George Washington University - Cherry Tree Yearbook (Washington, DC)

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COMING Around the end of fall, G. W. begins to ac- quire a festival atmosphere and abandons itself to the gaiety and bustle of Homecoming. Frater- nities feverishly decorate their house fronts, riot- ous pep rallies are held, worried, harrassed com- mittee members rush around, and the dimpled darlings of campus organizations are nominated with hopes and prayers for the cherished throne of the year ' s Homecoming Sweetheart. Daily the competition of sororities grows fiercer and more determined as polls are set up in the Student Club and the Schools of Law and Medicine. The 1940 Homecoming program included a tea held at Strong Hall for the nervous candi- dates and the beaming alumni who come into their own at Homecoming. An innovation was the torchlight parade down Constitution Avenue Friday night ending in a rally at the Washington Hotel. Then came the momentous day and the Homecoming game with thousands packed into Griffith Stadium, cheering on the Colonial eleven against Bucknell, laughing at the entertainment between the halves, applauding the award to the most outstanding alumnus. But, however fever- ish the excitement at the game may have been, it approached a near frenzy of suspense at the dazzling climax, the Homecoming Ball. Applause greeted each candidate as she and her escort strolled in a spotlight the length of the ballroom to the raised throne where Caroline Wadden, 1 939’s Sweetheart, presided, and the hush of hundreds was broken by the sight of red-headed Betty Stevenson and Mary Ellen Degnan smilingly accepting huge bouquets and second and third place honors. Then the spectators paid thunder- ous tribute as radiant Anne Thomas was crowned George Washington ' s 1940 Sweetheart. The Homecoming celebration was brought to a close on Sunday with Mortar Board ' s breakfast for its alumni and the Riding Club ' s annual Horse Show.

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Who in the hell got my tuxedo? Put twenty-five boys together in a house — a row house, an ex-embassy, a modern dwelling in Arlington — let them help finance it, repair it, paint, run the kitchen, hire the help; let them govern themselves, set their own moral standards, create their own conventions, keep their own codes of honor; let them fight, work, play, make love, hate and drink together — and you’ve got a fraternity. Of course you may get communism too (as the familiar quotaion at top indicates), not to speak of socialism, capitalism and anarchy. But, above all, you will get democracy. No debate on the Senate floor was ever more bitter than a chapter meeting squabble over whether quiet hour should be 8 to II or 9 to 12; no king’s coronation was ever more solemn than an awestruck freshman ' s formal initiation; no Byronic love scene ever more passionately done than a brother pinning his first girl. At this University, where the boys hail from all parts of the country, where so many work and attend night classes, the house becomes a home, the fraternal bonds become deep as fam- ily ties. The local brothers, too, contribute much to fraternity life, to its society and leadership. But. it is in the house that the group is welded together, and character is molded. Yes — it ' s a great life for the brothers, rough on the pledges, and fascinating to the girls (we hope). But it has its little disadvantages: Say — who DID ' borrow ' my tux last?