Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1871-11-17
The CnlIege Student.

/ fient, On Acquaintance gam ialr snare Oh tue
confidence OF the a5zserystive men Of the
/ South.
The College Student
The season f5r the annual newspaper abuse Of
college students has come 30 a close. In the
mind OF any one who resis the newspapers
during the fall months. tie question must srise,
whether or not the college student las sny rights
which the newspapers are bound to respect
The beginning Of the f,.l terzs is the signal for
the Systematic abuse 20 begia. The hunt is a.
wavs headed by the New ! ork Triju4c, which
never loses au opportunity Tor sheer OF 4 thrust
at college students. All the papers have sid
their fall say let Us see # something cannot be
said on the other side 10 begin with, we will
cbesrfuuy acknowledge that the college student
is. on the whole, very much inclined to be e.
/ iacksss. For this very resson, is not the good
/ humorei rsillary SID sarcasm which the COM
mencemsu.s somstimes evoke from the pspers, q
better method OF procedure with the college stu
dent than the persistent abuse at the fall term
II a donkey is baulky ami bothsrsome, the sar-
cast, severity Of fire lighted under him, is
much happier IN Its elects than persistent
culge,ling over the head with club If two or
three students hreak the rules Of some iustitc-
ton aud aye punished, W. hear Immediately Of
college emsutes. 90 instructions and rebeiiions
If some i1yial S,phomores have occasion to
e. take down 90 ami geatly correct Sc some too
Sc Insufficient member Of the .Nari H5niaes, a
yell Of ezecration bursts from all the scribblers,
who probably never had the benefit Of such
wholesome discipline. so Sophomores were
ever able to hsze the yeriant " new men 80
half as persist emily and abusively as heg are
hszsd by the newspaper press.
The New York Commercial -43rTtisa gays
Is The custom Of hszur has grown from year
TO year il our colleges, until il hss become dis
graceful nuisance, and the time has come to put
= stop TO it,
This is not 20. on the contrary, everyone
who is at all acquainted with the sutiec;, ao-
knowled-os thar the system is erainslly dying
out in our colleges. snl from some has disaH-
peared altogether. The old spirit, ezpouuiei
and fosterei by such books as Yale
College S,rapes," is not to day the
spirit which anima.es She bulk Of our college
students In fact, one Of the most hopeful and
encouraging signs for the future i the higher
tone that per7aies the ranks Of college students,
and the more exalted i5el Of true manliness
which their conduct eyinces. Let those in
charge OF cur Vermont Colleges ask them
selves /. this is not 80. Let them compare the
animus snl the conduct OF the students Of their
college days with those If to-day, and see on
which eide the credit is due. Let them ask
themselves, too, il some Of the discipline which
they received at the hands Of the Soph1mores
vas not about as beneficial to them as anything
they acquired during the course. If the rising
concsit Of the young colegisus, fresh from the
dominsnt ranks Of high schools and academies,
were allowed to take its own course, there is no
doubt that the Freshman Glass would become not
only the most supercili5us and offensive, but the
most lawless and unmsnsgeable subjects in the
scholastic dominion.
We do not approve 9. rowdyism or ruihsnism I
among students, but it IS seldom that any real /
outrage is committed or real injury done.
There we're times when this was different Many 4
can remember when cold wste- bath OF a
shaved Lead was a common experience in college. !
These severe means Of " discipliniug' are /.
seldom resortei to row, and the recruitment of /
the Sophomore, at worst, satisfies itself with |
some weak foundations in a dish-watery /
Maui, OF meek programme, Or a feeble toot Of /
horns. They are learning tia; there are manuer (
and more respectable ways to q" correct " the /
arrogance Of the Freshman. There is no more /
despotic government in the world than that in /
our colegss Students mast submit to laws
which they had no hand in framing snd their .
wishes are too often regarded as Of no conse- .
qucnce. There are few ruffans in every class, .
but nowhere is public opinion more outspoken
and more really the ruling power than in college,
and generally that opinion is ehivalrous and Just
Let the Faculties appreciate this fact and make /
use Of it, and they have in their hands an instru-
ment for the government of their students, more
powerful than all their arbitrary rules, coupled /
with threats Of expulsion. While nothing will |
receive more summary treatment, or is more
execratei by students than talebesTing,yet, most |
are glad to see a real offender punished, and
would, if the Faculty appealed to them in the
right way, often assist to bring it about.
Students should be allowed as much liberty SIS
the subjects of any governing power. They
should be consulted as far IS practicable in all
matters relating to their conduct as a body.
The snesr;Dg at college students is not
cred.iable to the press. To be sure there is much
temptation to it. as We in substance remarked,
for the student is apt to make himself, with his
overweening conceit and self-sufliciency, very,
very ridiculous. As old Thomas Fuller ssys
" Their heads are sometimes So little that there is
no room for wit sometimes so long, that there
i. no wit for so much rom Yet these are the
men who are to make or mar, in the progress Of
the next generation.