EMERALD EDITORIALS
Hi Mom!
Hi Mom ! How nice to have you here en
joying- our biggest weekend with us!
This weekend you will watch many col
orful processions — some including your
son or daughter—wending their way about
the campus. They will be presenting roses,
carnations, bones and other symbols of
tappings to the most outstanding people on
campus.
The most outstanding, however, will be
just standing by, watching the processions.
We mean you, Mother. This is your weekend.
It cannot begin to show you our gratitude for
your years of devotion and protection. Some
how, now that we’re away from home, we
appreciate you just that much more. Maybe
it’s part of the realization that comes with
maturity. Maybe it’s just because you’re you.
We’ll be grumbling about our bank bal
ances—we don’t have any—and getting
dunked in Fenton pool and all sorts of
things which only Mothers would be in
terested in. But Mom, it’s great to have
you here.
Here's a big boucjuet of daisies from the
old campus, roses from the cemetery and
blossoms from the tree in front of Carson.
^ ou’re the most outstanding person on cam
pus this weekend.—(S.R.)
Where Credit is Due
Much has been said and written about the
Revived Canoe Fete in the past few months.
Emerald reporters have hounded the Canoe
Fete committee and the archives of the li
brary, publicity chairmen have hounded the
Emerald, and so on down the line. Radio sta
tions, newspapers, and TV stations through
out the state have had much to say about the
Canoe Fete.
But the real heroes, the "forgotten men”
of the story of the University of Oregon’s
Canoe Fete are the members of the Class of
1912, who, as juniors, first conceived and
carried out the idea of a canoe carnival
•. held upon the placid bosom of the his
toric millrace,” in the words of the 1912
Oregonian.
Oregon students were hardy souls in those
days. They didn’t coast along the 'Race on
luxurious barges supported bv batteries of
buoyant barrels—they built platforms on
canoes rented from the Anchorage and took
their chances with the unsteady craft in the
procession.
Mrs. Mildred Bagley C.rahanv, permanent
secretary of the Class of 1912, recalls that
the first Fete, or Canoe Carnival, was lighted
by floodlights from the old Anchorage, but
that the event "grew more elaborate each
year" in size and spectacle.
She also recalls the battle her class had at
class meetings over whether or not to stage
the carnival. “That Ralph Moores almost
hounded us to death,” she said. Moores, now
a Portland businessman, was chairman of
the first Canoe Carnival committee and origi
nator of the idea of the carnival.
Following a busy morning — aquatic
sports were then a big part of junior week
end—the first Carnival was held, “to com
memorate the sport of canoeing, which is,
perhaps, most widely participated in of
any of the students’ Springtime sports,”
in the words of the 1911 Junior Weekend
program.
The Juniors’ idea, slow to catch on, was an
immediate hit, such a hit that it endured as a
part of the Oregon tradition for .10 years.
So tonight when the floats sail by, the con
temporary Canoe Fete chairman breathes a
sigh of relief, and a great Oregon tradition
returns to life, we hope you'll join us in paus
ing for a moment to remember the people
who started it all—the Class of 1912.
otrec^om
NEQCCD
Tlir Oregon I>.iily Kmrrald !• pnhlinhrd fur davi a week during the arlinol year except
examination amt vacation pertoda, by the Stuclriit I'liblitatinti! Hoard nf thr (Inivet- i> of
Oregon. Entered »i accond rl#»« matter at Ihr olRir, Eugene, Oregon. Suluuriptmn
rate*-: $5 jar -rhool year; $2 a term.
Opinion! exprmaed on thr editorial pager are thoae of thr writrr anil do not iirrtri-.il to
reprevent thr opinion! of the ASUO or thr I ’in vermt > l nvignrd nlitonala ate written hy
the editor; initialed editorial! by member! of thr editorial board.
II KKY IIARKRI I . K.litor DONNA 111 NltKKfi, llneinr.. M;.-..,yrr
biCK LEWIS. SAI.I.Y Ki AN, Aoieiate Kdilora
I'Al i. KI-1II-, Managing Kditm 111 II M AI N WA Kl Nf!, Advri Itaittg M,„icr
<iok|>o.\ kit I New! Editor NAN'( Y SHAW. Office Mai -err
JERRY C LAUS8KN, CHT t K Mill IIKl Moke, ( i>S|.ni. Editor!
1' 111 I*'HI \I Hi 'Akb; Jerry Harrell, Paul Keefe, Dak l.rwia, (jonioil” Km., . r
Wardell Kice, Sally Kyan.
Joe College
IT JUST TAK.ES a little'coueoe'
TO TUT A 'POLISH' ON A
YOUNO MAN —YOU'LL SEEA
CEAL CHANOE WHEN HE COMES
HOWE FOR CHRISTMAS VACATION..
f Mtfcwsr,
V HOW'S ABOUT A "
\ HANP WITH /"
Vjh' ***? '
On Tapping: Its All in the Point of View
Editor's Note: The following
pieces on tapping, a grand old
Junior Weekend tradition, are
among the Emerald's classics.
Bob Funk’s description of tap
ping ceremonies was written
for the 1953 Junior Weekend
edition of the Oregon Daily
Emerald. The second piece,
run for five years under the
byline “Members of Mortar
Board," first appeared in the
1949 Junior Weekend Edition
initialed by June Goetze, Em
erald associate editor.
Both are valuable—for one
says that the whole rigamarole
of Junior weekend is vastly
important, the other says it’s
good for laughs—one is fact,
one is fancy, both belong
among the Emerald’s all-time
classics.)
The All-Campus Picnic
By Bob Funk
Emerald Columnist
It was the all-campus picnic,
and she had just put a slight
stain of potato salad on the
two-millionth or so paper plate.
She was part of a jolly good
time, good-food assembly line
that reached from Thirteenth
Street northward into a group
of mothers.
