Spare-time Explorer
Students sometimes wonder what faculty members do in
their spare time other than correct papers and attend teas.
We can’t speak for the whole faculty, but we know one who
leads a full extra-curricular life. That is Mrs. Alice Henson
Ernst who teaches play-writing and versification.
In her spare time she—logically enough—writes. Her first
love is the theater, and she is the author of two volumes of
plays many of which have been produced.
This interest in the theater has, however, opened some un
usual fields for her pen. Soon the University Press will pub
lish her monograph, “The Wolf Ritual of the Northwest
Coast.” It is a detailed study of one masked ceremonial and its
symbolic nature as it appears in coast tribes from the Makahs
on the Olympic Peninsula, to Vancouver Island, and north
ward.
Northwest Coast Indian dances have long been a side in
terest of Mrs. Ernst’s. When she lived on the Olympic Penin
sula as a child she was fascinated by the Indian festivities and
religious ceremonies.
In later years she realized that these people were dying out
with few studies yet made of their lore, ritual costumes, and
masks. Museums all over the world treasured masks sent to
them since the time of Captain Cook, but the symbolism of
these masks was not known.
To learn more of the coastal Indian before the opportunity
was forever lost Mrs. Ernst took time to make several trips
un and down the West Coast.
She painstakingly made friends with the ancient medicine
men and learned what they could remember of the mysteries
of the secret societies—their rituals and the symbolism of their
rituals. She traced the geographical meanderings of similar
rites, took pictures, and recorded her findings systematically.
Primarily interested in the dramatic value of the ceremonies,
Mrs. Ernst wrote several articles on her studies for “Theatre
Arts” magazine. But the data is of importance in other fields
such as art and anthropology, and she has received letters from
scholars in various parts of the world asking her for needed in
formation as to masks. In certain areas of this study she is an
acknowledged authority.
Now all this would be an engrossing enough side interest
for one professor, but Mrs. Ernst has another also connected
with drama.
Over a period of years she has been collecting material for a
history of Oregon theaters later to be published. And here
again she has the field almost to herself. Her earlier articles
on the theater and its personalities in this state were published
in the “Oregon Historical Quarterly,” and more recently “The
Oregonian” has run a series of them. These studies with fur
ther sketches will comprise the background of the later book.
Mrs. Ernst is a very modest woman—she usually writes her
own cautiously worded one line announcements of publication
for the Emerald—and this article may cause her a certain
amount of embarassment. But people like to read about ex
plorers. And so surely this spare-time explorer into several un
touched fields of study should receive her due fame.—B.H.
m daily
EMERALD
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S&pJt&MOSte WHwMn
Circumnavigating the SU Moat
We’ve been over nosing around in the new
Student Union building. You aren’t really
supposed to go in there, we suppose, as the
numerous you-killed-my-mother looks we col
lected from the workers testify—but this
Student Union is going to be quite a pile of
bricks, and we can’t belp being interested.
Twenty years'" -
from now well
be able to say
we knew that
dump when it.
didn’t even
have the mar
ble facing on
its staircase.
You enter by
a creaking door
facing Univer
sity street, af
ter circumnav
igating a sort
of moat the
contrac tor is
building in the
front yard. At least we tninK it s a moat, it
may be some sort of tributary to the Millrace,
or merely an open sewer.
Once inside, you’re in the lounge. The
lounge is real fine—it has a fireplace donated
by the classes of 1925 and 1945, and lights on
the ceiling that point left, right, and, occasion
ally, down. The whole thing is intensely mod
ern, if a bit messy at the present time.
Outside the lounge is the lobby, where the
main door will be when they get a draw
bridge hung over the moat. The lobby is
flanked by a whopping staircase and a res
taurant. In between is a machine that sells
Hershey bars.
The restaurant is that big glass affair that
is Erb Memorial's own exclusive answer to a
goldfish bowl. Diners will have to be extro
verts, to say the least.
Upstairs is the ballroom, which is almost a
dead-ringer for the one at Oregon State's
MU. With one notable improvement. It has a
terrace around the outside, which is the sub
" stitute for upstairs at Mac Court. Dove will
not flourish there, however, in cold weather.
