Worcester Polytechnic Institute - Peddler Yearbook (Worcester, MA)

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The Sand Pit and-gray-clad athletes could muster but a tie in one contest, a well-played, hard-fought football battle with our colleagues in study from Troy, the home engineers showed up well in their 2-0 loss to Trinity and in their loss to Amherst. The fraternities added the element of undergraduate spirit with a fine assortment of Homecom¬ ing displays. Enthusiastic work had been carried on far into the early hours of Saturday morning, making up for the time lost during a week of rain. Climaxing the day’s activities was the Homecoming dance, highlighted by the awarding of the decoration trophy to SPE. The brightest highlight at the meeting of the Institute’s Board of Trustees on Homecoming day, and in fact of the year just past, was the election of Alvin Elmore Cor- meny of Haddonfield, New Jersey as the eighth president of Worcester Polytechnic Institute. The Worcester Ga¬ zette had this to say: Alvin E. Cormeny . . . will find that he comes here as more than the head of a famous school. The Polytechnic Institute was founded as a community institution and grew up as one. Worcester’s pride and interest in this fine school has never diminished . . . and its new President will find himself welcomed and supported by the Worces¬ ter community. President Cormeny appears to be highly qualified in a number of respects. As an engineer he understands the science which is the major subject at Worcester Tech. As a business administrator, he knows that an engineer’s education must extend beyond mere technology. The Institute is fortunate in finding a qualified presi¬ dent who is as young as Mr. Cormeny. For engineering, a science which deals with tomorrow’s devices, is well served by the kind of imagination that goes with young¬ mindedness. It is particularly appropriate, therefore that our school of engineering be placed under the charge of a man whose best years of inventiveness are still ahead of him. . . . The campus took on the appearance of a full fledged military base every Saturday morning as members of the Signal Corps branch of the ROTC went through their paces on the athletic field. The beginning of a program of cadet leadership training increased the interest in these Saturday morning drills and the basic principles of leadership and marching were well taught and exercised. No one could deny the ever increasing importance of the unit in the life of the college, as a country looked to its younger generation to form the backbone of a vast mili¬ tary potential. A new honor society came to Tech in the winter. Com¬ pany W, 8th regiment of the Pershing Rifles Society held its first inspection and initiation in the Janet Earle room. The society is to be composed of selected Signal Corps cadets, of the basic course senior ROTC unit, who have displayed exceptional ability for and interest in the military. The ever increasing need and use of young engineers by a great variety of industries and businesses had two effects on the Tech scene. First, this need was brought to the attention of high school boys of engineering caliber. This helped to raise the total enrollment to 730, of which more than a third were freshmen. The number of appli¬ cations this year went up to 696 as compared with 423 of last year. Tornado Page Jwelve

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The fury of freshman-sophomore competition brought serious concern to the administration. “Endowed insti¬ tutions such as this are at the crossroads of whether they continue to operate as in the past,” said acting President Roys. “Students tend not to notice the changes, scholastic and social, that occur in them while in college, but other people do, and it is the aim of the school to shape a stu¬ dent’s development and guide those changes in the right direction.” Worried about the property damage and pos¬ sible personal damage which was caused by Goat’s Head rivalry, the Dean called for a return to “A high level of ideals and a seriousness of purpose.” The General Excellence Trophy was awarded to A.T.O., who won the honor for the second year in a row. P.G.D., by bringing their average up 1.38 points, won the scholas¬ tic improvement prize while A.T.O. was first scholasti¬ cally and A.E.PI. second. The return of the scholastic improvement prize, a replica of Rodin’s Thinker, was a memorable occasion and reopened the competition which was originally started in 1916. The Tech Council announced its fall budget and the alarming figure of 77% of the students activity tax going A civil ' s dream come true to the athletic fund was table talk for several days. Con¬ troller Knowles stated that it seemed apparent that the Student Activity tax must be increased in the next year. The rope pull, benefiting from the experie nce of the past years and a set of strict rules with regard to partici¬ pation set down by the Tech Council, was an outstanding event. The foreboding water was to play host to the sophomore class. The tuxedo clad leader of the ’56 group lead the game group through the muck and mire after a brief but spirited struggle. Coach Bob Pritchard’s gridiron warriors operating under the new limited substitution rules found the going rough. Mainly because of a green team which came along gradually, reaching some high spots and also dipping to a few lows, and because of unexpected injuries, some of the brightest grid stars were kept out of the line up for the major part of the season. The new men made mis¬ takes common to all newcomers, and against strong teams this made the difference between victory and defeat. However, it was a satisfactory season of two wins, three losses and one tie. Perhaps the outstanding upset in many a year for Tech was the defeat which Coast Guard suf¬ fered at the hands of the Pritchardmen. The pre-game pep rally and bonfire on October 31 will be a memorable event for Tech men for many moons to come. To those hearties who made the snake-like trip through the streets of Worcester, expressing with cer¬ tainty to all of the populus just who was going to beat RPI, that evening will be especially memorable. Homecoming day, with the full cooperation of Mother Nature, proved to be the usual big success. Highlighting the day’s activities were three athletic contests—a cross country meet with Amherst, a soccer game with Trinity, and most popular on the program, the home coming foot¬ ball game with arch rivals R.P.I. Although our Crimson- If ' atch by night Page SJeven

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The Head The second effect that the increasing demand for engi¬ neers had on the Tech campus, was the increased activity of the placement office. Senior placement activity began as early as last spring, continuing through the summer, and found all dates on the school calendar filled with interview assignments. The record number of 225 com¬ panies whose representatives interviewed last year’s sen¬ iors was exceeded. Salary offers ranged from S3,500 to S5,000 with a slight rise in the average starting pay from S4,100 to S4,200. The much needed structural alterations in the Alumni Gymnasium, financed in part by the Alumni Association, were finally finished. They included such important items as a new trophy display area, visitors’ locker room, and laundry facilities. The main corridor on the first floor now doubles as a display area for the trophies. Cabinets built into the walls for this purpose afford a view to the visitors upon entry. The old trophy room no longer ex¬ ists as such, but now doubles for a visitors’ locker room as well as providing storage room for athletic equipment in a separate adjoining room. The change which will be most appreciated by the fairer sex is the installation of a brand new powder room on the second floor of the gym. The Christmas season in Worcester was marked by the traditional decorations, last minute shopping, and the inevitable round of hour exams just before vacation time. The fraternities all held their annual orphan Christmas parties and this, coupled with the Christmas assembly, ably staffed by the joint glee clubs of Becker and Tech, was a fitting send-off for the holiday season. The New Year brought some new ideas about campus publications. A new Tech News staff gave the campus an enlarged, more interesting newspaper. With the support and encouragement of President-elect Cormeny’s desire to see a free expression of student opinion, the News began a program of careful reporting of student opinions on controversial campus matters. The Peddler staff began making its new ideas about publications also noticed and the slogan ‘More in ’54’ became a by-word around cam¬ pus. earn. party Page Thirteen