entertainment instead of beating it for home and leaving two little green northerners like Wilcox [William R. Wilcox ’07] and
myself alone in the NYC Depot to find our entertainment alone. However, we found a nice warm plae were we could hear
music after wandering around in a snowstorm for about an hour. Would suggest that a committee of those living in the Big City
be appointed for an entertainment committee at next year’s banquet.
John McNulty ’09, author of the Alma Mater, proposed in 1915, an interesting role the alumni
could play through letters of the
Bulletin
:
I feel that there is no better way of showing undergraduates what they will meet in life than by telling them the
experiences of graduates through the magazine [Clarkson Bulletin]. Such things are in reality a source of satisfaction. I
remember how I used to wonder if I would be able to do the work that would be give to me, and how others had fared. By
letters we may learn.
Department Notes.
The
College Bulletin
described changes in some of the courses for
succeeding students. In Mechanical Construction (Shop Work 12), for example, a course taken
in the senior year, students henceforth would work upon the following machines and
attachments which had been designed by members of the class during the preceding year: metal
splitting shears for use with metal one-eighth inch in thickness; a rigid vice for use on the
milling machine and planer; and two bench grinders.
The mechanical engineering course in experimental mechanics and engineering (ME 20)
would be divided into squads of three men each. Complete reports were required from each
student, giving the purpose of the experiment or test, description of the apparatus, and both
tables and plotted curves, conclusions, suggestions, etc. It was the aim of this course to have the
reports follow closely as possible the character of work of an engineer in practical life when
making similar reports upon tests and experimental work.
Calculus was to be treated as a whole, as far as practicable, that is, with no sharply
drawn lines of distinction between the differential and integral calculus. It began with the last
quarter of the freshman year and continued, in connection with analytic geometry, til the close
of the first semester of the sophomore year. During the second semester of that year, students
were to study differential equations and applications of calculus in engineering and the applied
sciences.
Fraternity Rush?
In the fall following the founding of Sigma Delta fraternity, the members
held their First Annual Ball in the New Maccabee Hall in Potsdam on October 14. Music was
furnished by the Mozart Orchestra.
Following that introduction into Clarkson social life, the members of the fraternity
chose to hold interest meetings for future members. At the first one, technical papers were
presented. Mr. Van Horne presented a paper on Septic Tanks and Messrs. Dunsford and Stack
on Electric Power transmission. These subjects were special interest and value dealing with
questions arising in important engineering work. They were accompanied by statistics and
discussion of methods and processes currently in use, with details of supervision and
maintenance. Two other interested students, Messrs. Curtis and Sayer, prepared papers dealing
with present-day work and problems in hydraulic engineering.
