P. M. C. 0 Student -HADDBDDH 1948- 1949 Student HADDBDDH 1948- 1949 0 Pennsylvania 5J1ilita'Ly College Cfteste\, Pennsylvania FRESHMAN HANDBOOK 3 PREFACE TO THE STUDENTS The Student Handbook is published for you and is supported by funds provided by the non-athletic activities fee. It was firs~ published in September 1948 as the Fresh­ man Handbook. This year it is available for all students in the hope that it will be a useful and profitable guide. Its purpose is to anticipate and answer questions you may have, to acquaint you with the history of P.M.C., to apprise you of academic rules and regulations, to point out what is ex­ pected of you by the faculty and yo~ fel­ low students, and to urge you to participate in some extra-curricular activity. THE EDITOR. 4 FRESHMAN HANDBOOK ••• • • • II I • I I- ~~-------· ----· FRESHMAN HANDBOOK 6 PRESIDENT HYATT'S MESSAGE TO T"HE MEMBERS OF THE ENTERING CLASS It is my great pleasure, in behalf of the faculty and the student body, to extend t9 you, the members of the new freshman class, both cadets and veteran students, a most cordial welcome to the Pennsylvania Military College. It is only since the last war that P.M.C. has had a civilian student body in addition to its corps of cadets. It has been gratify­ ing to see these two groups of college stu­ dents work hand in hand toward a common goal-a stronger and better P.M.C. I am sure that you, too, will cooperate in the same manner. The academic side of college life is the most important phase and should claim the larger part of your time and effort; how­ ever, extra-curricular activities and per­ sonal contacts and friendships are an in­ tegral part of the development of well­ rounded manhood. Read your handbook. Study the rules. Play the game fairly. And all you put into P.M.C. will be returned to you with interest. F RANK K. HYATT 6 FRESHMAN HANDBOOK HISTORY The Pennsylvania Military College traces its origin to a boarding and day school for boys opened at Wilmington, Del., in 1821, by John Bullock. At the death of the founder in 1827, Samuel Alsop succeeded to the control of the institution and conducted it until 1853, when he transferred by sale the equipment and gooa will to Theodore Hyatt, then in charge of the parochial school of The First Presbyterian Church of Wilmington. In the fall of 1858 military instruction was introduced and speedily took on so definite a form that on April 19, 1859, the Governor of Delaware, Hon. William Bur­ ton, ordered the delivery to the institution of "certain public arms," equipment which consisted of an outfit of rifles and two six­ pound field pieces. Six days later, April 25, Principal Hyatt was appointed aide-de­ camp, with rank of colonel, on the staff of the Governor. This radical change in the constitution of the school opened a new era in its history; and to make the evolution complete, a characteristic name was adopted -Delaware Military Academy. At the opening of the Civil War in­ ,::reased facilities for conducting th~ Academy became necessary. Accordingly, im extensive and valuable school property at West Chester, Pa., was leased, and the school was incorporated under an act of Pennsylvania State Legislature, approved FRESHMAN HANDBOOK 7 April 8, 1862, by Governor Andrew G. Cur­ tin. The charter invests the Board of Trus­ tees with all the powers and privileges of a military university. It authorizes the conferring of scholastic honors and de­ grees, enjoins the conduct of theoretical and practical military instruction, and em­ powers the State authorities to supply arms for infantry, artillery, and cavalry drills, together with tents and other camp equip­ ment. The following June the Board of Trustees organized the corporate title of Pennsylvania Military Academy and elected Colonel Theodore Hyatt president of the in­ stitution. The first session in Pennsylvania opened September 4, 1862, with all stu­ dents residing at the institution. In December, 1865, the institution changed its location to Chester, occupying, at first, the Crozer Normal School building. Two years later a fine tract of land was ac­ quired near the northeastern border of the city, and in June, 1868, the cornerstone of the present main building of the College was laid, construction being completed in time for the doors to be opened to the in­ coming corps of cadets on September 3, of the same year. In 1869 the Military Department of the College was accorded Government recogni­ tion under Act of Congress, by the detail of an officer of the United States Army as Professor of Military Science and Tactics and an addtional officer as Assistant Pro­ fessor of Military Science and Tactics, and the furnishing of equipment and supplieE official connection