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Friday, December 19, 194
Murfin to Use Sigma Tau
Award for School Expenses
Paul Murfin, electrical engineer
Ing senior who received the annual
Sigma Tau senior scholarship
award Wednesday, plans to use
the money to defray the now con
siderable expenses of university
tuition, books, and maintaining his
lamny.
"No one was more surprised
than I when they announced that
I'd won the prize, Murfin said.
The award is given yearly to one
engineering senior who ranks in
the upper ten percent of his class,
and - who is scholarly, sociable,
and in need, according to the
wording of the prize.
Significance In Prestige.
The prize carried only a $50
check, but the significance 'of the
award is in its prestige, Murfin
said.
The Sigma Tau award is not the
first professional honor Murfin
has won. Last year he was award
ed the Sawyer Scholarship, which
is given yearly to an engineer
majoring in electrical engineering.
The Sawyer prize has a $150 sti
pend. Murfin holds the presidencies of
the Engineering Executive board
and of the Nebraska chapter of
the American Institute of Elec
trical Engineers, a society open to
majors in electrical engineering.
There as six clans an engineer
can join, Murlin says, iney are,
chemical, mechanical, civil, agri
cultural, architectural and electri
cal. Member Sigma Tau
He is a member of Sigma Tau,
honorary society for all engineers,
and last year he was elected a
member of Sigma Xi, the national
scientific honorary which paral
lels Phi Beta Kappa for the college
of arts and science. (Although any
student who completes the re
quirements for the arts and sci
ence college, regardless of his
college, is eligible for member
ship in PBK.) He has been on the
honor roll for four years.
When he graduates this June
Murfin will take a position with
the Stromberg-Carlson Co. of
Rochester, N.Y., manufacturer of
radio and telephone equipment.
UN Gratl Back
From Chinese
Relief Work
SHANGHAI, China. Dean E.
Eckhoff, University of Nebraska
alumnus, recently returned to his,
home in Central City after com
pleting a ten month assignment
as a pesticides specialist with
the United Nations Relief and Re
habilitation in China.
A former entomologist with
the United States deparement of
agriculture, Eckhoff went to
China last January to lend his
skill and experience to the
UNRRA program, training Chi
nese farmers to protect their
crops from food-eating insects.
Working with other UNRRA
pesticides advisors, Eckhoff
helped transform an old aban
doned Japanese soap factory near
Shanghai into the national pesti
cides plant. Products of this plant
made from calcium arsenates, der
ris powder and other materials
native to China are being u.'d
with UNRRA-imported pesticides
to safeguard crops irr. key agri
cultural centers thruout China.
Varied Projects.
In addition to his work at the
pesticides plant, Eckhoff has
traveled widely in China carrying
out a series of projects to control
locusts, rice and fruit pests and
other crop-destroying -insects.
Certain UNRRA activities, in
cluding the displaced persons and
medical programs sponsored and
carried on by UNRRA in China
have already been taken over by
UN agencies, and plans to con
tinue longterm rehabilitation
projects under a trusteeship are
now being considered.
Past and Future.
After completing his studies at
the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln in 1931, and Iowa State
college at Ames, Eckhoff went
to work in the bureau of entom
ology and plant quarantine of the
United States department of agri
culturer He has also worked as a
teacher of vocational agriculture
at Central City high school and
a construction work expediter at
the Grand Island ordnance depot.
As for future plans Eckhoff was
fairly explicit. 'I am going some
where to look for more bugs to
kill." hp said in Shanghai before
he left.
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PAUL MURFIN
He will do research work in elec
tronics, particularly with high
frequency sound waves.
Engineering Jobs Plentiful.
Jobs for engineering graduates
this year are plentiful, according
to Murfin. There are several open
ings for each graduate, pay is
liberal and scales upward fast;
Murfin served with the Army
Engineers Corps from April '43 to
Sept. '46. He entered the army as
a private and came out a captain.
He went into France in February
of 45, after the Battle of the Bulge,
and his company followed the
troops into Germany in April.
From France Murfin sailed to the
Philippines in June.
When the war ended abruptly
after the two atom bombs dropped
in August, Murfin was sent to
College Life In llie
Without Kicks for Students
Ever wondered what sort of
college life NU guys an' gals had
way back when? Few realize that
the gay whirl which constitutes
the college social life of today has
a different tone from that of many
years ago when the university
first began.
Having little interests outside
the classroom, the first students
came for the sole purpose of get
ting an education; studying occu
pied all their time, believe it or
not.
