Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-07-21

the burden OF government. More than this,
it has raised the standard of scholarship,
inasmuch "a it has inclined students more
to study, and has withdrawn them much
from college allurements of kind too apt
to engross their attention to the prejudice
of study. Now the plan is to be enlarged
and the pupils given fuller power of self
government. The new plan is based on
the doctrine, that each student is given to
understand still prevails, that he is in the
college under contract to obey the
college laws expressed in the compact, and
that any infringement of them is
certain to be visited by penalties
clearly expressed in the document
and in the college statutes. But these
statutes are not the product of governing
body superior to the student in authority.
On tie contrary, he makes them himself,
and he is therefore ali the more hound
in honor to respect them, and to see that
others also respect and obey them, and that
their violation entails unavoidable penal.
ties The students each term are to elect
college senate. to consist Of four seniors,
three Juniors, two sophomores and one
freshman. Every class elects its own
representative to this senate. ever which
the President OF the college ia to preside,
and exercise the veto power. The body
! all - 10 D.aatlnAA -
any two members. The first election has
j1st been held, and has demonstrated that
the Office Of senator is deemed one
of dignity and honor, posi-
ton of high trust and great
responsibility. This senate decides all
disputes, interprets the law of the con-
tract, makes subsidiary statutes to the
contract, which is in the nature of q con-
stitution, and to the unfolding of which
each student has pledged his honor. The
experiment promises success, And there
seems to be no reason why it should not
succeed. 1t treats the student as rea-
sonable and high-minded being inculcates
principles of honor and integrity, brings
the governors of the college and the pupils
into closer and more manly relations !;
makes the student feel that his success
is part Of the success of the institute,
and that ON him is dependent the fair fame
of the college snd his own honorable ad-
yancement. II erects an authority in the
college before which ths secret society ia
powerless, since the former is the supreme
power and has its origin in the principle of
self-government. 1t must awaken the
manliness of students, give them higher
idea OF their responsibilities and duties,
and place them all more nearly ppon
level, since under the self. governing
principle and practice the college
bully" will become an unknown quantity.
It will make the student class more con-
servative than before, for there is nothing
in the world that so conserves moderation
as official responsibility and lastly, it
seems to us that the self governing plan
will tend to teach students the value
and virtue of republican institutions, and
give them a practical sense of the
responsibilities of the citizen in demo-
cratic form of government. The educators
of the land will watch the Amherst exper-
iment with much interest, for its success
or failure will mark a new era of progress,
or Of retrogression in college government.