City College of New York - Microcosm Yearbook (New York, NY)

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Tin «-lass look ils firs! tentative steps. Klections for the « lass council made Robert van Sanlcn president, Joseph Brody, vice-president and ('lilT Sager secretary. The class sponsored a newspaper, the “Re- corder,” which was to In issued only once more till its reappearance as the “Jester in the senior year. Hut by far the most important event of the term for Us was our victory over the Sophomores in the annual Frosh-Soph activities. The Hag rush was a hilariously mad conflict. Jollies were ripped, shins barked, and the defeated Soph- omore- torn asunder. Joe Brody exceeded Shipwreck Kelly’s miracu- lous exploits, when lie clambered up the greased Hag-pole in nothing Hal, and “Chick Chaikin foiled the best detective efforts of Sophs by concealing the white Hag in his pants. Triumph in this final contest prov ided the w inning margin of one point. In September the second half of the class poured through the |mrtals of the College and filled what President Robinson once called “these cloistered halls. We elected Solomon Chaikin to the presi- dency; Amberg and Besansky occupied the offices of vice-president and secretary. The Recorder made ils last appearance, in printed form this time. The Minstrel Show was a completely “whacky suc- cess, as the audience joined in the fun. The boards of the Townsend Harris Hall stage resounded daily to tlu measured tread of students being trained in the waltz and the fox-trot. On December 7, Mr. Mortimer Karpp, then advisor to the freshmen class, introduced the House Plan idea at a free cigarette” smoker. mimeographed announcement outlined a House Plan modified” in that the Houses were intangible, and many became charter mem- bers. From this small beginning has developed the House Plan of today. While class affairs moved forward pleasantly, a feverish period of activity engrossed the attention of the entire student hotly. The fall semester began quietly enough. The chief items of interest were Presi- dent Robinson’s return from an incognito” voyage as a sailor” on a Norwegian freighter and Prof. Morris R. Cohen’s reappearance in the College halls after his sabbatical leave. Seventeen of the twenty-one students who had been expelled for their activities in the “Jingo Day celebration of 1933, marked by the famous incident of the Hailing umbrella, were reinstated. On the fifth of October the first spark of a roaring fire was ignited, when there appeared in the Campus a small news item to the effect V)

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The turbulent state of the world has been reflected on a small scale by a stirring series of events at the college. Free of the stultifying atmosphere of many scholastic institutions, eagerly aware of the external environment the students of City College have, through their | crsistenl efforts for reform both within and without the College, demonstrated the truth of the dictum that knowledge com| els to action. And yet this class has preserved the collegiate tradition. We have had our polities, our fun. our functions. The first half of the class entered the College in February of 1934. We went through hectic days that all freshmen must endure. Nervous and naked, we coughed and bent ten times, had our chests tapped and our blood-pressu re taken. We underwent a psychological test that asked us to fill in without thinking the space after “My stomach—.” W e waited in a long line to present our prayerfully marie programs to supercilious Phi 1 fetes who, their foreheads bulging with erudition, hojied to stun us with deliberately intoned “two triple epsilon” and “one double delta.” nd at last our college careers began. Hut events of far greater importance were occurring. That spring term saw the feverish activity of the first anti-war strike. On pril 13, eight hundred students gathered at a flagpole meeting, which w as led by the passionate, deep-voiced Kddie Alexander. The College authorities had previously declared such a meeting to lie illegal. The meeting was broken up by the intervention of aeling-Dean Morton I). Gottschall, who was aided by the fists of Sergeant Huccarelli of the Military Science Department and the police. s an aftermath of the flare-up, Alexander was drop| ed for an overcut in French. The athletic fortunes of the College took a decided upturn with the installation of the great Benny Friedman as football coach. A com- mittee, headed by the late Maurice Deiches, member of the Board of Trustees, guaranteed Friedman’s salary. AA cigliing in 8

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dial a group of touring Italian students were to appear at the freshman eliapei in the Great Hall. The Student Council planned a protest meeting anil sent a letter to President Robinson: this letter called for a cancellation of the official College welcome. On October two thousand students jammer I into the Great Hall. President Robinson's speech of welcome was greeted with boos and hisses by the College students, to which he replied with the angry remark that the conduct of the audience was “appropriate to gutter- snipe.” hen Kdwin Alexander, speaking as a representative of the Student Council, liegan with a message to the enslaved, tricked Italian students, laboring under Fascism, Professor Arhib-Costa attempted to drag him away from the microphone, while students roared out, la-t Alexander speak! The meeting broke up in con- fusion; it was immediately followed by another, held in lewisohn Stadium and attended by fifteen bundled protesting students. Events followed in quick succession. The conflict between students and the administration became intense. On October 11, the Student Council was sus|»eiided for its part in the activities. To this move the student body retaliated with an Oust Robinson' week; ei ght ecu students were arrested for picketing the President’s home. At the requst of Dr. Robin- son, the magistrate referred them to the College administration. The Faculty, at its next meeting, expelled twenty-two students, suspended four, and put twelve on probation. Shortly after the meeting, former Dean Redmond died of a heart attack, while traveling to his home. The Faculty’s disciplinary action was greeted with a deluge of protests. Fifteen hundred students massed on the campus and in Jasper Oval, and in jeering chorus burned a two- headed effigy of Mussolini and l)r. Robinson. ml then the Faculty reaffirmed its decision, refusing to yield to mass-pressure.” The Phi Itela Kappa chapter of the College passed resolutions urging the reinstatement of the Student Council and the disciplined students, and the removal as unfit to Ik the head of a lilicral institution’ of Presi- dent Robinson. Charter Dav group of Campus editors quit the staff in protest against the alleged censorship of the Campus Association and the resultant con- servatism of the newspaper. With the permission of the Faculty Committee on Student Affairs, they edited the Student, which was s|ionsored by the Student Council; its financial sup| ort was meager: its life was short. Affairs at the College quieted down with the advent of exam week. During the season the Beavers won four games and lost three. The Dram Soc presented The Last Mile. With the new semester and the Student Council elections, I-ester Rosner became president of the undergraduate governing body; Rob- ert Brown, vice-president; and Julian Lavitt, secretary'. A new class council was chosen: Jack London, president: Jack Besansky, vice- president; Marty Singer, secretary. In conjunct ion with similar groups from other colleges in New York State, the Student Council helped to block the passage of the super-patriotic Nunan-Devany bill, which 20