University Daily Kansan
Page 5
Women's Honor Groups To Tap Hopefuls May 4
Monday, April 27, 1964
Mortar Board sent letters of congratulations to over 500 National Merit and Watkins scholarship finalists. They provided speakers and hostesses for High School Leadership Day and the annual high school principal's conference.
Mortar Board, senior women's honor society at KU, decided this year to initiate their own "Project Bootstrap."
"We feel the project this year combines our goals of Service, Scholarship and Leadership and will prove to be of some real value to the University," Miss Gibson said.
According to national Mortar Board standards, new members are chosen in the spring by the unanimous vote of the chapter. No chapter is permitted to have less than five or more than 25 members and there is a definite scholarship standard set by the national which must be met by each candidate.
Hilda Gibson, Lawrence senior and president of Mortar Board, held a special tea with Lawrence senior women to talk about the role of town girls at KU.
They spoke before high school assemblies and alumni groups. Individual members had teas in their home towns to entertain and discuss KU with outstanding high school senior, women.
Mortar Board was established nationally by several local senior honor societies to render service to their Alma Maters.
Torch Chapter of Mortar Board at KU began as a local society in 1912 through the work of a woman faculty member. The first nine members were nominated by letters from the faculty on the basis of scholarship and campus activities. All but two of the nine original members are still living.
FROM A HISTORY of the KU chapter comes the explanation for Torch being a secret society: "In order that its service to the campus may be done without thought of public acclaim or recognition."
In 1924 Torch society was incorporated into the national organization of Mortar Board. Since that time its projects have included such things as the establishment of residence halls for women, participation in surveys, publication of pamphlets to aid women students, the establishment of Mortar Board scholarships, and recognition of outstanding senior women.
For the last 32 years the KU alumni group has held an annual Mortar Board reunion luncheon during Commencement week-end. At the 50th anniversary in 1962 four of the charter members attended.
No longer secret, Mortar Board will tap its new senior members at Honor's Night of AWS All Women's Day May 4. These girls will have been selected on an equal basis of scholarship, leadership and service by the outgoing chapter.
"EVERY JUNIOR girl fills out an application, and also nominates others for Mortar Board," Miss Gibson said. "In addition faculty members, department heads and campus leaders are asked to nominate potential members."
The selected members are notified of this honor in a private, secret way but it is not officially announced until the tapping at Honor's Night." Miss Gibson said.
"The president and vice-president are selected by the outgoing members and are announced at Honor's Night by placing a mortar board hat with a gold tassel on the new president's head, and one with a silver tassel on the vice-president."
* *
One of the first persons incoming freshman women meet when they move into the freshman residence halls is their Cwen.
Cwens, a national sophomore women's honorary society, is now in its fourth year of existence at KU. Members are chosen in the spring of their freshman year. They are tapped on All Women's Night. Membership is based on scholarship, leadership in the freshman residence halls and campus activities. Recommendations are also given by the
CWEN IS THE Anglo-Saxon word for queen or lady.
The Tau chapter of Cwens was founded at KU in 1960, when the Jay Sisters, a sophomore women's organization in charge of freshman orientation, were granted their charter from the National Cwen Society.
freshmen and by the people who work closely with the freshman women.
Once having been tapped, the Cwens have no time to rest on their laurels.
Probably their largest single project is freshman orientation in the fall. They help the freshman women move in and help them become better acquainted with KU, its activities and traditions.
EACH CWEN IS assigned a floor in the freshman residence halls. The Cwen helps the counselor acquaint the freshman women with
The National Society of Cwens was founded in 1922 by Thyrsa W. Amos, Dean of Women at the University of Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh, Pa.
KU. She attends University functions with her floor and attends floor meetings. She also visits her floor when she has a chance.
This year, in connection with the freshman orientation program, Cwens have spent two weekends, once each semester, in the freshman residence halls. The regular freshman counselors took a vacation on these weekends.
Also at the beginning of the school year, the Cwens sponsored a picnic for sophomore women at Potter Lake. Over fried chicken and other box-lunch goodies, they recalled the good old days on "4 East" or "3 South."
The Cwens sponsored a breakfast and a tea, one each semester of this year, for the floor officers in the freshman residence halls.
THIS YEAR'S Cwens helped the Douglas County Cancer Society by collecting contributions for the Ernie Davis Leukemia Fund at the KU-Syracuse University football game early this fall.
So Who Likes Spring?
By Leta Cathcart (Society Editor)
I'm confused. Everyone thinks spring is the best thing that ever got itself invented.
Personally, I don't think spring is that sharp. Oh, I know, all the little budding flowers, green grass and all that other gunk.
You see, with all the little budding flowers, and green grass, comes hay fever. And I happen to have an intense dislike for hay fever.
When I get up on those lovely pollen-ridden mornings in spring, there is always some joker that asks me if I have been on an all-night drunk. This is just because I have bleary eyes. Then there's always some bright teacher who makes a nasty remark about the number of times I've sneezed in the last hour.
The people who really make me mad are those who say "Oh, it's all in your mind."
At least we agree on the central location of my hideous malady. I would localize it a little more and say it's in my nasal passages, however.
Myself, I like frost. I know, people aren't supposed to like cold weather. But at least I can talk without people asking me if I have a speech impediment.
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