Dickinson College

The Commons Club's furniture mysteriously disappears. The third Dickinson Horn Book will be published in the coming weeks. It's homecoming/alumni weekend! A group of girls fights to get a cheerleading squad for athletic contests.

The reorganization of the Harman Literary Society is decided by a group of seven female students interested in the furthering of a literary and discussion group. The Dickinson Dramatic Club selects "Charley's Aunt" for their first production of the academic year and will be shown December sixth. The Wilkie Club will be holding a debate against the College Democrats regarding the 1940 presidential race. Two faculty members and three seniors are elected to the Lambda Sigma Phi honorary scientific fraternity.

It’s the second annual Parents’ Weekend! Fifteen students meet to discuss their desire to start a Spanish Club on campus. Twenty students begin working with the Civil Aeronautics Authority to receive private pilot’s licenses. The Willkie Club of Dickinson College holds its first meeting as the republican counterpart to the Roosevelt Club. The 1940 Microcosm is placed in the top forty-five of all college yearbooks in the country as ranked by the National Scholastic Press Association. The honorary journalistic society Alpha Sigma Gamma initiates five new students into its ranks.

The passage of the Selective Service Act requires ninety-two of the colleges' four hundred and twelve male students and seven faculty members to register for the United States military. This is the first peace-time conscription in the history of the nation. Senior women prepare to move into a new dormitory called Hayes House, allowing them to leave Metzger Hall and the strict restrictions that come with living there. Two women enroll for the Civilian Pilot Training Program. The Freshman and Sophomore rules will both be enforced by a rebuilt Student Tribunal.

The Young People's Fellowship plans a hayride to disprove the rumors that they are a "stuffy" organization. The four women's fraternities pledge forty-three freshmen and transfer students. Dickinson is asked to take part in the Civilian Pilot Training Program which will allow students of the three older classes to learn to fly. 108 freshmen men and transfer students pledge to the twelve men's fraternities. Tau Delta Pi, the theater honorary fraternity, proposes the ambitious campaign of one-act plays. The remodel of the Bosler Memorial Library is nearly completed.

Doctor Gaylord H. Patterson, Professor Emeritus, dies at the age of 73. Bishop E.H. Hughes is announced as the year's Commencement speaker. Ten seniors are elected to join Pennsylvania's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa. Edwin E. Willoughby '22 donates a collection of rare books to the College, including a single page from the Kelmscott Chaucer.

Omicron Delta Kappa taps six juniors for membership. Union Philosophical Society, Belles Lettres, Wheel and Chain, and Lambda Sigma Pi (honorary scientific society) elect officers.

Dean M. Hoffman and Boyd Lee Spahr '00 address the College at the annual Founders' Day kickoff. Five of the original ten students taking flight classes from the Civil Aeronautics Authority receive recreational flying licenses, with the other five on track to earn them at a later date. W. Roberts Pedrick '40 is tapped as graduate assistant to the Biology department in light of the resignation of Elmer C. Herber, who is leaving campus to pursue a PhD at Johns Hopkins.

The Province Convention of Sigma Alpha Epsilon comes to Dickinson for the first time, with an expected attendance of nearly 200 delegates and alumni. Little Jack Little is announced as the entertainment at the annual Senior Prom. Skull and Key taps nine sophomores for membership, while Wheel and Chain picks eight juniors. The demolition of certain parts of Bosler Hall, now complete, reveals the location of a long-forgotten College cistern and unearths two lost pieces of administrative documentation.

Coach Richard MacAndrews breaks three ribs during an accident at a baseball practice. Dickinson is one of 33 colleges in Pennsylvania to attend the Intercollegiate Conference on Government in Harrisburg. The track team wins their first meet of the season against Blue Ridge.