THE SAL EMITE
March 9, 195]
OfUH4J04^
After close examination of the series of edi
torials in the last three issues of the Salemite,
there are a number of conclusions to be drawn
and compromises to accept. Ihe following
opinions are not thos(' of a few girls on^ cam
pus, but a more representative number. These
opinions were voiced through open discussions
on this subject of what Salem is, should be,
or shouldn't be.
College life is a tremendous leap from the
previous life to which we, as freshmen,^ have
been aci'ustomed. Before we came to Salem,
thought a great deal about the future and
what we wanted to do with our college edu
cation when we had completed our four years.
Kaidi girl has a certain ambition which she
wish(‘s to work toward and eventually achieve.
She chose Salem as a place to help her reach
her desired goal. For, after all, one couldn’t
(‘xpect evei-ything to come after four short
ymirs in any educational institution. A per
son has to be able to apply what he learns
to his own individual character. No school,
no matter how large, can possibly offer a
perfect coui'se in every field. Happiness and
contentment are achieved through adjust
ment ; therefore, those who make the adjust
ment will be haptiy and content, and those
who cannot make the adjustment will be un-
ha|)))V and discontented.
From our presimce in these various open
discussions on this subject, we have gathered
that every individual has her own convictions.
Therefore, quite obviously, each individual
will stand by her own opinions. To continue
arguments siudi as those which have been
going on would be pointless, since it would
virtually end in a dead-lock. Bo we want a
fight, or do we want a better school? Each
jicrson should have open-mindedness enough
to listen to all sides of the discussion; intelli-
g('nce enough to sort the good ideas from the
bad; and perseverance enough to put the good
ideas into practice. For, after all, any school
is what the students make it. We don’t want
to tear down the “i\*led'-walls.” We want to
make them a firm foundation for our later
Helen Ridgeway
Phvllis Forrest
3bea4> . . .
This editorial is intended as an introduction
to OIK' which is more specific fo be written
next week.
The basis for all regard must be trust and
admiration and res])ect—each of which is a
counterpart of the other. Regard in itself is
flexibh', as it can appear in more than one
form. This form can be love, it can be friend
ship, but it must always result in devotion;
not devotion through a blind and lazy faith
which really loves only security, but rather a
reasonable faith—one which looks at all the
aspects of the object of esteem and wholly
realizes its intrinsic worth. The object may
be a religion; it may be a person; it may be
a group of persons; or it may be an institu
tion, which is a group of persons plus a work
ing dogma—the heart, soul, mind and person
ality which guides the corresponding qualities
of the persons who reside within the walls of
the institution. This dogma may be a work
ing oire; it may be fundamental, universal and
immutable in its utter honesty, bnt it must
not be static and hence stagnant.
There are a few basic principles of life
which God Himself gave to us through Moses.
These are unchangeable. If they are followed
in their very facet and with true devotion,
the problems which perpetually present them
selves will unfailingly be solved, for these
basic elements are limitless, timeless and in
fallible in their applicability. Petty grievan
ces and concerns will vanish, life will lose
its tarnish, enuni and dispair will become
impossible.
Put what of these petty grievances which
spring inevitably from petty causes? They
seem to be (juite prevalent in the world, they
ovc'rrun us, blotting ont the matters of real
significance; small, insidious practices and at
titudes—cozening and impune. We might
localize them to our microcosmography of
Salem and scrutinize without bias. Reform
the world ? It’s best to start at home.
Where are these attitudes and practices?
They are everywhere: they are in our hand
book, they are in our faculty, they are in our
student body, they are in our dining hall.
(Continued on page three)
Fitzgerald Considered
By Pax Davis
It does his memory little service,
I suspect, that this winter America
has gone a little l)ug-eyed on the
life, misfortunes ami — but only
slightly—the work of F. Scott Fitz
gerald, the author of “The Great
Gatshy,” “Tender Is The Night”
and a handful of the best short
stories of this century. Fitzgerald,
as we can see at last, was a major
American artist. But the best
seller lists suggest that our interest
centers on the corruption and tra
gedy of his life rather than on the
singing triumph of his best work.
And though even by this we pay
him a sort of homage, our belated
obsession with his downfall sug
gests that we really see little more
still than the surface aspects of his
corrosive genius. Arthur Mizen-
er’s fine biography, “The Far Side
of Paradise,” should set the record
straight, but it has produced, in
stead, a mad scramble after gossip
column morsels and warmed-over
dirt. By the same token, Budd
Schulberg’s grand novel, “The Dis
enchanted,” has been gobbled up
as the tabloid version of Fitzger
ald’s sad and bitter life, rather
than what it really is: a major ef
fort by a novelist to dramatize the
workings of another novelist’s mind
and the pressures which pervert
that working in America.