In 1892, the university enroll
ment was 381, including the prep
school. The eight faculty members
taught in only one building which
was even loo large for the needs
of the school. In fact, the third
floor and attic were used as a
men's dormitory.
Living Costs.
Living expenses at that time
now seem ridiculously small. One
boarding house housed 12 stu
dents who received both room and
board for about $4 a week. Some
students cut this sum in half by
boarding in groups and cooking
their own meals. Some of the
more extravagant men about
campus paid $6 a week for living
expenses.
Social life of the average stu
dent consisted mainly of Friday
evening meetings of literary so
cieties, an occasional play at the
Centennial Opera House and
church on Sunday. Sunday was
the big day with some students
attending two church services, two
Sunday school services and YWCA
or YMCA meetings.
Most serious business at hand
for most students was studying.
Courses included math, history,
the classics, and some science.
Conversational topics centered
around social problems of the day,
tarriff, and morality. The only
all-university activity which gain
ed and held the student interest
was the college publication, "The
Hesperian Student." Aside from
this, students seemed to apply
their entire efforts to complete
concentration on studies ... a bit
different situation than exists now.
Revolt.
In 1884, revolt rose against the
few fraternities on campus and a
bitter battle ensued. Establishing
of Greek letter organizations
marked the beginning of a mod
ern trend on the campus. Such
items as organized baseball, col
lege yells and th,e elective system
of studies followed.
Even though students' interests
were confined mainly to studies,
ther?, of courfe, had to be some
(sort of dating zxrangemenLs,
10
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
A Thought
Walking past a shop several
days ago I glanced at the conven
tional sign in the window: "X-mas
cards personalized here." Later
that evening as I wrote some holi
day notes, I found myself thing
ing about that word, X-mas.
True, it requires less time and
effort to make two perpendicular
lines rather than writing out the
worcT Christ, but surely our lives
are not so crowded as to make us
substitute an unknown factor for
Christ.
Christ has been a definite quan
tity in the lives of men from the
time he was born in a manger
over 2,000 years ago. He has in
fluenced men from the days of
wise men and martyrs, who were
burned for Him, to the present
day when great sacrifices have
been made in His sake.
Christ has a definite and nearly
tangiblevalue in our lives and it
seems highly important to keep
the Christ in Christmas.
The students on our campus
have taken their stand on the is
sues of today in which their be
liefs form their policies. P. M. has
commended our discussion in re
gard to racial discrimination in the
Big Six. By taking the stand we
have shown ourselves to truly
mean "Peace on earth, good will
to men"; men of all colors and all
lands.
We have taken a large step in
the right direction and if our
present attitudes and actions con
tinue, more people will have an
even merrier Christmas.
Japan for occupation duty. He was
stationed in Nagoya and Yoka
hama, and did general construe
tion work in Japan. He was mar
ried in June '44, and the Murfins
have a boy, 26 months old.
supply this, each literary society
presented, each week, a list of its
ieminine members to the young
men in the group. Each man
signed his initials opposite the
name of one coed, thus obliging
himself to escort that young lady
to the next meeting.
No Scandal.
Amazingly enough, old timers
tell us, that there was no campus
scandal to speak of at the Uni
versity in this early age. Accord
ing to Will O. Jones, "It was an
enchanting and inspiring time,
There wasn't a foot of pavement
in two hundred miles and the
automobile was not even a
dream."
Despite all the apparent and
comparative calm of the campus
in the 1890's, there were still those
with an eye for mischief and
fraudulent money -making
schemes. One of these schemes
concerns a drive for funds held
by the college : per staff. Many
students and faculty members
were persuaded to attend an en
tertainment program to be held in
the chapel. Expecting a good pro
gram, the audience bought tickets
and filled the chapel. But all the
program they ever received for
their money was to listen to the
strains of an orchestra playing
"Many Are the Friends Who Are
Waiting Tonight." Meanwhile, the
ticket sellers had disappeared with
the evening's profits.
Ball Plan
See BALL PLAN, Page 5
to consider more fully the pro
posal for a Senior Week.
Dodge Fails.
The Senate then passed the mo
tion, after an attempt to avoid
consideration by laying it on the
table was conclusively rejected.
Ball's All-university week pro
posal, which would co-ordinate
the various departmental weeks,
such as Farmer's Fair and Engi
neer's Week, appeared to have the
favor of the professors, and it
seemed as if the special commit
tee would report it out favorably.