with the Government, 8 FRESHMAN HANDBOOK for military instruction and training. This which has continued unbroken throughout the years, includes all cadets in its opera­ tions, but it has never imposed any obliga­ tion of service to the United States, nor does it now impose other obligation than that of good citizenship. In order that the name of the institution might indicate without ambiquity that the Legislature had invested the Board of Trus­ tees with collegiate powers and privileges, the Court of Common Pleas of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, on December 12, 1892, changed the corporate title to Penn­ sylvania Military College. In November, 1934, the College was trans­ ferred, by purchase and gift, from the Hyatt family to the public. The members of the Hyatt family had never taken any profit from the College, but had turned any surplus beyond their living back to main­ tain an able facult y and to improve the equipment of the institution. Nevertheless, in order to assure the perpetuation of the College beyond t heir own lives, they took this action, making it a purely non-profit, non-proprietary institution. The Board of Trustees controls and operates the College. DID YOU KNOW THAT I I I To P.M.C. belongs the distinction of hav­ ing originated the present system of num­ bers utilized in calling signals in football. Prior to 1887, when a gridiron play was set in motion it was the custom of the FRESHMAN HANDBOOK 9 captain to call the names of the players. However, in 1887, when the Princeton squad came to Chester to play P.M.C., the ,cap­ tain of the cadet team called cadet numbers of his men instead of their names. The effect was bewildering to the Princeton organization and enabled the cadets to make substantial gains. Princeton was quick to see t he advantage of the new sys­ tem, and thereafter the Tigers used num­ bers instead of names. The number system soon became universal in collegiate foot­ ball. The first baseball nine of the University of Pennsylvania to appear in uniform was in the sophomore year of the Class of '75, and the first game played away from Penn'E cinder and boulder grounds in the rear of College Hall was at Chester where P.M.C. beat the U. of P. The tombstones between the Alumni Lodge and the Stadium and on the Melrose A venue side of the Athletic Field are rem­ nants of an old P.M.C. custom, when grad· uates on Commencement Day buried their books with great ceremony. There are only eight essentially military colleges in the United States: Pennsylvania Military College, Norwich, The Citadel, Virginia Military Institute, Virginia Poly­ technic Institute, Clemson, North Georgia College, and A . and M. College of Texas. According to the War Department report of July 9, 1906, there were only six mili­ tary educational institutions in the United 10 FRESHMAN HANDBOOK States on their proficiency list. P.M.C. was one of the six. (From One Hundred Years at V. M. 1., by Couper). There is a history of the first hundred years of P.M.C. in the P.M.C. Library. Prior to 1893 P .M.C. was known as the Pennsylvania Military Academy: and prior to 1862, as the Delaware Military Academy. George E. Phair wrote the following in the New ·York American: "MICHIE STADIUM, West Point, N.Y. Nov. 18, 1932 -Army started out on a practice romp over P .M.C. today at Michie Stadium but discovered before the afternoon ended that it wasn't that kind of a football game. The red-clad athletes from Chester, Pa. battled so sturdily that t hey held the Cadets score­ less for three periods. It required all the prowess of Jack Butler to put across two touchdowns in the final quarter s, making the score 12 to 0 .... " Of the same game, Ross E. Kauffman, sports columnist for the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin, wrote as follows: "P.M.C.'s holding the Army to a 12-0 score with both touchdowns coming in the last period, is the talk of the East .... " The P.M.C. basketball team won the 1947- 48 championship of the Southern Division in the Middle Atlantic States Conference. FRESHMAN HANDBOOK 11 ADMINISTRATION Frank Kelso Hyatt, B.S., LL.D. President and Commandant Levi Parker Wyman, A.M., Ph.D., Sc.D. Vice-President and Dean Emeritus Stanton Strickler vonGrabill, B.S. Vice-President and Bursar James Wilson Graham, B.S., M.A., Litt.D. Dean of Faculty Clarence Russel Moll, B.S., Ed.M. Dean of Admissions and Student Per­ sonnel Homer Nearing, Jr., B.F.A., M.A., Ph.D. Assistant Dean of Faculty William Alexander McCulloch, Colonel, In· fantry, USA Professor of Military Science and Tac­ tics, ROTC William Langham Cottee, B.S., M.S., Major Air-Reserve Adjutant and Director of Student Ac­ tivities Harry Thurmond Rowe, B.S., A.B., B.D.