.And it need not be so. For the
story Mizener tells, and the per
ceptions he brings to the Fitzger
ald work, ought to help us gain a
cletirer picture of the novelist’s con
tribution to American letters. It
is, of course, a pathetic story.
Fitzgerald, blessed with the beauty
of a collar-add and the grace, talent
charm and wit of a young Prome
theus, seemed destined for the sort
of triumph only Hollywood could
imagine; and yet he plummeted,
almost from the first day of his
success, to failure, both in art and
life, with so headlong a fury that
those who watched it are still, 2a
years later, a little breathless. Dis
sipation, a mad wife and an ex-
travagent desire to live up to his
sudden fame perhaps played major
parts in his tragedy, but, as Miz
ener makes clear, it was the
“spoiled priest” in Fitzgerald which
lav back of his ultimate destruc-
tiOT. Unable to resist the impulse
toward what he thought glamorous
living', yet at the same time un
willing to accord that acquiescence
the sanction of approval, he lived
in a constant tension between in
dulgence and self-reproach. This
was misery, and as Mizener’s bio
graphy shows, misery of the most
painful sort.
And yet, it was not quite a com
plete failure. Though this con
stant inner struggle proved Fitz
gerald’s destruction, it strangely
led to the production of a bril
liant, if limited, body of work.
“The Great G a t s b y,” his first
really first-rate novel, has a purity
of form and grace of execution
that could only have resulted from
a crystalline conception. Brief,
swift and epigrammatically com
pelling, it objectifies just those im
pulses in Fitzgerald which never
granted him relief.
“Tender Is The Night,” though
(Continued on page six)
A Professor’s Notes
Notes From An Instruetor’s Memo Pad
March 2, Memo from Salemite:
“Faculty are complacent, irrespon
sible.”
Cost of living (1950-51) up 20%
Wages for laborers, equivalent
increase
Our take-home pay, down 5%
Countermeasures; Since savings
now depleted and home fully
mortgaged, no recourse here. But
husbands work in summer, wives
during academic year. Mrs.
intends to peddle perfume on the
streets next year. Remind wife
to stop at Bakery for sale of
broken cookies and stale bread.
Investigate savings on mouldy
bread.
.March 3. Memo: “Salem has small
classes, allowing close relation
ship between faculty and stu
dents.”
Normal elsewhere: 3 classes, 2
committees
Normal here: 4 classes, 4 com
mittees
Maximum here: 7 classes, 9 com
mittees
-Also expected to handle depart
mental correspondence, cut sten
cils, etc,
March 4. Memo: “The value of a
college is measured by the ex
cellence and prestige of its
faculty.”
Grants available for research or
attendance at professional meet
ings : none.
Opportunity for study: none, ex
cept during summer. But see note
March 2.
Inducement for research:
Elsewhere: 12 months sabbatical
leave, with pay, every 7th year.
Here: leave without pay, a gen
erous offer which none can af
ford to accept.
Inducement for continued resi
dence :
Elsewh’ere: free tuition for wife
and children.
Here: full tuition charged, even
for wife auditing husband’s
course.
March 5. Projects now underway
for a “greater Salem.”
Plant: new heating installation,
redecoration throughout, sumpt-
our friendship suite, science build
ing with terrazzo floors, rumpus
rooms with elaborate flourescent
lights.
Faculty: ??? Perhaps we should
adopt the mottoes “Labor is its
own reward” and “Money is the
root of all evil. Must convince
wife of this.
March 6.
Wife enthusiastic. Assume com
placent, carefree attitude and re
commend mottoes to students
On way home check stores for
sales of leftovers,
March 7.
Attend faculty meeting, assume
professorial air, and listen to dis
course on “Our Philosophy of
Education at Salem,” Offer a
few profound remarks.
I Am Afraid
Editor’s Note:
This week’s editor is Lee Rosenbloom. Next
week’s issue will be the last one edited by
this year’s staff.
By Catherine Bircicel
I am afraid—
I am afraid in reading news
papers, in listening to speeches. I
am afraid of those men dressed in
white, who claim aloud, “Look at
those dressed in black; they are
wrong—And those dressed in blue,
in red—They are wrong also”.
Black, blue, red are w r o n g—
White is the only right color—
I am afraid ,of those who con
demn.
Each man strives for his ideal
in his own way. Truth is a mys-
erious book. Who can pretend
that he only reads right ?
