Founder's Day celebration remembers wilder times for Old Main

By PAULA SHAKI
and ERIN STROUT
Collegian Staff Writers

In 1882, University students always had tricks up their sleeves, leaving little time for University President George Atherton to do so much as blink.

While the several hundred students at that time lived in Old Main, they were called to class by the building's bell -- but back then, an electronic chime did not toll. Instead, a clapper was used -- if the students did not steal it in an attempt to get out of classes the next morning.

Although the students usually returned the clapper the next day, one time it remained missing so long that the University bought a new one. But the mystery was solved years later when a downtown apartment, where the teachers of that time lived, was renovated.

Apparently, students were not the only people who did not want to go to class -- the clapper was found in a sealed closet, said Kevin Guiney, Lion Ambassadors' Fraser Committee director.

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Many people at the University are taking time to look back in Penn State history today in celebration of the school's 140th birthday. Students, faculty and administrators can climb the steps up to the Old Main bell tower with the Lion Ambassadors to revisit the site where some of the mischief used to take place.

Although the University was officially founded in 1855, this year's Founder's Day will highlight Atherton -- who is often dubbed "The Second Founder," said Mike Bezilla, University manager of development, communications and special projects and former University historian.

"We weren't making our mark --few people were interested in agriculture, so he turned the University on a course toward engineering," Bezilla said.

From 1882 to 1906, Atherton took the University into the top 10 of the largest engineering schools in the country. He also thrust the University into the funding limelight, making great strides in Harrisburg for the first major state appropriations. In Washington, D.C., he was involved in the Morrill Land Grant Act of 1890, which provided federal aid for higher education.

Back then, enrollment was low and consisted almost entirely of men, Bezilla said. And stealing the clapper was not the only trouble they got into.

The men were then required to go through some military training and a cannon was kept on the Old Main lawn. When the students were looking for something fun to do, they would load the cannon with sod and shoot it through an open window in Old Main, Bezilla said.

But just like today, the students were not paying to go to Penn State just for fun and games. Bezilla said although it was not called tuition at the time, the students did pay fees to attend the University.

When the University was officially founded in 1855, the fee was just $100 -- which included books and candles to study by in the late night hours in the Old Main dorm rooms, Guiney said.

And Penn State was called the Farmer's High School because the founding fathers feared the word college -- they thought it might connotate playing cards and drinking, Guiney said.

But back in the present, the University will celebrate its birthday all day. In addition to the bell tower tours, the Lion Ambassadors will be stationed at the HUB, Willard Building and the Student Book Store, 330 E. Beaver Ave, giving away various Penn State paraphernalia.

"We want to let as many Penn Staters as possible know that Feb. 22 is Penn State's birthday," Guiney said.