Nieman Fellows Aren't Lazy; They Just Want to Lie Down

The Yard stereotype of the Nieman Fellow--that happy-go-lucky character who comes into class midway and leaves after smoking a cigarette--is taking a beating. The 1950-51 Nieman Fellows are unconsciously being saturated with a Niagara of intellectual atmosphere.

In place of the traditional Monday evening poker games at Holyoke House, the current Niemans are holding an article writing seminar with Navy Commander William J. Lederer. In lieu of drinking parties, this year's group is scattered between public speaking missions, legitimate theater parties, and sightseeing trips through historical New England. In place of a rugged athletic program, a few of the fellows have settled for quiet games of handball.

No Poker

Is the change a sign of the tense times or of the unlucky aspect of the thirteenth Nieman group? you ask Louis M. Lyons, the curator of the Nieman Foundation.

"No Monday evening poker games all year," evades Lyons, shaking his head. "The table hasn't been used since June."

Heading the list of Nieman speakers is Dana Adams Schmidt, foreign correspondent for The New York Times, who, besides making over a dozen appearances before college and civic groups and several radio broadcasts, is working on a book on Czechoslovakia.

Other Niemans have spoken to government classes, house forums, and local groups. Three, beside Schmidt, are working on books. One, rumor has it, is reading a book. Some beavers are attending as many as twelve courses a week.

New York Junket

A highlight of the present year was a three-day junket to New York City during the fall reading period. Niemans were guests of ex-Niemans now living in New York at a dinner with Carroll Binder, editor of the Minneapolis Tribune and U. S. representative on the UN Commission on Freedom of Information. They spent the next day poking into affairs of the U. S. UN Mission headquarters, visiting UN facilities at Lake Success and sipping cocktails with New York Times editors.

Seminars on Tuesday afternoons at the Faculty Club provide a peep into various areas of learning at the University, and dinners at the Signet every other Friday headline topnotch editors, correspondents, and publishers.