And somebody will probably bathe the whole
dang thing in floodlights, anyway.
There are also several dozen offices, phone
booths, men’s and ladies’ lounges, and closets
in the building. The only one of these worth
elaborating on is the men’s room in the base
ment which has windows in the doors. This,
we understand, is the age of liberal thinking.
Also in the basement are some bowling al
leys, a barber shop, a beauty salon, and a
room which looks like its going to be a pool
which enables one to walk along the hall ob-'^»*
serving just who is behind the eight-ball, who
is getting what done to her hair, and who is
getting his golden locks shorn. We hope they
put up curtains. Especially on that men's
room door. m
Upstairs again, just above boiler room
number two, are the offices-to-be of the Ore
gana. The Oregana doesn’t have enough fur
niture to fill the place, so the staff is going to
give dances. There is also a roof just outside
the Oregana which will be fine for parties. It
can be reached by crawling out on a fire es
cape. Once out, there is unlimited room for
all sorts of outdoor sports, and a chimney
sticks up in that vicinity, which will be fine
for toasting marshmallows and weiners.
*74e Ginemah
Rossellini Before
'Stromboli'
Qeabae. Sixelacn
Rossellini’s “greatest" film will come to the
Mayflower this next Friday tor a five-day run.
It’s “Germany—Year Zero,” a film directed
before “Stromboli" came along.
Again, the Italian Director has chosen un
knowns, people from the streets, for the main
roles in his picture. A 12-year-old German
boy Edmund Meschke takes the lead in the
story of Berlin and Germany in the “year
zero.”
Critics have been exuberant in their praise
of the movie, terming it "infinitely realistic
and profoundly imaginative.” It has been cal
led a “shocking story, the savage truth bril
biantly portray eel. In its rudimentary plot
and excellently chosen performers it bears
the stamp of Rossellini’s genius.”
This film is the story of the people living in
the ruins of Berlin.
“Berlin is a huge, sprawling monument to
death of an evil dream of power that lies bur
ied forever, the world hopes, undef the ruins”
of the city, Quentin Reynolds says in his in
troduction.
“YY hen the war ended and Germany found
herself back at the beginning of time, it was
the year zero for Germany,” and hence the ^
film’s title and theme.
Rossellini used his now-famous technique
of having no script, but merely notes; film
ing the story as he went along, making up the
situations and dialogue to fit into the general
scheme.
Photography is supposed to be superb, and
of course realistic. The background music
was written by Renzo Rossellini who does all
the music for his brother’s films.
On tivz fecuf
An Evaluation of the Evaluation
Before the Evaluation
r7 jHetteb
To the Fditor:
This letter is intended as a frank indictment of
both students and faculty in the handling of the fac
ulty evaluation plan.
I write from the premise that faculty evaluation
is, or may someday he, of mutual value to students
and faculty. If this premise is.not granted, what fol
lows is inconsequential.
W hat criticisms am 1 aiming at the students?
First of all, they are allowing the faculty to rate the
ev aluation before the evaluation rates the faculty.
Let me explain: A faculty member can accept or
refuse the evlauation. (For those who fear I would
propose something UNDEMOCRATIC, bear with
me for a few paragraphs.) Vhen a faculty member
refuses evaluation, he signifys one of two things : (1)
1 fe does not think it of value; or (2) he does not care
to undergo this critical examination.
But whatever his reason, he automatically regis
ters faculty disapproval of the plan. In effect, he dis
credits it.
Is this the issue? If faculty evaluation is to be
practicable (and the writer has experienced it as
such), it must either be accepted or rejected on a
recognized basis by a majority vote of the student
body and some representative group such as the fac
ulty senate.
If rejected on this basis, the issue is closed. It ac
cepted by the majority, it must be applied objectively
and constructively by students and faculty with the
hope in mind that continued improvement in ques
tionaires and techniques used may, if given a chance,
make the evaluation plan a thing of value.
I he plan can never have stature if there is to be a
further re-rating by the faculty everytime the issue
is presented to them.
In short, the evaluation must be applied as a
blanket plan, accepted or rejected by the whole.
(Please turn to page six) ^