She was, as were all members
of the food line, a member of
a Woman’s Honorary. First there
were three Traumas in uniform,
then a member of the Woman’s
Pastime Poetry Club, and then
our heroine herself, dressed in
an off-the -shoulder blue formal
■with an I Eta honorary emblem
emblazoned across the bodice,
which was of gathered tulle with
suspended rhinestones.
There was a lull in the eating
and procuring of food, and from
about a half-mile to the north,
in the vicinity of the Royal Court
and Sometimes Music platform,
came the whine of a public ad
dress system.
The member of the honor
ary caught her breath, and
across the rows of food lines
fifty other I Etas also caught
their breath, which caused a
considerable disturbance round
that area. From the distance
a soft female voice, veiled
with Junior Prom Fatigue,
said “the members of the Sat
urday Night Dignity Group,
senior women's honorary, will
now tap..and from the
manhole in front of Friendly
there emerged the president
of the Dignity club, carrying
a boquet of calla lilies and
wearing “My GPA” perfume.
Behind her marched sixteen
other Dignity ladies, carrying
perfume atomizers full of hydro
gen gas. The band, in the dis
tance, began playing “Land of
the Empire Builders,” hesitat
ingly.
The Dignity Club members
wound in and out of the crowd,
attempting to spot tappees.
From the center of the group a
young woman waved the Ger
linger cup, which was full of
lemonade, and shouted “here I
am girls.” They surrounded her
solemnly (Dear winner of the
Gerlinger Cup: when we wrote
this we didn't know who you
would be, lady, honest); as the
fourteenth member filed past,
she raised her atomizer and
sprayed the Gerlinger Cup Win
ner with gas. The fifteenth mem
ber struck a match to her, and
she shot into flame. The sixteenth
member wept happily. Everyone
cheered. “Dignity Club taps Lee
moan Gruck,” the public address
system said.
The I Eta member stood at her
post, straining with every mus
cle. Perhaps it was for nothing,
she thought, that she had climb
ed to this pinnacle of activity
points. Who else had been more
imaginative, more aggressive, on
subcommittee for forced sales
for the I Eta Icky sale her fresh
man year? Who else had risen
during Trauma meeting her
sophomore year and said, “I
think this year we should do
something real nice ?"
Several cheers rent the air
as more junior women blazed
into the Dignity Club, and among
that number were several of the
I Eta faithful. The I Eta member
stood trembling, and a tear fell
into the remains of the potato
salad.
And then, suddenly, there
was a sudden (good word,
sudden) blare of music from
the band, and the trees parted
over her head and the sun fell
upon her. The crowd parted,
and the ladles of Saturday
Night Dignity Group tripped
lightly over the lawn.
The I Eta member held her
breath. Her eyes were fixed
upon the Dignity President. Her
mouth was slightly ajar; a fly
flew in, and then out again,
landing finally in the potato
salad. The Dignity Club came
onward, onward, and wound
around once, twice, three times
about her.
In the distance she could hear
her mother singing “Hail, Hail
the Gang’s All Here,” and her
sorority sisters singing “An
chored in Quadruple Eta.” And
as the twelfth member passed
by, our heroine felt the blast of
hydrogen gas. Ecstatically, she
saw herself put to flames. The
public address system was an
nouncing her arrival on Olym
pus.
Shf stood there, crying hap
pily. until they brought the fire
extinguisher to put her out.
Why Grows the Rose?
By Member* of Mortar Board
When the black-garbed Mor
tar Boards wind their way
through the crowd at the All
Campus Luncheon this afternoon
to tap new members, they will
be performing one of their last
official functions of a busy year.
Behind this simple process of
presenting outstanding junior
women with the traditional rose
is a long and thorough process.
As Mortar Board is a national
honorary, each woman who is
selected for membership must
have the qualities by which each
Mortar Board in every chapter
has been chosen—scholarship,
leadership, and service to the
University.
The process of selecting new
members for Mortar Board is
a careful and thorough one.
When the Mortar Boards be
gin to scan the lists of out
standing women, they consider
not only what they know about
each girl, but also what deans,
department heads, and campus
leaders have to recommend. If
possible, no avenue of student
participation is overlooked.
When the lists are complete,
the affirmative plan of voting
goes into operation. By this sys
tem, no one is "black-balled.”
The whole process is a positive
one—positive discussion and pos
itive voting. When any girl re
ceives a unanimous vote, con
ducted by secret ballot, she is
declared elected to membership.
The course of each girl’s col
lege career is carefully taken
into consideration. One of the
first points is the scholastic re
cord, for scholarship is one of
the three prime requisites. The
minimum requirement is 3 above
the campus average for the past
five terms. This year, each girl
considered had to have at least
a 2.99. In outstanding cases ex
ception of a .1 were permitted.
The second criterion is lead
ership. To qualify each girl had
to have shown definite signs of
capable leadership, ability to
handle responsibility by hersi-If.
Contrary to a common miscon
ception, Mortar Board is not a
collection of presidents.
Leadership ability is prob
ably most frequently evidenced
by eleetion to a position of
president, but l>eing president
of an organization is not itself
a qualification for the senior
women's honorary. The ability
to lead Is found in those who
may not hold the "top spot,”
and Mortar Board has sought
to reeognize this.
The third necessity is service
to the University. This does not
mean a girl must have kept busy
for three years in a large number
of campus activities. The activi
ties of the girls, whether they
be in several fields or in only
one or two, should add up to
some definite accomplishment
that is a credit to the school.
Thus, each year, the wearers
of the gold tassel have taken
the responsibility seriously. They
have tried to overlook no girl
really qualified; they have tried
to extend membership to only
those' really deserving.
We are proud of each girl to
whom we will present the rose
this afternoon.