Harriet Lane '53 is elected Mid-Winter Ball Queen; Mary Ellen Dykstra '52 is elected Maid of Honor. Religion In Life week is set to open on Sunday, February 12 with an address from key-note speaker Rev. Miles DePagter. The Mermaid Players announce the commencement of production for a performance of Shakespeare's Tempest.
Reverends Miles DePagter and Alson J. Smith, as well as Professors Earl H. Furgeson and William R. Barnhart, are announced as the primary speakers during Religion in Life Week, scheduled for February 12 through the 16th. Bob Barron and his orchestra, "America's Favorite College Band," are hired to perform at the Mid-Winter Ball, scheduled for the following weekend. Gordon Baum, Richard Hicks, and Mary Ann Spence, members of the College Glee Club, are selected to represent Dickinson in the first post-war concert and forum of the Intercollegiate Choir of Pennsylvania.
The Dickinsonian elects John Shumaker '51 editor-in-chief for the 1950-51 academic year. The Sociology Department begins an extensive project to interview Carlisle residents, with over 70 Dickinson students taking part. The Bookstore announces that it will extend its hours during the beginning of the spring semester in order to accommodate the rush to buy textbooks. The Dickinson Follies hold tryouts, and dates are set for the Spring Formal, IFC Ball, and Pan-Hel Dance.
Boyd Lee Spahr, former President of the College and then-President of the Board of Trustees, donates funds to build a cupola atop South College. Track star Gil Dodds visits campus and speaks on his experiences. The Bridge Club is invited to compete against 300 other colleges in the National Intercollegiate Bridge Tournament. A Valentine's Day theme is set for the February 10 Mid-Winter Ball, as twelve female students compete for the title of Ball Queen.
The Board of Trustees meets in Philadelphia and okays plans to establish a College radio station, creating a Committee on Radio to handle the task. The Board also approves plans to enlarge the stage and dressing rooms at Metzger Hall, announces that progress on a new girls' dormitory will be made public soon, and establishes the Agnes Sterrett Woods Prize, to be awarded to the female student who submits the best short story or essay.
The student body rejects a plan to join the National Student's Association. Marguerite Chalufour, a leader of the French resistance movement during World War II, speaks on campus about her experiences. The College Choir holds a Christmastime concert in Bosler Hall. Patty Johnson '51 is elected secretary of the junior class.
The Mermaid Players' inaugural production, "Ladies of the Jury," is an enormous success, its final performance being given the night of this publication. The college decides that all seniors taking Comprehensive Exams will be exempt from final exams in their major departments. Phi Kappa Sigma is crowned champion of the '49 Inter-Fraternity Football League.
The Red Devils football team defeats Johns Hopkins 20-13 in the (somewhat rainy) Homecoming game, ending their season with a five-game winning streak. An estimated 4,000 spectators watched the game, and Homecoming Weekend is declared an overall success. Contemporary British poet Stephen Spender will visit campus on November 22. A performance by interpretive dancer Martha Graham is announced and scheduled for December 6. Sigma Alpha Epsilon is awarded first prize for its 3-D sculpture of a devil's head in the traditional inter-fraternity Homecoming display contest.
Over 1,000 alumni are expected to attend the weekend's Homecoming ceremonies. George Scott, Henry Gasull, Jr., Kay Gleim, and Anna Mae Hollis (all '53) are elected freshman class president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer, respectively. John Ressler '50 is elected editor of the newly-formed Dickinsonian photography Department. Professor Milton E. Flowers hosts an exhibition of Rembrandt reproductions in Bosler Hall. Attendance is strong at the November 10 recital by popular singer Dorothy Maynor.
Plans to unveil a memorial to the 47 Dickinson alumni killed in WWII are announced. The memorial tablet, sculpted by Hans Schuler, will hang in Memorial Hall next to the College's WWI memorial, also created by Schuler. Eighty students accept the constitution of the College Radio Club, further moving to establish what will eventually become WDCV. Howard Gale '36, a popular Central-Pennsylvanian bandleader and school favorite, is hired to perform at Homecoming.