1954

181st Commencement Exercises to be the first to be held outside, with seven to receive honorary degrees. New set of social rules instituted, Social Code updated. Debate Council ends their most active season on record. Inter-Fraternity Council announces rushing rules for the upcoming academic year. New system of deferred rushing for women requires rules change. Phi Psi's take I.F. All-Sports trophy. Golf team ends season 6-2 and wins the Little Three Golf Title for the first time in seven years, surpassing all previous records. Allison Memorial Methodist Church destroyed in fire.

Dickinson Summer School to open in June, first session since 1951. Prof. Pflaum presides over open hearing on new social rules. ROTC presents annual awards. Wheel and Chain to initiate eight for the '54-'55 academic year. Captain Kennedy, Assistant Professor of Military Science and Tactics, awarded the Bronze Star. Contemporary Cuban paintings on display in Art Gallery.

Dr. Goodrich C. White, president of Emory University to be commencement speaker. Eight honorary degrees to be conferred at commencement, three on graduates of Dickinson. Men's Glee Club to present concert featuring hit Broadway showtunes. Prof. John Steckbeck to go on tour addressing various groups over the summer. Plans for College Band include the possible formation of a concert dance band composed of members from the band.

Mermaid Players to give unique outdoor production of "The Taming of the Shrew". Student Senate elects officers for 1954-1955 school year. Glee Club to preview their concert on a nationwide radio program broadcasting from Harrisburg. College Band is disbanded for the remainder of the semester, hopes to resume next year. Dickinson Young Republican Club holds meeting to discuss reorganization after being inactive for almost a year.

ROTC to hold open house with other local civilian units. College Choir and Harrisburg Orchestra give Founders' Day concert. Dr. Karl T. Compton to receive Priestley Award for scientific achievement. Singer Marian Anderson receives Honorary Degree.

Revised social rules proposed, final action must still be taken by faculty and administration. Freshmen to stage performances of O'Neil's "The Long Voyage Home" and Saroyan's "Hello Out There". Renowned contralto Marian Anderson to receive honorary degree from the College.

The Dickinsonian's annual parody issue, the "Drinkinsonian".

Superior Court Judge Robert E. Woodside to speak at fourth annual ODK Leadership Dinner. Debate team ties for fourth place in State Tournament. DePauw University Choir and Juilliard String Quartet to present concerts on campus. Mary Dickinson Day to feature President Sarah Gibson Blanding of Vassar College as the guest of honor. Dean Ness interviewed, answers questions submitted to the Dickinsonian.

Inter-Fraternity Weekend opens. Faculty Auction raises $450 for the Student Sanatorium in Istanbul, Turkey. Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra to perform in Bosler Hall. Unofficial poll of College faculty reveals desire to abolish Saturday classes, administration now seeking student input. New Dickinson Viewbook, a pictorial representation of the College, to be released. College receives collection of rare documents from noted English poet and playwright John Drinkwater.

Fifth annual Follies production, "It's The Greatest", to be performed in the Carlisle High School Auditorium. Students to bid on faculty members at an auction to benefit the Student Sanatorium in Istanbul, Turkey. Dickinson Band to be divided into girls' and boys' sections, all female "pep band" to make their first appearance in the fall.

Religion-in-Life Week opens. Dr. Mary Elizabeth Burtis to deliver final Spahr lecture of the year. Two summer school sessions to be be held at the College. Benjamin Rush Chapter of Future Teachers of America to receive national charter. Faculty revises academic rating system, raises minimum academic standards. Dickinson Follies begins fifth season with "It's The Greatest".

Dr. Arthur Stanton Adams to speak at annual scholarship banquet. Annual Dickinson Follies to be performed. Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra to perform on campus. Mermaid Players to perform "The Cardiff Giant", marking their third major production of the academic year. Diverse group of speakers to participate in Religion-in-Life Week.

Mermaid Players to introduce new mobile box office system to travel between dorms, offering tickets at reduced price; wrap up their tour of Antigone with a final performance at Gettysburg College. President Edel announces that the Board of Trustees has approved the construction of three new college buildings on the Benjamin Rush Campus, including a student activities building, a men's dormitory, and a new science building. Prayer Chapel dedicated to honor former College president John Price Durbin.

Mermaid Players plan spring production of "The Cardiff Giant", first time in MP history that faculty members will appear alongside students in a stage production. MPs also present production of Antigone. President of Vassar College Dr. Sarah Gibson Blanding to speak during Women's Day events. Choir sings at Church Convention in Harrisburg. Agnes P. Drayer - wife of trustee Samuel M. Drayer - dies after lingering illness, new women's dormitory to be named in their honor. Queen to be crowned at Mid-Winter Ball. G.O.P. of Cumberland County to hold dinner in Alumni Gym.

