. Just as ‘the Berkeley inners of-an anglo-saxon harp once...”
presently the focus of our generation’s desire for freedom of speech, 1 watched the expressions change
so is Mr. Rudnytsky the focus of the older generation’s quiet prayersfor as the harp passed until it went
freedom from. tboogie-woogie music.’’ Both Geers our ‘notice and back to its case and then i flew out
sympathy. ‘ the wingem, ae the Sate



applebee

i have always thought of myself
as more romantic than heroic, one
cannot, however, throw the anglo-
.” Saxons, so to speak, out the win-
dow simply because ofa difference

self last week . listening to the
surprisingly. jinrikisha-like
Strains of the sutton hoo harp _
plucked by a tall man with glasses
-and a straight nose who talked
about ‘archaeology and polyphony

gingerly -- mead halls are so far
removed. from-goodhart -- except
for two or three who lost them-
selves in it and forgot the world
and, unknown to the rest of the
*room joined the stream of min-
strels who once had played the
harp «+. Only they and the string-
sand light brown wood and i who
watched existed and then they. .
passed the harp.on, to remember,
. but never to explain the few mo-

in temperament, and i found-my--—

and :sang about spear danes and.

dience. . they fingered the thing

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

to be caught between the ribs of
‘that beautiful ceiling and bounced
back in unrecognizable form, After
the intermission we moved for-
ward from the middle of the room
to. about the fifth row, on the side.
From there we could understand
fairly well, but some’ of the scenes
on left stage we could not see.

: Miss Milbouer suggests a P.A,
_System.. This would be fine for
lectures; in. fact, I.think it would
be’ indispensable. However, when
a microphone is_ interposed
between an actor and his. audi-
ence, something is lost. It isn’t
quite the same.

She also said that the staging

- was careless, I disagree, A di-

rector can produce telling effects
by turning his actors’ backs to
the audience. If they must face
down stage at all times in order
to make themselves understood,
the production will be rigid,
even crude, What is more, if all
the important scenes must
be played near the center of the
stage. because of poor sight lines,
the action will be seriously
cramped,

Goodhart Hall, a magnificent

‘building, does not seem to me,

- Suitable for dramatic productions
in’ any event. A play that was
less then monumental would be

’ . dwarfed in that auditorium. Heaven

help a light comedy! (I hope the
talented students of Bryn Mawr
and Haverford do produce light
comedies occasionally),

We were told that there is an
auditorium at Haverford, but that
it is not very big, This might not
be a disadvantage. A small, packed
house is better than a huge, half-
filled hall, particularly when
everyone in the small house can
see and hear, If an extra per-
formance were necessary, this
would probably be a delightful
kind of nuisance to those involved.

Maybe that isn’t the answer,
I’ am a neW Bryn Mawr mother
and I~* don’t know very much.
However, I do know that if another
production of ‘‘Antony and Cle-
opatra’’ ’s caliber should be half-
wasted because of technical dif-
ficulties, it would be a. “—_
shame.

: Sincerely yours,

Mary B. Dillard

F oe #53 Pa

my assumed >

* time an. eighth. century Italian
church, The walls rise vertically,
interrupted by windows that appear.
early Gothic. The ceiling is in
keeping with the tradition of a .
slightly slanted roof with visible —
cross-bracing. In some misguided
effort to dispel the gloominess,
or perhaps to reflect supplicants’
thoughts back down upon them,
someone had painted intricate
figures, in gold on the bracing,
and in red on the underside of the
roof. It being past 10 p.m., the
transept had been blocked off leav-
ing the nave only. The supplicants
of learning have, instead of kneel-
ing pads, individual cubicles open
on three sides; there is, ofcourse,
ho altar.

The library is intended to be a
quiet oasis of contemplation. We
tiptoed as softly as possible onthe
hard wooden floor to find two ad-
jacent cubicles, After settling our-
selves into niches, we wondered
what shriné of concentration was
being guarded. The fellow to my
right began to rock in his chair
with an amplitude of less than
one inch; the small squeal emitted

. sped the length of the. corridor,

rebounded from the end walls, and .
returned at precisely the same
time as the reflection from the
slanted sides of the roof focused
upon a point not far from my left
ear, The originally small. squeal
sounded like a truckload of pigs
being driven at high speed over a

. bumpy country road, And as the
repeated rocking movion built into

a periodic function of rising and
falling bombardments of squeal-
ing, I imagined whole fleets of
hog-carriers converging in one
continuous wreck near my left ear.
I tried to ignore it and concen-
trate on the superfluous assign-
ment staring up at me,

Then someone finished studying
and arose, first turning the light-

. switch, which reverberated like a
pistol-shot, next gathering-up her
books, not forgetting. to drop one.

Local seismographs quivered, A
girl near the 6levée, evidently
caught in the’cloud of dust blown
up by the fallen book, began to
cough, The rest of the people
swiveled their chairs about to see .
what had caused the disturance,
and in doing so generated a mass
‘screech that would have done jus-
tice to flocks: of owls perched on
the edge of my cell. This pan-
demonium caused five others to
arise and leave; on the hard wood-
en floors one might. have thought a
buffalo stampede in process, _

-In their successive order the
girl stopped coughing, the swivel-
ing ceased, the stampede passed
away, and now while the long- |
fading echoes of those bang back
and forth from wall to wall and
ceiling and floor, I contemplate
murder most, foul on man to
my right whose amplitude has in-
creased (0.008 teh. | oe ;

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