The other civilizations—we con
demn them in the name of insuf
ficiency of their religions—
But look—In our country, during
the last twenty centuries, you
could easily find equal blemishes.
Fanatic Christians condemn other
religions. They forget—the con
quest of Africa by France through
By A Faculty Member
I am not going to use any commas. I will
use periods but I will not use commafe. Not
that I do not respect them—I do. Actually
I’m awed by them. I am awed by many
things—transitional phrases unity coherence
emphasis metaphors which aren’t mixed
phrases which aren’t trite participles which
don’t dangle. One thinks one wants to write
then one teaches freshman composition. And
one learns how involved is a sentence how in
volved is a thought. One becomes too nega
tive don’t use a comma here don’t say ‘won
derful.’ And. then one tries to be positive
(with other people’s waiting). One quotes
Sidney: ‘Look into your heart and write.’
Then "one Sunday one looks into one’s own
heart and finds that THE CRITIC sits on the
used-to-be-geimine-leather-but-is-now-recovered
-in-plastic throne where one’s ’shaping spirit
of imagination’ was—should have been—ought
to be.
And that is why I will not use commas.
I think first of "freshmen. Large round eyes
and open mouths. ‘And where are you going
my pretty maid?’ Some say ‘Nowhere’ and
they mean it. Some say ‘Nowhere’ and don’t
mean it. Some say ‘I wish I knew’—others
‘You tell me’-or ‘Where is there to go?’
And they all tell you about the English
teacher they had their senior year in high
school. ‘Wonderful’ ‘Inspiring’ ‘the BEST!’
Then they look at me. I smile because 1 now
know all good English teachers" are not in
colleges or universities—they all teach English ’
to seniors in high schools everywhere. :
Then I remind them that they are not like L
anyone else. That they are themselves, 'riiat
they should write about themselves. And so
they write about themselves and it sounds
like everybody else.
So I ask them to read. They do. ‘What
do you think?’ I ask. They reply ‘My Sunday
School teacher never said this.’ And they re
gard you strangely with their large eyes.
I speak to the sophomores. They avidly
record every word I say. They do not have
wide eyes. They have half-lidded eyes-1
guarded expressions. I do not ask them where |, .
they are going. They so obviously know, p :
And they know’ me too. They write exami-;
nation papers designed to please me. Thej| '
are wuse in the wmys of getting ahead they I
half-humorously tolerate my enthusiasm for|'
Shelleys and William Blake and Jonathan (
Swift.
I have not made up my mind about juniors| '
so I wull pass over them. p,
And go to the sated seniors. ‘They havip
been talked at for four years and they ar(|
tired— Some of them knit long sox witli ■
mature fingers. A flash from their left hands ■
with every stitch. They regard me if they;
regard me at all with benign eyes which
‘You don’t have a ring on your finger and if'
you have bells on your toes you are immoral
Others psychoanalyze you as you t e a c h-j.
Others are absent—in one way or another. [
But I have dealt wuth the general. Theif^
is also the particular. There is the questio): '. y
that comes in class just w'hen I have come h
think I am god. There is the examinatioi ^ .
paper that bolts me from the chair—that ^
makes me regard the coffee table as if ';
were alive. L ‘
Then my halo disintegrates and I becoitf|j :
gratefully humble.
slavery, the slaughters in the South
of France in the 16th century are
not less than Eastern polygany, or
other extravagant rites.
And today, how many times do
ue read such statements as:
The immorality of commun
ism
The evil of communism”
The wrong of communism” ?
Turn the page, and here is an
other article about a Korean battle
won by the western powers:
‘‘The purpose of this fight was
not only conquest of territory
but killing of Reds—”
Are we then entitled to condemn
in the name of morality?
We say that in our civilization
we have such defects in spite of
the perfection of Christianism—but
in the other civilization it is be
cause of the imperfections of their
way of thinking.
(Continued on page three)
tCfje Salemite
EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT ,
Editor-in-Chief Clara Belle LeGra«'
Associate Editor _ _ Lee Rosenbloi#^
Associate Editor Mary Lib Weavfj
Assistant Editor Lola Daws’‘|
Copy Editor _ Jane Watsfi
Make-up Editor Margaret Thoin*^
Assistant Copy Editor Marion Wats«*
Music Editor _ Jean PatW’
Sports Editors: Adrienne McCutcheon, MariP*
Samuel.
Business Manager Betty Griff*
Advertising Manager '’’’’Xarolyn
Asst. Advertising Manager Jane Schoolfi?
Circulation Manaeer Glara Tusti'V
Exchange Editor Fae heA