Professor Bell to give the first Boyd Lee Spahr Lecture in Americana of the year, named assistant editor in the project of collecting all of the know information on Benjamin Franklin. College to start Summer School program. New joint student-faculty committee to discuss possible changes to the College's social rules. Mermaid Players to schedule tour to Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg Colleges.

Professor Whitfield J. Bell resigns. Omicron Delta Kappa and Pi Delta Epsilon, national honorary leadership fraternities, tap new members. Aquatic Club performs annual show. Adult Education Program to be extended into the spring. Dickinson resigns from the Eastern College Athletic Conference, efforts underway to make the College a member of the NCAA.

Five students from the Reserve Officers Training Corps receive the Distinguished Military Student recognition which will give them the same rank as a graduate of the United States Military Academy if and when they apply for commission in the army after graduation. Classes in painting and design will be offered next spring by a freelance artist affiliated with the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Cheltenham Art Center.

A member of the Biology Department, Dr. Elmer Herber, and one of his previous students, Howard Kline, are published in the 1954 edition of "Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Academy of Science" for their work with antibiotics. The Board of Trustees decides to allow seniors who do not meet their graduation requirements in time for their graduation to graduate as soon as they finish them instead of having to wait until the following June to do so. The Board also is looking into adding two more fraternities to campus to increase the strength of the fraternity program on campus.

The four women's fraternities on campus will be holding their winter dances this weekend to honor the senior girls. Zeta Tau Alpha will be holding a songfest next week to raise money for cerebral palsy and cerebral palsy awareness. The Student-Faculty Judicial Council is created by the administration, faculty and Student Senate to hear and decide student disciplinary problems. This is a step toward student self-governing and allows accused students to appeal to their peers in addition to administration and faulty.

The Mermaid Players announce their next production. "Our Town" will be performed December 1, 2 and 3 in Bosler Hall. The Aquatic Club is performing later this evening their interpretation of popular children's stories. The entire production is student produced from scenery and lights to costumes and publicity. The Alumni Council agreed to take action on athletic policies as requested by students in the previous issue of the Dickinsonian with the support of the Board of Trustees.

It is Homecoming Weekend and the 100 anniversary of the birth of John Philip Sousa. The halftime entertainment for the Homecoming Game will be a Sousa tribute highlighting some of his most famous marches with many piccolo solos and displays of national symbols. There will also be a pep rally Friday on Biddle Field for Homecoming, an alumni luncheon on Saturday afternoon and the dance later that night featuring a 12 piece band. There is a push for an alumni organization that will support the athletic program at Dickinson.

Class elections occur and fewer members of the freshman and sophomore class cast votes than anticipated. The Dickinsonian undergoes printing changes including being printed on new paper that will better highlight photographs. Homecoming weekend is next weekend, events including the alumni dinner, homecoming game and homecoming dance. The Union Philosophical Society will be hosting the Intercollegiate Conference on Government which will being about 200 delegates to Dickinson College to learn how the government operates.

The '55 Microcosm is being prepared so that it will be released by May 15. In addition to the usual content of senior portraits, family portraits, organizations, fraternities and sports articles, there will be a "features" section and a whole new layout. The Christian Service Project chapter of Dickinson College will headed to a few stops in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to teach Sunday School classes, attend worship services and participate in a panel for a Youth Fellowship meeting. Freshmen hazing nears its end with the introduction of a new group who controls hazing rules.

The Admissions Test for Graduate School in Business will be offered this coming year as more schools require it for entrance into their graduate programs. Irvine Smith, the Director of Debate at Dickinson, is elected Vice President of the Debating Association of Pennsylvania Colleges. There is a push to change the premise of Parents' Day to highlight the inner workings of a liberal arts college rather than simply have a schedule of events that shows what life is like at the college.

Rush ends and 126 freshmen men pledge fraternities including Alpha Chi Rho, Beta Theta Pi, Kappa Sigma, Phi Delta Theta, Phi Epsilon Pi, Phi Kappa Psi, Phi Kappa Sigma, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, Sigma Chi and Theta Chi. The Dickinson Law School begins to require all applicants for admission to take the Law School Admissions Test. The annual trip to the UN is scheduled for October 17 and 18 which will allow students to attend a General Assembly session. A new Methodist church is being built on Benjamin Rush Campus. Parents' Day will be observed on October 16.