New Courses Approved.
The Senate also approved the
university calendar for the school
year 1948-49, and adopted changes
in curriculum involving the set
ting up five new courses. New
courses are Marriage and Home
Relationships, Radio Journalism,
Body Conditioning, a Phys. Ed.
course, Industrial Electronics, and
Television Engineering. Courses
dropped from the curriculum were
E. M. 246 and E. M. 249.
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VISITOR FROM THE NEAR EAST Kenneth Fang explains his
interest in wind-developed power to The Daily Nebraskan's ag
editor, Keith Frederckson. In the background is the test panel
for the new type windcharger which is now under experimentation.
Chinese Industrialist Studies
Wind-Power Experiments at UN
BY KEITH FREDRICKSON
This is to introduce Kenneth
Fang student, pioneer industria
list but above all, a man who
desires to aid his country in every
possible way.
Fang is 28 years old, a typical
Chinese with a fervant interest
in agricultural engineering espe
cially in the ways that it can be
utilized to aid Chinese farming
methods and production.
At present, he is studying in
the agricultural engineering de
partment at Nebraska University
as a guest and an International
Harvester fellowship and as a rep
resentative of the Chinese De
partment of Agriculture, his pre
sent employer. Fang's main inter
est at presnt is farm power, par
ticularly in w-ind-powered sources.
"We lack fuel for steam genera
tion," Fang explained in an un
easy English, "Our only hope is
through the exploiting of wind
and water power."
Chinese TV A
Long rane post-war plans in
China had made provisions for a
proto-type of the American Ten
nessee Valley Authority, to be
called the Yangtze Valley Author
ity. This plan was the dream of
an american engineer and would
have provided a substantial por
tion of central China with water
power and a source for irrigation
water. Civil fighting in China aft
er World War II caused indefi
nite postponement of such a ven
ture, which would have required
extensive financing on the part of
the United States. Fang is still
very hopeful for the future of wa
ter power in China but at pre
sent he believes wind to be the
most feasible method.
I came upon Fang as he was
pouring over a catalogue of speci
fications for various farm -appli
ances, on which he is preparing a
report concerning their practica
bility in China. Motors of all
kinds were his biggest interest.
China needs power sources to run
its big industries rice hulling,
polishing and threshing; home
millin gof flour; laundry; cotton
ginning; vegetable slicing; and
feed grinding.
No Money, No Land
The stocky Chinese scholar was
director of the Central Agricul
tural Implement Works in Che
kiang before the war and, as such,
pioneered the field of agricultural
implements in China. Since that
time the government has set up
several factories 1n the interior of
China. After the war, Fang or
ganized the Nanking Farm Im
plement Producers Corporation, of
which he was president. "I had
no money, no family or land," he
shrugged, "All the money wras
galhered from my friends."
He is generous in his praise of
American help in Chinese agricul
ture, especially to International
Harvester for their contribution of
four engineering professors to
Chinese colleges.
Fang is hopeful of a settlement
on the civil strife in his home
country in the near future. He
has confidence in the leadership
of Chiang Kai Shek, and doubts
the strength of the Communist
Party in China. "Most of the fight
ing no wis in Manchuria," he ex
plains, "And that is merely be
cause they are too close to Russia."
He believes that if the Russian
influence . were . removed, the
PAGE 5
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Chinese would soon settle their
differences.
It is Fang's belief and he hast
ened to clarify that it was only
his personal idea that certain
concessions made to the Russians
by the late president Roosevelt in
the Yalta conference are directly
responsible for the unrest in Man
churia today. "Of course, I realize
that he also helped my country
in many ways," he continued.
Life and school in Lincoln have
proved very satisfactory to Fang,
and, though he has some difficulty
in speaking English as yet, he has
made many close friends. He is
quick to praise the system of edu
cation here because it enables
more to attend school, but he be
lieves that students get more out
of their education in his country
because they eat, sleep, and live
together while attending school. .
Grades All-Important
Exceptional scholarship is ne
cessary to attend government-supported
schools in- China, as grades
are the sole basis by which one
may attend grammar schools, high
schools and college.
Already possessor of a bache
lor's degree in agronomy from Na
tional University in Chekiang,
Fang hopes to receive a higher
degree after his work here. He
does not plan to remain at Ne
braska more than two years and
would like to attend other colleges
in this country.
Plan Now to Re
turn from Vaca
tion Early Enough
to Enjoy
titer"
TURNPIKE
SUN
JAN. 4
O to 12
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